Qantas offers customers refunds for flight cancellations as Government instructs ACCC to keep watch over airlines

Qantas is offering customers a refund for flights cancelled or suspended due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, as the Government orders Australia's competition watchdog to monitor anti-competitive behaviour of airlines. Key points: Qantas is refunding customers for flight cancellations after the ACCC COVID-19 Taskforce raised concerns with the way the airline had handled claims The move comes as the Morrison Government calls on the consumer watchdog to monitor domestic air passenger services for three years The airline industry is still suffering due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and Virgin Australia's future remains under a cloud The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said the agency's COVID-19 Taskforce raised concerns with Qantas after receiving hundreds of complaints from passengers whose flights were suspended or cancelled due to travel restrictions, but who were given credits by Qantas instead of the refunds they were entitled to. "ACCC monitoring will assist in protecting competition in the domestic passenger airline market, for the benefit of all Australian airline travellers," Mr Frydenberg said. The ACCC said it was concerned that Qantas's communications to customers between March 17 and May 31 "did not adequately inform them of their right to receive a refund". "In some cases, the ACCC considers Qantas's emails may have encouraged these customers to cancel bookings themselves in order to receive a credit when many would have been eligible for a refund," Mr Sims said.