The Coalition and Qantus
Airline passengers in Australia may soon get financial compensation for long delays and cancellations—if a new “pay-on-delay” bill passes. Australia’s main opposition party, the Coalition, is pushing for the change, arguing that airlines must take responsibility for disrupting travel plans.
The Coalition claims that Qantas misrepresented the EU study, which found that airline-related delays dropped from 79.9% in 2011 to 69.7% in 2018 after compensation laws took effect.
The Coalition is striving to create a similar version of this policy. Airlines such as Quantas and Virgin Australia have argued that such a scheme would actually increase operating costs and would not attenuate issues with delays or cancellations.
Airlines Respond
The compensation scheme actually passed costs on to the consumer, Markus Svensson, domestic chief executive of Qantus, stated. Additionally, he asserted that it hasn’t improved things int terms of cancellations and delays.
Contradicting Evidence
This 2020 which Svensson referred to, however, showed that there was a decrease in delays and airline cancellations. This reduction overlapped with an increase in EU air traffic as well.
The EU 261 scheme stated that passengers were entitled to between €250 and €600 in compensation if their arrival at their final destination was more than three hours delayed. They were also entitled to additional pay-on-delay compensation if they incurred costs due to other disruptions like missed connections.
A spokesperson for Qantus claimed that the increase in these delays between 2011-2018 were primarily carrier-responsible delays. However, the table in the report showed that during that period, airline-induced delays had actually decreased more than 10%. The review found that airlines did attempt to pass a cost of €4.40 along to consumers on some non-competitive routes.
Adam Glezer, owner of the Consumer Champion, quoted research that showed a small increase in the cost to consumers, but claimed that it was “a small price to pay for having a high level of protection in place”.
Last year, the Coalition transport spokesperson, Bridget McKenzie, proposed this pay-on-delay bill. Choice’s senior campaigns and policy advisor, Beo Sherwood, said she was supportive of such a compensation scheme. Victoria Roy, spokesperson for the Australian Lawers Alliance, also showed her support, claiming that it incentivises airlines and holds them accountable for delays.
Sources
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