Aussie blasts Qantas over sneaky detail while trying to book a ticket: 'Not ideal'
READ MORE: Celebrity Julia Morris demands women-only section on flights By NICHOLAS WILSON, NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 20:23 BST, 19 October 2025 | Updated: 20:27 BST, 19 October 2025 A Qantas customer has accused the airline of offering inconsistent prices, after his flight increased by more than $300 the moment he logged into his account. Sydney man Bailey Macklinshaw was attempting to book a return flight from Sydney to Melbourne on Tuesday night when he noticed the discrepancy. The 28-year-old said the tickets were initially listed at $618 return on his phone. But when he logged into his Frequent Flyer account to finalise the booking, the price suddenly rose to $942. 'Part of the checkout process, it says, "Do you want to log in?" Logged in, prices jump up. I thought that’s so strange,' he told Yahoo. To confirm the difference, Mr Macklinshaw checked the same flights on his partner’s phone, which still displayed the lower price. When he logged back into his account, he was surprised to find the cost had reverted to the higher price. 'I did the incognito and did a different browser, so went from Safari and Chrome to see if that changed it, grabbed my laptop and it was still the same,' he said. Sydney man Bailey Macklinshaw (above) accused Qantas of advertising inconsistent prices, claiming the cost of his return flight jumped when he logged into his Frequent Flyer account Mr Macklinshaw, who travels frequently for work and is a gold Qantas member, said this was not the first time he had noticed such pricing changes. 'It’s not the first instance either,' he said. 'I fly regularly… this is my 58th flight with them this year. One [flight] a week at this point, if not two a week. It’s not ideal,' he said. He said he contacted the Qantas customer service line for help, but claimed his call was disconnected midway through the conversation. Concerned the price might rise again, he decided to book the more expensive fare. The business development manager said the fluctuations made it difficult to manage travel costs. 'It gets a bit hard when you’re coming down for a job to do this and then your flights have literally doubled in a span of an hour, two hours or one minute, which is the crazy part,' he said. To add to his frustration, Mr Macklinshaw’s flight to Melbourne was cancelled just hours before departure. Customers shared similar experiences booking through Qantas, claiming they had begun to factor in the price differences when considering flight costs (stock image) He was rebooked on a later service that was listed at a cheaper price than what he had originally paid. A Qantas spokesman told the Daily Mail it was investigating the matter. Mr Macklinshaw was inundated with comments from other travellers who said they had experienced similar price changes when booking flights. 'All airlines do this!' one woman wrote. 'They've done it to me too, so many issues', another added. A third wrote: 'It's all a hassle; if you're wealthy, no problem - book it, takes five minutes. If you're trying to get the best price, it can take hours of your time.' MelbourneSydneyQantas Share or comment on this article: Aussie blasts Qantas over sneaky detail while trying to book a ticket: 'Not ideal' Add comment