Qantas Airways has agreed to pay A$105 million (about $74 million) to settle a class-action lawsuit over refunds for flights cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of passengers whose flights were cancelled between 2020 and 2022 but were given travel credits instead of cash refunds. Plaintiffs argued that the airline should have returned money directly to customers rather than issuing vouchers.
The settlement, led by the legal firm Echo Law, still requires court approval. If approved, details on how affected passengers can claim their refunds will be announced later.
Echo Law alleged that Qantas breached contracts with customers and engaged in misleading conduct by failing to promptly provide cash refunds, which it said violated Australian consumer laws. According to the firm, the airline benefited financially by holding large sums of customer funds that should have been returned.
Qantas said it agreed to the settlement “with no admission of liability.” The airline also noted that in 2023 it removed the expiry dates on pandemic-era flight credits, allowing customers to request cash refunds.
The payout is almost double the amount the airline had expected to pay, according to financial results released earlier in 2026.
The case is part of wider legal scrutiny of airlines’ actions during the pandemic. Echo Law is also pursuing a similar class action against Jetstar, the low-cost carrier owned by Qantas, over claims that it issued travel credits worth less than the refunds passengers were entitled to.
Qantas has faced other legal challenges related to its pandemic-era decisions. In 2025, an Australian court ordered the airline to pay a record A$90 million fine for unlawfully dismissing more than 1,800 ground workers during the pandemic. The airline later apologized, with Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson acknowledging that the actions caused “real harm” to employees and their families.
