Sancia Walker almost made it home from her holiday last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But when her Qantas flight was grounded in Cloncurry due to a mechanical issue, she said she was left to find her own way home.<\/p>\n
“They told us: ‘No, you actually need to find your own accommodation for the night,'” Ms Walker said.<\/p>\n
Ms Walker had to book a cabin overnight, instead of completing her trip from Townsville to Mount Isa.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sancia Walker says it took three days for the airline to contact her. (ABC North West Qld: Maddie Nixon)<\/p>\n
She said it was a scramble for the roughly 30 passengers to find accommodation in the town of 3,000 people last Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Lift back home<\/p>\n
Ms Walker said ground staff promised Qantas would text or email each passenger overnight to let them know if a replacement plane or a bus would be provided the next day.<\/p>\n
The following morning, Ms Walker said she had not heard from the airline, so she organised for a colleague in Mount Isa to make the three-hour round trip via car to pick her up.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cloncurry has limited accommodation options. (Supplied: Cloncurry Shire Council)<\/p>\n
She said Qantas contacted her three days after the flight, after she lodged a complaint, offering to reimburse her out-of-pocket costs for the accommodation and meals.<\/p>\n
Ms Walker said the airline would not refund the cost of the flight but offered 5,000 frequent flyer points instead.<\/p>\n
A return flight from Mount Isa to Townsville costs a minimum of 16,000 points.<\/p>\n
‘Should have been better’<\/p>\n
Qantas said the airline had apologised to customers affected by the delay and would be reviewing the situation.<\/p>\n
“Our communication with customers should have been better in this instance,” a Qantas spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Qantas says it has apologised to affected customers.\u00a0 (ABC News: Mary Lloyd\/file photo)<\/p>\n
In a statement, they said a replacement aircraft was sent to Cloncurry the following day to help get customers on their way.<\/p>\n
“We’ll also reimburse them for related expenses,” they said.<\/p>\n
Ms Walker said she did not receive a text or email about a replacement flight, but saw the updated flight on her Qantas app when she opened it during her lift home.<\/p>\n
Aviation expert Ian Douglas said the experience highlighted Australia’s lack of aviation-specific consumer laws.<\/p>\n
“If this had happened in Europe, Qantas would have been obliged by law to get the passengers where they were travelling, to accommodate them, feed them, care for them until that was done, and to have compensated them for the delay,” he said.<\/p>\n
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Ian Douglas says Australia is lagging in aviation consumer protections. (Supplied: Ian Douglas)<\/p>\n
Dr Douglas, who worked for Qantas for 25 years and lectures at the University of NSW, said general Australian consumer law was not well-suited to disrupted flights.<\/p>\n
Each airline has its own policy regarding flight disruptions, but has limited legal obligations to get customers to their intended destination or refund fares.<\/p>\n
Dr Douglas said operating airlines with Australia’s relatively small population and large distances was difficult, but it was not a unique issue \u2014 pointing to countries like Finland and Canada that have similar demographics and geography.<\/p>\n
“It’s therefore more difficult to connect and service regularly, but that’s not an excuse for leaving people stranded without resources,” he said.<\/p>\n
Delaying action<\/p>\n
Dr Douglas said the federal government needed to step in for any meaningful change to happen.<\/p>\n
“If there was a willingness to run the business differently, they could have done that already,” he said.<\/p>\n