Qantas to shut airport service desks, force customers onto self-service

[levelnine]

One need only look at Enron which did their level best to maximize short term shareholder value at the expense of those holding Enron shares long-term.

They're not even remotely comparable. Enron was cooking the books. No one is accusing Joyce of that.

Joyce is making a calculated bet that customers' memories are short (ie the outrage will be soon forgotten), the loyalty program keeps people flying QF even when they'd be better off flying on other airlines (hence the million and one ways to earn QF points these days), and the emotional tug of still calling Australia home ... (hence the big spend on advertising of late, including a reboot of that song).

 

[straitman]

Nice story, and perhaps accurate in this case, but it's worth noting the air ambulance plane being used for patient transfers could have very different weather minimums than a Qantas jet (or even Q400). An interesting example is in certain regional ports, Qantas has applied for and received approval for something called Required Navigation Performance (RNP), which (in simple terms), allows them to use GPS based navigation in what would otherwise be restrictive weather. Most other airlines, including Virgin, do not have this same level of certification, resulting in situations such as low fog, where Qantas might be able to operate but Virgin/Rex etc would have to cancel. Also, weather enroute could affect an air ambulance flight - maybe the Qantas jet could climb above the weather but the air ambulance operates at a much lower level subject to icing (for example). Even a Qantaslink Q400 is certified for "known flight into icing conditions" but a smaller air ambulance might not be. So while it doesn't hurt to ask them to double check the weather, also be aware of how complicated this can be.

Nice story though perhaps also a little inaccurate.

The required weather minima for any approach or departure depend upon a multiple of factors that include the aircraft capabilities and also the pilot ratings and currency. It then also works with the forecast weather as distinct to the actual weather.
Having said all that if the air ambulance declares his category as Med1 then he get priority over pretty much everything including RPT and they all need to get out of his way.
All air ambulance aircraft will be IFR rated but like every other aircraft out there (as I mentioned above) capabilities will vary with aircraft type, pilot ratings and aids available. Also air ambulance aircraft often operate into strips that RPT wouldn't need or dream of going near.

 

[straitman]

They're not even remotely comparable. Enron was cooking the books. No one is accusing Joyce of that.

Joyce is making a calculated bet that customers' memories are short (ie the outrage will be soon forgotten), the loyalty program keeps people flying QF even when they'd be better off flying on other airlines (hence the million and one ways to earn QF points these days), and the emotional tug of still calling Australia home ... (hence the big spend on advertising of late, including a reboot of that song).

Sad but true.

 

[RooFlyer]

As for yours truly, most of my international trips are booked with competitors like Air Canada, United and Delta-KLM-Air France Group.

This "RooFlyer" is booked on QR, AC, LH, LX and SIN. VA domestic feeders. All, maybe with exception of AC, a better experience than QF, and on an LH RTW fare, so, so, so much cheaper than Qantas!!

I certainly wouldn't pay for a Qantas ticket, but I'm happy to burn my 500,000+ points with them (and am doing so quite quickly).

Ditto. But looking forward to costing the share holders as much as I can manage along the way.

 

[Franky]

Weather reports though can be quite inaccurate. Once when working in Armidale I was trying to get a patient transferred to the John Hunter hospital in Newcastle. The co ordinator insisted the weather in Armidale prevented planes landing. I insisted on speaking to the supervisor who gave the same reply. As he was answering I heard a familiar sound so went outside. The place i always stayed at was just off the flight path. It was a bright sunny day with a wisp of wind. The noise got very loud and as it disappeared i was able to sat that the noise you heard was the QF flight from SYD on final approach about 600 metres from the end of the runway. They sent the plane up and their were no problems.

I take your point about weather forecasts/reports, but this event took place in DCA from 1100-1600 on the day, and the weather info was for that timespan. I did say to them when the flight was finally cancelled, if the weather was so bad, why did they spend so much time and effort trying to get us and so many others to NY? Also, if JFK had been closed, I would have expected that to attract some sort of report in the media.

That said, this has triggered my memory - when the flight was eventually cancelled at 1600, we had to retrieve our luggage. Down in the dungeon, the alarm and carousel would start, and 2 bags would slide down the ramp, and then it would stop. This went on for a further 2 hours before all the bags were finally off-loaded, and I would say, like most airports, the number of handlers out on the ramp were in short supply. Either way, blaming the weather took a great load off their shoulders.

 

[PineappleSkip]

There's lot of bellyaching on social media and this forum about never flying QFF again, but how many people are putting their wallet where their

you had to ask! last time I flew QFi was about 2014 (DXB-LHR). Easy to put your money into a different OW carrier and cheaper too. I never say never (except going back to Telstra) but being rusted on to QF status becomes harder and harder to justify.

 

[jakeseven7]

The crucial question is whether his mistreatment of passengers is going to eventually start to hit revenues and profits. There's lot of bellyaching on social media and this forum about never flying QFF again, but how many people are putting their wallet where their mouth is? My hope is that many people are following through with their words and starting to book VA, SQ, etc, but I remain sceptical.

Plenty of people swore off Qantas for its mishandling of COVID-19 refunds, but demand for QF flights after border restrictions ended was higher than ever. So we will see ...

Exactly, there is a lot of complaining and complaint discussion on here (probably because not much else interesting is happening to be honest, most of the exciting travel threads are gone these days sadly) and certainly Virgin will have picked up some more budget conscious passengers but by and large every QF flight we’ve been loading people onto in my business is rammed and Qantas domestic is bigger than it was pre-Covid. So clearly the majority don’t even know / care about all of this.

Plus there is certainly a media pile on right now which is not indicative of most peoples experiences so why would they I guess.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Will pax lose any real functionality on flight changes/seats - ie. unless there's an override (?), would pax actually still be able to have the same ability (or not) to change flights/seats at the kiosks as they would have had talking to a human?

I don't believe they'll be any changes there but the real elephant in the room is why the ability to check yourself in on the kiosk is no longer possible on the new kiosks.

There are plenty of people without smartphones or who aren't confident using the internet who would checkin at the airport getting both their boarding pass & bag tags using the kiosks.

If that functionality has now been disabled or removed altogether (not sure which applies) it will create even more people that will queue up at airport service desks or try to flag down a staff member because they now require assistance where they'd previously been able to self-manage.

 

[TheInsider]

If that functionality has now been disabled or removed altogether (not sure which applies) it will create even more people that will queue up at airport service desks or try to flag down a staff member because they now require assistance where they'd previously been able to self-manage.

It's a bag tag machine. Not check-in.
It's not a situation where it's disabled, it's not even built into the system.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

It's a bag tag machine. Not check-in.
It's not a situation where it's disabled, it's not even built into the system.

Are these bag tag machines the same ones they've had in PER for ages in addition to the regular kiosks?

 

[TheInsider]

Are these bag tag machines the same ones they've had in PER for ages in addition to the regular kiosks?

As far as I know, no. The PER roll out hasn't started yet. But I could be wrong on that.
Also the system is probably set up to use on CUTE systems, not just QF hardware.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I don't mean the latest roll out but these bag tag printer machines that have been at PER for years along with the regular kiosks they have in the Eastern States.

 

[serfty]

Shutting airport service desks may have cost this passenger and maybe 30 others significant amounts of money...

Flight delayed, missed connection and abandoned by Qantas

So this happend to me and about 30 other passengers on Friday travelling to Europe. We had a Qantas ticketed flight from Sydney to various european destinations on Qatar Airways via Brisbane. First leg was Syd to Bne on Qantas. Flight was meant to leave Sydney at 16:50 with connection on Qatar...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

I guess it may also cost Qantas significantly in the long run.

 

[RAM]

Shutting airport service desks may have cost this passenger and maybe 30 others significant amounts of money...

Flight delayed, missed connection and abandoned by Qantas

So this happend to me and about 30 other passengers on Friday travelling to Europe. We had a Qantas ticketed flight from Sydney to various european destinations on Qatar Airways via Brisbane. First leg was Syd to Bne on Qantas. Flight was meant to leave Sydney at 16:50 with connection on Qatar...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

I guess it may also cost Qantas significantly in the long run.

We can only dream about an ACCC tha actually supports travellers and not airlines.....

 

[dylarr]

I don't mean the latest roll out but these bag tag printer machines that have been at PER for years along with the regular kiosks they have in the Eastern States.

Do you mean the thin red baggage tag kiosks? They also had one of these at HBA. What is being rolled out now is different.

 

[Daver6]

Why are we still scanning QR codes?! Why not use NFC. So much less messing about for those using a phone.

 

[sudoer]

Why are we still scanning QR codes?! Why not use NFC. So much less messing about for those using a phone.

NFC readers aren't as ubiquitous as phone cameras yet - many low end phones don't have them.

 

[encryptededdy]

NFC readers aren't as ubiquitous as phone cameras yet - many low end phones don't have them.

But probably more importantly (since you could always fall back to PDF417 barcodes) is that you wouldn't want to have to go replace all the boarding gate scanners.

Also on iOS you would still have to bring up an app to transmit NFC, whether that be Apple Wallet or something else.

 

[Daver6]

NFC readers aren't as ubiquitous as phone cameras yet - many low end phones don't have them.

I'm not suggesting only NFC. I'm suggesting use both. You'd still require barcode scanners for printed boarding passes.

But probably more importantly (since you could always fall back to PDF417 barcodes) is that you wouldn't want to have to go replace all the boarding gate scanners.

Also on iOS you would still have to bring up an app to transmit NFC, whether that be Apple Wallet or something else.

I know the bag drop scanners have NFC readers. You used to be able to tap your QF FF card. Still opening an app and tapping is much faster than the messing about with scanning a QR code.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Why are we still scanning QR codes?! Why not use NFC. So much less messing about for those using a phone.

But probably more importantly (since you could always fall back to PDF417 barcodes) is that you wouldn't want to have to go replace all the boarding gate scanners.

Also on iOS you would still have to bring up an app to transmit NFC, whether that be Apple Wallet or something else.

I'm not suggesting only NFC. I'm suggesting use both. You'd still require barcode scanners for printed boarding passes.



I know the bag drop scanners have NFC readers. You used to be able to tap your QF FF card. Still opening an app and tapping is much faster than the messing about with scanning a QR code.

There's a lot of people who aren't very tech savvy who get checked in by a family member who sends them a text with a screen shot of the barcode which they can scan at the kiosks if they need to print out a bag tag & scan at the auto bag drop.

Many people wouldn't have a clue what NFC is or where to find it on their smartphones assuming it's even activated.

Some people don't even have a frequent membership or do but have no idea what their ff number is. Even if they are a member & have the app they won't always be signed in never mind remembering their password.

Being able to access your electronic ff barcode is a great workaround when your QR code boarding pass drops out because there's a delay & the flight has been retimed assuming you haven't saved the boarding pass to your Google or Apple Wallet.