[AMDATAR]

The undersigned alongwith 3 other passengers were booked on flight operated by Virgin Australia on July 22, 2022, between Brisbane to Melbourne. However, owing the last-minute cancellation by Virgin Australia, 2 of the passengers i.e., Mr. Dilip Joshi and Mrs. Namrata Joshi had to book Qantas Airways late evening flight on July 22, 2022, from Brisbane to Melbourne, whose PNR was 55C5LG. Last minute booking with Qantas was imperative as both these passengers had a connecting next day flight to India.

However, astonishingly, Qantas Airways charged an obnoxious and weirdest fare of AUD 1107.18 for 2 passengers (i.e., 553.59 per passenger) one way from Brisbane to Melbourne, as against ticket issued by Virgin Australia for 4 passengers one way at just AUD 481.3 (i.e., 120.32 per passenger). This works out to ridiculous 4.6 times of the fare charged by your competitor. Both the invoices are enclosed for your ready reference.

Charging such an unreasonable and unjust amount from the passengers, just because the tickets were booked at the last minutes due to emergency, is not only disgraceful but it represents horrendous capitalist mindset of looting passengers and taking undue advantage of the precarious situation the passenger is in. This is absolutely not expected from a reputed airline like Qantas. Of course, such shameful games almost every airline plays in the name of the overbooking on the flights. However, to our shock and surprise, almost about 30-40 seats were empty in the said Qantas flight that day so Qantas can not even take shelter of the reason of over booking.

Owing to the above, we had demanded refund of AUD 866.54 (i.e., AUD 553.59 charged by you less AUD 120.32 per passenger charged by Virgin Atlantic i.e., 433.27*2 passengers).

However, Qantas vide their email dated October 21, 2022 have clearly refused the same and have justified their action of charging such an obnoxious fare. Hence, we are filing this grievance with you.

Kindly do the needful and give justice.

Thanks

Aamod Datar
On behalf of all the 4 passengers