Tiger Airways suspends sales as ACCC warns of potential misleading conduct

Tiger Airways has halted online ticket sales after comments from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission indicated that by doing so while grounded it could be misleading potential passengers.

The incident highlights fears that Tiger may not be able to recover from the grounding, which was sparked by a number of safety concerns and is effective until this Saturday, July 9.

On its website Tiger has informed passengers that “following the 5-day suspension (until 9 Jul 2011) of Tiger Airways Australia’s domestic services by CASA, flights have been temporarily removed from sale”.

It also says discussions with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority are “ongoing and constructive”.

The halt of ticket sales came after ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said yesterday he was “bewildered” that ticket sales were ongoing, but a spokesperson for Tiger told SmartCompany the decision was made voluntarily.

“We voluntarily suspended sales and we are closely working with all regulatory agencies. It was our decision to suspend the sales and further updates will be given tomorrow,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the company is entitled to sell tickets for departures scheduled after July 9 but made the decision to suspend those sales for the purpose of clarity.

Samuel said yesterday that Tiger may be misleading customers by not making it clear that booked flights may not occur if the CASA  ban continues.

“We would have expected that in selling those tickets they would be drawing clearly to the attention of prospective passengers, their customers, the fact that there are some question marks over whether or not they will be flying next week,” he told the ABC.

“That it is dependent upon CASA conditions being satisfied. It’s dependent upon a CASA ruling and passengers need to be aware of that.”

Samuel said sales do not necessarily have to stop but the the company should inform passengers that the flights may not occur.

The comments come as Tiger management is busy hammering out a deal with regulators that would allow it to continue operating past Saturday.

The company’s chief executive has flown in from Singapore and it is understood that a decision has not yet been made on whether the airline will continue flying.

Tiger has been warned about its safety standards in the past by regulators and the most recent incidents occurred when an aircraft was flying in to land at a height that was deemed too low, representing a serious safety concern.