460,000 Air NZ fliers still with credits
Hundreds of thousands of people are still holding flight credits and the price of airfares has jumped now they can start using them.
Airlines around the world cancelled flights when the Covid pandemic hit and borders closed, leaving many customers with thousands of dollars in credits they could not use for the foreseeable future.
Leanne Geraghty, Air New Zealand chief customer and sales officer, said there were now about 460,000 customers with credits, down from about 500,000 in September. Air New Zealand would not release the value of those credits, but Geraghty said that in September, 97% of credits were worth more than $100.
The airline has extended the deadline to use them, most recently in September when it allowed customers with existing credits until the end of January 2024 to travel until the end of December 2024.
By the end of June 2022, Air NZ’s non-current transportation sales received in advance had fallen to $21 million from $279m a year earlier, its annual results showed.
Current transportation sales in advance jumped to $1.4 billion from $494m a year earlier, although it was unclear how much of that was credits. The airline noted that passenger bookings jumped after Covid border restrictions began to ease from April.
Jetstar owner Qantas held A$1.3b in Covid travel credits at June 2022, which were being used at a rate of A$80m a month. Most were due to expire by December, the airline said in its annual result.
House of Travel said most customers were currently making new bookings rather than redeeming travel credits.
Celeste Ryall, House of Travel customer engagement director, said its customers had redeemed a significant portion of credits over the past year, and it still regularly had customers wanting to use outstanding credits.
‘‘The vast majority of suppliers have been really accommodating in terms of the validity of the credits, as evidenced by Air NZ and others providing extensions, generally making it an easy process for customers,’’ she said.
‘‘The bulk of remaining credits sits with airlines and are being used for international travel, however there are credits across all parts of the travel ecosystem.’’