AA CEO says QANTAS is not a Premium Airline

[Sprucegoose]

I would retort by saying people in glass houses........

American Airlines CEO: Qantas not a "premium" airline - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller

 

[dajop]

THe headline is misleading to this article, I couldn't find where the AA CEO indicated that Qantas is not a premium airlines, what he did say was:

American doesn't see the Red Roo as a key part of "the best network for premium traffic" .... specifically mentioned British Airways, Iberia, Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific as part of that premium traffic network, but there was no sign of Qantas in his thinking.

There is a difference between a premium airline and a network for premium traffic. I can see why, from AA's perspective basically JP/CX can tap into 2b people (including SE Asia) with loads of very wealthy in that group, IB & BA have a good 400m market at their disposal, all QF offers a mere 25m people to tap into, meaning a very small amount of premium traffic - in absolute terms.

 

[stryker]

AA CEO says QANTAS is not a Premium Airline :

Well, good for him. I cannot but agree, and certainly AA isn't either (no American airline could possibly be).

But, so what...

 

[ausi ski bum]

The only US airline I like is Frontier. Nice aircraft, friendly staff and a virgin like sense of humour

 

[samh004]

I'd imagine what he meant was that QF is very JQ-focused these days, which isn't premium at all, while that's not the case with CX or BA and etc..

 

[Sprucegoose]

We have less feeder pax but would be more profitable per pax possibly?

In terms of ciritical mass, no we are not Europe.

 

[oz_mark]

I read the interview on which the article is based, and the only commentary on Qantas I could find is on page 4:

(Exclusive Interview: American Airlines Officials Discuss Boeing, Airbus Deal - Executive Road Warrior)

TS: Yes, although we did just apply for the Joint Business Agreement with Qantas and they started flying into and out of DFW, which is great for both of us. We may want to put our ducks in Austrialia with the Qantas guys, but [the 777-300ER] certainly could do that route.

I think the Ausbt article somewhat distorts the picture that was being painted. All that has happened is that they have listed a bunch of premium markets, and which ailine hubs there. There seems to be no suggestion anywhere that I could see that Qantas was painted as a non premium airline.

 

[elbarto]

I think AusBT have taken the typical journalists path and taken someones comments out of context in order to spin a story. In the Extecutive Road Warrior article the word Qantas is used a total of 2 times, Jetstar 0, Alan Joyce 0.

 

[Paddy55]

I'd imagine what he meant was that QF is very JQ-focused these days, which isn't premium at all, while that's not the case with CX or BA and etc..

+1... although it seems more an obsession than focus

 

[tuapekastar]

I think AusBT have taken the typical journalists path and taken someones comments out of context in order to spin a story. In the Extecutive Road Warrior article the word Qantas is used a total of 2 times, Jetstar 0, Alan Joyce 0.

Indeed. I don't know how AusBT works but at a typical daily newspaper the 'headline' would have been written by a subeditor (I think), so perhaps the journalist is not at fault here. But definitely agree, as others have noted, Arpey never said QF was not a premium airline.

Edit: I think out-and-out lie would not be stretching things too much, given what I've read.

 

[Jobu]

Pretty poor article with a very misleading headline... Ausbt just seems to get worse and worse lately.

 

[elbarto]

Indeed. I don't know how AusBT works but at a typical daily newspaper the 'headline' would have been written by a subeditor (I think), so perhaps the journalist is not at fault here. But definitely agree, as others have noted, Arpey never said QF was not a premium airline.

Edit: I think out-and-out lie would not be stretching things too much, given what I've read.

Obviously they've been reading this thread and have changed the title of the article. But the same story is still there and has just been added too about AA flying to Australia.

American Airlines mulling direct Australian flights? - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller

AA isn't likely to fly to Australia as it's cheaper for them to have QF do all the work, much like BA do with the JSA.

 

[macrop]

This AusBT site has TT and ACA sensationalism (and spin) written all over it plus the entire website is just a giant advertisement IMO anyway. Having a thorough read, a lot of the reviews are bogus especially the cabin reviews of various airlines. Takes a few press shots of the cabin and some info from the airline's website, check out Seat Guru for the seating plan, then make some assumptions and call it a 'review'. The tech reviews are just as bad. Has anyone from that website actually physically been on a plane lately or actually played with a latest notebook PC to give it a tangible review. They're more like keyboard warriors - nothing more.


Their latest article (sorry: assumption) about the Oslo bombing is a bit over the top 'Norway bomb: flight disruption worldwide likely after Oslo explosion' Norway bomb: flight disruption worldwide likely after Oslo explosion - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller
I've been watching the news channels all morning and nothing has been mentioned about this.

 

[drron]

OSL is a long way from the CBD of Oslo.

 

[oz_mark]

A post on Wings Down Under appears to clarify a few of the issues from the AA perspective

Still no intention to serve Australia, American Airlines reaffirms - Wings Down Under

As far as flying to Australia:

"I clearly made it known we have no thoughts about flying to Australia ourselves--and there is no consideration of that currently," American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith tells this page. "Anyone doing otherwise should stand down on their speculation."

Executive Road Warrior commented to Smith that the 777-300ER could fly from LA to Sydney. Smith replied: "Yes, although we did just apply for the Joint Business Agreement with Qantas and they started flying into and out of DFW, which is great for both of us. We may want to put our ducks in Austrialia with the Qantas guys, but [the 777-300ER] certainly could do that route."

As far as the premium carrier comments:

"I also said that we are quite pleased with our mutual codeshare relationship with our oneworld partner, Qantas. So pleased, in fact, we have applied to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for a Joint Business with Qantas on Australian routes that connect to our American routes in the United States."

All this seems consistent with my understanding of the source article. I think AusBT were reading a bit much into things!

 

[elbarto]

This AusBT site has TT and ACA sensationalism (and spin) written all over it plus the entire website is just a giant advertisement IMO anyway. Having a thorough read, a lot of the reviews are bogus especially the cabin reviews of various airlines. Takes a few press shots of the cabin and some info from the airline's website, check out Seat Guru for the seating plan, then make some assumptions and call it a 'review'. The tech reviews are just as bad. Has anyone from that website actually physically been on a plane lately or actually played with a latest notebook PC to give it a tangible review. They're more like keyboard warriors - nothing more.


Their latest article (sorry: assumption) about the Oslo bombing is a bit over the top 'Norway bomb: flight disruption worldwide likely after Oslo explosion' Norway bomb: flight disruption worldwide likely after Oslo explosion - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller
I've been watching the news channels all morning and nothing has been mentioned about this.

I know someone who works at LHR and they've not mentioned a thing to me about anything changing or even the events in Oslo!

 

[macrop]

I know someone who works at LHR and they've not mentioned a thing to me about anything changing or even the events in Oslo!

Cool just as I thought - more ACA/TT spin posted by a maskerading website.

 

[medhead]

Regardless of what the AA CEO did or did not say, it is still the case that qantas is no longer a premium airline. I'll bang on about this until the cows come home but beetroot chips are not premium.

 

[drron]

Regardless of what the AA CEO did or did not say, it is still the case that qantas is no longer a premium airline. I'll bang on about this until the cows come home but beetroot chips are not premium.

But I love beetroot-especially Bill's Beetroot Marmalade from Tassie.

 

[serfty]

But I love beetroot-especially Bill's Beetroot Marmalade from Tassie.

Off topic posts related to this moved here:

• http://www.australianfrequentflyer....lly-off-topic-thread-6220-304.html#post465736