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Qantas and Jetstar customers have 12 more months to use COVID flight credits for international and domestic travel, however, critics say there is much more to do to make the system "workable" for people.
- Qantas and Jetstar customers must book their flights this year and complete their travel by December 2024
- CHOICE says some conditions of the COVID credits remain "clearly unfair"
- A recent analysis shows 76 per cent of COVID credits are worth less than $500
It is the third time the deadline has been extended with about $800,000 million of the $2 billion in credits yet to be used.
The change means customers would still be required to book their travel by the end of this year, but would have until December 2024 to complete their travel.
A recent analysis shows 76 per cent of COVID credits are worth less than $500, 24 per cent of credits are worth between $500 and $5,000 and less than 1 per cent are worth more than $5,000.
Qantas's credit system copped criticism from consumer advocacy group CHOICE which gave the airline its Shonky Award for its approach, as well as months of lost luggage, long call-wait times, and cancelled flights.
"The intense public outrage in response has clearly had some impact on the airline — but there's much more to do to make all credits workable for all consumers," head of policy and government relations at CHOICE, Patrick Veyret, said.
Qantas Group chief customer officer Markus Svensson said COVID credits could be used on sale fares and frequent flyer flight promotions.
"We literally had millions of bookings that were cancelled during several waves of lockdowns and border closures," he said.
"No airline had systems that were designed to manage that in a seamless way and we realise there's been frustration for some customers as a result.
"Our main goal is for everyone who has a COVID credit to be able to put it to good use, which is why we're doing one final extension of the travel expiry date by 12 months."
Mr Veyret said there some conditions of the COVID credits were "clearly unfair".
"Some Qantas flight credits can only be used for a booking of equivalent or greater value — so if you have a $300 flight credit, you can't use it to book a $290 flight," he said.
"Qantas customers also frequently complain that when they go to re-book a flight at the same time on the same route, they have to pay significantly more when using a credit than they paid for the original flight.
"Flight credits should work like gift cards. People should have the choice to transfer the credits to other people, as well as split the credits over a number of transactions."