VIRGIN AUSTRALIA: Extends expiry date of travel bank credits for booking and flights to 30 June 2025

Virgin Australia has extended both the book and fly-by date for ‘COVID Credits’ until 30 June 2025.

‘COVID credits’ are Standard Credits issued on or before 31 July 2022, for bookings made from 21 April 2020 through 31 July 2022.

I just received an email from Virgin Australia. According to their records (and mine), I have a travel credit in a Travel Bank account that meets the criteria.

Virgin Australia usually distinguishes between Standard Credits and what it calls ‘COVID credits’, but if they meet the dates above, they are being treated the same. And this is not the first time Virgin Australia has extended them. In fact, it’s the third.

More time to fly, more time to book

COVID credits can be used to book travel on all Virgin Australia flights, including long-haul international codeshare flights with other airlines, in both Business and Economy. You can also use them with no minimum spend and for any passenger, so they are not limited to the passengers named on the original booking.

This applies to fares that were booked directly with Virgin Australia. Other conditions may apply to fares booked on Virgin Australia but via other sources, like travel agents. Check with the organisation that you booked through.

Virgin Australia v Qantas

Virgin Australia has, on the whole, had a simpler system for travel credits than Qantas. But that is not to say it’s not unproblematic. For a start, the information on cut-off dates for travel credits is inconsistent across their website. A simple example is on their Travel Bank page. They have contradictory information about when your credits run out at the top of the page; compared to under ‘5’, it says your credits run out on 31 January 2023 for travel to 27 December 2023.

Logging in to Travel Bank

When your Travel Bank was first created, a username would have been sent to you, so first search through your emails. If that fails, then …

Log in to the www.virginaustralia.com website, select ‘BOOK‘ in the menu bar, then choose ‘Manage booking‘ and under that ‘Retrieve your Travel Bank details‘. Fill in the requested information, and Bob’s your auntie.

Alternatively, if you are a Velocity Frequent Flyer member, you can access your Travel Bank using your username and password.

If all that fails, then call the Contact Centre on 13 67 89

Using Travel Bank

Go ahead and book your flight in the normal way on the Virgin Australia website. When you get to the payment page, you should see your Travel Bank balance under ‘Travel Bank’. you can use the slider to determine how much of the travel credit you wish to use.

2PAXfly Takeout

Virgin Australia has increased the period you can book and take flights using a ‘COVID’ travel credits to June 30, 2025.

This extension should get them out of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s sights.