Qantas cops $120m settlement with watchdog over ‘ghost flights’

A court has rubberstamped Qantas’ whopping $120m settlement with the competition watchdog over its ‘ghost flight’ saga.

Qantas will pay $120m in fines and compensation for offering tickets on “ghost flights”, with a court on Tuesday confirming its penalty, after being sued by the competition watchdog.

The ACCC launched legal action in the Federal Court against the national carrier claiming for it offered seats on more than 8000 cancelled flights over the course of more than a year.

In May this year, Qantas agreed to pay a $100m fine and a further $20m to affected ticketholders after it admitted it had misled customers.

The agreement was subject to the court’s approval and during a hearing in the Federal Court in Melbourne on Tuesday, Justice Helen Rofe formally confirmed the settlement.

Qantas agreed to pay $225 to affected customers on domestic flights and $450 on international flights.

In May, ACC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb described Qantas’ conduct as “egregious and unacceptable”.

According to a statement of agreed facts, between May 2021 and August 2023, the airline sold tickets on cancelled flights to more than 86,000 customers.

As well, from May 2021 until August 2023, it failed to notify customers that their flights had been cancelled.

Qantas will pay a $100m fine and refund customers a further $20m. Picture: NewsWire / Ben Clark.

In some cases, the ACCC alleged Qantas took up to 48 days to notify affected passengers.

The civil penalty was subject to the court’s approval, which was given on Tuesday.

In a statement in May, Qantas said it had planned to begin the remediation process in advance of the court’s rubber stamp.

At the time, Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson described it as an “important step forward as we work towards restoring confidence in the national carrier”.

“When flying resumed after the Covid shutdown, we recognise Qantas let down customers and fell short of our own standards,” she said.

“We know many of our customers were affected by our failure to provide cancellation notifications in a timely manner and we are sincerely sorry.”

As part of the agreement, the ACCC agreed not to pursue allegations that Qantas received payments from customers for services it had no intention of providing.