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Virgin Australia has now followed Qantas and Jetstar in waiving change fees on international bookings until 31 March 2020.
Virgin’s policy is similar to the Qantas & Jetstar change fee waiver, but it’s more generous as it also applies to existing bookings made prior to 10 March 2020. Unlike with Qantas, Virgin Australia guests also have the option to change their flights to a date after 30 June 2020.
Virgin Australia is waiving change fees on international bookings to all destinations, for travel between 10 March and 30 June 2020. Passengers have the option to change their flights to a later date or a different destination without penalty. However, passengers will need to pay any fare difference that applies if they change to a different destination, or if the originally-booked fare class is not available on the new travel dates.
The Virgin Australia change fee waiver does not apply to domestic itineraries within Australia.
You can view this and other travel alerts on the Virgin Australia website.
This Virgin Australia change fee waiver is welcome news for Virgin Australia international passengers, and is a better policy than the one introduced by Qantas this morning.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Cancelling [VA fare rules & COVID-19 uncertainty]
Virgin still intending to launch Tokyo flights
Virgin Australia’s much anticipated Brisbane-Tokyo route is still set to launch on Sunday 29 March 2020, despite Virgin cancelling all media activity that had been planned for the inaugural flight. However, Virgin says they are continuing to “monitor the evolving situation closely”.
Qantas this morning announced cuts to many of its routes to Asia, including swapping out its Boeing 747 for a smaller Airbus A330 on the Sydney-Tokyo route from 30 March. Qantas is also ending its seasonal Sydney-Sapporo route early this year.
