QF/Jetstar treat staff & customers with contempt
A bit off topic,I apologize.
From Crikey.com
Qantas's illusory holidays. A Crikey tipster yesterday pointed out that the ever-consumer friendly Qantas (through its low-cost subsidiary Jetstar) had “recently cancelled the confirmed bookings of 5000 passengers traveling to Malaysia. Most of these 5000 booked during a May fare promotion when the price of oil was around $120.” Leaving aside the morality of the cancellations (most of the customers who were holiday makers would no doubt have purchased linking flights and booked hotels which cannot be cancelled without penalty), there is a basic contractual issue of whether such a move is legal. While Jetstar/Qantas would no doubt include a swathe of terms and conditions which allow it to cancel whatever flights it likes, there is a basic contractual principle that a contract cannot be illusory. That is, a party cannot enforce a contract upon which performance is optional. If Jetstar/Qantas is able to cancel flights simply because it feels like it (say, because the oil price goes up or Geoff Dixon catches a cold), then it would appear to be a somewhat illusory contract. While this doesn’t help the 5000 stranded holiday-makers, it may help a Jetstar/Qantas passenger who is trying to cancel a booking in the future.
While on the topic, Crikey has been informed that Jetstar is telling the 5000 jilted customers that they will receive their money back for the cancelled flights in 5-6 weeks. That means many customers may be unable to afford replacement flights and Jetstar/Qantas can profit from holding onto the cash for almost two months. -- Adam Schwab 