Virgin Australia customers with around A$90 million in unused flight credits from COVID cancellations between April 2020 and July 2022 have just one week left to spend those credits – or lose the money.

However, following customer complaints, last Friday Virgin made changes to let people to book now and travel later than previously allowed.

If you have some of those unused COVID flight credits, what do those changes mean? And what are your options to try to get a refund?

What are Virgin’s new COVID travel credits rules?

Under the airline’s newly revised policy, customers must still book their flights using the travel credits by next Tuesday, June 30. However, they can now travel until May 27, 2027.

The airline’s February financial update said there were $93 million in unclaimed COVID credits.

Virgin says it has sent multiple reminders to customers with unused travel credits. However, important messages are often lost among promotional emails – or ignored because people think they’re scams.

What Qantas and Jetstar have done

During the pandemic, travellers accepted credits not as a preferred alternative to refunds, but because widespread cancellations left them with limited viable options. For consumers, these credits represent money paid for a service that was never received.

Earlier this year, Qantas agreed to pay $105 million to settle a class action brought against the airline over its COVID credits from 2020 to 2022.

If you still have Qantas COVID........

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