Qantas fines IDR 1.05 T for passengers who are cheated and cheated

Qantas was fined AUD 100 million or about IDR 1.05 trillion. As a result, the Australian-based airline has been accused of misleading customers when booking flights for several years.

Launch 9 newsOn Wednesday (9/10/2024), the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) sued the company in the Federal Court for unfair practices related to the sale of tickets on canceled flights.

The national airline is believed to have cheated and misled customers by continuing to sell tickets for canceled flights. It has also been confirmed that they often delay notification of flight cancellations to customers who have booked tickets.

Judge Helen Rofe formally ordered Qantas to pay a fine of AUD 100 million after the competition watchdog and the airline agreed last May to pay the fine.

“This is a significant fine, which is a strong signal to all businesses, large and small, that they will face serious consequences if they mislead consumers,” ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said in a statement. after the court.

Examples of this issue occurred with canceled flights between 21 May 2021 and 26 August 2023. As well as scheduled flights between 1 May 2022 and 10 May 2024 that affected 86,597 customer seats. Worse, this fraud occurred on more than 70 thousand flights.

The issue occurred for flight tickets canceled between 21 May 2021 and 26 August 2023, for flights scheduled between 1 May 2022 and 10 May 2024. This affected 86,597 customers on more than 70 thousand flights.

Seats would continue to be sold for approximately 11 days to 62 days after Qantas decided to cancel the flights. At the same time, according to the court, it takes about 11-67 days for customers who have made an appointment to receive a notification about the cancellation of their flights.

According to ACCC lawyer Christopher Caleo, the airline’s senior managers were aware of various aspects of the case. This includes that canceled flights will not be removed from the booking page or that customers can still book those canceled flights.

However, one manager was unaware of the full extent of the problem.

“Qantas is aware of the deficiencies in their systems. Despite their awareness, these issues continued over a long period of time and affected many customers,” said Caleo.

The details of the fine are that Qantas was fined AUD 70 million for selling canceled flights. And fined AUD 30 million for failing to notify customers of the canceled flight.

“We all know the inconvenience of flight cancellations. When this happens, customers need to know about the cancellation as soon as possible, so they can find other arrangements that work for them,” said Cass – Gottlieb.

“Up to approximately 880,000 consumers were affected by Qantas’ actions. People had made plans, and perhaps spent money on other related purchases, depending on the flight taking off as advertised. And there might be a delay in telling them it was canceled. it caused them “it is more difficult and more expensive to make other arrangements,” he said.

(week/week)