The The
4th May 2010, 09:52
Qantas will be forced to pay Australian travel agents millions of dollars after the Federal Court ruled they're entitled to commissions on fuel surcharges, lawyers say.
Leonie's Travel Pty Ltd, representing all travel agents who sold tickets on behalf of Qantas, appealed against a 2009 Federal Court ruling that the airline was entitled to exclude fuel surcharges when calculating commissions paid to agents on international tickets.
Judges Anthony Besanko, Bruce Lander and Steven Rares on Tuesday upheld the appeal, finding the commission was payable on international tickets from May 2004.
The court, sitting in Sydney, ordered that Qantas account for the money it received from the surcharge and pass on to the travel agents their "underpaid commission".
Although the original class action also involved other airlines, including Air New Zealand and British Airways, the parties agreed the action would continue against Qantas only to determine liability.
Steven Lewis, from the law firm Slater and Gordon, which represented Leonie's Travel, said there was evidence the cost of the commissions up to 2007 would be more than $26 million, a figure which would have increased since.
He said the ruling could have implications for all international airlines.
"The court has made a very clear ruling that the fuel surcharge is part of the ticket price on which commissions must be paid," Mr Lewis said in a statement.
"The matter was run as a test case to establish the law as it applies to Qantas and the other airlines involved in the class action.
"The time has now come for the airlines, which have been using the fuel surcharge to bolster the bottom line since it was introduced in 2004, to stop fighting the travel agents and resolve this major problem."
A Qantas spokesman said the airline was unhappy with the ruling.
"We are disappointed in the judgment and now need time to examine the detail and consider our options," he told AAP on Tuesday.
The case will now return to the original judge who will calculate damages.
Meanwhile, the funder of the litigation said the ruling was a big win for mum-and-dad travel agents, which had been doing it tough for a few years.
"This decision means that they will now receive the full commission on the tickets they have sold over the past six years on behalf of the big international airlines," the head of Litigation Lendings Services, Michelle Silvers, said.
Hmmm, wonder who was around when this bright idea was instigated.
Leonie's Travel Pty Ltd, representing all travel agents who sold tickets on behalf of Qantas, appealed against a 2009 Federal Court ruling that the airline was entitled to exclude fuel surcharges when calculating commissions paid to agents on international tickets.
Judges Anthony Besanko, Bruce Lander and Steven Rares on Tuesday upheld the appeal, finding the commission was payable on international tickets from May 2004.
The court, sitting in Sydney, ordered that Qantas account for the money it received from the surcharge and pass on to the travel agents their "underpaid commission".
Although the original class action also involved other airlines, including Air New Zealand and British Airways, the parties agreed the action would continue against Qantas only to determine liability.
Steven Lewis, from the law firm Slater and Gordon, which represented Leonie's Travel, said there was evidence the cost of the commissions up to 2007 would be more than $26 million, a figure which would have increased since.
He said the ruling could have implications for all international airlines.
"The court has made a very clear ruling that the fuel surcharge is part of the ticket price on which commissions must be paid," Mr Lewis said in a statement.
"The matter was run as a test case to establish the law as it applies to Qantas and the other airlines involved in the class action.
"The time has now come for the airlines, which have been using the fuel surcharge to bolster the bottom line since it was introduced in 2004, to stop fighting the travel agents and resolve this major problem."
A Qantas spokesman said the airline was unhappy with the ruling.
"We are disappointed in the judgment and now need time to examine the detail and consider our options," he told AAP on Tuesday.
The case will now return to the original judge who will calculate damages.
Meanwhile, the funder of the litigation said the ruling was a big win for mum-and-dad travel agents, which had been doing it tough for a few years.
"This decision means that they will now receive the full commission on the tickets they have sold over the past six years on behalf of the big international airlines," the head of Litigation Lendings Services, Michelle Silvers, said.
Hmmm, wonder who was around when this bright idea was instigated.