War Veteran Bumped From Business Class Seat At Last Moment; Here’s What Happened Next

A 78-year-old war veteran, Stephen Jones, found himself unexpectedly ‘bumped’ from his business class seat on a recent Qantas flight. We have a pilot who is flying to Adelaide and his contract states that he must fly in business class’.” Following the incident, Stephen Jones lodged a complaint with Qantas upon his arrival in Adelaide. During the interview with Ross and Russ, Qantas Airlines clarified the situation, stating that one of their pilots needed to travel from Melbourne to Adelaide and as per their agreement, pilots flying to another city to operate a flight must be provided with a seat in the business class cabin. Justin Lawrence, a Partner at Henderson Ball Lawyers, explained that Qantas’s actions in downgrading Stephen fall under a term known as “involuntary downgrading.” This term is used in situations where airlines need to reassign passengers from their originally booked class to a lower class due to various reasons.