Qantas and Jetstar slash flights due to coronavirus
Australian airline Qantas and its subsidiary Jetstar are cutting international flights by 90 per cent
The Qantas Group said that this is due to ‘significant falls’ for demand in travel due to coronavirus, which has led to around 150 aircraft being grounded.
In addition, 60 per cent of domestic flights will be cancelled. These cancellations will begin at the end of March and will last until at least the end of May.
The airlines said that they will honour bookings with a flight credit that can be used for 12 months, but there is a deadline of 31 March for applying. They also said that they would be as flexible as they can: “Customers who make a new domestic or international booking and later decide they no longer wish to travel, can cancel their flight and retain the value of the booking as a Qantas travel credit or Jetstar travel voucher. This applies to bookings made from 10 March 2020 until 31 March 2020 for travel before 31 May 2020.”
However, customers are struggling to get through to the airlines’ customer services, with huge wait times. Advice is that customers with flights in the next day or so will be contacted by the airlines.
Qantas said on its website that they are only dealing with urgent travel dates at present: “We strongly encourage only those customers travelling within the next 48 hours to contact us if needed. Consider contacting us at another time if you’re travelling outside this period,” it advised customers.
Guidelines from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission advise consumers on their rights and travel and event cancellations in relation to Covid-19.
When it comes to travel insurance, it’s unlikely that insurance taken out after late January will be paid by most insurance companies.