A lawyer is in a legal battle with airline Jetstar after finding a loophole in their promotion - which meant he booked 58 flights for free.
Tyrone Barugh booked a flight from Auckland to Sydney for 260 dollars, and earned a free return fare as part of the promotion being run by the airline. He then cancelled the outbound flight, and received Jetstar credit as a refund, with the free flight remaining on the booking.
After finding the loophole, he used the refund credit to book another flight - and repeated the process 57 times. While Mr Barugh didn't intend to use the flights, he did hope to receive a settlement from Jetstar. The lawyer has referred his unique situation to Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand.
His claim is that he's entitled to a refund on the taxes owed on the flights, which adds up to about 4500 Australian dollars, because of Australian laws and Jetstar's policies. He said that he didn't have the "most saintly of intentions" when taking the matter to the tribunal.
Jetstar declined to comment (Getty Images)Mr Barugh said: “They’re not out here with the most saintly of intentions either. They have terms and conditions that are designed to potentially avoid having to do the right thing by a lot of their customers and limit their liability to their customers, and they’re pretty happy to pull those out when it suits them."
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The lawyer says that he is owed the 4500 dollars because of a law called the Passenger Movement Charge Collection Act 1978 – which is a $60 charge the Australian Government collects when a person departs Australia.
He said he was enjoying the “banter” of the case and said he would be happy with a settlement of a “small flight credit and a toy plane," and that "there is a spirit of larrikinism."
A spokesman for Jetstar declined to comment, an said in a statement to news.co.au: "As this is a matter before the Tribunal, we won’t be making any comment." The matter returns to the tribunal next week.
It comes as British Airways passengers are now able use messaging apps on flights free of charge from April. This change kicked off two weeks beginning on 3 April, allowing travellers to use text functions on favourite apps like WhatsApp, iMessage, Facebook Messenger and Teams for no extra cost.
With Wi-Fi available on all Gatwick aircraft and more than 80% of those based at Heathrow, the goal is for the entire fleet to be fitted with this service by the end of 2025. To make the most of this free onboard messaging, passengers have to sign up to British Airways' loyalty scheme, with only one device per person is allowed. For those wanting more, such as sending or receiving images, video clips or attachments, browsing the web or streaming content, they can buy passes ranging from £4.99 to £21.99.
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