The exorcism of Alan Joyce’s Qantas legacy is now almost complete. And while the airline is up for $120 million in fines and compensation for booking customers on already cancelled services, Qantas could have ended up paying a far heavier price for its so-called “ghost flights”.
For Joyce’s replacement, Vanessa Hudson, the settlement reached with the consumer watchdog is another sign of her getting on with the job of putting a new softer, more reasonable face to Qantas.
The deal has been done between Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson and ACCC chair Gina Cass Gottlieb.
Since stepping up to the top job last September, Hudson hasn’t wasted any opportunity to impress the fact that she is cut from a different cloth to that of her predecessor.
Rather than engage in a bruising and protracted court case with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Hudson has instead decided to meet the regulator halfway and negotiate a penalty, admit that Qantas had misled the flying public and apologise for it.
As part of the settlement, domestic passengers affected will be compensated $225 and international ticket holders will receive $450.
By avoiding a damaging court tussle, where all manner of juicy but damaging information can leach out of witnesses and affidavits, Hudson has fended off the risk of an uncomfortable level of disclosure on how the sausage is made at Qantas.
She has also saved the airline from having to explain its arcane legal argument: that a ticket purchased by a customer is never for a particular flight but for a “bundle of rights”. It’s an argument that, frankly, was never going to fly with the public.
Customers understand that flights are cancelled for many reasons, including some which are outside the airline’s control, but they also understand that continuing to sell seats after flights are cancelled is a step too far, even if a court may have found it technically legal.
How Qantas pulled off a soft landing on phantom flights
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06.05.2024
The exorcism of Alan Joyce’s Qantas legacy is now almost complete. And while the airline is up for $120 million in fines and compensation for booking customers on already cancelled services, Qantas could have ended up paying a far heavier price for its so-called “ghost flights”.
For Joyce’s replacement, Vanessa Hudson, the settlement reached with the consumer watchdog is another sign of her getting on with the job of putting a new softer, more reasonable face to Qantas.
The........
© The Sydney Morning Herald
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