The Coalition will move to force the Albanese government to bring in an airline passenger compensation scheme that would make carriers pay delayed customers, in a bill dubbed “pay on delay”.
On Friday, opposition transport spokesperson and Nationals senator, Bridget McKenzie, and Liberal senator Dean Smith gave notice of their intention to move “a bill for an Act to require the transport minister to make rules prescribing carriers’ obligations, and for related purposes” when parliament returns later this month.
“Australians deserve an aviation industry where planes take off and arrive on time, and their bags arrive with them,” McKenzie and Smith said in a statement.
“The Pay on Delay Bill is designed to clean up Australia’s airline industry through ensuring concrete protections for passengers to, from and within Australia and its territories in the event of flight delays, cancellations, or denials of boarding.”
The move seeks to address soaring levels of dissatisfaction with airlines over increasing delays and cancellations. In November 45% of flights between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane were cancelled or delayed.
The Coalition also appears to be responding to Qantas’ recent claim, made in its defence against legal action from the consumer watchdog, that it doesn’t sell tickets to any particular flight, but rather a “bundle of rights” that includes alternative options in the event of cancellations.
“The Bill will clarify a passenger’s ticket is on a particular flight, to a particular destination, at a particular time,” McKenzie and Smith said.
“The Albanese government has failed to ensure travelling Australians are not taken advantage of by our airlines and instead have spent the past 18 months running a protection racket for Qantas who represent more than 60% of the Australian airline industry,” the pair said.
There have been mounting calls to introduce a compensation scheme modelled on the laws already in place in the European Union and other countries, which would see airlines forced to pay cash to passengers who are delayed as a result of the airline’s operations, and not weather related issues.
Such schemes also force airlines to compensate passengers for missed connections, and stipulate payments must be made within days of the delay or cancellation.
In Europe, passengers whose flights arrive at their final destination with a delay of more than three hours are entitled to between €250 (AUD$485) and €600 (AUD$1,165) each, depending on the distance of the trip. Longer delays mean passengers can opt to be fully refunded within seven days. If a delay means a passenger misses a connecting flight on the same reservation, the airline must also pay compensation.
The Coalition appears to be upping the pressure on the transport minister, Catherine King, to consider such a scheme, as the government prepares its long-term aviation policy to be outlined in the much anticipated white paper to be released in the middle of the year.
Qantas, in its submission to the aviation green paper process – the precursor to the white paper, warned a compensation scheme would be a “backwards step”, and would inflate the costs of air fares instead of reducing flight disruption.
The Coalition haven’t put forward a specific model for an Australian scheme.
While the government has batted away criticism in recent months that it has taken decisions that favour Qantas over the travelling public, other politicians have voiced their support for a compensation scheme to crackdown on airlines inconveniencing passengers.
Independent MP for Kooyong in Melbourne, Monique Ryan, in November called for a scheme similar to the one in place in the UK and EU as a matter of urgency.
“Airlines like Qantas are acting less like national treasures and more like the mafia of the sky,” she said.
Ryan also suggested that a compensation scheme could address allegations of slot misuse levelled against Qantas and larger airlines, who deny claims they are scheduling more flights than they intend to operate out of airports, especially Sydney, before strategically cancelling them with the goal of blocking competition from launching rival services.
“Not only would this protect consumer rights, it would reduce cancellations and delays. Airlines won’t be so interested in cancelling or delaying flights if they have to pay up to $100,000 in compensation per flight,” Ryan said.
Consumer advocate Choice, as well as the Australian Lawyers Alliance have also called for a compensation scheme, while the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission also suggested it in its submission to the government’s aviation green paper last year.
A spokeswoman for King said the issue would be addressed through the white paper process. “The minister has repeatedly referred to the need for increased consumer protections.”
