Qantas brand badly tarnished

[Vic]

Nope. 7 Days.

Nice. A positive outcome from Covid. Great to see Qantas paying for booze for the weekend as well. Must be the outsourcing or job keeper savings at work, paying for those extra 2 days.

 

[justinbrett]

This was a generic QF rant thread from post #1, and that’s fine - welcome even - lets keep the rants in one place.

Any attempt to keep this thread on topic is futile.

 

[drron]

And another cancellation saga which surely tarnishes QF's reputation.

A young couple was left “seething” at Qantas after realising the airline had rebooked their 13-month-old daughter onto a different flight from them in the middle of their family holiday.
Stephan and Andrew Braham said they had to spend 20 hours on hold to fix the issue while on a trip through Europe with their baby daughter.

Their flight home to Australia was cancelled, meaning they had to be rebooked onto a different flight. Their daughter was booked onto a different plane.

“They said they hadn’t done anything wrong because they did book her a ticket. Initially, they denied any liability. That’s Qantas,” Ms Braham told Channel 9’s Today Show.

“We spent 20 hours 47 minutes and 13 seconds on the phone to Qantas over a 24-hour period, and over 55 separate phone calls, before they finally agreed to book us on new flights home.”

https://www.news.com.au/travel/family-fumes-after-qantas-books-13monthold-girl-on-separate-flight-back-to-australia/news-story/4d5105253f17b53460fb65278cde8cb9

 

[summit_32]

And another cancellation saga which surely tarnishes QF's reputation.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/family-fumes-after-qantas-books-13monthold-girl-on-separate-flight-back-to-australia/news-story/4d5105253f17b53460fb65278cde8cb9

OMG - what a PR disaster for QF. Every parents nightmare...

 

[Vic]

Let's wait for the June results.

June results are in... Qantas with the Quinella

Airline On Time Performance Statistics —Monthly

Summary of current month Complete monthly report

www.bitre.gov.au

Qantas recorded the highest percentage of cancellations (at 8.1 per cent) during the month, followed by QantasLink (at 7.0 per cent), Virgin Australia (at 5.8 per cent), Jetstar (at 5.5 per cent), Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (at 5.3 per cent) and Rex Airlines (at 0.7 per cent).

 

[dajop]

June results are in...

Let's wait for the July results then?

 

[henrus]

June results are in... Qantas with the Quinella

BITRE needs to start reporting what % of pax made it to their destination with a checked bag .

If QF's 1 in 10 bags via Sydney go missing stat holds up then they'd be stuffed.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Honest question - how much money is saved by an organisation like QF to let go of all those staff , versus putting them on other duties over that time period (perhaps you know, evaluating their business processes up and down!). It must be a wet dream for those in accounting/finance to save so many $$$, but do they put a cost to the disruption to business caused when things return, as is happening now, into their analyses?

 

[TheInsider]

Honest question - how much money is saved by an organisation like QF to let go of all those staff , versus putting them on other duties over that time period (perhaps you know, evaluating their business processes up and down!). It must be a wet dream for those in accounting/finance to save so many $$$, but do they put a cost to the disruption to business caused when things return, as is happening now, into their analyses?

It's not just about staff costs, it's also equipment costs.

Irrespective of that, QF staff would've been given Job Keeper during covid, whereas the other companies weren't getting it and lost staff.

 

[MJHoops]

Tom has been a Qantas pilot for 30 years and he's never seen the airline struggle like this

As cancellations and delays threaten Qantas's reputation with customers and its budget faces challenging conditions, can the airline turn things around?

www.abc.net.au

“Tom and his co-pilot waited. And waited. They tried calling what Tom calls the "nerve centre" – a Qantas employee contactable on a radio frequency whose job is to update pilots on any queries. No answer.”

 

[Zanzara]

Tom has been a Qantas pilot for 30 years and he's never seen the airline struggle like this

As cancellations and delays threaten Qantas's reputation with customers and its budget faces challenging conditions, can the airline turn things around?

www.abc.net.au

“Tom and his co-pilot waited. And waited. They tried calling what Tom calls the "nerve centre" – a Qantas employee contactable on a radio frequency whose job is to update pilots on any queries. No answer.”

Really interesting ABC article. Long but worth the read. Thanks for posting.

 

[Quickstatus]

ABC

The problem is that it is likely not possible to improve the conditions for all 3. Improve one and you negatively affect The other one or two.

 

[Scarlett]

You know these guys are always on point:

 

[OATEK]

Even shareholders are likely to be unhappy now, who seemed to have been the only stakeholders QF had been trying to look after:
"Qantas’s financial recovery has been dealt a blow by poor on-time performance and high cancellation rates, with investment research firm Citi changing its rating for company shares from “neutral” to “sell”."

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/qantas-performance-woes-threaten-financial-recovery/news-story/9a7ec22e297dcd0cd7753a46b58fe778

 

[docjames]

And this from Traveller (SMH/Age) letters section:

EDITOR'S NOTE Dear readers, the rants are currently well outweighing the raves for this column, with complaints to Traveller about Qantas overwhelmingly dominating our inbox... we're close to having to declare a pause on Qantas-related missives, lest we establish a separate page or two to accommodate them all.

I’d have though publishing two or three pages worth might have got Qantas’s attention and been far more newsworthy - but that may be bad for SMH/Age advertising, free flights etc……

The travel section is now 99% advertising. There’s no actual news…..

 

[OATEK]

Anecdotal evidence from passing through immigration at SYD today, that the flight returning the QF CEO the other day had a 2 hour wait for the luggage to begin to appear on the carousel.

 

[dylarr]

Anecdotal evidence from passing through immigration at SYD today, that the flight returning the QF CEO the other day had a 2 hour wait for the luggage to begin to appear on the carousel.

Maybe that explains this article in The Australian today:

Qantas execs, management, line up for three months of airport work

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/qantas-execs-management-line-up-for-three-months-of-airport-work/news-story/19393a8e7760eb2ba5746057741dd4e1

Sorry it's paywalled, relevant paragraphs from the article below:

Qantas has asked its senior executives and managers to join a new contingency program that would see them leave their jobs and work as ground handlers up to five days per week for three months.​

​

In a note to staff, the airline’s chief operating officer Colin Hughes said Qantas would recruit at least 100 managers, adding there was “no expectation that you will opt into this role on top of your full-time position”.​

​

[...]​

​

“During your time in the contingency program, you’ll be an embedded resource within the ground handling partners,” Mr Hughes wrote. “This means you’ll receive a roster, be scheduled to operate and be supervised and managed in the live operations by our grand (sic) handling partners.”​

​

As part of the program, staff will sort and scan bags and drive tugs – the vehicles used on the airport tarmac – moving luggage onto aircraft and between terminals.​

Chickens well and truely coming home to roost? I bet having a significant numbers of senior execs and management from head office driving tugs and sorting bags full time for 3 months at the airport wasn't on the list of risks when the idea of outsourcing the below the wing operation was being sold in.

 

[Anna]

Anecdotal evidence from passing through immigration at SYD today, that the flight returning the QF CEO the other day had a 2 hour wait for the luggage to begin to appear on the carousel.

I hope he wasn't flying HLO.

 

[TheInsider]

I hope he wasn't flying HLO.

He just would've got his PA to wait for the bags.

 

[drron]

Maybe that explains this article in The Australian today:

Qantas execs, management, line up for three months of airport work

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/qantas-execs-management-line-up-for-three-months-of-airport-work/news-story/19393a8e7760eb2ba5746057741dd4e1

Sorry it's paywalled, relevant paragraphs from the article below:

Qantas has asked its senior executives and managers to join a new contingency program that would see them leave their jobs and work as ground handlers up to five days per week for three months.​

​

In a note to staff, the airline’s chief operating officer Colin Hughes said Qantas would recruit at least 100 managers, adding there was “no expectation that you will opt into this role on top of your full-time position”.​

​

[...]​

​

“During your time in the contingency program, you’ll be an embedded resource within the ground handling partners,” Mr Hughes wrote. “This means you’ll receive a roster, be scheduled to operate and be supervised and managed in the live operations by our grand (sic) handling partners.”​

​

As part of the program, staff will sort and scan bags and drive tugs – the vehicles used on the airport tarmac – moving luggage onto aircraft and between terminals.​

Chickens well and truely coming home to roost? I bet having a significant numbers of senior execs and management from head office driving tugs and sorting bags full time for 3 months at the airport wasn't on the list of risks when the idea of outsourcing the below the wing operation was being sold in.

Quite frankly if the CEO only moves on a problem when he is personally affected despite there being an enormous amount of publicity about the problem the Chairman of the board should whisper in his ear that it was time to move on.