The number of Qantas passengers disgruntled about refunds, being unable to use $400 million worth of credits issued since the pandemic, poor service and flight cancellations continued to soar in 2022, as pressure mounts on the government to act on competition in the aviation sector.

A draft document from the Airline Customer Advocate that has been held back from release since April, obtained by The Australian Financial Review, showed the number of complaints about Qantas was sharply higher than pre-COVID-19, even though passenger numbers were much lower.