More than 1 in 5 people (21%) have been unable to use their vouchers after their flights were cancelled due to COVID, according to a new nationally representative survey from CHOICE.
The survey also found that 72% of Australians who had a flight cancelled due to COVID-19 received a flight voucher, while only 31% who had a flight cancelled received a refund.*
The survey found that of the people who tried to use their flight voucher:
- 44% had to pay more to use their voucher
- 25% had flight vouchers expire before they could use it
- 10% had problems talking to the airline when trying to book using the voucher
- 8% were forced to use the full voucher for a flight that had a lower value
Read the full story here: www.choice.com.au/travelcredits
"Right now you have clearer and fairer rights for a $50 gift card than a $500 flight credit. There are clear laws that apply to gift cards that mean they have to last for at least three years, there's nothing similar for travel credits," says CHOICE campaigner, Dean Price.
"It's very concerning that so many Australians haven't been able to use their flight vouchers after their initial flight booking was cancelled due to COVID-19, a situation that was completely out of their hands. Challenges with flight credits have become too common and need to be stopped,"
"When people were actually able to use their flight vouchers, 44% of people were forced to pay more than the original cost of the flight. Businesses are making it incredibly difficult to claim the value of the voucher back, and Australians are finding it almost impossible to successfully navigate the terms and conditions of their booking," says Price.
"CHOICE has put forward a clear plan to governments about how to fix the travel rights issues that consumers face. We now need federal, state and territory governments to work together to make travel easier and fairer."
"There should be minimum rules that apply to all travel credits to make sure people can use the credit or get a refund. We want to see laws that mean people can use credits just like cash, with the ability to transfer the credit to friends or family, split the credit over multiple bookings and not pay extra unfair fees."
Read the full story here: www.choice.com.au/travelcredits
You can sign the petition for fairer travel rights here: https://action.choice.com.au/page/85927/petition/1
CHOICE's recommendations to improve travel rights are outlined in this report: choice.com.au/travelreport
Media contact: Katelyn Cameron, 0430 172 669, [email protected]
Editor's notes:
CHOICE Consumer Pulse January 2022 is based on a survey of 1,078 Australian households. Quotas were applied for representations in each age group as well as genders and location to ensure coverage in each state and territory across metropolitan and regional areas. Fieldwork was conducted from the 17th to the 31st of January 2022.
*These options were not exclusive and a number of people had more than one flight cancelled and received a flight voucher for at least one cancellation and a refund for another.
