'Living nightmare': Airline customers call for independent ombudsman

A customer who's still owed more than $10k almost a year after she was promised a refund is among those calling for an independent ombudsman for airline complaints.

If our bulging mailbag of replies is anything to judge by, January’s column about the airline consumer advocate struck a nerve with readers.

One of them, Claire, has had a torrid time since she and her sick partner tried to check in for their flight home from London in September, only to discover her partner’s Doha-Perth leg hadn’t actually been ticketed.

The flight was operated by Qatar, but booked through Qantas. Qatar said it had informed Qantas of the issue two months previously, in July, but the couple was never told. (Qantas later apologised “for the oversight”.) The airline couldn’t offer them another flight before October and said her partner couldn’t fly home solo using her valid ticket. So, at great expense, they bought seats on Singapore Airlines. A call-centre operator assured them Qantas would refund their fares.

They made formal complaints to the airline after getting home, had no joy (it refused to reimburse them), and went to the airline customer advocate in October. At the time of writing, they’d had no reply. Now they’re waiting on a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal date to hear their case. They’ve been told that could be six months away.

See also: 122-day wait: Truth about Australian airline complaints

See also: Here's why Qantas airfares are so high

Flying kanga-rude: Qantas customers say complaints haven't been dealt with in a timely manner.

“I am appalled at the lack of airline regulation in Australia,” Claire wrote. “The blatant disregard for consumers… needs to be addressed by independent regulation.”

That was a common sentiment among our correspondents. “The airline customer advocate is useless,” wrote another aggrieved passenger, Peter Weyling. “Never did I feel confident that the ACA was right on top of my complaint… they did not keep me informed.

“ACA is merely a post office. How can it hold airlines to account if those very same airlines pay for its existence?”

Gleness Stiles wrote about the “living nightmare” she’s been through trying to get reimbursed $10,500 for two business-class flights to South America. The flights were cancelled by Qantas and, she says, the airline agreed she was eligible for a refund way back in April last year. It never came.

In July she forwarded her dispute to the ACA, which replied in August that it couldn’t help because she still had an open complaint with an airline. She’s had repeated assurances over several months from Qantas personnel that they’ve refunded her fares. But she still hasn’t received any money. Gleness and Claire’s ordeals sound like exactly the sorts of cases an independent ombudsman would resolve. If only we had one.

Out-of-pocket passengers say Australia needs an independent airline ombudsman.

There were many more tales of woe. Jacob L flew to Hawaii with his partner last June where they had to holiday without their luggage – for eight days. The airline took three months to respond to their appeals, after which he lodged a request with the advocate’s office. He finally heard from Catherine Addison-Walsh (the advocate) at the end of January that she’s requested an update from the airline. Eight months have passed since the incident and he’s still waiting for a resolution.

Cathryn Stavert runs a “Jetstar Support Group” on Facebook that was formed in the Covid chaos of 2020. “People were just screaming out for help. Where do we go?” she says.

She’s had plenty of experience since then helping peeved passengers with complaints to the ACA. Many of those who contact her think the advocate is an impartial referee. She has to explain repeatedly that it’s not, that it’s funded by the country’s four main airlines.

It's been a tumultous few years for airlines and travellers are still feeling the fallout.

There is one happy ending to this story. Phillip Carruthers used to work at the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman so knows his way around complaint-handling schemes. He had never heard of the advocate until a recent dispute with Virgin over a $3000 discrepancy.

“I contacted the advocate about a month after my travel. I (knew) there must be some kind of complaints body, but it wasn’t easy to find!” he wrote.

Barely a month later he received an email from the advocate confirming Virgin would pay him the outstanding $3000. A few weeks later the money was in his account.

“In summary, I was happy with the service but, really, I did all the work, using the right terms from my consumer protection background. All the advocate really had to do was send it on to an appropriate person.”

Stavert dismisses the advocate as “a complete waste of time”. “Why isn’t there an ombudsman for airlines, and the travel industry?” she asks, quite reasonably.

After the travel turmoil of recent years, now would seem a good time for the federal government to look at establishing just such an agency. A properly independent one.

FREE, FAIR, INDEPENDENT

We also got mail from the chair of the Australia and New Zealand Ombudsman Association (ANZOA), Australasia’s peak body for Ombuds-people (there are 24 across parliaments and industry). Cynthia Gebert explained that ANZOA members must be truly independent, accessible, procedurally fair and free to use. “It’s important to note,” she said, “that the airline customer advocate doesn’t meet the criteria of an ombudsman. (It) is overseen by a committee of airline representatives and can’t be called independent of the organisations that it oversees.”

See also: 

Why you should always avoid flight credits

‘Spirit of disappointment’: Qantas tops Shonky Awards list

European airlines pay up to $930 if plane is delayed

Originally published as 'Living nightmare': Airline customers call for independent ombudsman