Passengers on a Qantas flight from Sydney, Australia, to Haneda, Japan, were shocked when an explicit movie was accidentally played on all in-flight screens due to a technical glitch, news.com.au reported. 

The incident occurred on flight QF59, causing discomfort among travellers, particularly families with children, as the film “Daddio” (2023) was shown without an option to turn it off.

The R-rated movie, starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn, includes explicit sexual content and scenes of graphic nudity.

“It was impossible to pause, dim, or turn it off. The worst part was that the movie was extremely inappropriate,” one passenger wrote on Reddit, noting that it took nearly an hour to replace the film with a more family-friendly option.

“It was super uncomfortable for everyone, especially with families and kids on board”

Qantas acknowledged the incident, stating that a technical malfunction in the in-flight entertainment system prevented passengers from selecting individual films.

According to the New York Post, the airline explained that crew members attempted to resolve the issue by asking passengers for their movie preferences, which led to the entire cabin being shown “Daddio.”

When it became apparent that the film was not appropriate for all viewers, crew members tried to help passengers avoid the movie by fixing their screens. However, when this proved impossible, they switched the film to a more family-friendly option, as reported by the *New York Post*.

In a statement to news.com.au, a Qantas spokesperson apologized for the incident, noting that the standard procedure is to play family-friendly films when individual selection is unavailable.

“The movie was clearly not suitable to play for the whole flight, and we sincerely apologize to customers for this experience,” the spokesperson said, adding that they are investigating how the film was chosen.

An Indian-origin woman, who was on her way to visit family in India for the first time in four years, died on a Qantas flight just before takeoff in Australia. The incident happened on June 20 when 24-year-old Manpreet Kaur boarded the aircraft ready to fly from Melbourne to Delhi, news.com.au reported. However, Ms Kaur suffered a medical episode soon after boarding the plane at Tullamarine Airport. 

According to a friend, the 24-year-old student reportedly ”felt unwell” hours before arriving at the airport but managed to board the flight without any issues. But when she went to put on her seatbelt, Ms Kaur fell to the floor and ”died on the spot.”

”When she got on the plane, she was struggling to put her seatbelt on. Just before her flight started, she fell in front of her seat and died on the spot,” her friend Gurdip Grewal told the Herald Sun.

A Qantas spokesman said flight crew and emergency services had attempted to provide medical assistance. It is understood that she likely died of tuberculosis

Her roommate said Ms Kaur worked at Australia Post and wanted to become a chef. The woman’s friend Mr Grewal launched a GoFundMe in a bid to raise money for her family.

”Hi, my name is Gurdip Grewal and I’m fundraising for Manpreet Kaur. She was a student from my village and going home. She died in a plane during take-off at Melbourne Airport.

Our dear friend Manpreet left us too soon, leaving a void in our lives that can never be filled. As we grieve her passing, we want to come together to honour her memory and support her family in their time of need. As we say our final goodbyes, every contribution, big or small, brings us closer to our goal. Your support means the world to us and Manpreet’s family,” he wrote. 

Victoria Police are preparing a report for the coroner. A Qantas spokesperson told news.com.au that their “thoughts are with her family and loved ones”.

Australia’s competition watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), revealed that Qantas “admitted that it misled consumers” by advertising seats on tens of thousands of flights, despite the fact that these flights had already been cancelled. 

What is the issue?

Having long held the moniker “Spirit of Australia,” the national carrier Qantas found itself making headlines for all the wrong reasons over the last several months. The airline was accused of selling tickets for flights that were already cancelled. The scandal also extended to the company inadequately informing customers about these cancellations, and providing flight credits with expiration dates for trips affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Allegations against Qantas included a delay in notifying ticket holders about cancellations, with an average notification period of 18 days for 10,000 flights. As a result, several consumers had to suffer through botched and inconvenient attempts at rescheduling, even resulting in financial loss for many.

As per the West Australian, the ACCC pursued Qantas through the federal court, alleging that the airline sold tickets for over 8,000 flights between May and June of 2022, despite these flights already being cancelled. 

At the time of the investigation, the airline was already faced scrutiny on multiple fronts, including criticism for exorbitant ticket prices, accusations of below-par service quality, and the controversial dismissal of 1,700 ground staff amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. 

When the accusations were first levelled, Qantas denied any wrongdoing 

Defending its decision to sell seats on cancelled flights, the airlines argued that  instead of purchasing tickets for individual seats, customers acquire a “bundle of rights” and a commitment from the airline to “do its best to get consumers where they want to be on time”. It may be noted that Qantas recorded an annual profit of $1.1 billion last year, marking a significant financial recovery following the turbulence in travel brought on by the pandemic.

ACCC investigation findings

At the end of the ACCC investigation, the airline acknowledged that it did indulge in such malpractices May 2021 and August 2023, a period that also coincided with the most severe stages of the pandemic. The ACCC described Qantas’ conduct as “egregious and unacceptable.”

As part of a settlement agreement between Qantas and the ACCC, 86,000  impacted customers will receive $13 million in compensation. The aforementioned $66 million fine is subject to approval from the federal court.

During a press conference, ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb stated that the commission opted to settle to sidestep “legal semantics” and emphasised the importance of prioritising customer reimbursement.

“In the interest of getting an early settlement and the additional payments and compensation to customers, we are no longer taking forward a requirement that they admit to a contravention of selling the service and receiving payment with no intention of providing the service,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said, adding “It’s very interesting what legal semantics might be saying, what we consider as very important is that Qantas is admitting that it misled customers by continuing to sell tickets on flights they had already decided to cancel.”

Qantas’ explanation and plans for future 

While Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson stated that the company did provide adequate support to customers, she added the airline intended to commence remediation efforts prior to court approval, The Chronicle quoted her as saying. 

“Today represents another important step forward as we work towards restoring confidence in the national carrier. When flying resumed after the Covid shutdown, we recognise Qantas let down customers and fell short of our own standards. We know many of our customers were affected by our failure to provide cancellation notifications in a timely manner and we are sincerely sorry. We have since updated our processes and are investing in new technology across the Qantas Group to ensure this doesn’t happen again. We are focused on making the remediation process as quick and seamless as possible for customers,” Ms Hudson.

She added, “The return to travelling was already stressful for many and we did not deliver enough support for customers and did not have the technology and systems in place to support our people.”

About the fine, ACC’s Ms Cass-Gottlieb said: “This $100m [Australian dollars] penalty, if accepted by the Federal Court, will send a strong message to Australian companies that they must comply with the Australian Consumer Law.