Qantas has conceded its reputation had already been “hit hard on several fronts” before the consumer watchdog launched legal action and that “it will take time to repair” its standing in the eyes of Australians. In a lengthy statement on Monday, Qantas said it was still reviewing the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s allegations that the airline had sold tickets for more than 8,000 flights that were already cancelled in its system. Qantas said it “will have more to say” after reviewing the case but said that “understandably, these allegations have caused significant concern among our customers, our people and the general community”. “The ACCC’s allegations come at a time when Qantas’ reputation has already been hit hard on several fronts,” Qantas said.<br/>“We want the community to know that we hear and understand their disappointment. We know that the only way to fix it is by delivering consistently. We know it will take time to repair. And we are absolutely determined to do that.” Qantas said the period of time the ACCC investigated in mid-2022 was one of well-publicised upheaval and uncertainty across the aviation industry, as the airline struggled to restart post-Covid. “We openly acknowledge that our service standards fell well short and we sincerely apologise.” The ACCC accused Qantas of engaging in false, misleading or deceptive conduct and has said it wants the airline to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties if found guilty.<br/>
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Australia’s consumer watchdog on Friday called for Qantas Airways to be punished with a record fine for allegedly selling tickets on thousands of flights that had already been canceled. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said Qantas’ penalty for allegedly breaching consumer law should be more than double the Australian record A$125m ($81m) fine imposed on the Volkswagen Group in 2019 for misleading customers about the level of exhaust emissions from its diesel engines. “We consider that this should be a record penalty for this conduct,” Cass-Gottieb told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “We are going to seek a penalty that will underline that this is not just to be a cost of doing business... We consider these penalties to have been too low. We think the penalties should be in hundreds of million, not tens of million.” The commission filed a lawsuit against Qantas in the Federal Court Thursday alleging Australia’s flagship airline engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct by advertising tickets for more than 8,000 flights from May through July last year that had already been canceled but not removed from sale. Qantas canceled 1-in-4 flights during the three-month period. Qantas kept selling tickets on average for more than two weeks after flights were canceled and in some cases up to 47 days, the commission said. Customers who bought tickets before flights were canceled were informed on average 18 days after the cancellations and in some cases 48 days later.<br/>