A Brisbane mother, Jessica Dorante, says she has lost a A$1,500 Virgin Australia flight credit after a mix-up over the terms attached to a cancelled family trip to Bali. Ms Dorante, 43, had booked flights through travel agency Flight Centre for a June trip, but pulled her 15-year-old son from the booking in February over his behaviour, receiving the credit for the unused fare instead. She says she was told by a travel agent she simply needed to make a new booking before the credit's expiry date, only to discover two weeks before that deadline that Virgin actually required the trip itself to be completed by then, leaving her unable to travel next year as planned.

Unable to use the credit, Ms Dorante says she was repeatedly passed between Flight Centre and Virgin Australia, with each company pointing to the other, before the travel agency's customer relations team told her she would not get a refund. Virgin's own terms distinguish between credits booked directly, which only require a new booking (not travel) before expiry, and travel agent bookings, where conditions vary and customers must check with their agent. A Flight Centre spokesman acknowledged "some confusion/miscommunication" on the company's part, and Ms Dorante has since been told she may be offered a refund or voucher, though she says she has yet to receive formal confirmation.