Qantas begins $20m ‘ghost flight’ pay out following ACCC agreement

A Qantas Boeing B737-838, registration VH-VXO, taxis from the domestic terminal to the third runway of Sydney Kingsford-Smith Airport, heading to Brisbane as flight QF520. In the background is the old air traffic control tower, next to the main north-south runway. In the far distance are residential districts. This image was taken from Shep’s Mound at midday on a cloudy, windy and stormy day on 7 May 2023.

Qantas has begun a $20m pay out to travellers who bought tickets for flights that it has already cancelled, under an ACCC agreement reached last month.

The ACCC alleged that for more than 8,000 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.

ACCC takes court action alleging Qantas advertised flights it had already cancelled

It is also alleged 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.

Last month, Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson agreed that customers had been misled and the carrier is from here on required to notify customers of a flight cancellation no more than 48 hours after a decision is made to cancel the flight.

It must also stop selling tickets within 24 hours of the cancellation.

Qantas will pay $225 each for customers who had booked domestic or trans-Tasman flights and $450 for international flights that were cancelled.

Those impacted have until 7 May 2025 to claim payment, after this date unclaimed payments will be donated to charity.

“We know we let a lot of people down by not processing cancelled flights quickly enough, and this program is another important step as we rebuild trust with our customers,” a Qantas spokesperson told The Daily Telegraph.

“We’ve updated our processes and are investing in technology to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

Qantas admission of guilt

Gina Cass-Gottlieb, the chair of the ACCC said that senior managers within Qantas were aware that systems were not capable of informing customers of cancelled flights in a timely fashion which led to the sale of tickets for the ‘ghost flights’.

The $20m payout is part of a larger fine which totals $120m including a $100m civil penalty.

Qantas cops $100m penalty with passengers to get $20m back over cancelled flights

Cass-Gottlieb has initially pushed for a $250m penalty, however Qantas earned a ‘discount’ for its cooperation in the case and the admission that senior managers were in fact aware of the systems deficiencies.

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accc Gina Cass-Gottlieb qantas