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| QANTAS A380-842 VH-OQG (MSN 047) File Photo |
Evidence including emails, videos and screenshots supplied to the ABC suggests that prices for the same flight were jacked up when a customer used a flight credit or voucher.
The price gaps ranged from 50 per cent to 300 per cent more, depending on the credit value, compared to when people made fresh bookings.
'Morally wrong'
In October last year, Dean Ransom booked two round trips from Adelaide to Brisbane for December. He ended up paying three times more than his wife for the same economy seat.He said the Qantas website restricted all the cheaper options for seats and only made available tickets that were equal to or more than his credit – more than $1,400 received from previous flight cancellations in mid-2021 due to COVID.
When he tried to book for his wife without using a credit, the cost was $437.
"The seats were identical, and we sat next to each other," he told the ABC.But that trip was disrupted when the Queensland government declared Adelaide a COVID hotspot in late November and introduced strict border conditions, including quarantine.
Mr Ransom had to cancel the flights and re-book for another date. This time, he ended up paying even more.
He said the online system only offered him the choice of business class, which costs more than $1,600.
Given his credit expiring at the time, Mr Ransom said he unwillingly paid over $200 extra in cash on top of the credit for his seat, where his wife's ticket was still around the same price, at $464.
"They never wanted to give [my money] back, no matter what, and to me, that's morally wrong," Mr Ransom said.Mr Ransom said he made complaints to Qantas via their Messenger chat and Facebook page but didn't get a proper response and his phone calls went unanswered.
When he was booking a flight back in October, he not only noticed the price was cheaper when not using a credit, but also the prices varied when using different vouchers.
"At first, I was like is this one of those IP address things, where they're tracking what I'm doing and then the flight changes," he told the ABC.
"[Then] I became very suspicious, and I was like, this is not right."
He had multiple vouchers valued from $88 to $450. Each time he punched in a different redeem code, the price changed, for the same flight.
"When I used the flight credit of $450, each of the tickets came up at around $237 one-way, Sydney to Melbourne," Mr Evans said.
Mr Ransom had to cancel the flights and re-book for another date. This time, he ended up paying even more.
He said the online system only offered him the choice of business class, which costs more than $1,600.
Given his credit expiring at the time, Mr Ransom said he unwillingly paid over $200 extra in cash on top of the credit for his seat, where his wife's ticket was still around the same price, at $464.
"They never wanted to give [my money] back, no matter what, and to me, that's morally wrong," Mr Ransom said.Mr Ransom said he made complaints to Qantas via their Messenger chat and Facebook page but didn't get a proper response and his phone calls went unanswered.
When he was booking a flight back in October, he not only noticed the price was cheaper when not using a credit, but also the prices varied when using different vouchers.
"At first, I was like is this one of those IP address things, where they're tracking what I'm doing and then the flight changes," he told the ABC.
"[Then] I became very suspicious, and I was like, this is not right."
He had multiple vouchers valued from $88 to $450. Each time he punched in a different redeem code, the price changed, for the same flight.
"When I used the flight credit of $450, each of the tickets came up at around $237 one-way, Sydney to Melbourne," Mr Evans said.
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