Qantas Double Points Offer Travel Credits Expires Soon

Perhaps the supreme irony of when COVID grounded aviation was when airlines issued travel credits that expired before borders reopened, making them impossible to redeem. Australian airline Qantas is doing the opposite by pushing hard to ensure every travel credit is used, either through bookings or eligible refunds.
Is there a travel credit waiting for you?
Last month Qantas announced a raft of measures to re-unite travelers with unused or forgotten travel credits and urged them to use them before they expire at the end of this year. During the pandemic, the Qantas Group, which includes low-cost carrier Jetstar, issued around AU$2 billion ($1.32 billion) worth of COVID credits and today, the airline said there are about AU$400 million ($264 million) still not redeemed.
Photo: Cairns Airport
In June, the airline launched an online Find My Credit tool to help customers find bookings dating back to 2020 that were canceled due to the sudden border closures. It has also made it easier for customers to gain a refund before the credits expire on December 31st, 2023. In the last month, more than 20,000 customers have used the Find My Credit tool to find their booking and calls about refunds have more than doubled, but hundreds of millions of dollars in credits remain unclaimed.
Photo: Qantas
Qantas also offered double Frequent Flyer points for bookings made by July 31st using travel credits, which can be made for travel through until December 2024. With less than a week to go until the double points offer expires, Qantas has launched a newspaper and radio advertising campaign to remind customers of the offer before it’s too late.
Image: Qantas
To claim the double points, customers must register online and book an eligible flight with a QF flight number by July 31st, 2023. Qantas said that the double points would be awarded from eight weeks after travel. The airline has set up a dedicated Travel Credits Concierge Team that can be contacted at 1300 171 505 if you need more assistance.
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This is use it or lose it time
Qantas Group Chief Customer Officer Markus Svensson said that many of these credits are years old and range between AU$100 and AU$500 ($66-$330), so they may not be on the top of people’s minds, which is why Qantas is working hard to remind them.
“It’s been great to see the response to our last reminder campaign, which resulted in millions of dollars in credits being redeemed, but there’s still a lot yet to be claimed.
“We’ve built a new online tool to make it easier to find COVID-era credits, set up a dedicated hotline and streamlined the refunds process. We’ll keep reaching out to customers, particularly ahead of these credits expiring at the end of this year.”
Photo: John Mackintosh/Shutterstock
While the double points offer expires at the end of this month and the travel credits expire at the end of this year, the key takeaway is that the actual travel can be taken through to December 2024. Given that Qantas flights can be booked up to a maximum of 353 days in advance on December 31st, 2023, travel can be booked up to December 19th, 2024.
Qantas is doing all it can to make sure people use the credits or get refunds for travel not yet taken, but what’s also clear is that the end of the year is the end of the credit, so don’t miss out and start complaining after that.
Have you used any Qantas travel credits? Let us know in the comments.