Such is the cost of international travel that travellers will look for any way to get one over on an airline. Crikey readers recently tore into Qantas over its culture and sales practices as the company faced the wrath of the ACCC over misleading consumers.
Over the pond, the director of a small remote Kiwi law firm is taking Qantas-owned budget airline Jetstar to the Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand after booking 58 separate promotional $0 flights from Sydney to Auckland, claiming Jetstar is refusing to refund the taxes owed on the flights, which add up to a claimed NZ$5,015 (A$4,574).
In March 2020, Spilt Milk Law director Tyrone Barugh made an Auckland-Sydney return booking with Jetstar under a promotional “return for free” special, before proceeding to cancel the outbound flight in return for a credit voucher. Barugh then used the credit voucher to book a return Sydney-Auckland fare under the same promotion, and then proceeded to cancel the second outbound flight, resulting in two flights for which he’d paid $0 out of pocket.
He then repeated the process another 57 times.
“Fuck yeah I did,” Barugh posted yesterday in a viral tweet.
“And what. Nothing unlawful about booking 58 separate SYD-AKL $0 flights. Now asking Jetstar NZ to refund the taxes, but they’re having a sook.”
Speaking to Crikey, Barugh explained that each flight includes a bunch of taxes associated, including the “passenger movement charge”, a $60 tax collected by the Australian government for the departure of a person from Australia to another country, regardless of whether they return.
“Section 9 of the Passenger Movement Charge Collection Act in your fine country entitles a person who does not fly to a refund,” Barugh said.
“Section 10 says that I am deemed to have paid that charge even though Jetstar paid on my behalf. The result of this is that I’m entitled, or so I claim in my NZ Disputes Tribunal filing, to a refund of those taxes.”
Barugh never flew on any of the flights. When asked whether he actually intended to, he said: “Lawyers say a lot of implausible shit, but I don’t think for a second anyone would believe I intended to take 58 Jetstar flights from Sydney to Auckland.”
Pressed on whether the whole point was simply comedy, Barugh said: “No, [it was] to claim a refund of [the] passenger movement charge. Not out here doing gags for nothing, mate.”
“As T.I ft Young Thug said, ‘If it ain’t about the money’.”
Jetstar’s statement of defence, seen by Crikey, argues that the New Zealand Disputes Tribunal does not have jurisdiction to hear a claim that engages an Australian act of Parliament, namely, the Passenger Movement Charge Collection Act (1978). Jetstar argues that even if the Australian act could be engaged, Barugh is not entitled to a refund.
Jetstar claims Barugh “now seeks a windfall gain of a refund of fees and taxes [he] never paid with respect to those $0 fares”, and is requesting dismissal of his application.
“Even if I lose, I’m fuckin’ proud of this effort,” Barugh posted on Twitter alongside the booking numbers of his 58 flights.
Jetstar declined to comment with the matter before the tribunal.
