Qantas Sued by Passenger for $75 Over Broken Inflight Entertainment

Qantas Sued by Passenger for $75 Over Broken Inflight Entertainment

We’ve likely all been there, the inflight entertainment system on a longhaul flight just doesn’t seem to be working how it should.  Usually, a system reset takes care of the problem, but for one gentleman, he had a 10 hour flight without the system, and is now asking the airline to pay for it – a whopping $75.

The event occurred last May, when passenger Zoran Ivanovic, on a flight from Sydney to Hong Kong, was stuck in a seat where the inflight entertainment system didn’t work.  Ivanovic is now suing the airline for the inconvenience, and calculating that his loss is around $75, $15 for each movie he could have watched.

The airline tried to offer the passenger 3,000 points and an apology for the inconvenience, but Ivanovic didn’t accept.  Instead, he has taken the matter to court.  He took the case to the Victoria Civil and Administrative Tribunal, but that court said it didn’t have jurisdiction because it was an international flight.  Now, he is trying to take the case to Federal Court in Australia.

What is the prospect of Ivanovic winning his case?  Well, the Civil Aviation Authority in Australia has already said that inflight entertainment is up to the individual airline.  That being said, if you book a ticket with the understanding the seat has inflight entertainment, is there a presumption that the person should actually have the inflight entertainment?

This isn’t the passengers first time trying to sue the airline.  According to Fox News,

And this isn’t Ivanovic’s first run in with the airline. In March 2016, he was issued a “no-fly” notice after an altercation with staff at the Qantas lounge of Changi Airport in Singapore. Twelve police officers were called to the scene and Ivanovic was blocked from boarding the plane. After the altercation, the furloughed passenger sought almost $1,900 in compensatory damages.

The VCAT dismissed that claim as well.

We will see!