Last week Qantas announced a generous one-year status extension for frequent flyers and a flight cancellation policy that meant you could ice your trip in exchange for travel credit (if you had booked within certain dates). From today that flight credit policy has been extended to include anyone with a ticket for travel before the 31st July.
“From today, anyone holding a Qantas ticket for travel before 31 July 2020 can get a flight credit and retain the full value of their booking. You need to do this by 30 April 2020. The flight credit is valid for booking and travel by 31 December 2021. This gives you more than 18 months to plan, rebook and travel,” Qantas told customers in an email.
“This is a challenging time for everyone as we all navigate our way through the Coronavirus crisis.”
“At Qantas, we’re aware that travel plans are just one part of people’s lives that have been significantly disrupted. We want to provide you with as much flexibility as possible so that you can have the confidence to travel with us, when the time is right for you,” Qantas wrote to passengers.
“If you already have a Qantas flight credit issued on or after 31 January 2020, this will also be automatically extended but may take a few weeks to update in our system,” the flagship Australian airline added.
“No change fees apply when rebooking but please note that the flight credit can only be used towards a fare of equal or higher value than the original fare you purchased.”
Also important to note, is that if you booked through a travel agent or third-party website, you must contact those companies directly to make changes to your booking.
This flight credit policy extension comes in a context of lounge closures and route changes, both changes the result of the temporary shutting down of the travel industry.
“As a result of new government restrictions announced this week, all Qantas domestic and international lounges are closed until further notice. Our team will be contacting all paid Qantas Club members next week with information about extensions of these memberships,” Qantas announced in its email this morning.
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This is in addition to its recently announced automatic 12-month tier status extension for Frequent Flyers.
“These are trying times for everyone. We hope that these additional options will provide some relief and certainty for you, our customers.”