The AFR View
Why didn’t ACCC litigate Qantas?
Is what might be seen as regulatory brand ransom to force companies to admit to lesser charges and avoid the need to litigate, the way the watchdog should seek to uphold Australia’s consumer protection and competition law?
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has cut a deal with Qantas over the “Ghost flight” legal action. Qantas has admitted it misled hundreds of thousands of travellers by selling tickets on tens of thousands of flights that had already been cancelled.
It has agreed to pay $120 million made up of remediation payments of $20 million and a $100 million fine. Qantas still maintains the cancellations were due to surging demand colliding with COVID-19 disruptions – not part of an orchestrated anticompetitive exercise designed to “slot hoard” at airports.
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