Qantas to refund fares on nosedive jet

(AAP) Qantas will refund the fares of passengers on a jet which violently lost altitude and nosedived above Western Australia, and deal with those injured on the flight on a "case by case" basis.

More than 70 people on Qantas flight QF72 from Singapore to Perth were injured when
the Airbus A330-300, carrying 303 passengers and 10 crew, suddenly dropped altitude
on Tuesday.
Up to a dozen people were seriously hurt, including with spinal injuries, after the
sudden drop sent the plane into a nosedive, throwing passengers around the cabin.
Air safety investigators say it is too early to blame passenger lap-top computers
for causing the jet to abruptly plummet.
Laptops could have interfered with the plane's on-board computer system, it has been
reported.
A Qantas spokesman said the company would contact each of the flight's passengers
and deal with those injured on a case by case basis.
"We will be arranging to refund the cost of all the Qantas travel on their itinerary
in the form of an ex-gratia payment," he said.
"We will also provide each customer with a Qantas travel voucher for the value of an
equivalent flight between Australia and London."
Qantas would talk directly to passengers who sustained injuries in the incident, the
spokesman said.
"We will be talking to our customers directly about any other needs according to
their individual circumstances and in particular in association with any injuries
sustained as a result of this incident."
Investigators say it will be 30 days before a preliminary report into the cause of
the incident is delivered.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said preliminary data had been
retrieved from the flight data and cockpit voice recorders.
An ATSB spokesman said the full interpretation and analysis of the data would take
some time.
A preliminary review of the data indicated the aircraft climbed about 200 feet from
a cruising level of 37,000 feet before the aircraft nose-dived and descended about
650 feet in about 20 seconds before returning to cruising level.
"This was closely followed by a further nose-down pitch where the aircraft descended
about 400 feet in about 16 seconds before returning once again to the cruising
level," the spokesman said in a statement.
Injured passengers would be interviewed to understand what occurred in the cabin and
all passengers would be provided with a copy of the ATSB's preliminary report to be
released in 30 days.
Meanwhile, aviation law firm Carter Capner Law said the incident highlighted an
urgent need to update Australia's international passenger compensation regime.
Lawyer Peter Carter said the federal government failed to ratify a 1999
international treaty that raised passenger compensation limits set 12 years ago.
He said Qantas passenger claims were subject to a maximum $500,000 limit, which
would not be enough to compensate seriously injured passengers.
"The international community, apart from Australia, decided long ago the $500,000
liability limit was unfair and inadequate," Mr Carter said.
The Montreal Convention removed limits on the amount of compensation payable by
airlines under certain circumstances.
An ongoing delay to ratify the treaty meant injury and death compensation limits
last reviewed in 1996 still applied.
The convention was ratified by 86 other nations, including the United States and New
Zealand in 2005.