Flight Credit expired on last valid day

[surfnwine]

I have just gotten off the phone with Qantas, when I had intended to use some flight credit. The email in front of me states: Flight credit valid until 04 August 2026.

I was very surprised to hear from the representative that the credit expired at midnight, last night.

I have never heard of any deadline, in which you have to use before the stated day. Surely that isn't standard.

Apparently I need to speak to the Customer Care team tomorrow at 9 (on which day, the credit should have correctly expired).

Can anyone cast any light on this?

 

[Scr77]

Wow, there’s always a new low.

I would have expected credit to expire at the end of the day, not the start!

 

[sevenfourtyseven]

Definitely a situation where you HUACA. Sometimes (and sometimes a lot of the time) with a night time call to an overseas call center can lead to consistently inconsistent information.

 

[offshore171]

I would have expected credit to expire at the end of the day, not the start!

In the air travel industry, date related things often seem to be linked to GMT.

For example, seat releases tend to drop on 00:00 GMT which is 10am on the east coast.

@surfnwine Out of interest what time on 04 August did you attempt to use the voucher?

 

[Beer_budget]

In the air travel industry, date related things often seem to be linked to GMT.

For example, seat releases tend to drop on 00:00 GMT which is 10am on the east coast.

@surfnwine Out of interest what time on 04 August did you attempt to use the voucher?

For an expiry, that should have given ten hours of grace, not cost a day (since we are GMT plus 10).

 

[offshore171]

For an expiry, that should have given ten hours of grace, not cost a day (since we are GMT plus 10).

Yes that's why I was asking about the time of day. If the voucher expires on the stroke of 00:00 when the calendar rolls over from the 3rd to the 4th Aug (GMT) - then the voucher would have stopped working at 10am on the 4th Sydney time. 8am Perth etc etc.

However if the expiry date is 04th "Inclusive", then that would occur 10am on the 5th.

Regardless of the theory about GMT offsets, it doesn't seem like the Qantas expiry dates are "DDMMYY inclusive" unless the call centre stuffed up.

Be good to hear how this plays out. OP has got my curiosity.

Edit: Found this - credits forfeited if not used "before" expiry date


"If you don’t use your Flight Credit before the expiry date, the Flight Credit value will be forfeited"

https://www.qantas.com/en-au/manage-booking/flight-credit

 

[surfnwine]

Yes that's why I was asking about the time of day. If the voucher expires on the stroke of 00:00 when the calendar rolls over from the 3rd to the 4th Aug (GMT) - then the voucher would have stopped working at 10am on the 4th Sydney time. 8am Perth etc etc.

However if the expiry date is 04th "Inclusive", then that would occur 10am on the 5th.

Regardless of the theory about GMT offsets, it doesn't seem like the Qantas expiry dates are "DDMMYY inclusive" unless the call centre stuffed up.

Be good to hear how this plays out. OP has got my curiosity.

Edit: Found this - credits forfeited if not used "before" expiry date


"If you don’t use your Flight Credit before the expiry date, the Flight Credit value will be forfeited"

https://www.qantas.com/en-au/manage-booking/flight-credit

Tried to use around 7 pm.

As someone who's day job revolved around deadlines, I cannot get my head around advertising a particular date as the first date it cannot be used, as opposed to you must use on or by this date. If that is really the case (and I'm still not sure that the link you provide above, makes it incredibly clear. Yes - it could be interpreted the way this has played out - but I still think any normal person would assume that using before the expiry date would mean simply using before it expires. Note that the email I received saying I had flight credit nowhere uses the term: "Expiry date".

It's not even about the money - it's the principle. of the matter. The other odd part to this is that at no point could I ever actually see (or search for) the flight credit on my Qantas account- I had to call up to determine the amount.. Making the whole system really quite clunky.

As it happens, I am currently on a plane en route to AKL. I'll have to call them later this afternoon to see what they have to say. I think I would be willing to take this one as far as I can ...

 

[offshore171]

Certainly understand the frustration. Pretty cough that you have to ring up just to find out what your credit balance is. This would seem to be an obvious thing to provide to customers online.

 

[offshore171]

Found something for you @surfnwine

ACCC interpretation of expiry dates seems to include the displayed expiry date in the validity period

This is for gift cards and discount vouchers etc, but the principle should be the same:

Gift cards and discount vouchers

Gift cards and discount vouchers are an alternative to cash to buy products or services. Businesses that supply gift cards and vouchers must meet some specific requirements.

www.accc.gov.au

"Check the expiry date on the gift card or voucher carefully. Businesses do not need to honour the gift card after a valid expiry date has passed".