Flight Centre's legal win to be challenged

The consumer watchdog is seeking leave to appeal Flight Centre's recent Federal Court victory in their battle over price fixing.

flight centre

The ACCC had accused Flight Centre of breaching the Trade Practices Act between 2005 and 2009. (AAP) Source: AAP

The competition watchdog is taking its price fixing battle with Flight Centre to the High Court.

Flight Centre won an $11 million refund with interest in July after successfully appealing the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's 2013 Federal Court victory over the travel group.

The ACCC had accused Flight Centre of breaching the Trade Practices Act between 2005 and 2009 by insisting airlines could not offer prices directly to customers that were lower than those available to the travel retailer.

The ACCC on Friday said it was seeking special leave of the High Court to Appeal July's decision in favour of Flight Centre, made by the full Federal Court.

That decision included a finding that distribution and booking services for consumers were not in competition with direct sales by airlines.

"The ACCC had brought these proceedings because it was concerned that, if successful, Flight Centre's actions were likely to have meant that consumers would not have seen the benefit of competition through lower ticket prices offered online by the airlines concerned," ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.

"This case also raises important issues for the application of competition laws in Australia in the future, as online offers are increasingly being made directly to consumers by both agents and their principals."

Flight Centre said it will vigorously defend its position.

"We are disappointed that the ACCC has chosen to continue this action and are surprised that the ACCC has not accepted the clear and unanimous judgment of a full court that included the highly respected chief justice of the Federal Court," managing director Graham Turner said.

Meanwhile, the ACCC said it would not appeal its other failed legal challenge from July, an allegation of price fixing against ANZ.


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world