Air travellers with assistance dogs prevail over Qantas in discrimination case

A Sydney woman with a disability has secured better access to assistance dogs on Qantas flights moving forward following a Federal Court ruling.

Back in 2022, Rachael Fullerton, who has a disability, was refused permission by Qantas for her assistance dog, Strike, to accompany her on a flight. Strike is trained to alleviate the effects of Fullerton’s disabilities and is recognised by the National Disability Insurance Agency as an assistance animal.

Despite the valid reasoning for why Fullerton would need Strike to accompany her on the flight, Qantas refused her request, with the airline saying Strike could not fly without meeting its requirements for assistance animals.

These requirements went well beyond what the federal Disability Discrimination Act requires in terms of training and qualifications for assistance animals. Qantas requested that Fullerton provide extensive information, including evidence of certification through one of two specific organisations, which are inaccessible to a vast number of assistance dog teams.

With the assistance of the Justice and Equity Centre and Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, Fullerton filed a disability discrimination case in the Federal Court.

“It is unlawful disability discrimination for Australian businesses to refuse service to a person because they have an assistance animal,” said Bridie Murphy, senior associate at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers.

An important subject of this case was that Strike had already been approved to travel with other airlines, such as Rex Airlines and Virgin Australia, and in the past, Fullerton had taken multiple flights with Strike on Virgin.

The case was eventually settled, with Qantas agreeing to change its application and approval process for assistance animals so other dogs like Strike can obtain approval to fly without the strenuous process Qantas previously employed.

“The changes we were able to achieve with Qantas were long overdue and will ultimately make a huge difference to the accessibility of air travel for people like myself who need to travel with an assistance dog,” said Fullerton.

“It’s inconceivable that people with disabilities are still facing so many barriers to service, but hopefully, this will set a precedent for improved disability standards and better practices from many businesses moving forward.”

“It’s been a very long process to get to this point, but the outcome has definitely proven that it’s been worth it.”

A senior solicitor from the Justice and Equity Centre, Sheetal Balakrishnan, spoke about Fullerton’s resilience and persistence throughout the entire process.

“Rachael has been relentless in pushing Qantas to implement a fair approval system for all assistance dogs and handlers,” Balakrishnan said.

“But the burden shouldn’t be on people with disability to make discrimination complaints after the fact. Cases like Rachael’s show why an aviation disability standard with proactive enforcement by an independent regulator is essential to ensure people with disability have equal access to air travel.

“People with disability should be able to expect fair and consistent treatment no matter which airline they fly with or which airport they fly to. A comprehensive and enforceable national standard can set out rights for people with disability when travelling by air and require all operators to improve accessibility, so it’s not luck of the draw.”

Murphy believes that the outcome of this case is not only a win for Fullerton but also for each person with a disability who relies on an assistance dog.

“This outcome not only helps Rachael and Strike but is [also] a win for every person with a disability who relies on an assistance dog for independence and safety. Maurice Blackburn is proud to have represented Rachael in achieving this excellent result from a hard-fought case, but it’s regrettable this case was even necessary,” Murphy said.

“Rachael first tried to fly with Qantas in September 2022. It’s taken her more than two years and a substantial legal fight to win the right to travel with Strike on Qantas.

“The barriers to travel for people with disability are high enough. The few airlines people have access to in Australia should not be making this worse by setting up their own rules that make the process even more complicated and inaccessible.

“While this outcome is a step in the right direction, there is still a lot to be done. This entire case could have been avoided if there were clear national standards for assistance animal accreditation and disability standards for the aviation industry in particular.”