Qantas rejects consumer watchdog claims it sold ‘ghost flights’

Qantas has rejected allegations it sold “ghost flights” as the embattled airline gets set to fight claims relating to thousands of cancelled flights and tickets in the Federal Court.

In August the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launched legal action alleging Qantas Airways had engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct by advertising tickets for more than 8000 flights that it had already cancelled but not removed from sale.

The consumer watchdog alleged that for more than 8000 flights scheduled to depart between May and July 2022, 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 the cancellation of the flights.

Those 8000 flights began to be reported as so-called “ghost flights”, and led to the regulator staunchly declaring it is aiming for a record-setting $600 million penalty against Qantas if successful in its legal action.

Today the airline admitted “it let customers down” and “mistakes were made” during the post-COVID restart, including with high cancellation rates, but it said the ACCC’s legal case “ignores the realities of the aviation industry”, namely that airlines cannot guarantee specific flight times.

“As we’ve said from the start of this case, we fully acknowledge that the period examined by the ACCC was extremely difficult for our customers,” Qantas said.

“Restarting flying after the COVID shutdowns proved a challenge for the whole industry, with staff shortages and supply chain issues coinciding with huge pent-up demand.

“Qantas cancelled thousands of flights as a result and there were many unacceptable delays. While we restarted safely, we got many other things wrong and, for that, we have sincerely apologised.”

Qantas went on to claim that all customers on cancelled flights were offered an alternative flight or refund; and that there had been no instances of a “fee for no service” – essentially a “ghost flight”.

READ MORE: How to claim your unused flight credits from Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin

On top of the alleged “ghost flights” – a notion Qantas outright rejected – the ACCC claimed 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 also alleged that Qantas did not update its “Manage Booking” web page for ticketholders to reflect the cancellation.

In response, Qantas said 100 per cent of impacted domestic passengers were offered same-day flights departing prior to or within one hour after their scheduled departure time.

The carrier said 98 per cent of impacted international passengers were offered “reaccommodation options” on flights within a day of their scheduled departure date.

And “in most cases”, customers were rebooked on these alternative flights weeks or months ahead of when they were actually due to travel, allowing them to plan, the airline said.

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