Qantas says sorry with free tickets

Qantas will give away 100,000 air tickets worth AU$20 million as its way of saying "sorry" to passengers it stranded by grounding its fleet last week.

Chief executive Alan Joyce says Qantas will also offer a bonus to all frequent flyers, although the airline has not yet finalised exact details.

The free flight bonanza brings the total cost of Qantas's grounding to $50 million, including about $30 million for the two days that flights were cancelled.

"We know that we have disrupted a huge amount of customers and we are wanting to go above and beyond to say we are sorry," Mr Joyce told News Ltd and Fairfax.

Mr Joyce announced last Saturday he was locking out workers involved in long-running industrial action and grounding the entire global Qantas fleet as a consequence of the lock-out.

All passengers whose flights were disrupted in the stoppage from 5pm on Saturday, October 29, to 11.59pm on Monday, October 30, will be offered a free return economy flight to any destination within Australia, or a trans-Tasman flight to New Zealand and back.

The passengers will also be refunded the full cost of their Qantas ticket and any expenses they incurred while stranded away from home.

Passengers who bought tickets on other airlines to make up for the missed flights will also be reimbursed for the difference between the new flight and their original Qantas flight.

- AAP