Qantas passengers with unused travel credits could be given an extension to cash them in, as the airline fends off concern the money was propping up its bottom line.

Flight Centre chief executive Graham Turner says there was a high chance that Qantas could defer the date for when the travel credits issued during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic would expire.

The credits are due to expire at the end of the year.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said the value of its flight credits was $100 million higher than the $370 million reported, with $100 million in credit yet to be redeemed by Jetstar customers.

No amount has been given for overseas bookings.

But Turner said it was in Qantas’ best interest to extend the deadline for when the credits would need to be redeemed.

“Qantas will probably extend it again. They’ve extended it three times, just because the lack of capacity means that if people want to transfer on another flight or book other flights, it can be quite hard to get a booking when you wanted,” he said on Wednesday.

“Some of these credits come back to three years old, and after a year a lot of the records are purged. So it is difficult (to redeem), particularly people who booked directly online.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said people who had booked flights with Qantas should be able to reuse the credit.

“If people have booked flights and paid money, they should either get access to another at another time or receive their money back,” he told reporters in Adelaide on Tuesday.

Qantas is rolling out a major communication program to alert passengers to the credits.

The government had come under fire for blocking additional Qatar Airways flights to Australia after lobbying from Qantas.

Turner said the extra flights would lead to lower international airfares for passengers.

“We desperately need more capacity and this was not a good decision from our point of view,” he said.

Former head of the consumer watchdog Allan Fels said the move by the government lowered competition in the industry.

“(The government’s rationale) is to look after Qantas. Customers have been put second, so has tourism, business freight, many other interest, also other airlines,” he told ABC TV.

“There’s no secret reason for it, it’s just looking after Qantas.”

Prof Fels said the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission should investigate the government’s decision.

Opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume said the government was running a protection racket for Qantas.

“We’ve had such inconsistent messaging on this. If it really was in the national interest, why is it in the national interest?” she said.

“No company should be protected from competition, particularly when Australians are relying on an organisation like Qantas which, let’s face it, operates with a fair degree of social contract.”

-AAP

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