Qantas issues a grovelling apology to Australians after nightmare week

Qantas’ reputation has “been hit hard on many fronts”, but the national airline pledged to fix it in a statement to weary Australians.

Qantas has pledged to win back Australia’s trust after a nightmarish week marred by allegations by the consumer watchdog that it sold ‘ghost flights’, a controversy by senators over competitor flights, backlash on bonuses and an explosion in Covid refunds.

Australia’s Consumer and Consumer Commission (ACCC) filed suit in Federal Court on Thursday, alleging the national carrier had “engaged in false, misleading or misleading conduct” in selling tickets on sale for more 8,000 flights already canceled between May and July. year.

The ACCC is seeking to penalize the airline more than $250 million.

In a statement on Monday, a Qantas spokesperson acknowledged that the airline’s service standards were “insufficient”.

The spokesman said the airline was aware that the ACCC allegations in particular had “caused significant concern among our customers”, but that the allegations were taken seriously.

“The ACCC allegations come at a time when Qantas’ reputation has already been hit hard on a number of fronts,” the spokesperson said.

“We want the community to know that we hear and understand their disappointment.

“We know the repair will take time. And we are absolutely determined to do so.

The spokesperson said the period to which the consumer watchdog’s claims relate – mid-2022 – was “a time of highly publicized upheaval and uncertainty in the aviation industry”.

Qantas also denied suggestions that it had pledged to charge a “no-service fee” and said it would respond to the allegations in full “without interrupting the legal process”.

“Our long-standing practice is that when a flight is cancelled, customers are offered an alternative flight as close to their original departure time as possible or a refund,” the spokesperson said.

In launching its action, the ACCC alleged that Qantas “continued to sell tickets on its website” for more than two weeks on average – sometimes up to 47 days – after flights were cancelled.

It also alleges that for more than 10,000 scheduled flights over the three months, Qantas ‘failed to inform existing ticket holders’ that their flights had been canceled for an average of 18 days, but in some cases up to 48 days.

“The ACCC alleges that for approximately 70% of canceled flights, Qantas either continued to sell tickets for the flight on its website for two or more days or delayed informing existing ticket holders that their flight had been cancelled. canceled for two or more days, or both.” the ACCC said last week.

Earlier last week, a parliamentary hearing on Monday revealed Qantas owed $100million more in Covid flight refunds than expected – forcing the airline to backtrack on plans to expire in December 2023.

It was also revealed that Qantas had raised concerns with the government over Qatar Airways’ proposal to double its flights to the east coast of Australia – a move which was welcomed by the industry but ultimately blocked by the authorities. workers.

Qantas’ bad week ended on Friday when it was revealed that chief executive Alan Joyce had received $10.8 million in shares for deferred bonuses during the pandemic – while Qantas claimed he was not had no obligation to repay the $2.7 billion in government payments he had received. during Covid-19.

Last month, Qantas posted a profit of $2.47 billion for the 2022-23 financial year.

Mr Joyce will step down as chief executive in November, but after arguably one of the worst weeks in the airline’s history, there are calls for him to step down early.