Dear Mr Joyce...

[Oneworldplus2]

Good points harvyK!

 

[oz_mark]

So am I the hummingbird or the buzzard? And WTH has any of that got do with an airline? I watched the entire thing and just felt like qantas stole 30 secs of my life for no good reason.

It's a deep and meaningful comment that the only buzz around Qantas these days are the buzzards circling in the sky.

 

[Vinny]

Perhaps it's meant as a fore warning on what JQ and its Asian operations will be doing to QF as we knew it after the big announcement in August. There will be a JQ buzzard circling to pick at the remains of what QF management doesn't want.

 

[Deleted User]

There will be a JQ buzzard circling to pick at the remains of what QF management doesn't want.

Do I read this as JQ taking total control of all QF routes...? After all, from my point of view the board has little interest in anything QF except for cost cutting. What better way to cut cost but to contract out routes to JQ...?

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Do I read this as JQ taking total control of all QF routes...? After all, from my point of view the board has little interest in anything QF except for cost cutting. What better way to cut cost but to contract out routes to JQ...?

I was surprised when I did SYD - BNE on Friday evening from gate 9, T3. All QF flights in that area were codeshared with JQ.

 

[cove]

In US dollar terms the staff at Qantas have had a 30 % pay rise already by being paid in Australian dollars rather than the "world currency". Australians need to brace themselves for job losses generally as our currency has stayed up at historic highs now for too long to prevent this from happening.US customers will not pay more in air fares so what used to be a highly profitable run is now no good for Qantas.The same problem exists for our exporters and especially wine and tourism but it will affect all of us in some way in the next 12 months.We have idiots in charge of the Reserve Bank talking up interest rates up to a month ago,a Treasurer who stimulated things and created a continuing growing debt in 2011.Now Mr Joyce Qantas needs to hire and train about half it's international staff from the destinations rather than Australia and quickly.No one has said it but with the Government thinking Ross Garnaut is wonderful just never ceases to amaze my group of friends who went to the same school.Buckle your seat belts Australia we are in for a wild ride until the currency goes down.Fortunately for Qantas it has a domestic airline.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Nicely put Cove.

August 24 (or thereabouts) will be interesting to see what changes are coming....

 

[harvyk]

Cove, I'm going to disagree a little on that... I foresee another currency overtaking the US dollar as the "world currency", as it's not so much the AU $ being high that will cause issues, it's the fact that the US $ is low.

But that is something that will affect the world, not just AU, thus I see the world picking a new "world currency" and letting the US sort it's problems out, rather than the world allowing the US to drag the world down.

It won't be the first time that power has shifted from one country \ currency and I doubt it will be the last either.

But then again this is going very off topic...

 

[oz_mark]

Buckle your seat belts Australia we are in for a wild ride until the currency goes down.Fortunately for Qantas it has a domestic airline.

While I don't discount the possibility of the AUD taking a dip like it did not so long ago, I am wondering though, if the currency level is something we are going to have to get used to, at least against the USD.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Harvyk, which currency do you see overtaking the USD? Chinese Yuan Renminbi? Euro?

 

[Justchecking]

Back on topic, shifting the QF brand to JQ service levels will likely do irreparable damage to the brand, to the extent it will very likely never recover. Angry, underpaid workers are never the best choice for delivering a premium product. Other airlines can do low pay and high service because their workers do not resent their employer, I've yet to find a JQ employee that had anything good to say about their job.

 

[harvyk]

Harvyk, which currency do you see overtaking the USD? Chinese Yuan Renminbi? Euro?

I don't think it will be the euro without dumping Greece (and to a lessor extent the other countries which make up the PIIGS - Portugal Italy Ireland Greece Spain), although one or more of the Euro countries could decide to split from the Euro and bring back their own currency in which case depending on what country it was and how strong it's ecconomy was prior to adopting the euro it may be a canditate. Do I get the feeling that some in the european union wouldn't like the Euro to be a defacto world currency even if it was a candidate without PIIGS, it almost seems as if they don't believe there is a world beyond their borders.

I don't think it would be the RMB, as China has said numerious times it wants to keep that low as it helps big time with exports.

So to answer you question, I don't know what currency could become the new world currency, however there is every chance it doesn't exist as yet.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

So to answer you question, I don't know what currency could become the new world currency, however there is every chance it doesn't exist as yet.

Yep, l've heard this a number of times, but now we are delving into conspiracy theories....

 

[Robert K]

Bit coins.

 

[Dee Thom]

Back on topic, shifting the QF brand to JQ service levels will likely do irreparable damage to the brand, to the extent it will very likely never recover. Angry, underpaid workers are never the best choice for delivering a premium product. Other airlines can do low pay and high service because their workers do not resent their employer, I've yet to find a JQ employee that had anything good to say about their job.

It's a shame the pilots and engineers unions don't see the writing on the wall for their members !

I feel that QF domestic as we know it will survive as a full service carrier, but QF international will go off-shore and utilise the lower cost base of crew, F/A's, and maintenance, with large cuts in staff. Sure pilots will get jobs with other carriers, but at a far lower wage and without the benefits that they have now, and especially the new one's the unions are going for.

I just hope the unions and their members wake up before they become extinct in under 100 years of the industry.

Cheers Dee

 

[Hvr]

It's a shame the pilots and engineers unions don't see the writing on the wall for their members !

I feel that QF domestic as we know it will survive as a full service carrier, but QF international will go off-shore and utilise the lower cost base of crew, F/A's, and maintenance, with large cuts in staff. Sure pilots will get jobs with other carriers, but at a far lower wage and without the benefits that they have now, and especially the new one's the unions are going for.

I just hope the unions and their members wake up before they become extinct in under 100 years of the industry.

Cheers Dee

And if the members of the union don't fight they will get the low cost wages anyway so why not fight to maintain fair conditions? Would it be more palatable if the members weren't unionised and wanted to bargain independently?

And why is it that the non-essential management types who advocate these changes never realise that their non-productive wages are also costing the company a lot of money? Surely those wages could be lowered as well?

 

[Dee Thom]

And if the members of the union don't fight they will get the low cost wages anyway so why not fight to maintain fair conditions? Would it be more palatable if the members weren't unionised and wanted to bargain independently?

And why is it that the non-essential management types who advocate these changes never realise that their non-productive wages are also costing the company a lot of money? Surely those wages could be lowered as well?

I was not advocating a drop in salary for the QF pilots, just don't kill the proverbial golden goose with outrageous claims !

If they do VA will rule the "full service" skyways !!!

Cheers Dee.

 

[medhead]

As post 236 the question you must ask is "What would you do if QF international was losing 4 million dollars a week and you have upset staff?"

• domestic priority boarding for platinum
• raise platinum qualification to 1500 to 2000
• 2400SC benefits to about 2600SC
• platinum one
• bring back anytime access
• platinum upgrades between 2600 and 3200 SC
• bring back guest passes - electronic and related to status with extra available for purchase
• reprice International F and J downwards
• do something about the joke that is snack on most flights
• sack the chef relationship- probably hard as they probably got rid of the in house chefs years ago
• something about valuing QFF into the airlines - undo the private equity sell off
• make qantas a premium airline again to match the retoric, rebuild the brand and trade off that

 

[Oneworldplus2]

• do something about the joke that is snack on most flights

I agree 100% Medhead. The whole 'meal' on flights basically consist of a biscuit/nuts. Short sectors are a joke, which is pretty much everything on the east coast. You'd be lucky to get more than a Byron Bay Biscuit now days.

I had a chuckle on Friday evenings SYD-BNE flight. CSM does the usual + "we'll be also serving supper on tonights flight". Nuts and choice of a drink. LOL.

 

[Rebekkap]

• raise platinum qualification to 1500 to 2000
• do something about the joke that is snack on most flights

1400, not 1500 for platinum qualification. And as someone who's about to have earned platinum almost entirely through domestic Y-class travel, I'd really rather it didn't get any higher! If you wanted to make it harder to achieve, I'd suggest upping the minimum number of flights.

Agree totally about the snacks though, they're ridiculously bad. Pumpkin dip, anyone??