Keneally, former NSW premier and former head of Basketball Australia, was furious over federal sports minister Sussan Ley's announcement that major sports must provide equal travel arrangements for male and female athletes, or lose funding.

She said sportspeople risked arriving at the Olympics cramped, tired or injured because they were not allowed to shop around for the best airfares at the lowest price.

"It's one thing for Sussan Ley to lecture the sports, she needs to turn her attention to the AOC and the sponsor airline," Keneally said.

She said a Qantas business class fare to the London Olympics cost about $12,000, whereas a different airline was offering the same service for $5000, and sports were not allowed to go for the cheaper option.

Keneally said administrators wanted to provide the same standard of travel and accommodation for male and female sportspeople, but the AOC practice of booking Olympic athletes only on Qantas flights meant peak bodies were "fighting with both hands tied behind their backs".

They were sometimes forced to make hard-nosed financial decisions about which teams could fly business class, and which missed out.

Keneally said she had no problem with Qantas itself, but if the government and the AOC cared about high performance and gender equity, they would look more closely at the issue.

The AOC will pay sponsor airline Qantas $2100 to fly each athlete and official in economy class to the Rio Olympics, at no cost to the individual sports bodies.

But if any of the teams want to fly business class, or to stop off in another country to train, play or prepare on the way to the games, they must pay commercial rates and fork out for the difference.

The sports must book the flights through the AOC and a spokesman for that organisation confirmed it would only put them on Qantas flights.

Sports cannot use that $2100 contribution to shop around for a better deal with another airline.

Keneally said the AOC's insistence that athletes fly the local airline was making it harder to provide sportspeople with the conditions they needed to perform at their best.

"The fault lies with the AOC for not making a better deal for the sports," she said.

"It's a high performance issue, you don't want elite athletes arriving tired, cramped or injured."

An AOC spokesman said that Qantas was a "great supporter of the Australian Olympic team" and had been a sponsor for more than 40 years.

"Australian athletes love nothing better than to come home from the Olympics with the flying kangaroo and are proud to do so."

Keneally said the issue was a major problem for many sports and a policy she fought throughout her time at the helm of basketball's peak body.

Basketball Australia copped a great deal of criticism in 2012 when its male athletes flew business class to the London games, while women's team the Opals were stuck in economy.

Keneally said that decision was made before she took over and she introduced a policy where men and women basketballers enjoyed equal quality accommodation and travel, made possible through a deal struck with another airline to cover non-Olympic events.

She said most men's sport continued to attract more sponsorship money than women's, and sporting bodies could use those extra funds to upgrade their flights.

This week Opals coach Brendan Joyce said putting the players in business class was important on long haul flights, particularly when they were travelling a lot.

Having more room during the flight aided their recovery, he said.

"They're professional athletes, they're tall, it's what they need."

A spokesman for Qantas said the company was proud to be supporting the Australian Olympic athletes and its continued sponsorship of the AOC.