The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has launched legal action in the Federal Court of Australia alleging that Qantas engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct, by advertising tickets for more than 8,000 flights that it had already cancelled but not removed from sale.
The flights in question were slated to lift off between May and July 2022, but had already been cancelled. The ACCC alleges that Qantas kept selling tickets on its website for an average of more than two weeks, and in some cases for up to 47 days, after it had cancelled the flights.
It is also alleged that, for more than 10,000 flights scheduled to depart in May to July 2022, Qantas did not notify existing ticketholders that their flights had been cancelled for an average of about 18 days, and in some cases for up to 48 days. The ACCC alleges that Qantas did not update its “Manage Booking” web page for ticketholders to reflect the cancellation.
This conduct affected a substantial proportion of flights Qantas cancelled over the period. The ACCC alleges that for about 70 per cent of cancelled flights, Qantas either continued to sell tickets for the flights on its website for at least two days, or delayed informing ticketholders that their flight was cancelled for two days or more, or both.
“The ACCC has conducted a detailed investigation into Qantas’ flight cancellation practices. As a result, we have commenced these proceedings alleging that Qantas continued selling tickets for thousands of cancelled flights, likely affecting the travel plans of tens of thousands of people,” said ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb.
“We allege that Qantas’ conduct in continuing to sell tickets to cancelled flights, and not updating ticketholders about cancelled flights, left customers with less time to make alternative arrangements and may have led to them paying higher prices to fly at a particular time not knowing that flight had already been cancelled.”
“There are vast distances between Australia’s major cities. Reliable air travel is essential for many consumers in Australia who are seeking to visit loved ones, take holidays, grow their businesses or connect with colleagues. Cancelled flights can result in significant financial, logistical and emotional impacts for consumers,” Cass-Gottlieb added.
The ACCC’s investigation included engagement with impacted consumers and the serving of compulsory information notices on the airline. The investigation, which included detailed data analysis by the regulator’s specialist data analysts, identified that Qantas cancelled almost a quarter of flights in the period from May to July 2022 and about 15,000 out of 66,000 domestic and international flights from airports in all states and mainland territories in its published schedule being cancelled. These proceedings relate to more than 10,000 of those cancelled flights.
“We allege that Qantas made many of these cancellations for reasons that were within its control, such as network optimisation including in response to shifts in consumer demand, route withdrawals or retention of take-off and landing slots at certain airports,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
“However, this case does not involve any alleged breach in relation to the actual cancellation of flights, but rather relates to Qantas’ conduct after it had cancelled the flights.”
The ACCC is seeking orders including penalties, injunctions, declarations, and costs.
Qantas said in a statement that it takes the allegations “seriously” and that it has a “longstanding approach to managing cancellations for flights, with a focus on providing customers with rebooking options or refunds” and that its process is consistent with many other airlines.
“It’s important to note that the period examined by the ACCC between May and July 2022 was a time of unprecedented upheaval for the entire airline industry. All airlines were experiencing well-publicised issues from a very challenging restart, with ongoing border uncertainty, industry-wide staff shortages and fleet availability causing a lot of disruption,” the company said.
It has been a very bad week for Qantas, with the airline’s chief exec Alan Joyce put through the wringer by a Senate select committee on Monday. Joyce and the airline had been criticised for its treatment of COVID travel credits, its role in blocking additional capacity by Qatar Airways, slot hoarding allegations and providing of chairman’s lounge access to Anthony Albanese’s son.
