Australia’s Qantas clears up refund process for Covid-19 cancelled flights

CANBERRA, Jun 19, 2020, 9News. Qantas has begun contacting some of its customers to inform them they are entitled to a refund for cancelled flights after Australia’s consumer watchdog raised concerns with the airline, 9News reported.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) COVID-19 taskforce expressed its concerns to Qantas after it had received “hundreds” of complaints from passengers.

Almost all of those complaints said where flights had been suspended or cancelled due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, Qantas had given passengers credits for later flights instead of a refund.

Under their own terms and conditions, Qantas states customers with fares booked on any of its domestic and international flights are entitled to have their fare refunded if Qantas makes a significant change to their flight, and if Qantas cannot offer another booking which is acceptable to the customer.

The ACCC was concerned that in emails to customers between late March and May this year, Qantas did not “adequately inform” consumers of their right to ask for a refund.

“We want to ensure that customers are aware that when Qantas suspends or cancels flights due to travel restrictions and fails to provide them with an acceptable alternative flight, they are entitled to a refund,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.

“From our perspective, from the outset, Qantas did not communicate clearly with customers about their rights and, in a large number of cases, simply omitted they were entitled to a refund.”

Mr Sims said the ACCC was aware of the significant changes COVID-19 was having on the airline industry, but its focus remained with protecting consumer rights.

“We do appreciate that the airline industry globally is significantly impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, but I think that customers can and should expect better from Qantas, particularly when many of those customers may be out of work or experiencing financial hardship,” Mr Sims said.

“If any customer in this situation is unhappy with receiving a credit, or no longer wants one due to continuing uncertainty about when flights will resume, we strongly encourage them to contact Qantas and seek a refund.”

Qantas told 9News.com.au that well over a million bookings have been moved, refunded or turned into credits.

Additionally, the airline had been giving refunds to eligible customers throughout the entire period, with the ACCC’s concerns referring to a group of customers who received a credit in certain circumstances.

“We’ve worked hard to explain people’s options, especially during the period of time when there were almost weekly changes to where you could fly,” the airline said.

“We didn’t think it was unclear to begin with, but we’ve written again to a group of customers in the window of time that the ACCC is concerned about to make sure they know what alternatives are available to them.

“We hope the ACCC is not inferring that we haven’t done the right thing by our customers, particularly given the efforts we have made to manage an exceptional level of upheaval.”