FALCON POWERS – Australia’s biggest airline Qantas agrees million-dollar settlement after being accused of selling thousands of tickets for flights it had already cancelled.
The A$100m (€61m) penalty deal comes after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) sued the Sydney-based airline in the Federal Court last year. The commission alleged that Qantas engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct by advertising tickets for more than 8,000 flights between May 2021 and July 2022 that had already been cancelled.
Under the deal with the ACCC, the airline will also launch a plan worth A$20m (€12m) to compensate more than 86,000 affected customers.
The chief executive of Qantas, Vanessa Hudson said in a statement: “Today represents another important step forward as we work towards restoring confidence in the national carrier.
“When flying resumed after the COVID shutdown, we recognise Qantas let down customers and fell short of our own standards. We know many of our customers were affected by our failure to provide cancellation notifications in a timely manner and we are sincerely sorry,” said Hudson, who replaced Alan Joyce at the airline’s helm in November last year.
A Federal Court judge has yet to accept the settlement.
Responding to the announcement, ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said: “Qantas’ conduct was egregious and unacceptable. Many consumers will have made holiday, business and travel plans after booking on a phantom flight that had been cancelled.
“We are pleased to have secured these admissions by Qantas that it misled its customers, and its agreement that a very significant penalty is required as a result of this conduct.”
