Building a stronger Qantas

[Oneworldplus2]

Along with Ansett, in recent times there has been:

Pan Am
Lauda
Swiss Air

I thought Lauda was taken over by Austria Air (LH, Miles and More)?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

How many times recently have you flown QF Jack? You also do realise the "incidents" are often media beatups?



So if the love their staff so much, why are they paid less?

Of all the people jumping up and down saying its terrible etc, not one has said an alternate plan of action, except industrial action which will achieve nothing.

I have flown qantas plenty of times recently and I agree with Jack...

overcrowded Qantas clubs with dirty floors, tatty furniture and err party pies? I even saw a queuing rope system in Melbourne for the bar?? how tacky is that. Might as well be on King Street.

ageing yellowed interiors on B747 and B767 aircraft. Even Shanghai Airlines can make their 767s look more bright.

38' pitch for a 4 hour flight to perth... in business class for how many thousand dollars??

food often bordering on inedible.

it is now the exception rather than the rule to find engaged cabin crew.

premium economy already being downgraded with sparkling wine offered instead of champagne. meals now resemble economy class rather than business lite.

premium award tickets overpriced and hard to come by, and quite possibly the only airline in the world that thinks I am stupid enough to buy the 'we'll let you know 6 hours before departure if you are lucky enough to get an upgrade'.

poor complaints handling service. Still waiting almost a month for a response about an issue on a First class flight.... whoever they have employed doesn't seem tho think following up First class revenue is important.

a marked decrease in service across the QF network with the transfer of services to JQ low cost.

junior PR staff on Qantas twitter feed during the ash cloud fiasco suggesting that people on hold play a game of 'I spy' to pass the time. People had just reported being on hold for 8 and 9 hours. 'Let's play I spy???'. C'mon.

but at lwast they have complied with the Trade Practices Act... they said 'building a stronger Qantas' rather than 'building a better Qantas'.

nlagalle - you are right - I have no suggestions. I have moved to star alliance. I think it is too late now for Qantas to actually pick itself out of this rut. Although at least its pilots, if they get their way, can have a massage in the First class lounges while the airline goes downhill. Rome burning anyone?

 

[Pushka]

I have given up on in-flight food with Qantas, just dont bother. Fortunately for Adelaide people the Club lounge is rarely full, but the offerings in the Melb lounge are poor. The place is always full and the snacks are poor quality; which, when combined with the sugar cookie provided on the flight is substandard. I would rather be able to buy food than eat what they serve.

Qantas is our second choice, Ansett service was excellent until the last 12 months when obviously 'stuff' was happening behind the scenes. I now refuse to fly on Air New Zealand.

Interestingly, except for Qantas, all other NZ flights were flying on time all throughout the Ash situation. At a lower altitude and longer route.

Of course there will now be strikes, which will only infuriate business customers who are the mainstay of the service.

Qantas released very few classic awards seats in late July 2012 to/from Europe. Now I know why.

 

[markis10]

Along with Ansett, in recent times there has been:

Pan Am
Lauda
Swiss Air

How many lost their jobs then?http://www.aviationexplorer.com/defunct_airlines_worldwide.htm

Those three have something in common that QF is yet to have touch wood! Something that probably contributed more to their demise than some might give credit for!

 

[nlagalle]

Qantas released very few classic awards seats in late July 2012 to/from Europe. Now I know why.

Actually I think that has more to do with demand for going to London for the Olympics.. That is right about then.

 

[nlagalle]

Those three have something in common that QF is yet to have touch wood! Something that probably contributed more to their demise than some might give credit for!

But the cause was a lack of change perhaps?

 

[Pushka]

Actually I think that has more to do with demand for going to London for the Olympics.. That is right about then.

Nope, I want to fly out of Heathrow two days after they start. I would have thought they would want to 'backfill' planes.
I just checked again and most of the flights now show the BA codeshare, which they werent doing before the announcement.

 

[markis10]

But the cause was a lack of change perhaps?

Hull Loss with significant fatalities before their demise, Clipper 105 in the case of Pan Am in 1988, Swissair 111 in 98, and Lauda Flight 4 in 1991.

 

[drron]

overcrowded Qantas clubs with dirty floors, tatty furniture and err party pies?

Please oh please MEL_Traveller where did you find the party pies recently.I miss them.

 

[nlagalle]

Hull Loss with significant fatalities before their demise, Clipper 105 in the case of Pan Am in 1988, Swissair 111 in 98, and Lauda Flight 4 in 1991.

True.. but whether it was the significant cause or not? or was it management decisions as well?

 

[oz_mark]

Hull Loss with significant fatalities before their demise, Clipper 105 in the case of Pan Am in 1988, Swissair 111 in 98, and Lauda Flight 4 in 1991.

There are plenty of airlines still operating that have this common feature as well.

There are airlines no longer operating that did not have this common feature.

 

[markis10]

There are plenty of airlines still operating that have this common feature as well.

There are airlines no longer operating that did not have this common feature.

Sure, I was just referencing the three examples noting they all had something in common, there are always exceptions to the rule and in the case of Pan Am, they had a few biggies including Teneriffe.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Please oh please MEL_Traveller where did you find the party pies recently.I miss them.

maybe too expensive now they actually have to have meat in them... oh wait... they aren't called 'meat pies' are they?

 

[gbh]

Please oh please MEL_Traveller where did you find the party pies recently.I miss them.

I second that. Definitely a feature, not a bug.

 

[NM]

After having been through all of the Qantas announcements, I am struglling to find where they said that A320's would be going to QF domestic. Lots of Jetstar and the new premium airline, but nothing about QF services. Can you point me to where this was said?

Please read my intro paragraph again. I stated it was my opinion, not substantiated with any inside knowledge or facts.

 

[medhead]

No, still reckon this new airline will see an expansion of QFi services out of Australia, though I do concede that the new airline will probably also get 787's.

Now to clarify this is what I reckon will happen over the next few years.

I almost entirely agree, with my cynicism being the limiting factor. I think I'm more cynical than you.

 

[harvyk]

People may hate Joyce, but my feeling is that he was brought in for a reason.

Just like Sol was brought in to Telstra for a reason, that ended well didn't it?
I'd say AJ himself is quite a nice guy (that's the impression which I've received), but I think he's in over his head. He has a bottom line focus which doesn't work well for a non price focused customer base. Although as others have said (and started to convince me that it could be the reason). The changes are more to do with getting expensive people out of QF, and cheap people in.

Please oh please MEL_Traveller where did you find the party pies recently.I miss them.

Well you have two choices, one consider punching your fellow travellers (blows to the head are quite effective) to knock them out so you can get to the front of the queue to swamp on a $2 worth of "free" party pies. Alternatively head downstairs and get a decent meal and a quiet place to sit. I usually pick option two at MEL.

 

[dk4]

Qantas takes on Service Consistency & Sydney-Centric issues

IMO the main difference between QAN’s & VAA’s “gateway” strategy, is that Qantas is looking to control its overseas gateways, whereas Virgin is happy to team up with existing players. So presumably, via this control, Qantas will be able to outperform Virgin’s product offer across service consistency.

It think that it’s also important to see this new “gateway” strategy as designed to remove a certain amount of Sydney-centricity from the Qantas product offer, by moving “gateways” off-shore.

My suggestions at how Qantas Group’s APP (Asia-Pacific-Premium) Airlines brand will develop.

1: As has been speculated, Qantas will start an off-shore APP Airlines hub in SIN (probably around the same time that SQ launches its competitor to JQi). The hub will offer Qantas connecting passengers to/from Australia access to major premium destinations throughout South East Asia, in much the same way Virgin will be offering its customers route access via SQ.

2: A second APP Airlines hub will be opened, presumably in HKG, with much the same modus operandi.

3: Maybe a third APP Airlines hub will be opened in LAX, (possibly as an equity joint venture 49/49/2 percent between AA, QF & Los Angeles World Airports, voting rights 49/25/26 percent respectively), with much the same modus operandi, also assisting AA in its struggle to reduce costs, increase efficiencies & returns.

4: Long haul flights to and from these offshore gateways to Australia will steadily transfer from QF Australian operations to local APP Airline joint ventures as the return on capital dictates. (That is in situations where Qantas is able to extract a better return from the joint venture (49%) operating the service, rather than its Australian (100%) operation. After factoring in a management/licensing/franchise fee that Qantas is receiving from the joint venture airlines, on top of its share of earnings.) In addition, the US flagged services from LAX will start flying long-haul throughout the Pacific, in situations where AA is able to extract a similarly better return that flying under its own power.

5: Qantas brand point-to-point long-haul flights out of Australia, will only continue to destinations where it is able to extract a better return on capital that forcing its customers through one of its joint venture off-shore gateways, or, in situations where a competitor’s point-to-point services require crushing competition.

In the end, Qantas will have decentralised out of Sydney to overseas gateways, ensuring competitive connections to all Australia population centres & will have implemented a seamless, consistent, service standard across its network that Virgin and other international airline alliances are simply unable to, to network destinations in all directions from Australia. (But it will be achieved via joint ventures, under a new brand, thanks to having been backed into a corner by the Qantas Sale Act and others.)

 

[oz_mark]

Please read my intro paragraph again. I stated it was my opinion, not substantiated with any inside knowledge or facts.

Accept that, but your take on strategy was largely based on QFd getting A320's - which has been mentioned a couple of times. I just can't find anywhere that says this is part of their strategy.

 

[k3nnis]

Hi All,

Just out of curiosity, since there are some negative remarks on QF, which FF program will you guys go to if you didin't go with QFF? Just out of interest

Cheers,
K.