Who in your opinion is the worst Airline in Australia

[Reggie]

So who in your opinion is the worst airline in Australia. For the purpose of this exercise / thread lets exclude safety, as I think CASA does a good job on managing this.

My vote is Skippers Aviation. For those who don’t know who/what Skippers are, they are primarily a charter coming providing prop jet flights to mine sites, but also offer a few commercial flights for paying pax to some regional centres in WA.

The reason I have them at the top of my list are;
Check in closes 45 minutes prior to departure
No ability to online check in
Every flight I flew back home with them (13) was delayed, however managed to get us away on time flying to work.
Baggage is restricted to 10kg check in and 4kg carry on.
With almost no notice (<1 hour or at checkin) baggage allowance reduced to 3kg TOTAL combined. Many laptops weigh more than that.:evil:
Constant technical problems with flights
One flight where the aircon wasn’t working and we sweltered for over 2 hours back to Perth in the middle of summer:mrgreen:
No SC’s of FF points
Pilots loading too much fuel, thus pax offloaded to reduce weight (2 times I know off, 1 being the last flight out before Christmas)

 

[BrentH]

Sorry to hear of your coughpy experience with $h!tbags noname airline I've never heard of.

you win.

/thread

 

[MEL_Traveller]

i think tiger probably takes the prize for the worst airline. aside from the 3kg luggage issue about everything else is the same... except if they cancel a flight you are offered the next service... which could be days away. no compensation to go fly another carrier. not even an instant refund to allow you to put the money towards another fare.

 

[JohnK]

I have flown 3 domestic airlines and basically happy with all 3 of them. I have also flown Air North, Skywest, Eastern Australia, Sunstar and all are OK.

My prize would have to go to the airline I have not yet flown.

I have been lucky so far I have avoided non-commercial airlines with tiny aircraft.

 

[mannej]

i think tiger probably takes the prize for the worst airline. aside from the 3kg luggage issue about everything else is the same... except if they cancel a flight you are offered the next service... which could be days away. no compensation to go fly another carrier. not even an instant refund to allow you to put the money towards another fare.

Which airline would offer you an instant cash in your account refund in that sort of situation?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Which airline would offer you an instant cash in your account refund in that sort of situation?

in Europe they have to put you on another carrier so you don't need the cash. without such protections here the airlines should be forced to issue an instant refund for stranded passengers.

 

[mannej]

in Europe they have to put you on another carrier so you don't need the cash. without such protections here the airlines should be forced to issue an instant refund for stranded passengers.

I guess there is a lack of appropriate consumer protection in Australian aviation isn't there.

 

[UP4014]

There are plenty of small ones, but they do try. Tiger would be the worst for service, it's simply not in their charter!

 

[jacks]

Rex (Regional Express) must rank the worst for customer service & convenience. They would certainly win the award for the airline with the most grumpy staff - their rudeness is legendary:shock:

 

[leadman]

My father has always said "there are no bad beers, just some are better than others", so probably the same for airlines, "there are really no bad airlines, just some are better (said with gritted teeth) than others"!

 

[BadgerBoi]

Rex (Regional Express) must rank the worst for customer service & convenience. They would certainly win the award for the airline with the most grumpy staff - their rudeness is legendary:shock:

I'm pleased to hear that they are consistent - I've only had one brief encounter with Rex, more than 10 years ago, and she was one of the snarkiest people I've ever come across in any organisation. "Grumpy" would have been a real improvement

 

[eastwest101]

I'm pleased to hear that they are consistent - I've only had one brief encounter with Rex, more than 10 years ago, and she was one of the snarkiest people I've ever come across in any organisation. "Grumpy" would have been a real improvement

I fly them quite a bit and have found Rex staff generally OK myself.

But back on topic - it really depends on what your criteria for "worst" is, when we are talking Australian airlines:

Worst managed? Qantas hands down.
Worst airport experience? Jetstar's MEL domestic terminal?
Worst boarding experience? Tiger or Qantas?
Worst for cancellations? Virgin according to August BITRE stats but closely followed by Qantas B717 operations.
Worst for late departures and late arrivals? Virgin and Qantas B717s again.
Worst overall staff? Maybe Jetstar?
Worst handling of IIROPS? Maybe Jetstar or Virgin?
Worst overall aircraft experience? Either Rex's Saab 340 or maybe VA's ATR72?
Worst economy seat? Jetstar and Tigerair seats same pitch and width?
Worst long haul business class seat? Qantas weird 2-3-2 premium economy seat in the A330s with the middle seat masquerading as business class
Worst booking and seat selection website? Seems to be a race to the bottom between VA and QF
Worst frequent flyer program? Ridiculous fuel fines and poor availibility on Qantas counterbalanced by VA's lack of alliance and clunky partnerships but both have their merits.
Worst IFE? Depends on whether you hate or love BYO and iPads but Tiger has none available?
Worst priority/premium boarding? There is a +2000 post thread about this.


Or turn it around a bit to give some kudos for particular things that some airlines do well.

Best safety perfomance? Everyone.
Best cabin crew in the air? Maybe VA?
Best staff on the ground? Both QF and VA are ok but not perfect
Most consistent onboard product? Tiger


The Skippers Aviation comments remind me of most Mining Charter airlines - they are generally OK considering where they have to operate and what they have to operate with.

 

[Pleb Status]

Jetstar is the worst. High cost and low service.

At least Tiger is cheap.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

i think tiger probably takes the prize for the worst airline. aside from the 3kg luggage issue about everything else is the same... except if they cancel a flight you are offered the next service... which could be days away. no compensation to go fly another carrier. not even an instant refund to allow you to put the money towards another fare.

Even if Tiger did give you an instant refund, it wouldn't be much help if you get a full refund on a $49.00 special fare but rebooking with another airline an th eleventh hour is going to cost you three times as much.

IMHO it's much better to be transferred from airline A (who went u/s) across the airline B for no extra cost which will happen if your original flight was booked with QF, VA & JQ.

 

[medhead]

Qantas for inconsistency

JQ based on my experiences domestic. One perfect TT flight (I quit while ahead) versus JQ wanting me to prove I had to be at work at 5 PM before giving a refund for a cancelled 7pm flight. JQ international different story.

Worst aircraft Saab metroliner

 

[BadgerBoi]

< deleted >

 

[PineappleSkip]

Pity about the scope limitation to Australia. I could say so much about Afghan airlines, will have to try TT sometime and see if they are better than any of the locals :shock:

Cheers skip

 

[11sjw]

Skippers grew from an air charter company into a mini airline. They were formerly Broughton Air Services before the Quinlivens purchased them and added them to the Skippers Transport Co. Mr Broughton owned a "Back to The Future" DeLorean which was extremely cool.

Incidentally I used to clean their tiny departure lounge 3 times a week during my university days (circa early 90s). Celeb sightings were quite common. FYI John McEnroe was way nicer to everyone than John Farnham was. Their former GM lives 3 doors down the road from myself so I get s**t about being "The Cleaner" regularly.