Building a stronger Qantas

[laffer]

So the answer is a race to the bottom drron? Cool. Lets start with your industry or profession first.

 

[medhead]

So the answer is a race to the bottom drron? Cool. Lets start with your industry or profession first.

Qantas has been in a race to the bottom for at least a year. One of the main counters given to the unrest about removal of any time lounge access was "no other airline" provides it. I have asked for a long time. Is Qantas the best premium airline in the world or is it just as good as any other airline? Seems they are happy to be just as good as, not the best. If only they would cut the premium pricing.

 

[Katie]

3. Decentralisation - as many here point out, they havent really tacked the core issue that has cost them market share - Sydney-centricity. Why anyone flying out of BNE would go BNE-SYD-SIN-LHR-EU destination when they can go BNE-SIN-xx or BNE-SUH-xx or BNE-DXB-xx is really telling. Better options ex-BNE is vital and this is the market share being stolen - not ex-MEL or SYD. PER is another example of this - why go PER-SIN-LHR-EU when you could go PER-DXB-xx. Similarly PER-SYD-LAX-xx when you could go PER-HKG-xx directly.

The main reason I will travel BNE-SYD(/MEL)-SIN-LHR-EU destination is I often fly Y+ and I can only fly Y+ ex-BNE to LAX. I can either choose to pay full Y+ fare and fly in Y BNE-SIN or put up with the transfer through SYD. I don't know if QF have become more flexible with this recently, but for our April trip, we couldn't do a combined Y and Y+ fare for the trip.

 

[Justchecking]

So the answer is a race to the bottom drron? Cool. Lets start with your industry or profession first.

Well after getting charged $400 an hour by my denist and also having to listen to a conversation about her dental assistants love life while having my teeth drilled I decided to outsource and offshore my dentist. Was happy to pay her approx 20 times my own wage to have it done in Australia, but as she couldn't afford me the professional courtesy of acknowledging my existence I decided she wasn't worth quite so much. Yep! This offshoring thing is really great.

 

[Jack Melon]

My opinion on this- DISGUSTING.

1000 jobs gone, just like that.

Focusing on an Asian operation then saving yourself here in Australia... oh wait forgot it's spirit of asia now isnt it? You were not loosing money at all, you just wanted half the rates for the workers, and not paying them for work as viewed on the ABC.

Alan Joyce you have thrown the brand into the dirt, all my family members and myself will never fly with you again because of your aircraft are old, the crew are sour faces most of the time, the food is awful and after so many incidents they fear of flying qantas.

I gave you a chance you blew it.

Virgin Australia will show how an Australian company is to operate it is employing as many people onshore as possible, and loves there staff which makes there company a great one.

Just look what you have done to yourself qantas, thrown the brand into the dirt, no longer and Aussie icon. I dont say you are a terrible airline after 1 incident, it has been going down hill for several years, after that period we have had enough. It has all led up to this.

All i can say is watch out Qantasia.

 

[Princess Fiona]

My opinion on this- DISGUSTING.

Alan Joyce you have thrown the brand into the dirt, all my family members and myself will never fly with you again because of your aircraft are old, the crew are sour faces most of the time, the food is awful and after so many incidents they fear of flying qantas.

I gave you a chance you blew it.

Somehow, I don't think they'll miss you

 

[Jack Melon]

Somehow, I don't think they'll miss you

And i certainly wont miss them

 

[jsd]

My opinion on this- DISGUSTING.

1000 jobs gone, just like that.

Focusing on an Asian operation then saving yourself here in Australia... oh wait forgot it's spirit of asia now isnt it? You were not loosing money at all, you just wanted half the rates for the workers, and not paying them for work as viewed on the ABC.

Alan Joyce you have thrown the brand into the dirt, all my family members and myself will never fly with you again because of your aircraft are old, the crew are sour faces most of the time, the food is awful and after so many incidents they fear of flying qantas.

I gave you a chance you blew it.

Virgin Australia will show how an Australian company is to operate it is employing as many people onshore as possible, and loves there staff which makes there company a great one.

Just look what you have done to yourself qantas, thrown the brand into the dirt, no longer and Aussie icon. I dont say you are a terrible airline after 1 incident, it has been going down hill for several years, after that period we have had enough. It has all led up to this.

All i can say is watch out Qantasia.

Jack, would you care to explain to me what you think the main objective of ANY commercial business in the world is?

 

[simongr]

Virgin Australia will show how an Australian company is to operate it is employing as many people onshore as possible, and loves there staff which makes there company a great one.

Virgin Australia - an Australian company set up by an english entrepreneur... under an English global brand - yup true blue aussie innovation there... apart from teh bit where it isn't aussie at all... they modelled their flight attendants and entire approach on the virgin atlantic model which was for the record NOT australian...

 

[Kendall Roy]

Looks like QF29/30 won't even run to HKG anymore. :shock:

(based on dates in APR12)

 

[LiamR]

Australian Icons and Values?

Well, let's be realistic here for a moment.

Vegemite is made overseas and owned by the Americans.
Most holden cars are made overseas.
I deal with more indians at Telstra that at my local indian restraunt.

Australia as a country is outsourcing most of it's labour, sadly it was only a matter of time before this happened to aviation.

I wish the glory days of Qantas were around still, the times when I really did believe the red roo was magical and made me feel safe when I hopped onboard.

Sadly, those days in aviation are gone, and are never coming back. Anybody who tries to hold onto the past is just creating a path for failure.

 

[simongr]

Liam - do you not feel safe on a QF aircraft? I have no concerns about safety on any aircraft I fly (AA, BA, QF, CX, RJ, AY, NZ, 9W).

 

[LiamR]

Liam - do you not feel safe on a QF aircraft? I have no concerns about safety on any aircraft I fly (AA, BA, QF, CX, RJ, AY, NZ, 9W).

Of course I absolutely do. I still think Qantas go the extra mile when it comes to safety.

What I'm saying is, those glory days or air travel are gone. Air Travel is becoming more common, and the magic in the Qantas brand (Those stories of seeing a Red Roo 747 in europe and knowing you are safe/home once you step onboard) are fading.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Looks like QF29/30 won't even run to HKG anymore. :shock:

(based on dates in APR12)

Thats not good I was kind of coming around to the idea of MEL-HKG-LHR directly into T5 and connecting on BA without going on the great bus tour around LHR with disgruntled little people.
If they are building a new F Lounge cutting flights doesn't make any sense. Here's hoping EF is wrong

 

[pauly7]

My opinion on this- DISGUSTING.

1000 jobs gone, just like that.

Focusing on an Asian operation then saving yourself here in Australia... oh wait forgot it's spirit of asia now isnt it? You were not loosing money at all, you just wanted half the rates for the workers, and not paying them for work as viewed on the ABC.

Alan Joyce you have thrown the brand into the dirt, all my family members and myself will never fly with you again because of your aircraft are old, the crew are sour faces most of the time, the food is awful and after so many incidents they fear of flying qantas.

I gave you a chance you blew it.

Virgin Australia will show how an Australian company is to operate it is employing as many people onshore as possible, and loves there staff which makes there company a great one.

Just look what you have done to yourself qantas, thrown the brand into the dirt, no longer and Aussie icon. I dont say you are a terrible airline after 1 incident, it has been going down hill for several years, after that period we have had enough. It has all led up to this.

All i can say is watch out Qantasia.

Oh Jack....

I'm glad you love Virgin-RichBillionarePom-Australia, lucky otherwise you'd be kinda stuck!

Will you also boycott the Pacific Blue operations of VA given they've employed much the same tactic previously?

 

[lsmi4126]

Looks like QF29/30 won't even run to HKG anymore. :shock:

(based on dates in APR12)

Thats not good I was kind of coming around to the idea of MEL-HKG-LHR directly into T5 and connecting on BA without going on the great bus tour around LHR with disgruntled little people.
If they are building a new F Lounge cutting flights doesn't make any sense. Here's hoping EF is wrong

29/30 are still available in the GDS past April 2012...

 

[Jack Melon]

Virgin Australia - an Australian company set up by an english entrepreneur... under an English global brand - yup true blue aussie innovation there... apart from teh bit where it isn't aussie at all... they modelled their flight attendants and entire approach on the virgin atlantic model which was for the record NOT australian...

I do know that they are Non-Australian, but they appreciate where they work and are doing as much work onshore as possible and providing more jobs on shore (including Indigenous pilot program). Well who cares if they did? It looks stunning. Much better then the kangaroo's product from MY experience with them.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

Virgin can do what they want...they don't have a kangaroo on their tails with the tag line 'spirit of Australia'.

 

[RSD]

Of course I absolutely do. I still think Qantas go the extra mile when it comes to safety.

I too believe that Qantas go that extra mile with regard to safety - JB747 talks about the safety culture within Qantas and I fully understand what he is saying - a culture within an organisation is something that is only achieved if everyone starts on the same page and everyone believes in the goal of the culture. In some ways I can relate to that culture as I work for an organisation that has a culture that has been built up over 122 years where anything other than the absolute very best is not good enough. Unfortunately in the case of Qantas they have a CEO who hasn't come up through the ranks within the company, and he doesn't breathe and understand the culture, nor does he understand that by eroding that culture he is devaluing the business and brand that he vainly thinks he is trying to save.

What I'm saying is, those glory days or air travel are gone. Air Travel is becoming more common, and the magic in the Qantas brand (Those stories of seeing a Red Roo 747 in europe and knowing you are safe/home once you step onboard) are fading.

I still believe that Qantas can be resurrected and return to it's place as one of the great airlines - but what it needs is a management that engages with it's employees to restore morale (customer service will then naturally follow), a management that listens to the ideas of it's employees, a management that knows the proud history and culture of the company, and a management that has positive belief in the future.

 

[simonpenny408]

If Qantasia start using Asian-based and trained FAs then that can only be goodness. QF have had about 15 years to try to bring their cabin staff up to even the "mildly disgruntled" level and it still hasn't happened. I welcome that change and if they can save some dollars in doing so then good on them.

The QF F lounge in HK could beat CX on food if done right but the cabanas in the Wing are still hard to go past.

For the record CX are my carrier of choice due to their in flight service, emerald recognition/fawning, numerous and regular op-ups (hello QF - one in the last 24 months - and that was grudgingly due to a cough* up after boarding) and the HKG lounges - but I have seen their F lounge service standard dropping over the past 12 months. It's a shame