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Virgin Australia is set to refund more than 60,000 guests it says it inadvertently overcharged to change their itineraries.
The airline will offer refunds averaging $55 to around 61,000 passengers whose bookings were “repriced in a way that does not align with its policy” in some instances between 21 April 2020 and 31 March 2025, representing about 0.1 per cent of bookings made during that period.
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“We sincerely apologise to those affected guests and have launched an Itinerary Change Claim Program under which all eligible guests are being proactively contacted to process their refunds,” a Virgin spokesperson said.
“At Virgin Australia, we want to do the right thing and that means acknowledging when we get things wrong and fixing it.
“We have appointed specialists in this area, Deloitte Australia, to accelerate the claims process for our guests, who will be able to make a claim for up to 12 months. And, any amounts that guests elect not to claim will be donated to charity.”
Virgin says it proactively notified the ACCC and would work with the regulator on any additional actions that were needed.
“A dedicated Virgin Australia team has also been working to fix the issue and we have undertaken a range of actions to prevent this from reoccurring in the future, so our guests can be confident when making changes to their bookings,” the spokesperson said.
On its website, Virgin said it has worked to fix specific technical issues in relevant systems and “complete a wide review of the relevant processes across the business and implement formal governance to support the ongoing management of our Booking and Ticketing Policy”.
“This work is complete, and it is our priority to communicate as soon as possible to all guests entitled to a refund and process their payments,” the carrier said.
Virgin’s admission comes as the government continues to refine its aviation charter of customer rights, which includes a provision that passengers could receive a refund if their flight is delayed by more than three hours.
The document, which can be read here, also outlines plans to compensate travellers for lost luggage and an obligation for carriers to resolve complaints within 30 days.
It comes after the Aviation White Paper, released in August, promised to introduce a charter alongside a new industry ombuds scheme.
