Shares in Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) fell along with other ASX travel companies today. At the close of trading, the Qantas share price was $5, down 1.96%.
Also trading lower today were fellow ASX 200 travel shares Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT), down 2.74%, and Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB), down 2.86%.
ASX travel shares follow US lead
Overnight, the share prices of US airlines also fell amid concerns the US Federal Reserve might raise interest rates in higher increments than usual to curb inflation after the Ukraine-Russia conflict eases.
Some US carriers are carrying hefty net debt and every rate rise means more expensive loan repayments. This can impact cash flow and result in less money flowing through to profits for shareholders.
Also possibly weighing on the Qantas share price is the rising cost of oil amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This is a significant headwind for airlines, as jet fuel is one of their biggest costs of doing business. The price of Crude oil is up 1.5% to $97.66 and the price of Brent is up 1.63% to $102.73, according to tradingeconomics.com.
Qantas customers say they've been charged twice
Compounding the company's woes today is reports that some Qantas passengers have been charged multiple times for the same flight.
According to a report on abc.net.au, customers have taken to Twitter to express their frustration over the charges. Many claim they've had to spend hours waiting on hold to speak to someone at the call centre.
Ruby Halloumi posted: "I was charged twice, and it took 15 business days to get my funds back, after approximately 10 hours on hold with Qantas over a week."
In a media statement released today, Qantas acknowledged that "recent call wait times that our customers have been experiencing are not acceptable… We sincerely apologise".
In its statement, Qantas said:
Our call volume has increased from an average of 7,500 calls a day to 14,000 calls a day, with calls on average taking 50 per cent longer to resolve than pre-COVID given the complexity of some itineraries across more than one airline where routes are re-opening and flights are re-starting at different times.
Qantas share price recap
The Qantas share price is up by more than 10% over the past 30 days. However, it is still down almost 8% over the past year and 3% year to date.
For comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has gained more than 6% over the past 12 months but is down around 2% this year to date.
