Qantas brand badly tarnished

[Melburnian1]

You know, at least it's good honest communication about the situation, which I respect. ("Situation is ****, not much we can do about it, bare with us while we do the best we can.")

Agree. There's nothing more annoying that not knowing "why" a transport service is delayed, whatever the mode.

That sort of communication informed passengers accurately so it was the gold standard.

 

[Danger]

Hands up who is going to give up their WP status even though they have had a bad experience with QF themselves?

I freely admit I am one of these. I have often been appalled (sometimes even livid) with Qantas over the past 2 or so years but, in a poor indictment on my character, I'm not going anywhere.

 

[dajop]

As a lifetime gold, I'm certainly not going to desert Qantas any time soon either. I'll almost certainly continue to maintain my current rate of flying with them - that being 20 flights*/decade.


* excluding QF operated by EK flights

 

[drron]

@JohnK obviously not for you but there are many on here who do a lot of OS flying.
And not true that you can't accumulate AA miles quickly. There was a heads up from a respected Flyer Talker that AA was considering changing the qualifications for life time status. originally all miles counted now it is just flying. The suggested date for the changeover was about 18 months from the heads up. I was just under 1 million total miles and you needed 2 million for life time plat. I made 2 million with 3 months to spare -flying,hotels,diner's club rental cars-they all counted. And I didn't have a business that I could churn through the CC.

 

[JohnPhelan]

Agree. There's nothing more annoying that not knowing "why" a transport service is delayed, whatever the mode.

That sort of communication informed passengers accurately so it was the gold standard.

But you know why it’s delayed - “operational reasons”!!!!

 

[Peasant]

I've had very frustrating experiences with Qantas and I'm very disappointed with the depth of cuts that have now manifested themselves in nearly all aspects of the QF experience. Things are very bad at the moment but I won't abandon QF altogether (yet) as I'm still a relatively happy Platinum and the handcuffs do work.

The complication that has arisen is that my consideration criteria has broadened. Where I'd once automatically book QF for all domestic sectors, I now look much more closely at price, schedule and aircraft type against the competition. I'm sure I've become a much lower yielding customer as a result as my price sensitivity has risen considerably, especially on shorter sectors. The more they cut and the less reliable they become, the smaller the premium I'm willing to pay.

I abandoned QF international for Singapore Airlines in 2018 due to the excessive delays I was consistently experiencing. The awful food didn't help, but my annual revenue to QF has probably declined 80 percent as a result.

 

[Franky]

But you know why it’s delayed - “operational reasons”!!!!

Or the get-out clause - the weather…

 

[Anna]

The awful food didn't help,

And the stinginess of the food! When I've paid several thousand dollars to fly in QF J long haul, it is unacceptable to be told 'you can have dessert or cheese, you can't have both'. On SQ they say 'please have dessert and cheese and a fruit platter and can we bring you anything else?'.

 

[Basalt]

Ok to present an opposite point of view, a storm in a teacup. Qantas is Teflon coated. And the executives know it.

No and yes. Not a storm in a teacup, I’ve flown 19 sectors this year and 17 were dysfunctional in some way. The two that weren’t was a status flight with no checked in baggage, so even those two come with a caveat.

Unfortunately and, frankly disgustingly, Qantas does have a degree of Teflon coating the execs leverage. To whit, the Australian public purse gave two billions dollars to Qantas to support them during pandemic and this has been taken for granted with zero return. This social contract between Qantas and the Australian public has been totally run roughshod over by Qantas.

Note I say a degree of Teflon coating because the share price is circa $4.50 ish ($4.44 yesterday) and should be between $5 and $5.50 right now taking into account the pandemic, Ukraine war etc.

 

[JohnK]

Pre-covid when I used to commute weekly I used to visit the Qantas lounges on arrival. If I was 5 minutes late collecting my luggage they would call me.

My golf clubs did not arrive with me last night. We waited 30 minutes for bags to come out and I only got my luggage. Other people were also waiting for bags.

Went to baggage services close to 11:00pm and 4 people already in queue so did not bother lodging report as my lift was already waiting and I was tired.

It's now 18 hours later and no call from Qantas. I called baggage services and they can't help. The only way to lodge a missing bag report is at the airport.

What's happened to the airline that's had my loyalty since I started flying again in 2003? This is very disappointing.

 

[Franky]

Pre-covid when I used to commute weekly I used to visit the Qantas lounges on arrival. If I was 5 minutes late collecting my luggage they would call me.

My golf clubs did not arrive with me last night. We waited 30 minutes for bags to come out and I only got my luggage. Other people were also waiting for bags.

Went to baggage services close to 11:00pm and 4 people already in queue so did not bother lodging report as my lift was already waiting and I was tired.

It's now 18 hours later and no call from Qantas. I called baggage services and they can't help. The only way to lodge a missing bag report is at the airport.

What's happened to the airline that's had my loyalty since I started flying again in 2003? This is very disappointing.

Your’e not alone…

 

[serfty]

The only way to lodge a missing bag report is at the airport.

In reality, this has been the case for decades.

Try to avoid leaving an airport if you have missing bags until you have the appropriate missing bag claim paperwork correctly filled out and a tracking number.

 

[TheInsider]

You actually can self-service online now for a missing bag, Very new feature (as in past few days):

https://www.qantas.com/au/en/travel-info/baggage/baggage-services/create-manage-delayed-baggage-report.html?int_cam=au%3Abaggage-services%3Abutton%3Adelayedbaggage1%3Aen%3Ann

Self Service UI

mybag.aero

 

[JohnK]

In reality, this has been the case for decades.

Always try to avoid leaving an airport if you have missing bags without the appropriate missing bag claim paperwork correctly filled out and a tracking number.

True but at 11:00pm after leaving BNE apartment at 3:00pm to get to airport early for my 6:10pm flight and seeing 4 people in queue + plus person being served and my lift waiting in car park and me being extremely tired I thought best to go and wait for phone call that I usually used to get when bags were not claimed.

No phone call. No help over the phone. Spent time going to airport, parking near Mascot, walking 20 minutes to terminal with bad hip, waiting 20-30 minutes in queue, getting golf clubs and walking back to car tired.

But that's not all bad. There are others worse off. Like the guy in front of me who had a large soft bag with all his clothes that was in the hold and now smelled badly of fish all through his clothes. Some other bag must have leaked. Not sure how that one is going to get resolved as he was off to hotel and no other clothes.

By the way there's a QR code that you can scan and fill out a report online. I'm not sure whether it still needs to be verified by a person but that's another option.

I see what @TheInsider has posted above. You'd think the person I spoke to on the phone at baggage services would know about this new feature? After the advice she gave me I did not check online.

Interesting chat with the person getting my golf clubs. Qantas have been outsourcing everything. What a dumb move trying to save a few costs. Getting rid of all the execs would have saved more money. The airline can do without their input.

 

[TheInsider]

I see what @TheInsider has posted above. You'd think the person I spoke to on the phone at baggage services would know about this new feature? After the advice she gave me I did not check online.

Interesting chat with the person getting my golf clubs. Qantas have been outsourcing everything. What a dumb move trying to save a few costs. Getting rid of all the execs would have saved more money. The airline can do without their input.

Like I said, it's brand new, so probably hasn't been advised to many people as yet.

TBH I'd rather just report the bag online then waiting with 40 others at the bag counter for the same thing. So hopefully this part of the new update will be a good thing. Would even be better if they knew an entire plane wasn't loaded to give out a card or something on board and just do the report while up in the air and then just walk out of the terminal.

 

[mrsterryn]

Waffling ahead

I am on a couple of Hawaiian visitor forums. So many people are complaining about various airlines non stop. For example Hawaiian Airlines has just cancelled Florida to HNL ongoing due to covid and post covid issues . So Qantas is not alone
However Qantas does seem to be having more issues than expected. My flight home last month from Hawaii was 90mins arriving back in Sydney.
At the few international trips I have looked at for the next twelve months over various airlines, Qantas isn't a good selection price wise. There do appear to be airlines that do the same route at better prices (no one is that great at the moment admittedly)
I won't get to LTG so I think trying to attain that by travelling with Qantas by paying thousands more is a waste of money. As someone else said it will be Best Fare of the Day

 

[drron]

Waffling ahead

I am on a couple of Hawaiian visitor forums. So many people are complaining about various airlines non stop. For example Hawaiian Airlines has just cancelled Florida to HNL ongoing due to covid and post covid issues . So Qantas is not alone
However Qantas does seem to be having more issues than expected. My flight home last month from Hawaii was 90mins arriving back in Sydney.
At the few international trips I have looked at for the next twelve months over various airlines, Qantas isn't a good selection price wise. There do appear to be airlines that do the same route at better prices (no one is that great at the moment admittedly)
I won't get to LTG so I think trying to attain that by travelling with Qantas by paying thousands more is a waste of money. As someone else said it will be Best Fare of the Day

Sorry I don't do BFOD. I would probably end up flying Air Asia.Easyjet or Ryanair.
So it is the best fare on a carrier that I like travelling on. QF isn't on that list for long haul.

 

[whughes3]

In the Travel Letters section of Saturdays Melbourne Age:

IT'S A JOKE, JOYCE​

Having extracted seemingly millions from the public purse to stop the 100-year old airline from being permanently grounded, Qantas now wants to slash services, increase fares (oil prices) and give staff a $5000 bonus. Yet this is the same airline whose chief executive blamed the travelling public for the delays at airport check-ins. Then there was the unconscionable conduct of charging passengers twice and making them wait for refunds. In the words of the late Graham Kennedy, it's a joke Joyce, and whichever way you look at it Qantas has us cornered.

Allan Gibson, Cherrybrook, NSW

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 understand these are difficult times for travel but we'd also be glad to hear about your positive travel experiences both here and abroad. To restore the balance, preference will be given to letters of this nature in coming weeks and 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.

 

[mrsterryn]

Sorry I don't do BFOD. I would probably end up flying Air Asia.Easyjet or Ryanair.
So it is the best fare on a carrier that I like travelling on. QF isn't on that list for long haul.

Very true , I should have qualified that by saying Cathay (though thoughtful about going through Hong Kong) QR, JAL, Emirates, Singapore and though I know sacrilegious but also BA.

 

[drron]

Going on BA is not sacrilegious. They always treat me well in F.