Australia: Coalition to present ‘pay on delay’ bill to make airlines compensate affected passengers

The Coalition will move to force the Albanese government to bring in an airline passenger compensation scheme that would make carriers pay delayed customers, in a bill dubbed “pay on delay”. On Friday, opposition transport spokesperson and Nationals senator, Bridget McKenzie, and Liberal senator Dean Smith gave notice of their intention to move “a bill for an Act to require the transport minister to make rules prescribing carriers’ obligations, and for related purposes” when parliament returns later this month. “Australians deserve an aviation industry where planes take off and arrive on time, and their bags arrive with them,” McKenzie and Smith said in a statement. “The Pay on Delay Bill is designed to clean up Australia’s airline industry through ensuring concrete protections for passengers to, from and within Australia and its territories in the event of flight delays, cancellations, or denials of boarding.” The move seeks to address soaring levels of dissatisfaction with airlines over increasing delays and cancellations. In November 45% of flights between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane were cancelled or delayed. The Coalition also appears to be responding to Qantas’ recent claim, made in its defence against legal action from the consumer watchdog, that it doesn’t sell tickets to any particular flight, but rather a “bundle of rights” that includes alternative options in the event of cancellations. “The Bill will clarify a passenger’s ticket is on a particular flight, to a particular destination, at a particular time,” McKenzie and Smith said.<br/>