This was published 12 years ago
Passengers still left 'worse off' despite offer of full refund
By Alexandra Smith
Friendlier skies ... Qantas staff return to their duties after Fair Work Australia ruled that all Qantas industrial action be terminated along with the staff lockout.Credit: Angela Wylie
QANTAS will offer full refunds and reimburse the cost of tickets booked on other airlines, but consumer and travel groups have warned that passengers will still be out of pocket and refunds could take weeks to be issued.
The airline will also reimburse expenses of up to $250 a night for accommodation and $100 for meals and phone calls per person per day for any people who had travel plans disrupted by Qantas's decision to ground its fleet on Saturday.
But the consumer group Choice said Qantas should be offering as much as $800 compensation per passenger.
''While Qantas offers expenses for passengers already in transit, those yet to travel have been left hanging on for hours on call centre lines, with too many bereft of information or a helping hand,'' the Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn said.
''It's hardly as if a volcano is to blame for disruption … Qantas must have known the suffering this would cause and we hope the company will make generous amends to all affected, although money only goes so far.''
Mr Zinn said that airlines in Europe were required to pay as much as $800 to passengers if their flights were cancelled with less than seven days' notice. Australian consumers were not offered the same levels of protection, he said.
Qantas passengers will be entitled to a full refund on tickets valid between 5pm on Saturday and tomorrow if they were bought before the announcement that all flights had been cancelled.
The airline will also ''reimburse the difference between the cost of the new ticket (in same cabin of travel) and the value of the refunded Qantas ticket''.
But Jayson Westbury, the chief executive of the Australian Federation of Travel Agents, said that passengers were ''always worse off'' when they were seeking refunds and compensation for cancelled travel.
''There is no doubt that when these dramas happen, whether they be a tsunami or floods in Thailand or man-made like in the Qantas case, consumers are always the most affected and are always worse off,'' Mr Westbury said.
''Even if you have all the physical receipted things like the accommodation and the new flights, there is no way that consumers can be compensated for the time they have lost.''
Despite this, Mr Westbury said that he expected Qantas to process refunds ''very quickly and very effectively''.
The chief executive of the Insurance Council of Australia, Rob Whelan, said that many travel insurers had opened additional call centres to respond to policyholders who had questions or needed to lodge travel insurance claims.
Mr Whelan said passengers with travel insurance questions or claims should contact their insurer as soon as possible.
One of the country's largest travel insurers, Cover-More, said it would cover customers who had bought their policy before October 13, adding it had put on extra staff to cope with the increased demands facing their call centres.
But, despite the widespread disruption to thousands of travellers, a Slater & Gordon class action lawyer, Steven Lewis, said there were no grounds for a class action by passengers.
''Given the airline has indicated it is willing to offer refunds and provide compensation, there are no reasonable grounds for a class action on behalf of travellers affected by the airline's grounding,'' Mr Lewis said.
with AAP
Sign up for the Traveller newsletter
The latest travel news, tips and inspiration delivered to your inbox. Sign up now.