By Aaron Miller-
Economy flights to Australia are in short supply due to expensive tickets mainly for business men and women, in order to restrict numbers and maximise profits.
Planes flying into Australia are carrying very few economy passengers to stick to imposed limits on passenger numbers, causing wide inconvenience to travellers.
Many Australians have been forced to wait months overseas in order to catch their flights home as a result of the scarcity of passenger seats
Several Australians from different professions including doctors, nurses and other essential workers, gave their account to the Guardian about their experiences. A number had kept in touch with other passengers who are sharing similar experiences and cannot afford the higher peices being charged by airlines.
A spokeswoman for Qatar Airways told a U.S Guardian reporter the commercial value of tickets as the key consideration of the airline’s limit.
“In order to ensure the continued viability of our operations to Australia, [the] commercial value of tickets sold must also be taken into consideration to be able to operate each flight.”
She said the airline continued to assess each passenger “on an individual basis regardless of what cabin class they have booked” when considering priority travel and compassionate grounds.
She said the airline continued to assess each passenger “on an individual basis regardless of what cabin class they have booked” when considering priority travel and compassionate grounds.
Exploitation
The news shows how some airlines are exploiting the pandemic and its rules of social distancing to raise air prices for businessmen and substantially limit the number of passengers who can fly economy class.
Some observers believe the practise calls for an inquiry into how widespread it is, and whether it it is justified in the circumstance.
Last week The Guardian also revealed that The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is investigating whether airlines are breaching consumer laws by cancelling economy tickets while selling more expensive seats for the same service on their websites.
The situation is expected to change in the next week as pressure mounts on Quarter airline to address the situation. It will mean the limits imposed on passenger numbers being re examined to ensure unreasonable practices that disadvantage low to average income earners who were caught up in the pandemic while abroad.
Some have ran out of money and have had to appeal to family members abroad to support them financially, but not everybody will have that luxury.