Qantas Airways has agreed to a compensation and fine totaling 120 million Australian dollars ($79 million) for the sale of tickets on thousands of flights that were ultimately canceled. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took legal action against the airline, accusing it of false advertising and deceptive conduct by promoting tickets for over 8,000 flights between May 2021 and July 2022 that had already been canceled.
In settling the lawsuit, Qantas will pay a AU$100 million ($66 million) fine to the Australian government and an estimated AU$20 million ($13 million) to more than 86,000 affected customers. Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson expressed regret over the airline's shortcomings, acknowledging that they had failed to notify customers of cancellations promptly after resuming flights following the COVID shutdown.
The settlement is subject to approval by a Federal Court judge. In addition to the financial penalties, Qantas has agreed to compensate domestic ticket holders with AU$225 ($149) and international ticket holders with AU$450 ($298). ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb commended the admissions made by Qantas regarding misleading conduct and stressed the importance of the significant penalty imposed.
The regulator's legal action followed Qantas's record profit announcement for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, marking a turnaround from years of losses caused by the pandemic. Qantas acknowledged that its misconduct continued until August last year, longer than initially alleged by the regulator in court.