Australia's 'big two' airlines to support an ombudsman scheme?

BTN News
Monday, 20 May 2024

Australia’s two major airlines Qantas and Virgin Australia have given 'conditional approval' to the possible introduction of an industry-wide aviation ombudsman to deal with passenger complaints and refunds.


An aviation green paper prepared for federal Transport minister Catherine King last year mentioned the need for either a passenger bill of rights or a strong ombudsman to oversee the sector and deal with customer complaints about airlines.

Australian passengers currently depend on the airlines themselves for compensation, unlike US and European schemes driven by governments.

King previously said a 2024 aviation white paper would “include consideration of how we can better protect the interests of consumers, whether that be a stronger ombudsman model or other measures implemented in overseas jurisdictions”.

In its submission to the 2023 green paper, Qantas had said existing ombudsman models were “notoriously ineffective at delivering timely resolution of consumer complaints”, but it now says it supports an ombudsman.

“Qantas’ reliability has improved significantly in recent months with almost 80 per cent of our flights departing on time, which is in line with the long-term average,” a spokesperson said.

“Any aviation industry ombudsman needs ... to deliver timely resolution of consumer complaints and should cover the entire ecosystem including airports, travel agents and other service providers,” Qantas said.

Virgin Australia said it “welcomed opportunities to improve the effectiveness of the external complaint-handling process for airline customers”.

It added: “We will work constructively with government if it is thought that improvements beyond those we have already supported are necessary. We will be keen to ensure unnecessary additional costs are not baked into the system.” 

The existing Airline Customer Advocate (ACA), which is funded by Australian airlines, solved fewer than half of complaints received, but an ombudsman scheme would be 'independent - and could enforce resolutions'.

Consumer advocates Choice and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) are in favour of an independent ombudsman scheme.

Australia's 'big two' airlines to support an ombudsman scheme?

BTN News
Monday, 20 May 2024

Australia’s two major airlines Qantas and Virgin Australia have given 'conditional approval' to the possible introduction of an industry-wide aviation ombudsman to deal with passenger complaints and refunds.


An aviation green paper prepared for federal Transport minister Catherine King last year mentioned the need for either a passenger bill of rights or a strong ombudsman to oversee the sector and deal with customer complaints about airlines.

Australian passengers currently depend on the airlines themselves for compensation, unlike US and European schemes driven by governments.

King previously said a 2024 aviation white paper would “include consideration of how we can better protect the interests of consumers, whether that be a stronger ombudsman model or other measures implemented in overseas jurisdictions”.

In its submission to the 2023 green paper, Qantas had said existing ombudsman models were “notoriously ineffective at delivering timely resolution of consumer complaints”, but it now says it supports an ombudsman.

“Qantas’ reliability has improved significantly in recent months with almost 80 per cent of our flights departing on time, which is in line with the long-term average,” a spokesperson said.

“Any aviation industry ombudsman needs ... to deliver timely resolution of consumer complaints and should cover the entire ecosystem including airports, travel agents and other service providers,” Qantas said.

Virgin Australia said it “welcomed opportunities to improve the effectiveness of the external complaint-handling process for airline customers”.

It added: “We will work constructively with government if it is thought that improvements beyond those we have already supported are necessary. We will be keen to ensure unnecessary additional costs are not baked into the system.” 

The existing Airline Customer Advocate (ACA), which is funded by Australian airlines, solved fewer than half of complaints received, but an ombudsman scheme would be 'independent - and could enforce resolutions'.

Consumer advocates Choice and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) are in favour of an independent ombudsman scheme.