Qantas to Pay $79M to Settle 'Ghost Flights' Lawsuit

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Facts

Australia's Qantas Airways on Monday agreed to pay a 100M Australian dollar ($66M) penalty and AU$20M ($13M) in compensation to passengers to settle a lawsuit accusing it of selling thousands of tickets on long-canceled flights.¹
According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Qantas misled and deceived its customers by advertising seats on more than 8K 'ghost flights' between May 2021 and July 2022.²
Qantas will pay AU$225 ($149) to customers who bought tickets for domestic flights and AU$450 ($298) for tickets booked for international trips. The cancellations impacted more than 86K travelers.³
Qantas has maintained that it offered alternative flight arrangements to 80% of its domestic flyers within three hours of their original departure time.⁴
The fine and compensation package are subject to the Federal Court of Australia's approval. However, the company has said it intends to initiate the remediations early.⁵
Qantas reported an annual profit of AU$2.47B ($1.6B) in the last financial year, a dramatic turnaround from an AU$1.86B ($860M) loss a year ago.⁶

Narrative A, as provided by Crikey. Qantas should've faced much stiffer penalties for lying to flyers, blaming COVID for its no-show, and dodging responsibility for its overloaded systems. If there's a silver lining here, it's the message this penalty — while not tough enough — will send to airlines worldwide about treating travelers well and the consequences of their actions if they don't.
Narrative B, as provided by Australian Financial Review. Though its services were hampered by COVID, Qantas admitted its failure to promptly provide cancellation notifications and maintain its high standards. So Qantas is compensating wronged customers in addition to revamping its processes and improving its technology. This settlement restores Qantas’ status as a marquee carrier.