Flight Centre

Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) is an Australian travel agency. It was founded in 1982, and is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia.

FCTG operates under multiple names in Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, South Africa, India, China mainland, Hong Kong (China), Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and Mexico, and licenses its name in a further 80 countries.[3] In the United States, the company operates under the Liberty Travel and Travel Associates retail brands and GOGO Worldwide Vacations as a wholesale brand. It also operates StudentUniverse, FCM Travel Solutions, Corporate Traveler, ciEvents, Campus Travel, Stage & Screen, and Healthwise.

History

The company was co-founded by Graham Turner and Geoff Harris in 1982 and began with a store in Sydney. Flight Centre South Africa opened its first retail store in Eastgate, Bedfordview, Johannesburg on 17 Dec 1994. In 1995, Flight Centre UK and Flight Centre Canada opened.[4]

In December 2015, the company acquired StudentUniverse,[5]

Controversy

In 2016, Flight Centre UK was featured on Channel 4's Dispatches in an episode called 'The Truth About Cheap Flights'. Dispatches found alleged examples of undisclosed flight mark-ups, discriminatory pricing against elderly customers, not offering refunds for refundable flights, and seat-blocking.[22][23]

In 2017, Flight Centre was criticised for advertising that it would price match competitors and then insisting on charging a $49 fee when customers attempted to claim a price match.[24]

In 2018, Flight Centre was criticised for price gouging after former staff reported that the company trained employees to deliberately overcharge customers to generate profit for the company.[25][26] It was also reported that the base salary of travel consultants was below minimum wage, and staff relied on generating profit through practices such as these in order to earn commissions.[25] The company was the subject of an investigation by The 7.30 Report.[27] In response to the investigation, more than 200 staff contacted the ABC to report widespread bullying, harassment, drug use and a cult-like atmosphere at Flight Centre.[28]

Also in 2018, Stuff.co.nz published copies of posters in Flight Centre offices which reminded female staff selected for the annual "global" staff party to pack condoms and painkillers.[29]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Flight Centre was criticised for withholding substantial amounts from refunds to customer when suppliers failed to provide travel services, claiming "cancellation fees". Flight Centre later changed course to avoid court action[30] following warnings from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission[31] and consumers[32][33] that the practice was illegal. Despite this, customers waited months to receive refunds.[34] The company faced further controversy when it was reported that customers who booked directly, rather than through Flight Centre, received refunds more quickly and without deductions,[35] and that one in three customers still had not received refunds six months later.[36]

In December 2020, Flight Centre faced court for allegedly underpaying staff.[37]

type	Public company
traded as	asx: FLT
industry	Travel
foundation	1982
location	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
key people	Graham Turner and Charlotte Blake‡R1R‡
services	Travel agency
num employees	6,000 (July 2020)‡R2R‡
subsid	99 Bikes Discova StudentUniverse FCM Travel Solutions Liberty Travel Aunt Betty Flight Centre Exclusives
homepage	http://www.fctgl.com/ (corporate)
footnotes	‡R3R‡

History

Controversy

See also

External links

References