ACCC action re cancelled Qantas flights

[MEL_Traveller]

My comment was not meant to be in any way a legal analysis. It was my observation that QF chooses to charge different prices for an identical bundle, depending on the time of day the flight is inspirationally going to operate, even though they have no obligation to operate the flight at the time they are charging the premium for. How can they lose ?

Because you have a reservation on one of the more popular flights. Under ACL they still have to take due care and skill, etc. More often than not that’s going to fly as planned.

I wonder if you could ask for a refund if the new flight was less expensive at the time of booking. That would be the interesting question!

 

[SeaWolf]

The problem , again, is that Qantas tried to use BoR as a defence in the cases mentioned. It was not sustainable as a defence and Qantas quickly relented. All the BoR defence did was highlight how poor and in many cases illegal Qantas' service is.

I have a hunch that the reason Qantas settled that case was because it effectively couldn't win. If it lost the case it was going to get hit with a massive fine and potentially have to completely rethink its T&Cs. If it won the case there would have been a public uproar and demands for a comprehensive overhaul of airline consumer protections would have become impossible for the gov to ignore.

By settling the case it managed to avoid both. (Well, it did still cop a massive fine)