Qantas says 'sorry' with 100,000 free tickets

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Sun, 06 Nov 2011 1:16p.m.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce (AAP)

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce (AAP)

Qantas will give away 100,000 air tickets worth $A20 million ($NZ26 million) as its way of saying "sorry" to passengers stranded by the grounding of its fleet last week.

Eligible customers who bought their tickets in Australia will be offered a free return economy flight on any domestic or trans-Tasman route.

Qantas says further announcements will be made shortly regarding overseas-based customers and its frequent flyer program.

The free flight bonanza brings the total cost of the airline's grounding to $A50 million, including about $A30 million for the two days that flights were cancelled.

"We know that we have disrupted a huge amount of customers and we are wanting to go above and beyond to say we are sorry," Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said in a statement on Sunday.

Mr Joyce announced last Saturday he was locking out workers involved in long-running industrial action and grounding the entire global Qantas fleet as a consequence of the lock-out.

At this stage, customers who bought their tickets in Australia for travel between 5pm on Saturday, October 29, and midnight on Monday, October 30, and whose flights were disrupted, will be eligible for a free return economy flight on any domestic or trans-Tasman route.

The passengers will also be refunded the full cost of their Qantas ticket and any expenses they incurred while stranded away from home.

Passengers who bought tickets on other airlines to make up for the missed flights will also be reimbursed for the difference between the new flight and their original Qantas flight.

NZN

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Comments

07 Nov 2011 10:23a.m.

Dan wrote:

This is the outcome of the massively inflated ego of Alan Joyce and the top management team. Instead of valuing their main asset , i.e. their people they prefer to play hardball. I for one am all for the unions to run this management to the ground and let the share holders run a no-confidence vote against the current management.

06 Nov 2011 05:18p.m.

Ruz wrote:

A lot of travellers will be turned off by Qantas because of its decision to cancel flights without any warning. When you combine this with its refusal to fly earlier this year because of the dust in the atmosphere, when Air NZ was happy to do so, it’s no wonder they have a lot of work to do to win back customers.

06 Nov 2011 04:54p.m.

Liz wrote:

Wouldn't it have been cheaper for them in the long run to have actually negotiated with the unions instead of throwing a tantrum the way they did?

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