Sorry, not sorry: Qantas perfects the art of the non-apology

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Qantas’ caller CEO Vanessa Hudson is hopeless to look antithetic to her predecessor Alan Joyce. Funny, ‘cos they definite arsenic hellhole apologise the aforesaid way.

“Sorry, not sorry.” That’s the reflex effect from the airline’s Mascot headquarters, irrespective of who’s boss.

Hudson says she wants to beryllium judged by her actions, not her words.

When Qantas settled the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission’s shade flights lawsuit against it connected Monday, agreeing to wage $120 cardinal successful penalties and compensation, Hudson reduced the airline’s wrongdoing to specified “delays successful communications”. Thus, “the penalties and compensation that person been outlined contiguous is for delays successful communications”.

Delays that went connected systematically for 15 months and which Qantas magically happened to nett from!

Let’s beryllium existent here. Qantas has admitted to misleading consumers and made an undertaking not to repetition the misconduct. It has admitted the misconduct was not constricted to the wintertime of 2022, arsenic primitively alleged, but continued until August 2023.

But this is the Qantas mode – it is truthful entrenched. “We’re atrocious but alongside our apology, present is our self-serving minimisation of what truly happened.” It is perfectly nary antithetic to Qantas saying: “We’re sorry for sacking 1700 radical illegally, but we had dependable commercialized reasons.”

Qantas’ colony was adjacent characterised arsenic “a win” for Hudson successful immoderate quarters.

How is it ever a triumph to wage $120 cardinal for wrongdoing? It’s not adjacent astir the number, it’s astir the shame associated with it. It’s being the kid caught with the look afloat of barroom premix erstwhile you swore achromatic and bluish you ne'er touched it.

Qantas besides said the $120 cardinal volition beryllium recognised successful its fiscal accounts arsenic an point extracurricular underlying profit. That means it volition person zero interaction connected the nett measurement that determines fractional of Hudson’s bonus. Half her luck.

“We perfectly person maintained and proceed that we did not instrumentality fees for nary service,” she insisted.

Hudson is strictly close that arsenic portion of the settlement, the ACCC dropped its assertion that Qantas wrongly accepted outgo from the affected customers.

But what is ever omitted from analyses of the shade flights misadventure is that the ACCC’s enactment evolved retired of its archetypal probe into Qantas’ COVID formation credits, which single-handedly made Qantas the astir complained-about company successful Australia.

When Qantas cancelled flights during the pandemic, which it regularly did, tickets were transferred into COVID formation credits. Redeeming those credits was, for truthful galore customers, outrageously difficult. It is adjacent intolerable to defy the decision that it was hard by design.

Qantas customers were successful 2020 owed $2 cardinal successful COVID credits but by August past year, with each remaining credits acceptable to expire connected 31 December 2023, Qantas was assuring the nationalist that the equilibrium was down to $370 million. Then a Senate committee forced Qantas to admit that, actually, the balance was $570 million!

ACCC seat Gina Cass-Gottlieb. The ACCC’s enactment evolved retired of its archetypal probe into Qantas’ COVID formation credits.

That’s why, days earlier that Senate hearing, unveiling a grounds $2.5 cardinal nett for 2023, Vanessa Hudson said, “This is not arsenic bully arsenic it gets for Qantas,” presumably due to the fact that she was counting connected $500 cardinal of expired COVID credits dropping consecutive into her nett for 2024. That was undeniably an effort astatine fees for nary service.

Sadly for Hudson, erstwhile the ACCC launched its bombshell enactment implicit the shade flights, it besides forced Qantas to region the expiry dates from each COVID credits. But this is each successful the past, right? Wrong.

When you effort to usage a formation credit, Qantas transfers you into a peculiar booking motor which displays airfares that are often importantly higher than the airfares offered connected the nonstop aforesaid flights successful the regular qantas.com booking engine.

This is the strategy whether you were attempting to usage a COVID formation recognition successful the past oregon a regular Qantas formation recognition contiguous (regular formation credits replaced COVID formation credits for immoderate cancelled bookings aft October 2021 and dissimilar COVID credits, they expire aft 12 months).

In caller months, Qantas added a ineligible disclaimer to this process. “If you usage a outgo method different than Flight Credit connected qantas.com,” it says, “lower fares whitethorn beryllium available.”

Customers are forced to click “I understand” if they privation to proceed and redeem their credit. There is nary “I don’t understand” button. You tin either bespeak your knowing that you are being ripped disconnected oregon you tin forfeit each of your money. Those are your binary options.

Qantas past hits you with a $99 booking fee, which they deduct from your credit, adjacent though your re-booking has been 100 per cent self-administered!

What’s more, “You tin lone usage your Flight Credit to publication fares that are adjacent to oregon higher than the worth of your Flight Credit.” Therefore, if you person a $500 recognition and the airfare you privation to publication is $199, you simply suffer $301 (or technically $202 erstwhile you origin successful the self-booking fee). Qantas adds that $301 to its gargantuan profits arsenic “breakage” revenue.

Ghost flights were conscionable 1 successful a suite of behaviours that were emblematic of Qantas’ mediocre culture.

Qantas could contented you with a caller $301 credit. That would beryllium the ethical happening to do, but being ethical is costly truthful they don’t.

At the precise minimum, Qantas has banked aggregate tens of millions of dollars this mode and by the explanation of immoderate ordinary, tenable citizen, it is deceptive conduct. It is ineligible theft astatine standard and it is inactive happening.

So galore Australians person had, and proceed to have, infuriating experiences with these credits. It is occurring close nether the noses of our politicians and regulators whose apathy connected the substance is profoundly depressing.

Ghost flights were conscionable 1 successful a suite of behaviours that were emblematic of Qantas’ mediocre culture. To suggest that settling this 1 substance means Qantas is present a trustworthy institution is to beryllium wilfully unsighted to highly caller history.

If Vanessa Hudson changed Qantas’ unbelievably assertive gross absorption practices, I would hold with her pretension to beryllium “restoring assurance successful the nationalist carrier”. Until then, it looks to maine similar conscionable different section successful Qantas’ storied past of representation management.

Joe Aston is simply a erstwhile Financial Review columnist. His upcoming publication connected Qantas, The Chairman’s Lounge, volition beryllium published by Simon & Schuster successful precocious 2024.