Mothers angry after Qantas Airways overbooks babies and then bumps them off flights

Qantas Airways, the national airline of Australia, is finding itself in a sticky situation when it has had to bump hundreds of mothers with babies off some of its Canberra-bound flights after the carrier’s online booking system “failed to register” the number of infants booked to fly. Several hundreds of mothers with babies have booked flights to Canberra, the capital city of Australia, to take part in a national homebirth rally – named ‘the Mother of all Rallies’ – to be held on September 7, 2009, by the organisation Homebirth Australia.

The rally is being held outside Parliament by mothers with their infants to protest against the proposed laws which, they allege, “discriminate against women who
choose to give birth at home.”

The regulations of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia only allow eight infants under the age of two to fly on each flight with a Boeing 737 plane in order to match the number of infant oxygen masks available on board.

However, the online booking system of Qantas Airways let as many as 20 babies to be booked on some of the flights.

(The baby-limit on a flight is set based on several factors, including supplies of life-preservers and seat belts for infants.)

In a press release, Qantas Airways said it is “extremely unusual, almost to the point of being unique” that the limit for babies gets exceeded and that passengers were informed as soon as the airline was aware of the slip-up.

Qantas Airways, the biggest airline in Australia, added that the affected passengers have been offered either alternative flights or a refund.

Justine Caines, secretary of Homebirth Australia and the organiser of the rally, said in a statement that many mothers were angry at being told last weekend that they had been bumped – “weeks after making the bookings.”

The Australian media quoted Justine Caines as remarking that the mothers “are not coming to Canberra for a quilt exhibition” but that they are coming because they feel that “their rights are being diminished considerably.” And, now, these mothers cannot even get to the rally in Canberra, she lamented.

Responding to Qantas Airways’ explanation that the carrier’s booking system does not automatically detect when the baby-passenger limit is reached, Justine Caines said that the women should not be penalised for the system’s error.

She demanded that Qantas Airways compensate the affected women for the accommodation costs that they will incur by being compelled to change their flights.

Many of the 1,200 mothers who have been getting ready to attend Homebirth Australia’s Mother of all Rallies have said that they have had to cancel their plans since they would not be able to pay for the additional accommodation or be away from home for more nights.