Qantas will give away 100,000 tickets worth $20 million as its way of saying "sorry" to passengers affected by the grounding of its entire fleet last weekend.

Tens of thousands of people were stranded in Australia and around the world when the airline grounded all flights for two days, as the result of an ongoing industrial dispute with its staff.

Flights have since returned to normal after Fair Work Australia terminated all industrial action between the airline and unions and ordered them back to the negotiating table.

All passengers whose flights were disrupted in the stoppage from 5pm on October 29 to 11.59pm on 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.

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

"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.

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.

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

It comes on top of the airline's decision to reimburse people whose flight's were cancelled, and pay for their accommodation.

An advertisement running in major newspapers this morning says the airline will contact people who are eligible.

ABC/AAP

Source: 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-06/qantas-says-sorry-with-free-tickets/3637764