On Wednesday 10 June 2020, 'The Australian' has an article titled 'Virgin in dogfight with frequent flyers over slow refunds.'
Here is some:
'Virgin’s administrator has drawn the ire of some of the airline’s top frequent flyers for withholding refunds of taxes and charges paid for reward tickets on flights that never took to the skies.
The Australian understands Virgin’s frequent flyer scheme, known as Velocity, has temporarily paused some refunds after the airline fell into voluntary administration on April 21 with debts of some $7bn.
It is planning to communicate with affected members on the issue shortly.
The airline’s administrator, Deloitte’s Vaughan Strawbridge, last month temporarily paused issuing new travel credits and refunds on paid fares — including of taxes — after the airline plunged into administration in late April.
Instead Mr Strawbridge secured an order from the Federal Court allowing Deloitte to issue conditional credits to passengers who had their flights cancelled. The credits include the value of the fare and the taxes paid for a ticket.
But Virgin told its frequent flyers last month that those who had their frequent flyer tickets cancelled were entitled to receive a full refund of the Velocity Points used towards the affected flight, without being charged a cancellation fee...'
And this, later in the article:
..'The administrators have halted all refunds pending the ‘sale’ of
Virgin Australia. They are allowing a ‘conditional credit’ which must be used by 15 August, for domestic travel. However, the entire policy is an absolute joke as you can only use the credit once, and any leftover credit is forfeited. So in effect, they are saying no refunds allowed, even for taxes,’’ the travel agent wrote to their client...'
'The Australian' has excellent aviation coverage. It is one of many reasons why I subscribe to it. AFFers may find it offers good value.