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Qantas has filed its defence with the Federal Court rejecting allegations by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that it broke the law by selling tickets on flights that had already been cancelled.
The ACCC launched the case at the end of August alleging the airline engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct by advertising tickets for more than 8,000 flights that it had already cancelled but not removed from sale.
The ACCC alleges 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.
While apologising again to affected customers, Qantas said it will defend itself against claims it broke consumer laws.
“Qantas fully accepts it let customers down during the post-COVID restart, including with high cancellation rates,” the company said in a statement.
“In purely legal terms, the ACCC’s case ignores a fundamental reality and a key condition that applies when airlines sell a ticket.
“While all airlines work hard to operate flights at their scheduled times, no airline can guarantee that. That’s because the nature of travel — when weather and operational issues mean delays and cancellations are inevitable and unavoidable — makes such a guarantee impossible. (This is acknowledged on the ACCC’s own website).
“For this reason, our promise is to get customers on their way to their destination as close as possible to the flight time they book, either on their original or an alternative service at no additional cost. If not, we offer a full refund. This is consistent with our obligations under consumer law and is what we did during the period the ACCC examined.”
Whether the court accepts this as a defence for still selling tickets on flights that the airline had already cancelled will be interesting to see.
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