QANTAS passengers caught up in its fleet grounding will be wooed with free flights and extra loyalty points, the airline has announced.
The deal, which is being offered to passengers who had bookings between last Saturday night and last Monday, is on top of refunds, accommodation and payments the airline has given to the tens of thousands of people affected in the industrial dispute.
The airline will give every passenger who held a ticket from 5pm on October 29 until midnight on Monday a return economy ticket to destinations in Australia or New Zealand.
Qantas has taken out advertisements in newspapers across Australia today announcing the offer.
When Qantas boss Alan Joyce announced the union lockout and grounding last Saturday, there were 64 planes already in the air, carrying 7000 passengers. Another 13,000 were due to fly in to Australia in the 24 hours following his announcement but Qantas estimated up to 68,000 people would be affected each day the grounding continued.
Yesterday, a Qantas spokeswoman estimated 100,000 passengers would qualify for the free tickets and that the initiative would cost the airline about $20 million.
The flights will also earn frequent flyer points for passengers who are part of the Qantas program.
It has several conditions, including a bar on flights operated by Qantas's budget carrier, Jetstar, which means some destinations are excluded. Over the past few years, Qantas has shifted flights on some routes, for example, Melbourne and Sydney to the Gold Coast, to Jetstar.
The airline will begin emailing affected passengers about the offer from tomorrow and bookings can be made from the end of this month for travel from December 14 and valid for two years.
Tickets must be booked at least 14 days before the date of departure, but no more than 90 days.
And changes will be permitted free of charge.
The spokeswoman said the idea was part of a ''customer-recovery strategy'' driven by Mr Joyce, who has stressed it was initially his decision to ground the fleet but that he had the backing of the board.
Mr Joyce said in a statement issued yesterday: ''This ticket offer is one of a range of initiatives we will be launching as a way of saying sorry as we move forward into this period of stability.''
It is understood the broader marketing push will include a focus on winning back corporate and government business that has been lost to rival carrier Virgin Blue.
Virgin caters for about 14 per cent of all government and public service travel, up from 10 per cent.
Qantas flights resumed last Tuesday afternoon after Fair Work Australia terminated all industrial action and ordered Qantas and the unions, the Transport Workers Union, Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers' Association and the Australian and International Pilots Association, to resolve their dispute within 21 days.
Asked if the free ticket offer was an admission that the grounding had been a mistake, the spokeswoman said: ''It was absolutely the right decision for Qantas. Now that no more industrial action can take place, we are 100 per cent focused on moving forward.''
A transport analyst for Deutsche Bank, Cameron McDonald, said the travelling public was ''pretty resilient'' and points earned through the frequent flyer program could mean passengers remained loyal to Qantas.
''There are 8 million members of the Qantas frequent flyer program - that's 50 per cent of households, and people love their points,'' he said.
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