The past few weeks have been nothing but stress, confusion, cancellations and anything in between for a lot of people. Not only has the virus been causing trouble for people who are unwell and could potentially catch it, but it’s also creating issues for situations like people who need to arrive back into Australia. Country after country is slowly making their travel rules more strict and now, the majority of countries have completely cut their borders, Australia and New Zealand included.
I’ve already extensively written about Qantas’ route changes and aircraft grounding so this post is going to talk more in-depth about what the airline will be doing for their frequent flyers. The Qantas program is the biggest loyalty program in Australia and it’s a vital part of Qantas providing the airline with a rather incredible amount of revenue year after year. As the airline continues to adjust itself, the carrier will be giving their frequent flyers some help with keeping their status.
Qantas will be giving all members that hold a tier a 12-month extension as the overall number of people going to be travelling will be very low. The airline will also not be operating literally any International services with some of them being extremely profitable.
Qantas To Give Flyers A Status Extension Amid COVID-19
Qantas 717 Business Class
The airline will be introducing the extension in two parts over the next few months, I’ve listed all of the important information you’ll need to be aware of:
- For the months of March and June, the airline will extend the status by the 27th of March which is only next week and for the periods of July 2020 and February 2021, the status will be extended the 9th of April, 2020.
- The extension is not in any way assistance for gaining a higher tier, it’s purely for keeping the status that you currently hold
- The processing date cannot be changed on your account
I think this is a good move by Qantas and I’m sure many frequent flyers are thrilled to hear the news. It will be quite interesting though for a lot of people as it was only a few weeks ago that the airline ran their extremely popular double status credits offer. I myself had booked about 3 itineraries and two of them included Bali which I had cancelled just days before the Do Not Travel alert.
Qantas has said that even though people booked during that offer, it won’t be carried over to new bookings.
Qantas A330
Qantas & COVID-19
- Qantas Announces Major Route Reductions & Lounge Closure
- Qantas Adjusts its Change & Cancellation Policy
- Qantas Announces Huge Capacity Cuts – What You Need To Know
- Qantas Will Suspend Every International Service Until May
Overall
It’s great to see both our airlines introduce a status extension and I hope most other carriers do the same or something similar. Without passengers, how will an airline make money at the end of the day, without people in seats, there’s no revenue and that’s the last thing airlines want.