Virgin Australia will refund 61,000 passengers after a pricing error made the airline overcharge for itinerary changes over a five-year period.
The Australian carrier said that from April 21, 2020, to March 31, 2025, some bookings were repriced in a way that does not align with the airline’s pricing policy.
Virgin Australia said that the 61,000 customers impacted by these pricing errors represent approximately 0.1% of all bookings made during the period, starting that each customer will receive a refund of AUD$55 ($34.95).
“At Virgin Australia, we have policies that determine when and how we reprice a guest’s booking when they make a change to their itinerary,” an airline spokesperson told Airline Economics.
The airline said it reported the mistake to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and is working with the regulator to resolve the issue.
The spokesperson added: “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.”
Deloitte Australia has been appointed by the carrier to accelerate the claims process.
This news comes as the airline advances plans for its initial public offering (IPO), which is reportedly set for June, following the appointment of new CEO Dave Emerson last month.
Executives from Virgin Australia reportedly met with prospective investors, ahead of a potential relisting of the Bain Capital-owned airline, a person familiar to the matter told Reuters at the start of April.
Virgin executives planned to meet prospective investors on April 1, 2025, according to the media outlet, with investors pitching the company's “surge in profitability”. Bain bought out Virgin for about AUD$3.5bn ($2.20bn) after the airline called in external administrators.