No Qantas Status Upgrades for Grounded Flyers

Qantas is refusing to offer flexibility to frequent flyers that were on track to upgrade to a higher status tier before the COVID-19 travel shutdown. Several Australian Frequent Flyer members were just 10 or 20 status credits short of attaining Gold status before the travel restrictions were implemented and flights grounded. Under normal circumstances, they … Continued

Virgin “Pauses” Refunds, Travel Credits

If you have a cancelled Virgin Australia flight, the airline says that you can still request a travel bank credit. If you bought a refundable ticket, such as a Freedom fare, you can also apply for a refund. But Virgin Australia is not currently processing any new refunds or flight credits. In fact, it hasn’t … Continued

Update on Qantas Flight Credits (May 2020)

Qantas is now offering flight credits to passengers that were booked to fly until the end of September 2020 (previously July 2020). Qantas credit vouchers can also now be used towards multiple new bookings, rather than just one booking of equal or greater value. But the national carrier is no longer waiving change fees for … Continued

Qantas Market Update: Project Sunrise, A380 Upgrades On Hold

Qantas has secured an additional $550 million in debt funding, giving the airline sufficient liquidity to survive until at least December 2021, CEO Alan Joyce revealed in a market update this week. But this is not without trade-offs, with Project Sunrise now delayed indefinitely and Qantas’ A380 refurbishment program suspended. We may never see an … Continued

Cathay Pacific Has Eliminated Fuel Surcharges

Oneworld’s Cathay Pacific has almost completely eliminated fuel and carrier surcharges from both commercial airfares and award bookings. This includes Asia Miles awards and Classic Flight Reward bookings made using Qantas points, where carrier charges are no longer payable at all. The only exception is journeys originating in Japan, where a small fuel surcharge is … Continued