The consumer watchdog has bitten Air Asia, after losing patience with the carrier’s refusal to recognise Australian consumer law over misleading air fare offers.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has instituted legal proceedings in the Federal Court, Melbourne against Air Asia Berhad (Air Asia).
Air Asia is a foreign corporation that carries on a business in Australia as a supplier of international air travel services to the Australian public.
The ACCC alleges that Air Asia on its website (www.airasia.com/au) did not display some airfare prices inclusive of all taxes, duties, fees and other mandatory charges. Businesses that choose to advertise a part of the price of a particular product or service must also prominently specify a single total price.
The alleged conduct is in relation to the following flights between:
- Melbourne and Macau, London, Ho Chi Minh City, New Deli, Hangzhou and Chengdu
- Perth and Taipei, Phuket, Osaka, London, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hangzhou, and
- Gold Coast and Ho Chi Minh City.
The ACCC alleges the conduct contravenes section 48 of the Australian Consumer Law within the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
The ACCC is seeking:
- declarations that Air Asia contravened the Competition and Consumer Act 2010
- an injunction to restrain Air Asia from engaging in misleading conduct in the future
- a court order that Air Asia publish corrective notices on its websites regarding the conduct
- penalties, and
- ACCC costs.
The matter has been filed in the Federal Court’s Fast Track List and is listed for a scheduling conference in Melbourne on Friday, 2 March 2012 at 10:15 a.m.
This is reminiscent of the obstinacy of Tiger Airways when it chose to only recognise those parts of Australia’s safety regulations that suited it, which resulted in it being grounded and losing tens of millions of dollars.
Tony Davis, the ex-CEO of Tiger Airways and Tony Fernandes, the founder and CEO of the Air Asia group should consider doing tea and discussing the perils of pushing their luck when it comes to the laws of this land.
2 Comments
All true – although “having a marketing department that’s a bit misleading” is something puts me off an airline very slightly, whereas “repeated major breaches of safety rules” is something that will make me never fly with them ever and tell all my friends and family to do the same. A bit of a difference of degree, as to whether you risk losing $10 in hidden fees or risk dying a fiery death…
It’s good to see that the ACCC is ‘on the case’, and there is no such thing as “a bit misleading”. Thumbing the nose at a regulator is often symptomatic of other problems with the business eg cutting corners, costs and not meeting the entitlements of employees.