In spite of the fact that this post reeks of scamminess, more than 85,000 Facebook users passed it on, at least hoping that it was authentic.
It’s a Facebook post in which the company name is misspelled. It contends that an underwhelming number of passengers is reason to celebrate. It states that all you have to do to get free first class seats is to “Like” the post, and that “winner’s will be inbox’d on March 17.” Nothing about this seems legitimate, and yet more than 85,000 people thought it was worth a shot.
First off, there is no such thing as “Qantas Airline,” or “Qantas Australia.” There is Qantas Airways, the Australian airline.
Second, 3 million passengers since Jan. 1 2015 would not be reason to celebrate. That would actually be lower-than-usual traffic for the airline, which carries between 1.6-2 million passengers each month just on its domestic flights, and several hundred thousand more on international flights. That’s not to mention the 2 million or so passengers flying on its Jetstar subsidiary every month.
Third, no legitimate airline is simply going to give away free first class tickets for sharing a random post. There are all manner of restrictions on sweepstakes and no major airline is going to open itself up to legal issues by holding an unrestricted giveaway open to everyone in the world with a Facebook account.
“We’re aware of this fake Facebook account,” writes the real Qantas on its Facebook page. “It is a scam and has nothing to do with Qantas. Facebook has been advised and are currently investigating.”
by Chris Morran via Consumerist
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