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Leading consumer advocacy group CHOICE has lodged a formal complaint with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over Qantas’s flight credit policy.
Australian travellers are growing increasingly frustrated with Qantas as restrictions ease across the country and travel begins again, CHOICE says.
CHOICE spokesperson, Dean Price, said Qantas was placing unreasonable barriers in the way of travellers trying to redeem their credits or get a refund.
“Qantas has made it difficult and confusing for their customers to use flight credits for cancelled travel. This includes forcing many people to spend extra money, limits on available flights, problems with online services, unfair expiry dates, and long wait times in their call centres. The Qantas flight credits system is currently unworkable for most customers,” Price said.
CHOICE identifies one of the key problems Australians face when trying to use Qantas credits is that they can only use credits for flights that cost the same or more than their original fare if they originally booked after 30 September 2021.
Choice goes into more detail in a story on its website.
“Qantas revealed in its February 2022 half yearly market update that it was holding around $1.4 billion in travel credits and advance sales,” Price said.
“A simpler and more accessible system for re-booking flights and getting refunds would assist customers to get value from the money they have paid to the company – whether that is a flight or a refund.”
CHOICE lodged a formal complaint with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) about Qantas in March, calling on the airline to allow travellers to more easily re-book flights.
“CHOICE has asked the ACCC to determine if Qantas’s terms and conditions for flight vouchers amount to unfair contract terms under the Australian Consumer Law,” Price confirmed.
“We’ve also asked them to investigate if Qantas communications to customers about flight credits could be classified as misleading and deceptive conduct.”
CHOICE’s 2021 travel report also highlighted the difficulties Australians faced when trying to rebook or get a refund for their cancelled travel plan. It outlined clear policy recommendations to get Australians travelling again with confidence.
“CHOICE has put forward a clear plan to governments about how to fix the travel rights issues that Australians are facing. We now need federal, state and territory governments to work together to make travel easier and fairer,” Price said.
CHOICE is encouraging travellers to sign a petition for fairer travel rights here: https://action.choice.com.au/page/85927/petition/1
Edited by Peter Needham