Virgin Australia to refund thousands
Virgin Australia has issued an apology after the airline discovered a system error was overcharging punters for years.
Some 61,000 travellers will get refunds averaging $55 for the error that occurred between April 2020 and March 2025.
The airline said it had policies that determine what additional costs a customer will be charged when they make a change to their itinerary.
“We recently found that in some instances… bookings were repriced in a way that does not align with our policy and we are refunding all impacted guests for that amount,” a Virgin spokesman said.
“We sincerely apologise to those affected guests and have launched (a program) under which all eligible guests are being proactively contacted to process their refunds.”
All those affected will be contacted by Virgin but will need to lodge a claim to receive their refund.
They will have a year to make a claim, with the airline committing to donate any unclaimed money to charity.
Virgin has engaged the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and will work with it on anything else necessary to make up for the error.
It comes as the airline recently sold a 25 per cent stake in its business to Qatar Airways.
The consumer watchdog ticked off a five-year partnership that was set to double flights between Australia and Doha.
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Virgin claimed the deal could be worth $3 billion to the national tourism economy across the period.
Australian Airports Association chief executive Simon Westaway said it is also expected to drive down airfares and benefit regional Australia through improved inbound tourism connections, sales and marketing visibility and job safeguards.
“This deal is a major win for the aviation industry and the Australian flying public,” he said.
That approval came more than two years after the federal government rejected Qatar’s application to run an extra 21 weekly flights into Australia, saying the change could cause problems for local carrier Qantas.
