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Qantas’s Unprecedented Push for Reuniting Customers With Their COVID Credits.

Australia’s flag carrier, Qantas, to streamline the process for its customers to claim their leftover COVID-era travel credits, has launched an innovative tool named ‘Find My Credit’. The carrier’s push coincides with the launch of this customer tool, designed to locate bookings up to three years old, which may have changed due to several waves of border closures during the pandemic.

With this move, Qantas aims to provide a simplified pathway to locate and use the remaining $400 million in credits by customers residing in Australia, a step towards reconnecting travellers with their destinations and jump-starting the post-pandemic travel industry.

Unprecedented Push for Reconnection

Qantas has been innovative and aggressive in dealing with the credits accumulated during the pandemic. Nearly $2 billion worth of COVID credits were initially issued across the Qantas Group, most generated when borders abruptly closed in March 2020, causing mass flight cancellations. These cancellations were a situation that no airline system could handle effectively.

Now, the figure has dwindled to just over $400 million, thanks to customers claiming their credits, with $250 million in bookings made directly with Qantas and $150 million through travel agents and third parties.

In an exclusive statement, Markus Svensson, Qantas Group Chief Customer Officer, recognized the challenges in managing credits due to the complexity of putting millions of bookings on hold for up to three years. He reiterated, “Qantas has one of the most flexible COVID credit policies of any airline, including among our global peers, and we’ve extended the booking expiry date three times.”

Customers can utilize the Find My Credit tool on the Qantas website to locate their credits using their original booking reference.

Double Points Offer for Credit Bookings

Qantas isn’t stopping at just making the credit-claiming process easier. The airline offers a ‘Double Points offer’ for credit bookings made by 31 July 2023 as an additional customer incentive. To access this promotion, customers must register at the Double Points Promotion Page and book an eligible flight with a QF flight number. The double points will be credited eight weeks after the travel is completed.

Continued Option for Refunds

While the push is on to claim credits, Qantas continues to uphold the option for refunds for most of its customers. The airline has also streamlined the process to trigger a refund, reducing paperwork and automating several systems to cut down on time taken by call centre operators in processing refund requests.

Customers who have made a booking directly through Qantas can call on 13 13 13 to request a refund. They will also be emailed over the coming weeks to remind them how to access a refund if preferred. Customers should contact the agent directly to request a refund for bookings made through a travel agent.

Conclusion

The new tool from Qantas is an optimistic move towards enabling customers to reclaim their long-standing credits and to get people travelling again. It’s an innovative approach to reconnecting the world, one booking at a time, and a symbol of an industry striving to recover and flourish in the post-COVID era.