Qantas “The Best in the World “ according to Alan Joyce [in 2012]

[p--and--t]

Certainly premium economy was a world leader at the time. It was business ‘lite’ in every sense. But the business class product was outdated by then, with angled lie flats. First class was ok!

I think the lack of awards is more to do with covid rather than being able to compare like for like.

I never really got those cocoon "beds" - just a bit strange and annoying when they drooped and with vibration in flight you gradually slipped down the "bed"

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I always find this Qantas bashing hilarious, especially if it comes from people who hardly fly Qantas and if, then in Economy as a Bronze member. Well.

From my recent experiences, both SQ and VA are as useless in terms of reward seat availability as Qantas is (talking only about premium classes and to North America or Europe here- Why seats to Bali are entirely irrelevant to me personally). Actually- if anything, the reward release option for Platinums is what makes Qantas the best out of this bunch. And what the onboard experience is concerned, Qantas is meh but mostly fine. SQ is way worse then what everyone says post Covid and I had 6 international flights with them over the past year- none really impressed me. QR is awesome but you have to deal with Doha which is a total nightmare, especially overnight when most connections are happening.

So muchness for muchness from my view. Of course, Qantas is far from perfect but which airline is? And as others have said, AJ wouldn’t still be CEO if he didn’t say ridiculous things like that- it’s part of his job.

But the vast majority of pax will be bronze, in economy. You shouldn’t need status to bring your experience to ‘normal’.

SQ has a pretty good economy product. So does Cathay. You don’t need status on those airlines to give you little perks and extras to make you think ‘hey that’s not so bad’. If you have to measure an airline’s economy product because you get F lounge access, a bulkhead, a shadow, and amenities from business class, that’s not a like for like comparison. We flew SQ Y short haul and save for sparkling wine, it was on par with most PE products.

Some airlines are pretty close to perfect in all categories… EK F, LH F for example. Can’t speak for SQ F post covid. Agree SQ J has been pretty disappointing this last year

Post automatically merged: Dec 12, 2022

I never really got those cocoon "beds" - just a bit strange and annoying when they drooped and with vibration in flight you gradually slipped down the "bed"

It’s unfortunate they were outdated from the moment they were installed

 

[Berlin]

But the vast majority of pax will be bronze, in economy. You shouldn’t need status to bring your experience to ‘normal’

Well- for a CEO it’s about what brings in the cash and pure “numbers” of cheap Economy seats is not really what counts.

And it only proves what others have said- everyone will have their own unique experiences and different needs. For me who avoids the back of the bus like the plague, I don’t really care (personally) what happens down there in the cheap seats. But sure, SQ might be great in Why compared to other Economy class products (their service on the phone is pretty awful though too- tried and tested and not liked a tiny bit).

 

[Dr4manyspecies]

Frankly, if you fly enough you'll get wins and fails on just about every airline... I've had luggage lost and/or broken by just about every airline I've flown and I've had a mixed bag of tricks regarding service in air and on the ground but have found that being polite and courteous tends to come back to ya.
As far as AJ (and the video being a decade old), the fact that he's still around might say something?
I guess at the end of the day, we all have to put our money where our mouth is and if you're unhappy, vote with your feet.
I just had a very pleasant PE flight to LAX and am hoping for an upgrade on the return to Aus in a few weeks... shame my new status won't kick in until mid trip home (and technically not even then by the time it processes) but fingers crossed.

 

[p--and--t]

But the vast majority of pax will be bronze, in economy. You shouldn’t need status to bring your experience to ‘normal’.

SQ has a pretty good economy product. So does Cathay. You don’t need status on those airlines to give you little perks and extras to make you think ‘hey that’s not so bad’. If you have to measure an airline’s economy product because you get F lounge access, a bulkhead, a shadow, and amenities from business class, that’s not a like for like comparison. We flew SQ Y short haul and save for sparkling wine, it was on par with most PE products.

Some airlines are pretty close to perfect in all categories… EK F, LH F for example. Can’t speak for SQ F post covid. Agree SQ J has been pretty disappointing this last year

Post automatically merged: Dec 12, 2022

It’s unfortunate they were outdated from the moment they were installed

Another post that makes me think it is all so subjective and based on a series of instances experienced by an individual at a point in time. I have no reason whatsoever to doubt the experiences you had and how you perceived them.

Its been at least 5 years since flying on LH for me and that is deliberate. I have only had 5 sectors on them and the results are:
1. Average (PE)
2. Average (Y)
3. Meh (Y)
4 Awful (PE)
5 Awful (PE)

I have had 4 experiences in EK Y 1x Good, 1xAverage, 1xMeh, 1xAwful

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Well- for a CEO it’s about what brings in the cash and pure “numbers” of cheap Economy seats is not really what counts.

And it only proves what others have said- everyone will have their own unique experiences and different needs. For me who avoids the back of the bus like the plague, I don’t really care (personally) what happens down there in the cheap seats. But sure, SQ might be great in Why compared to other Economy class products (their service on the phone is pretty awful though too- tried and tested and not liked a tiny bit).

But economy does matter… otherwise airlines wouldn’t offer it. You’d have business class only aircraft and other than maybe one airline - La Compagnie - none have succeeded. Even BA1/2, the 318 service from LCY didn’t make a comeback.

Some airlines value premium spend, some don’t. A DSC economy flyer gets more benefits on QF than a single pax paying $9000 return to LAX as a one-off trip.

 

[Vic]

I guess another subjective thing I left out is price. I would've been more than happy to fly MH and Turkish to Europe earlier this year. It was coming in at about $4.5 to 5K in business. But the people paying were ok with QR for about $7K.

A $2k increment over QF economy wins, for me.

 

[drron]

Back from 2003 we did 3 return J flights per year. In 2003 JAL had lay flat J seats and QF didn’t. The food on JAL imho was way better than QF. And if was half the cost of QF.

JAL was not in OW back then but I could get AA miles on the whole trip but not with QFF. By 2006 we had enough with AA to get 2 J awards from NRT to the US. We were already in our J seats when the Gate Agent came aboard and handed us new BPs for F. For some reason I then made AAdvantage my major program. Mrsdrron stayed with QFF and has been WP for several years. So not subjective for me to say that the choice of awards is usually better on AA than QFF. Even now eg on QR.

To top it off I checked my records and in 2012 I as an OWS was able to get 2J awards on QF BKK - SYD even though Mrsdrron as a WP couldn’t even ringing to try and get seats released. So sorry AJs statement was wrong in 2012 and it hasn’t improved since.

 

[JohnK]

I'm pretty sure Joyce didn't see the future of 2022 when he said those words in 2012...

Isn't that the role of the CEO?

I've had some great flights in economy with QF where no other airline comes close. Sure status helps but having 747 and A380 as your main long haul aircraft was a great decision.

No one could have predicted the pandemic but Qantas was going downhill before the pandemic set in.

It's not the staff but the poor decisions management has made and devaluing the product.

 

[RichardMEL]

Of course a CEO of ANY company will say they are the best and push all the things they/the company want to push to make that point. The audience for these kinds of statements, cmments etc is either investors, customers, media or some combination.. and the aim of course is to keep all happy, positive and still "investing" (in one way or another) in the company, This is PR 101.

I mean it's laughable to expect an "honest" CEO or commentary from one. The closest we've been seeing from QF in recent times have been the "apology" and final(after a long long time) acknowledgement of various issues like the call centres, bag issues, OTP and so on.

Our perspective, as customers (or former ones ) is to evaluate very subjectively (for the most part) based on our experiences and potentially some others we know of or read about. That's also normal. As with anything we form opinions based on our experiences - which can be good, bad or indifferent.

And most of us know the difference between corporate spin and reality.

All that in mind my own two bob is that no, QF is not the Best in the World.. but even that very general title can be interpreted in many ways, and one also has to consider timeframes and subject matter (eg "Rain Man"'s commentary about QF's safety record).

Most of us have been lucky enough to fly on many airlines and in many classes of service and these all influence us. I've certainly had my share of amazing, good, bad and ugly over the years. It's also very human to remember more bad things that happen.

Certainly if cost was not an issue and they flew where I wanted I'd pick the likes of SQ above most others. Others dislike SQ for their own reasons. That's normal. QR can be just as divisive (more for the country than the carrier methinks).

I've always considered QF on an average day to be about middle of the pack of "first world" airlines. It can depend on where you go and what you expect of course. In this instance I'm talking about international - and even that can be hit or miss depending on routes.

These things can also be so suibjective based on one's personal preferences or what we think are important - for some it's F&B offered.. for others it is the hard product and comfort (in premium cabins).. for others it's about ease of upgrades and still others it is schedule and connectivity to where we want with the least issues and of course cost. Most of us value all of these various factors (and more still) and come up with a value proposition based on all of these factors.

There are certainly carriers I would prefer to fly ahead of QF, but there are others I would prefer QF to.

I'm only talking about the actual part of flying the carrier.. The other part, which I think many have commented on, is the other part of the equation for the legacy carriers - and that's the ability to actually use the loyalty program for what they want.. and that has been much more difficult of late. It's also been far more frustrating for many with all of the ticketing and other issues that have caused such angst specially with partners like QR.. and QF's attitue towards those customers affected by QF's own problems. Definitely not the best in the world. These are all very valid reasons to turn away from the airline.

and at the end of the day that is the choice the vast majority of us have (outside of living in a QF dominant place, or tired to corporate policies or whatever) - we stick with them or we go elsewhere.

 

[Vic]

Oh AA - maybe that's a good home for my Qatar flights.

Isn't that the role of the CEO?

Not even the CEO is required to predict 10 years into the future.

 

[RnD]

Ahh the good old days ... When I was boy .....