Huge ledger of Qantas customer complaints revealed as iconic brand attempts to rebuild trust

The number of passenger complaints against Qantas reportedly flew higher in 2022 than in pre-pandemic years, outlining the challenge facing the airline as it attempts to rebuild customer trust through 2023 and beyond.

The Australian Financial Review reports a unpublished tally from the Airline Customer Advocate (ACA), which serves as an intermediary between disgruntled flyers and the airlines themselves, counted 6,918 complaints in 2022.

Of those, Qantas customers accounted for more than 4,000 of the complaints, suggesting a disproportionate number of complaints were leveled against the airline when compared to competitors Virgin and Regional Express, and its sub-brand Jetstar.

Not all of those complaints were found to be eligible by the ACA, but the number of legitimate claims regarding all airlines more than doubled those heard in 2021, when air travel was still heavily limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of eligible complaints also surpassed those recorded in 2018, when flight volumes and passenger numbers were significantly higher than they were in 2022.

The publication of the report comes as Qantas has been publicly distancing itself from the hardships of 2022, which made flight cancellations, lost luggage, and complaints about poor customer service headline news.

Outgoing CEO Alan Joyce in February conceded the airline had been “a long way from delivering the service they normally expect,” but claimed “those issues have largely been fixed”.

In July, the airline celebrated 10 consecutive months of having the most on-time departures of any major domestic airline, with 71.4% on-time performance in June.

The airline is broadly tipped to report profits of up to $2.48 billion in its latest annual results, with investor hopes pushing its share price skyward.

Complaints and competition concerns continue

Yet customer complaints and competition concerns remain a live issue for Australia’s most emblematic airline.

Qantas has featured on NSW Fair Trading’s public register of the most-complained about companies every month in 2023, peaking in March with 47 formal complaints.

The national consumer watchdog has not taken its eye off the airline, either, given its market-dominating power alongside Virgin Australia.

Notwithstanding the competition from Regional Express and recent debutant Bonza, a lack of powerful domestic challengers to Qantas and Virgin Australia is an issue, said Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb in June.

“Without a real threat of losing passengers to other airlines, the Qantas and Virgin Australia airline groups have had less incentive to offer attractive airfares, develop more direct routes, operate more reliable services, and invest in systems to provide high levels of customer service,” she said.

“There is a clear need for a truly independent and external dispute resolution ombuds scheme” above and beyond the Airline Customer Advocate, which is funded by the airlines, Cass-Gottlieb added.

SmartCompany has contacted Qantas for comment.