‘Open’ class actions in most cases turn into ‘closed’ class actions. Only those actively part of the legal action get any benefit from the final outcome. The requirement to register with Echo suggests to me that this will be a closed action in reality.
These things take many years, and at every stage the lawyers will be sucking large ongoing fees out of the final outcome. Most class actions end with a settlement. All those still involved with the case will be bound by the terms. Which could be only a part of the original claim per customer. The gist of this class actions seems to be seeking compensation, not just refunds.
The litigation funder, CASL, may decide the case is not going well, and pull out. In which case members of the action will be required to stump up legal fees to keep it going.
I would put my efforts into just seeing if the new management is better at just giving your money back.
Not Nessacelery. Some class actions terms are if there is no win there is no cost to the class members. I have been party to one where the lawyers took registrations and statements from the members and then stopped . They told the members that they didn’t like the chances of a favourable result and it was all over.
No matter what one needs to read the conditions very carefully and especially anything one has to sign.
Well you quoted me when I said ‘to keep it going’. Legal funds have to come from somewhere. In your case the action just discontinued on advice from the lawyers.
That is just the business model of ‘no win, no pay’.
From the Echo Law website: Group members in a class action are not individually responsible for the legal costs associated with bringing a class action and group members do not pay out of pocket costs by participating in a class action. If the class action is unsuccessful, group members will not pay any cost. If the class action is successful and financial compensation is recovered from Qantas, legal costs payable will be deducted from the amount of compensation recovered for group members. These costs will never exceed the amount of compensation to which you may otherwise become entitled and will be assessed by the Court to ensure any legal costs deducted from the amount of any compensation are fair and reasonable.
The last sentence details that it is the court that determines the amount of legal costs deducted, not the legal firms
JFO
Exactly. A class action, or any action for that matter, is unsuccessful if not won. And if discontinued, or lost in court, or settled, it is not won.
If funding is not available, the case will be dropped. Hardly think Echo would consider doing Pro Bono given the enormous legal costs involved. They seem to be a tiny three person outfit.
If members are interested is discussing the QF class action, or class actions in general I will split out the class action topic as distinct from the trials and tribulations of dealing with QF on an individual basis,
Hint - neither the ACCC nor successive governments have found a solution that does little more than dust the cobwebs.
OTOH the Aviation Consumer Advocate has set a “gold standard” as a service to the industry. /sarcasm
It leaves few alternatives. Should one wait and hope expecting anything to change, walk away or take the legal pathway?
P.S. “shonky imposter” referencing the Choice award bestowed on the ACA.
Discussing the class action is also a discussion about the inability of consumer law and government to deliver a real solution. White paper mentioned in the ABC report.
I think the topic should just continue on with the focus on dealing with QF as a customer. A spinoff topic about the legal aspects of class actions would, I think, degenerate into a legal debate.
Interested in class actions? The pros and cons? There are legal sites that discuss this area in mind-numbing detail.
The Group will invest a further $80 million in customer improvements across FY24 in addition to the $150 million previously budgeted, which will be funded from profits.
This additional investment is aimed at addressing a number of customer ‘pain points’ through improvements such as better contact centre resourcing and training, an increase in the number seats that can be redeemed with Frequent Flyer points, more generous recovery support when operational issues arise, a review of longstanding policies for fairness and improvements to the quality of inflight catering.
Qantas is also working to accelerate some initiatives already underway, such as the re-platforming of the Qantas app. More detail on these actions will be shared in coming weeks
It appears that with change of CEO, Qantas is willing to address some of the issues which have been raised by many consumer in recent times.
Nothing about more long haul premium award seats though… long haul coach seat awards are no great deal once the taxes and ‘fees’ are paid, even when a ‘classic’ (miles cheap) one can be gotten. OTOH long haul classic premium economy and business class are value.
Those ‘glorified bus drivers’ as PM Hawke called them back in 1989 when they went on strike and then resigned on mass rather than accept the courts telling them their claims were ridiculous and accept reason.
The past three CEOs of Qantas, Joyce, Dixon, and Strong, have faced continual threats and actual disruption from unions. Interestingly the first two moving over from Ansett. An airline that died partially due to union intrangience in attempts to compete with QF and VA.
I think the QF board is composed of some seriously good members. The AGM in November is where they will face a grilling from the shareholders.
Maybe but Joyce has had his share of detractors and then some. From memory his speciality was low cost airlines and specifically Jetstar, and from some accounts he moved QF in that direction. The board stood by and supported him in the name of the balance sheet in spite of a shredding downhill reputation. Reputation (and protection) is all QF has to justify its prices and stingy FF program.
Rather than pointing a single finger there seemed sufficient blame to go around and around a few times with blame left over.
IMO the Chair should do the honourable thing and fall on his sword.
The Ansett collapse. Sad. I was there until nearly the end when I managed to escape with a voluntary redundancy (only offered to non-union employees, since the unions refused to budge) and watched in fascination as it went from a great airline, but a poor business, to grounded, and dead.
I wrote (registered mail) at your advice, directly to Vanessa Hudson, new CEO of Qantas. After two weeks or so, and with no direct reply from Vanessa, I received a series of calls from Qantas Customer Service enquiring further. I repeated all my story, and with little to-do, and with apparently no knowledge of my epistle to Vanessa, all was sorted, the money is now in the bank. Thank you for the advice. I still have not heard back from my letter to Vanessa Hudson.
CEOs do not reply personally excepting in the most unusual circumstances.
Their administrative staff handle incomings and most replies that do not require the CEO’s personal attention (eg business matters). Most likely Vanessa Hudson’s office hand-balled your problem to customer service with a ‘please take care of this customer’ directive attached.
It is good to know they took care of you. Thanks for your update.
On 9 Oct after a long phone call, Qantas rep told me that a refund on my travel pass had been processed and the credit should appear on the card I used to book the flight within 20 working days.
Since then, I’ve had 2 or 3 standard emails from them about the same travel pass “Book your next flight or request a refund”. And of course no credit has appeared although 20 working days have now elapsed.
Possibly the refund has been delayed because the last 5 digits of the card number have changed since I booked but it’s the same account and Qantas assured me the number change didn’t matter.
Before spending more hours on the phone to chase up, just wondering if others have recent experience on how long it actually takes before the refund arrives.
