‘Shouldn’t have to have a law degree to get a refund’: Pressure on airlines over cancelled flight compo

Senator Bridget McKenzie has kept her boot on the throat of the airlines as a proposal for cancelled flight compensation and better customer service works its way through parliament. After a senate committee hearing on Monday where Senator McKenzie berated a Qantas executive for dialling in by video link, she kept pushing for tougher laws on Tuesday. “You shouldn’t have to have a law degree to actually be able to access a refund of your own money, and we’ve seen egregious behaviour by the airlines, in particular Qantas over recent years, and the Coalition believes that customers, travellers deserve to have protections,” Senator McKenzie told ABC radio. Stranded travellers should not have to accept rescheduled flights days after they intended to fly, she said. “There’s a whole range of issues with our current system, and we think that the frustrations of the Australian public need to be heard, and we need a set or minimum standard of protection, such as is seen in the UK, Europe and North America,” Senator McKenzie said. The Nationals senate leader, Senator McKenzie served in cabinet and as regional services minister during the Coalition’s nine-year stint in government to 2022. The Senate Rural, Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee held a hearing on the Airline Passenger Protections (Pay on Delay) Bill 2024 on Monday. The Labor government has dropped a cancelled flight compensation scheme from its draft aviation customer rights charter. The Coalition’s Pay on Delay Bill would introduce a compensation scheme for cancelled or delayed flights, lost luggage, and mandatory refunds instead of flight vouchers, as is legislated in Europe and Canada. Senator McKenzie turned the blowtorch on a Qantas executive in particular at Monday’s hearing in the wake of Qantas being sued and agreeing to pay a $120m fine for selling tickets on already cancelled flights between May 2021 and August 2023. Qantas domestic chief executive Markus Svensson told the hearing that it was in the airline’s and customers’ best interest that flights run on time, and operating an airline was complicated with many attached industries. Qantas and Virgin Australia are arguing against mandatory compensation for travellers when flights are cancelled or hit with a lengthy delay. Virgin supports strengthening the independent customer complaints authority. In its submission to the Senate, Qantas says it has spent $230m on customer improvements in the past year. These include a “request tracker” for complaints, handing out Uber vouchers “for disrupted customers in key ports” and using Apple AirTags for bag tracking. But ultimately, Qantas says Senator McKenzie’s Pay on Delay Bill is unnecessary because the airline is addressing its own issues. “In circumstances where the industry is already taking significant steps to address performance and customer satisfaction – and has improved substantially – the Qantas Group considers that the legislation foreshadowed in the Bill is unnecessary,” it said. In its submission, the Transport Workers’ Union said there had been no ramifications as airline executives’ pay packets got fatter while services tanked. “While Qantas has reported almost $4bn in profits in just the last 18 months, passengers have experienced skyrocketing fares and rock-bottom service,” the union’s submission reads. “The lack of ramifications for highly paid executives is an industry-wide issue.” In December, Justice Lee ordered Qantas pay $120m in compensation to former ground handlers who were illegally sacked by the airline in 2020. “The consequence of this cycle is that while strong profits flow to executives and shareholders, taxpayers are repeatedly forced to foot the bill to prop up airlines in more difficult times – all without a guarantee that it will mean a continuation of decent service standards,” the union said in its submission to the Senate. Senator McKenzie and Labor’s senate committee chairman Glenn Sterle had a few political mud-slinging digs at each other on Monday, but the committee will now prepare a report on its findings that is due by March 24. The Pay on Delay Bill will then return to parliament for debate.