A Brisbane man who booked four cheap first class flights to the US due to an error on the Qantas website was shocked when he received a bill for more than $100,000, despite the national airline promising to rebook customers into business class at no extra cost.
Qantas Hundreds of first class tickets were sold On the morning of August 23, by mistake, flights between Australia and America were found to be 85 percent cheaper than usual.
The airline, which under its terms and conditions can cancel tickets and refund customers “in the event of an error or mistake in the fare price”, instead promised to rebook passengers in business class at no extra cost “as a gesture of goodwill”.
This meant that affected customers were still getting seats 65 per cent cheaper than the normal business class fare.
However, Aji Paul and his family, who had started planning their vacation and informed their friends living in the US that they were coming to visit them, were very disappointed when the airline did not go through with their plan.
Mr Paul had booked four first-class return flights to Dallas, Texas, for his family the following year for about $17,500 and booked the flights for $100 using Qantas' 'book now, pay later' option.
Like those who had already made the full payment, Mr Paul too received a promising email.
“As a gesture of goodwill, Qantas will rebook you in the Business Class cabin on the same flight at the same price you have already paid,” Qantas Customer Care said.
The email said no action was required from Mr Paul and updated tickets would be sent to him.
But after receiving no further updates, Mr Paul said he discovered four days later that the total payment due had increased from $17,465 to $100,121.
He told news.com.au it was “really shocking”, but thought it might have been “another pricing mistake”.
Mr Paul said he immediately called Qantas, which was the start of a “frustrating” week of numerous phone calls with various customer service representatives.
“It's really scary because unfortunately every person I talk to tells me a completely different story,” he said.
“They have no stability [information] They are giving it.”
He said some representatives promised solutions but none came, while others were confused and unable to help.
He said he was eventually asked to fill out a complaint form, which he did, before receiving a call last Friday asking if he wanted to pay $56,000 for the business class flight.
Mr Paul said if he had been told there was a mistake in the price and that he couldn't meet the terms of the sale, he would have understood. He said he would have gotten his deposit back.
“That would have been the end of the story,” he said.
But he said staff were unable to answer questions about whether they were aware of the website error, leaving him “really frustrated”.
The issue remained unresolved for two weeks until news.com.au contacted the airline about it on Tuesday.
Qantas has promised to provide business class seats at a base price of $4,366.14 per person.
A Qantas spokesperson said: “We apologise to Mr Paul for the inconvenience caused and are contacting him to resolve any outstanding issues relating to his booking.”
“As for other customers who attempted to book the mistakenly published First Class fare, we will rebook their flight to Business at no additional cost or provide a full refund.”
News.com.au understands Qantas is not aware of any other processing errors and all other affected bookings have been updated with new tickets, including those using 'book now, pay later'.
Last month the Qantas Group posted one. Underlying profit before tax $2.08 billion The gross domestic product (GDP) estimate for the financial year 2023-24 is 16 per cent lower, which is 16 per cent lower than the previous year.
It was the company’s first full-year result under the leadership of Vanessa Hudson, after she took over the top role from Mr Joyce in September. pushed back his retirement It was terminated two months early so that the airline could “proceed with its renewal” under new management.
The new chief executive described results as “strong”, but acknowledged they were low, attributing the decline to lower airfares and lower freight revenues, as well as greater investment in customers ($230 million).
Ms Hudson said it was important to find the “right balance” between customer and employee satisfaction and serving shareholders.
He said both Qantas and budget airline Jetstar had seen a “significant increase in satisfaction”.
When Ms. Hudson became CEO, she Promises to put customers first in an effort to improve the airline's reputation.
Earlier this month it was revealed that Mr Joyce Cut down on bonuses The airline has committed to implement all 23 recommendations made in the review of key governance matters.
Mr Joyce's bonus was frozen amid mounting investor pressure following a series of controversies, including the illegal sacking of 1,700 staff, the sale of tickets for previously cancelled flights and allegations of anti-competitive behaviour.
The airline will be paid approx. $20 million compensation The fine is in addition to a $100 million civil penalty the company has imposed on customers affected by its flight cancellation policy after it admitted it misled passengers.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched legal action against the airline in August 2023, claiming it had sold tickets for 8000 “ghost flights” (flights that had already been cancelled) between May and July 2022.
