Getting stiffed

Francis thinks he's being discriminated against at Changi Airport. His flight to Perth got cancelled and...

"...after waiting for more than three and a half hours in the queue, we were told to go home and return the next day for a confirmed flight and to claim reimbursement for taxi fare.

As we were leaving the counter, a hotel representative approached us and asked us whether we were passengers of QF72 and if so, he would take us to his hotel for an overnight stay and the next morning, after breakfast, drop us back at the airport. As we were not told of this arrangement by the counter staff, we approached them; they quickly gave us an identity tag and asked the hotel representative to take us to the hotel.

We wanted to seek an explanation from the counter staff regarding the practice of asking local passengers to go home and foreigners to stay in a hotel..."

Wait, it makes sense for locals to go home because they have a home to go back to. And foreigners are likely to stay in a hotel because that's what hotels are for. This claim on grounds of discrimination is farcical!

And now Francis wants compensation from Qantas for his stay at this hotel.

Dude, how is this Qantas' problem? Some shady character offers you an night in his unnamed hotel. He doesn't claim to be a representative of Qantas, so he's likely to be a hotel tout whose pitch you fell for. In fact, as you say, the counter staff already said that you could claim for taxi fare, but you thought you could squeeze out a free night's stay in some cushy hotel at Qantas' expense too. Nice try.

I'd sympathize with you, being a fellow traveller getting fleeced everywhere I visit -- but trying to turn it around and trumping up a frivolous claim against someone else to compensate you for your own gullibility is a touch too desperate. I'm sorry for your loss, but the best comfort I can offer is, Kuah Kuah!