It is nice to see that people in other countries are also litigious.
An interesting case was heard in court, according to the Morning Herald. An Australian woman named Catriona Wilson received her Qantas Club card in the mail in December of last year. The card listed "life time" under the "expiry" section.
Qantas hasn't sold lifetime lounge memberships in a long time. She thought that she had been given a reward for being a Qantas customer.
The lifetime membership was the result of a lucky draw according to Wilson's husband. She thought she'd hit the big one.
“I thought, ‘this is great, very exciting,’ it’s one of those things – you don’t win raffles or prizes. For something like that to come in the mail is pretty exciting.”
Wilson was able to use her membership for almost three years. She tried to get into the Qantas Club at the airport but was told that her membership had expired. Wilson described the situation as embarrassing and said she was upset and distressed.
Wilson tried to get in touch with Qantas to have the system updated to reflect her lifetime membership, but didn't hear back. She lodged a complaint with the airline customer advocate. Qantas told her that a lifetime membership was not in place. There were no promotions for lifetime memberships when the card was issued, according to a customer service representative.
Wilson was offered a 20% discount on a Qantas Club membership, but was not allowed to keep her lifetime membership. Qantas wouldn't budge and she asked for a two year membership for free.
She decided to take the case to the VCAT because Wilson didn't get anywhere. Wilson asked that the lifetime membership be honored or that she get the equivalent value in frequent flyer points.
A Qantas representative claimed that a lifetime Qantas Club membership hadn't been available for purchase for over a decade, but wasn't able to explain how this card was issued.
Qantas allegedly offered Wilson a four year Qantas Club membership and some frequent flyer miles in exchange for a confidentiality agreement on the day of the trial
At this point she was in so deep that it was double or nothing, and that it was all about the principle.
The VCAT was in favor of Qantas. The decision was written in it's entirety.
“This is not a situation where the respondent offered a benefit or service and failed to supply it. It was a windfall. As such, the applicable law is that which applies to a benefit obtained in error or through a mistake. The mistake vitiates any intention on the part of Qantas to give the benefit to the applicant.
Wilson was asked by Qantas to take a photo of the card and send it to the customer service team. Wilson told Qantas CEO Alan Joyce that her family would fly other airlines.
This is a tale of many things.
I don't think Qantas handled the situation well. A couple called Qantas and were told that the airline had issued a card that was valid for a lifetime. If you want to keep a disgruntled customer, a 20% discount on a membership isn't a good deal. How was this card accidentally issued remains a mystery.
I think it crosses the line to try to bring a lawsuit against an airline for something that you didn't pay for. I think it would be a good idea to go to the media about this incident because it is an interesting story of bad customer service. You should expect to be entitled to it if you file a lawsuit over this. I think that crosses the line.
On the day of the hearing, they could have gotten a four year Qantas Club membership and some frequent flyer miles.
Even though Qantas hadn't issued these types of memberships in over a decade, the airline accidentally issued a lounge membership card that said a membership was valid for a lifetime. When a traveler used this membership for nearly three years, she was told that she didn't have a lifetime membership.
The traveler lost after taking Qantas to court. If Qantas mishandled the situation poorly, it was an error.
Do you agree with the Qantas Club story? The person is in the wrong.
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