Oct 25, 20232 min read

Qantas

Qantas (officially Qantas Airways Limited) is the flag carrier of Australia and one of the world's oldest airlines. Founded in 1920, Qantas is headquartered in the Sydney suburb of Mascot, adjacent to its main hub at Sydney Airport. As of March 2023, Qantas Group had a 60.8% share of the Australian domestic market.

Alan Joyce was appointed CEO of Qantas in 2008 and has overseen the company through a series of challenges and scandals.

COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing travel restrictions, Qantas faced criticism for placing “unreasonable barriers” in the way of customers attempting to get a refund for cancelled flights. These barriers included requiring customers to pay extra fees, placing limits on available flights, unfair expiry dates, long waits on call centres and technical problems with online services. Choice, a consumer advocacy group, lodged a formal complaint with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) as a result.

Many customers who redeemed credit for their cancelled flights reported being in a worse financial position as a result and accused Qantas of price-gouging. Mr. Joyce rejected this allegation, calling it “absolute nonsense” and stating that Qantas customers got “the exact same as what you paid for.”

In August of 2023 a class action lawsuit was filed against Qantas seeking millions of dollars in compensation for those customers affected and who did not receive refunds for their cancelled flights.