SYDNEY, 31 July 2025: The Federal Court of Australia has fined popular Australian travel booking platform, Webjet, AUD9 million for making false or misleading statements about flight prices and booking confirmations between 2018 and 2023.
First reported by Australia’s 7News, the court ruled on a complaint filed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
Example of the website promoting an AUD18 fare, which ended up being almost three times higher.
The court ruled in favour of the ACCC complaint that accused the online booking site Webjet of “misleading advertising prices and false booking confirmations.”
“We took this case because we considered that Webjet used misleading pricing by excluding or not adequately disclosing compulsory fees in its ads,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said in the ACCC statement. “Seeking to lure in customers with prices that don’t tell the whole story is a serious breach of the Australian Consumer Law.”
The ACCC instituted proceedings against Webjet Marketing Pty Ltd in the Federal Court on 28 November 2024.
Misleading Advertised Prices
Between 2018 and 2023, Webjet advertised airfares on its website, in promotional emails, and on social media posts that excluded compulsory fees.
These fees, which included a “Webjet servicing fee” and “booking price guarantee” fee (ranging from AUD34.90 to AUD54.90 per booking), were not adequately disclosed.
In some cases, users had to scroll to find the fine print, and on social media, they weren’t disclosed at all. The ACCC highlighted an instance where a flight advertised “from AUD18” ended up costing almost three times that price due to these hidden fees. These fees represented a significant portion of Webjet’s revenue, accounting for 36% of its total revenue between November 2018 and November 2023.
False Booking Confirmations
Between 2019 and 2024, Webjet provided false or misleading booking confirmations to 118 consumers for flight bookings that had not been confirmed with the airline. In these cases, Webjet later asked for additional payments (up to AUD2,120) from consumers to complete the booking. Webjet has since refunded these affected consumers.
The Webjet fees represented 36 per cent of Webjet’s total revenue in the period from 1 November 2018 to 13 November 2023.
The ACCC in a press statement noted that Webjet cooperated with the ACCC, admitted liability, and agreed to the penalty. The Federal Court’s decision also includes orders for Webjet to review its compliance programme and contribute to the ACCC’s legal costs.
About Webjet
Webjet is a wholly owned subsidiary of Webjet Group Limited (a publicly listed company on the ASX). It operates the online travel agent arm of the company, manages the Webjet brand, and carries out marketing operations. Webjet’s app and website offer travel-related products and services to consumers, including those from different airlines. Consumers can compare and book flights, hotels, car rentals and travel insurance through the Webjet website and app.
(Source: 7NEWS and ACCC )
