1 May 2024

Qantas investigates customers accessing others' information in app

1:07 pm on 1 May 2024

By Jack McKay, ABC News

Qantas Airbus A380 aircraft as seen flying and landing at London Heathrow Airport LHR. The wide body double-decker Airbus A380 aircraft has the registration VH-OQH, the name Reginald Ansett and is powered by 4x Rolls Royce RR jet engines. The specific passenger plane was stored for 2 years due to the Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic. Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia, the world's third oldest airline in operation and member of Oneworld aviation alliance group. The main hub for the Australian airline is Sydney airport. London, United Kingdom on August 2022 (Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto) (Photo by Nicolas Economou / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP)

Photo: Nicolas Economou / NurPhoto via AFP

Qantas is investigating reports of customers having access to other passengers' information on their app.

In a statement issued on Wednesday morning, the airline said it would provide more information as soon as possible.

"Qantas is investigating reports of an issue impacting the Qantas app this morning," a spokesperson for the airline said.

The scale of the issue has not yet been confirmed.

One passenger has told the ABC they can see another customer's name on their app as well as their boarding pass for a flight.

Qantas customer Josh Withers, from Hobart, said he noticed an issue with the app when he opened it this morning.

It showed him the details of a customer called Sam.

"It said, 'Hi Sam' and I instantly noticed Sam had a lot more Qantas points than I did," Withers said.

When he closed the app and opened it again, he saw another customer's details.

Withers said he did this several more times and saw other details each time.

Withers is a wedding celebrant and flies frequently for his work.

Details from their home screen dashboard, including their frequent flyer points, their status, and scheduled flights could be seen.

"It's a pretty big concern because it's the personal details as to the where and when we're flying," he said.

"It's a pretty big privacy concern for me."

Qantas apologises to customers

In a second statement, Qantas said they were urgently working to resolve the issue impacting the app.

"We sincerely apologise to our customers," the statement said.

"We're investigating whether this issue may have been caused by recent system changes.

"We recommend that customers log out and log in to their Qantas Frequent Flyer account on the Qantas app. Please also be aware of social media scams at this time."

- ABC