qantas travel voucher refund

Have A Qantas Travel Credit? Here’s How To Claim A Cash Refund

Tom Goward | 31/08/2023

Qantas and Jetstar will no longer require its customers to spend their unused flight credits by the end of the year, following months of public backlash. The expiry date of travel credits has now been scrapped altogether, and in some cases, you can even request a full refund.

The move comes after Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, Jetstar CEO Stephanie Tully and Group Corporate Affairs Executive Andrew McGinnes were hilariously grilled at a Senate hearing earlier this week. The group were two wings short of a plane, revealing that they had covered up $100 million in unused Jetstar flight credits. That’s on top of the $370 million Qantas has already confirmed they owe customers.

That same hearing saw Labor senator Tony Sheldon put pressure on Joyce, following reports that Qantas was the most complained-about company in Australia.

“So the board has made no comment, raised no issues about the fact the company is at its lowest in the eyes of the Australian public?” asked Senator Sheldon.

“Senator, you’re making a whole series of points that are just incorrect,” Mr Joyce replied.

“The critical question is, Mr Joyce, yes or no, has the board raised with you the issues I’ve just raised about your performance and the company when it’s become the most discredited company in Australia,” Senator Sheldon again pressed.

“The board do not see it the way you’re seeing it, senator, because the facts that you’re raising are wrong,” Mr Joyce said.

Qantas claims that their announcement today makes them one of the world’s most flexible airlines in terms of pandemic-related travel vouchers. Plus, to encourage more people to utilise their credits, Qantas is extending their double points offer on travel credit bookings . Frequent flyers can earn double Qantas Points on travel credit bookings from 4 September 2023, for bookings made before 31 December 2023.

In this post:

Qantas CEO Issues Video Message

Qantas travel credit faqs, jetstar travel voucher faqs.

Earlier this morning, Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce appeared via video message to reassure customers that their travel credits will never expire.

“If you have a Qantas Covid credit, you can request a cash refund at any point in the future,” says Mr Joyce

“We’re doing this because we’ve listened. We know the credit system was not as smooth as it should have been. And, while we’ve improved it recently, and extended the expiry date several times, people lost faith in the process.”

How To Use Or Refund Your Travel Credit

The Qantas Group will remove the expiry date on Covid related travel credits that were due to run out at the end of this year. Following this decision, Qantas customers with credits can also request a cash refund, while Jetstar customers can extend the life of their vouchers indefinitely.

How do I find my Qantas Travel Credit?

If you’ve lost your travel credit, use the Qantas Find My Credit tool .

How do I request a refund?

Qantas advises that customers wishing to “discuss a refund” should give the support team a call at 1300 668 885.

How do I use my Qantas Travel Credit?

While most travel credits can be redeemed on the Qantas website, for more specific advice, visit the Qantas Travel Credit page.

I’m stuck and need more help. Who do I contact?

Call Qantas’ dedicated Travel Credit Concierge team on 1300 171 505. If your original booking was made through a travel agent or third-party website, contact them directly.

How do I find my Jetstar Travel Voucher?

If you’ve lost your travel credit, reach out via Jetstar Live Chat.

How do I check the balance of my Jetstar Travel Voucher?

If you aren’t sure how much your travel credit is worth, use Jetstar’s Voucher Balance Checker .

How do I use my Jetstar Travel Voucher?

Visit Jetstar.com to book using your voucher, which can be used as payment for all Jetstar fares, including sale and Club Jetstar fares, and on both domestic and international trips.

My Jetstar Travel Voucher is about to expire. Can I extend it?

Jetstar customers can extend the validity of their vouchers indefinitely via Jetstar Live Chat, after the voucher has expired.

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Qantas and Jetstar are holding $570 million in flight credits. Here's how to check what credits you have and how to claim them

By Velvet Winter

By Dannielle Maguire

Topic: Air Transport Industry

Qantas is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars of unredeemed COVID-era travel credits.  ( ABC News: Giulio Saggin  )

After last week reporting an annual profit of $1.7 billion, Qantas has confirmed it and Jetstar are holding $570 million in unredeemed travel credits from flights cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Those credits were due to run out at the end of this year. 

But after being grilled in a Senate committee hearing and days of pressure, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce yesterday announced the group would abolish expiry dates on those COVID travel credits.

The airline has now said Qantas customers with COVID credits can get a cash refund — but they have to request it. 

Customers of Jetstar, which Qantas owns, can use their COVID vouchers for flights indefinitely — but they have to ask for it first. 

Here's what you need to know about redeeming your flight credits.

Why isn't this automatic?

Does this apply to all travel credits, what is a qantas covid credit, what is a jetstar covid voucher, how do i know if i have unredeemed covid flight credits, where can i find these details, what if i can't find these details, how do i get a cash refund on my qantas credits, how do i redeem my jetstar travel credits, what if i booked with a travel agent.

• What about Virgin's COVID flight credits?

What about Tigerair's COVID flight credits?

Qantas refunds won't be automatically applied to customers' credit cards. 

The company gave its reasons for this in its press release yesterday. 

"Given bookings that have been converted into COVID credits date back to 2019, most credit cards used have expired by now, meaning the funds will bounce back if we attempt to refund onto them," it said.

And it ruled out mailing cheques. 

"Aside from cheques being outmoded, people aren't asked for their postal address when they book a flight," the company said. 

"While we have postal addresses for some Frequent Flyers, these aren't regularly updated."

We've contacted Jetstar asking why customers have to ask to have their travel voucher expiry dates extended rather than them being automatically updated.

This is only for travel that was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The announcement only applies to what Qantas calls "COVID credits" and Jetstar calls "COVID vouchers".

A Qantas COVID credit refers to travel credits for bookings up to and including September 30, 2021.

If you have a Qantas COVID credit, you can request a cash refund at any point in the future .

You can also use a Qantas COVID credit to book more flights.

However, you won't be able to book flights with Qantas COVID credits after December 31, 2023 .

A Jetstar COVID voucher refers to all Jetstar Airways vouchers that have an expiry date of 31 December 2023 .

The expiry of these vouchers can be extended indefinitely upon request.

You can use Qantas's Find My Credit  tool to uncover any credits you're owed, but the process is a little different depending on which carrier you booked with and how you booked your ticket.

Qantas customers who booked through an official Qantas portal need to provide:

• Their travel credit account/card/voucher number from their Qantas Pass or Qantas TravelPass
• Their flight booking reference
• Their email account

Qantas launched the 'Find my credit' tool back in March in an effort to reduce unclaimed flight credits. ( Supplied: Qantas )

Qantas customers who booked through a travel agent need to provide:

• Either their booking reference number or ticket number
• Their last name

Jetstar customers who booked through Jetstar will need to provide:

• Their credit voucher details — this number would have been sent in an email to the primary contact from the booking

Jetstar customers can also use the website's LiveChat feature to find travel vouchers.

Jetstar customers who booked through a travel agent (excluding Webjet) will need to contact their agent to confirm voucher details .

Your booking reference is a six character combination of letters and numbers — it's also referred to as a PNR .

• If you're a Qantas customer: you can find it in the confirmation email that was sent to you, your e-ticket receipt and in the Qantas app at the top of the trips page.
• If you booked with Jetstar at jetstar.com or through the Jetstar app:  you'll find your booking reference at the top of the itinerary emailed to you and near the top of the booking information emails sent to you.

You'll need to get in touch with Qantas or Jetstar.

Mr Joyce confirmed on Thursday that Qantas customers who had flights cancelled due to COVID-19 could request a refund indefinitely.

• If you booked directly with Qantas: Call the company on 1300 668 885 to request a refund.
• If you booked through a travel agent or third party website: Contact the agent or site directly to request a refund

If Qantas customers want to use their travel credit for more flights, they can do so by visiting  qantas.com/travelcredit .

However, Qantas says you won't be able to use COVID flight credits beyond December 31, 2023 due to "system limitations".

But you don't have to wait until after December 31 to request your refund. 

Jetstar customers are limited to how they can claim their credits.

The Qantas group says that anyone with a Jetstar COVID voucher that has expired needs to contact Jetstar to have their voucher's expiry dates extended .

You can do this via their LiveChat function or through Jetstar's contact centre.

After it is extended, you're free to use the credits from the voucher indefinitely.

A Jetstar spokesperson told the ABC customers would still be able to extend the expiry date of their vouchers after December 31 . 

"Customers who are unable to use their Jetstar Airways COVID voucher by the expiry date can contact us any time after it expires via Live Chat or the contact centre to receive a new voucher," the airline says on its Travel Alerts website . 

Jetstar customers who had flights cancelled due to COVID-19 up to  May 26, 2022 may be entitled to a cash refund depending on circumstances and are encouraged to contact Jetstar.

You may be eligible for flight credits or refunds.

But people seeking a refund for flights booked through a travel agent may only be paid the amount that Qantas received for that booking.

The airline encourages customers to get in contact with their travel agents for clarification.

Qantas says it's working with travel agents to coordinate refunds for travel not booked directly through the airline.

What about Virgin's COVID flight credits?

Virgin's Future Flight credits expire on December 31.  ( ABC News: Chris Gillette )

You might remember that Virgin went into voluntary administration amid the pandemic — that makes things tricky for people who had unused travel vouchers.

There are two types of credits:

• Future flight credits: Booked on or before April 21, 2020. These expire on December 31, 2023.
• Standard flight credits: These are credits for flights booked on or after April 21, 2020. COVID-era credits issued on or before July 31, 2022 will expire on December 31, 2023. 

The airline says Future Flight credits cannot be refunded because of its time in voluntary administration and there are limitations to how you can use them.

They can only be used for flights before December 31. 

The airline says you can use them on any Virgin flight, but there's only a certain number of seats allocated to Future Flight bookings — we don't know exactly how many, but Virgin says the number is "limited". 

Once those are sold out, you'll still be able to book a seat on the flight, but won't be able to use your Future Flight credits for that particular booking.

The terms for Future Flight credits  say you can also use them for:

• Fare and tax differences on flight booking changes
• Change fees on flight bookings
• Economy X fees
• Excess baggage fees
• Carbon offset fees

Tigerair shut down in 2020, but people with travel credits can use them with Virgin. ( AAP: Joel Carrett )

Budget airline Tigerair Australia shut down in September 2020 .

But people with travel credits were given Future Flight credits to use on Virgin flights.

Virgin's website says people who haven't had communication about their credits for Tigerair flights should ring 13 67 89.

But they'll need to have at least three of the following details on hand:

• Tigerair booking number
• Date the booking was made
• Total cost of the booking
• Details of the flights booked
• Names of other passengers on the booking
• Passenger date of birth

There are limitations to how you can use Future Flight credits.

The airline says you can use them on any Virgin flight, but there's only a certain number of seats allocated to Future Flight bookings . 

Once those are sold out, you'll still be able to book a seat on the flight, but won't be able to use your Future Flight credits for that particular booking. 

If you're unable to load the form, click here .

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Qantas urges customers to claim $400m in unused covid-19 flight credits or get refund.

Qantas urges Aussies to use up COVID flight credits or get a refund

Qantas is urging Australians to cash in on their COVID-19 flight credits or get a refund before they expire at the end of the year, with more than $400 million in unclaimed credits.

The national carrier extended the booking expiry date for a third time earlier this year after being accused of being inflexible.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Qantas urges Aussies to use up COVID flight credits or get a refund.

Qantas Group issued about $2 billion worth of COVID-19 travel credits when border closures in March 2020 caused mass flight cancellations .

The airline says the amount of unclaimed credit continues to drop each week but $400 million is still waiting to be claimed before expiring on December 31.

About $250 million of this is bookings made directly with Qantas and another $150 million is bookings made through travel agents and other third parties.

Customers with credits also have the option to get a refund instead.

Qantas Group chief customer office Markus Svensson said the airline had made several changes to its systems to help make claiming credits easier.

“We know the credits system has been challenging because of the sheer complexity of putting millions of bookings in a holding pattern for up to three years,” he said.

“The majority of the COVID credits we hold can be converted into refunds but we can’t do it automatically as the credit cards used for the purchase as far back as 2019 may have expired.

“We’d obviously like customers to use their COVID credit to fly with us, but if they’d prefer a refund we’re putting additional processes in place to help with that.”

Qantas on Monday launched a new customer tool to make the process easier, with the Find My Credit function helping travellers locate bookings up to three years old that may have been changed several times during the pandemic.

The airline is also offering double Frequent Flyer points to customers who book a flight using their COVID-19 travel credit between Monday and July 31.

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Help and Support

Cancelling or changing a reward flight booking, 27/11/2023 • knowledge, information.

Can I cancel or change my Reward flight booking?

Classic Flight Rewards

Changes  

• Up to 24 hours before departure of the first flight segment on your ticket, you can change the date and time, class of travel or cancel your booking. These changes can be made on qantas.com at Manage booking.
• Within 24 hours of your Classic Flight Reward booking departing, you can change date and time, or cancel your booking, by calling your local Qantas office. Exception: If the change is requested for an airline that requires ticket reissue for changes to flight number or date of travel, changes are only permitted up to 24 hours before departure of the first flight in your booking. For further information call your local Qantas Office.
• Changes that require a ticket to be re-issued are not permitted within 24 hours of departure or once travel has commenced. Changes are not permitted on any Classic Flight Reward flight booking once travel has commenced.
• To change the destination of your Reward booking before departure, contact your local Qantas office, with your Frequent Flyer membership details and booking reference available. Fees may apply.
• If only one person in your booking needs to change or cancel their flight(s), and the remaining passengers will still be travelling together, contact your local Qantas office for assistance.

Note: All changes are subject to Reward seat availability in the relevant class. A Change fee payable in Qantas Points will apply and changes to your booked itinerary or class of travel may require payment of additional points as well as any difference in taxes, fees and carrier charges payable with an accepted payment card. Situations where Classic Flight Reward bookings can’t be changed online Up to 24 hours prior to your first flight's departure, you can cancel, change the class of travel or change the date of your Classic Flight Reward booking on qantas.com . Classic Flight Reward bookings can’t be changed online if:

• The Classic Flight Reward booking has not been created on qantas.com
• You wish to reroute your Classic Flight Reward booking  
• You wish to correct the name on your Classic Flight Reward booking
• Your first flight's departure is inside 24 hours  
• Travel has commenced (International and Trans Tasman only)
• The Reward booking has not been ticketed  
• The Classic Flight Reward booking has been previously changed by Flight Rewards and Priority Reservations
• Your booking contains Classic Flight Reward flight segments that have been combined with non-Classic Reward fares ("Commercial Fares")  

If any of the reasons above apply to your Classic Flight Reward booking you may still be able to make your change by calling your local Qantas office . Service fees may apply. Cancellations  

You can cancel your Classic Flight Reward bookings up to 24 hours before departure of the first flight on your ticket at Manage booking. If only one person in your booking needs to cancel their booking, but the remaining passengers will still be travelling, contact your local Qantas office  for assistance. If you cancel your booking taxes, fees and carrier charges will be refunded back to the credit card on which the taxes were originally paid. A Cancellation Refund Fee will apply. No fees apply where you are entitled to a refund or alternative flight under the Australian Consumer Law  or Conditions of Carriage . Refer to the Fees Schedule  for a list of fees. Please allow up to 14 days for the points to appear on your points activity statement . Once travel has commenced on a Classic Flight Reward points will not be re-credited to the member's account for unused flights. If you combine Classic Flight Rewards with non-Classic Reward fares ("Commercial Fares"), the most restrictive fare condition of those Commercial Fares apply to the segments booked as Classic Flight Rewards for booking changes, cancellations and refunds. Classic Flight Rewards that are combined with Commercial Fares are unable to be cancelled or placed into a credit voucher on qantas.com . For cancellations and refunds of these bookings you can call Qantas Contact Centres for assistance.  

Points Plus Pay - Flights

Points Plus Pay - Flights  have different conditions to Classic Flight Rewards. The fare rules will vary depending on the type of fare you’ve used your points for. Check the fare rules when you make your booking at qantas.com or if you’re booking over the phone, your consultant will advise you of the fare rules for your Reward. Most Points Plus Pay - Flights  are non-refundable (including taxes, fees and carrier charges). Changes to the date and time of your flight can be made at qantas.com if the fare allows. For any other changes, call Qantas Contact Centres. For US customers: In accordance with the US Department of Transportation rules, customers who purchase an Reward ticket in the United States may cancel their booking and have their ticket refunded without incurring the Cancellation Refund Fee within 24 hours of ticketing when the ticket was purchased one week or more prior to scheduled departure of the first flight in the itinerary. If any of the reasons above apply to your Classic Flight Reward booking you may still be able to make your change by calling Qantas Contact Centres . Service fees may apply.

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