(Image: Gorkie/Private Media)

The mask, slipping for years, is now fully off: Qantas under Alan Joyce despises its own customers as much as it despises its workers.

It illegally sacked workers during the pandemic. Now we learn it illegally sold tickets for flights it knew would never happen.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)’s case against Qantas is forensic. It lists the flights cancelled days, weeks, and sometimes months in advance, the ticket sales that continued weeks, sometimes months, after the cancellation, and the refusal to tell people unlucky enough to have trusted the airline. All clear breaches of Australian Consumer Law.

As a number of observers have pointed out, it’s very similar to the big banks’ fee-for-no-service scam (cost: $4.7 billion and counting) — except there’s a clear element of deliberation in Qantas’ behaviour. It knew the services would never be provided but kept offering tickets.

And as the ACCC notes, these weren’t flights cancelled because of storms, or accidents, or normal aviation delays of the kind that frustrate all of us, but for “reasons that were within its control, such as network optimisation including in response to shifts in consumer demand, route withdrawals or retention of take-off and landing slots at certain airports,” according to ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb.

That is, Qantas committed this crime in pursuit of another crime — anti-competitive hoarding of airport slots, of which both Qantas and Virgin are guilty, according to Sydney Airport. But according to the ACCC, Virgin never sold tickets for already-cancelled flights.

And while customers didn’t know their flight was never going to happen, and then had to wait for their refund after they found out, Qantas was able to leave their money in the bank, earning interest. Think of the numbers: it scammed customers on over 8000 flights. Even on conservative estimates, the money involved is over $100 million taken under false pretences. A nice little earner on interest alone.

This scam was approved within Qantas, possibly at the very highest levels. The executives involved need to be identified. Prosecution under section 158 of the Consumer Law should be considered — accepting payment or other consideration for goods or services when the vendor intends not to supply the goods or services, which can lead to a fine of up to $2.5 million.

But under even the lax standards of corporate behaviour in Australia, the accountability needs to go much wider. When the banks and AMP were exposed for fees for no service, CEO and chair heads rolled. When PwC’s leaking of confidential tax information and subsequent cover-up were exposed, not only was management purged — everyone who knew about the leak was (eventually) sent packing.

That’s what Qantas needs to do immediately. With Joyce already going, chair Richard Goyder must go too — now. So too senior Qantas management in customer-related roles. What did incoming CEO Vanessa Hudson know as CFO, and when did she know it? Her position is untenable if she had the slightest inkling of what the airline was doing. All of those within Qantas who knew of the scam must go, PwC-style.

And the rest of the Qantas board have serious questions to answer. Did they know this was going on? Were they also aware of the way the airline was resisting refunding COVID flight credits, and the numbers involved? Are they aware of Qantas’ anti-competitive behaviour in relation to airport slots? Howard-era Liberal apparatchik Michael L’Estrange is leaving in November; former American Airlines CEO Doug Parker has only just joined. That leaves Maxine Brenner and Jacqueline Hey — both of whom are long-term directors at the company — Belinda Hutchinson, Antony Tyler and the egregious Todd Sampson with plenty of explaining to do.

What did they know, and when did they know it? Why aren’t they considering their positions as well?

The revelations couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Albanese government, now mired in a scandal of its own making over its cosy relationship with Qantas and its readiness to bend over backwards to maintain its profits at the expense of Australians. Now we know exactly what kind of outfit Labor is protecting. It’s every bit as bad as the protection racket the Coalition ran for the big banks.

At least the ACCC is committed to doing its job, even if Labor isn’t. When former Murdoch consigliere Cass-Gottlieb was appointed as ACCC chair, Crikey questioned her suitability. She’s proven us wrong in the best way. Just ask Joyce and Goyder.

Is it time for an overhaul of Qantas’ top management? Let us know by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.