Chris Cooper

Virgin has cancelled all international flights, and is offering travel credits to their travel bank.
But you need to register to receive the travel credit.
Credits are valid for 12 months, from the date they are issued.
There is however, no terms (I can reasonably see or find) which indicate the time frame you need to 'activate' the travel credits by.
One may assume they possibly need to be activated before the date of travel, but in Corona virus shut down, this seems less likely - they are cancelling the flight, so it's not that you need to cancel and receive credit 'before' the date of the original flight.

SO - What is there to stop one delaying the activation of the travel credit, in order to extend the dates they are valid for? 12 months is not long when their entire fleet is grounded for months as it is from now (till mid June 2020), and who wants to fly anywhere in late 2020 given what's going on? Seems they are likely to have many flyers not able to, or not wanting to make use of their credit before the expiry.

So the strategy to delay requesting the travel credit seems one way to move the 12 month period back. E.g. If I activate the travel credits in 2 months time, have I extended the 12 month period to commence 2 months later? Nothing in the Virgin email gives any indication of the timeframe one must 'activate' the credit, before they are lost - it certainly doesn't say must be done before the original flight date for example.

I suspect the need to 'activate' credits is a small hurdle, as many will not bother or forget, and will thus lose the credits. It would be simpler that they were automatically granted - and the credit activation form just asks you for the same information (Name / DOB) that they already have for your booking anyway.

I feel for Virgin, as all other businesses. One wonders if the lives lost through the global economy collapse (due to government restrictions) will be greater than the virus itself.

But with this unprecedented situation - 12 months expiry of travel credits ...for use on a fleet that is already grounded for three months if not more... 12 months just isn't enough. I'd want at least 12 months from the resumption of services, not 12 months from when I 'activate' some credit. Perhaps 24 months may be fairer given nobody will want to fly for a year or more, and will probably be so devastated they can't anyway for other reasons like accommodation expenses.

Does anyone know if there is such a restriction on when you need to activate / accept travel credits?
Or what is the impact of waiting another two months to activate credits? Will the link to click and activate stop working after awhile?