Travel agents win case against Qantas for multi-million fuel surcharge commissions

Qantas has been ordered (04-May-2010) by the Australian Federal Court to pay travel agents commission it owes travel agents for fuel surcharges, which were introduced in May-2004 (The Australian/Sydney Morning Herald, 05-May-2010). The Court ruled that as the charge is not a tax, it should have been included in the agents' commissions. Qantas stated the cost of paying commissions on fuel surcharges up to 2007 would be more than AUD26 million. Lawyers, Slater & Gordon, stated this figure will have increased considerably over the past four years. The appeal win is part of a class action by travel agents against Qantas, Air New Zealand, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines, which was filed in the Federal Court in Dec-2006. [more]