Where are ex-QF staff working now?

[Melburnian1]

It's redundant to say (especially in Victoria) that these are troubling times for the many previously employed in hospitality (cafes/restaurants/hotels), retail and some sections of the transport industry, especially aviation.

However, some individuals previously employed in aviation must be finding new jobs. From media reports, at least one is working on a farm operating heavy machinery like headers. Others with the applicable heavy vehicle licence are driving trucks. Some have been accused of receiving 'double up' pay when working as hotel quarantine staff in Melbourne.

I have a friend who pre-COVID-19 frequently travelled in F using FF points or in J, although he more often uses carriers like SQ than QFi.

The latter was recently on a NSWTrainLink railcar from Sydney towards Armidale/Moree. When his ticket was checked, the male passenger services supervisor said 'Oh hello. Lovely to see you again.' Turns out he was ex-QF and had fairly quickly found a position with this government-owned rail operator.

It will not be true in every case but depending on the payout he received from QF and how much he was typically earning per annum, but these jobs can often be surprisingly well paid with various penalty rates and extras, allow the gent to be home more than he'd have been on QFi and have comfortable working conditions.

I can't however vouch that the bright lights of Griffith or Armidale match those of New York or Hong Kong.

 

[Denali]

According to this Youi ad, Mike the pilot is putting bikes together

Mike – Life Changes

lifechanges.youi.com.au

He sat the family down. He’s the father of three boys in school. “We had to put a plan in place. We told them; ‘ultimately, the end game is to keep the house, keep you boys in school.’ So, we had to cut some costs to make ends meet.”
“It’s been quite a big change going from aviation to the bike shops. I'm now working anywhere between four and six days a week between two bicycle shops. I’ve probably taken a 70% pay cut. My wife’s had to pick up a lot more work to make up for it.”

 

[Mattg]

I took the train to Griffith a couple of months ago and the PSS (that's the NSW TrainLink equivalent of a CSM) was just excellent, calling every passenger by their name at every interaction. I'd never had such good service on a train! We got chatting and it turns out he was also a former Qantas CSM on the A380, and had recently got the new job at NSW TrainLink. I wonder if it was the same person?

I've also heard of a few former QF staff working at Woolworths.

 

[jb747]

There was probably a much more varied background amongst the cabin crew than there was in the pilots. Lots of cabin crew had been nurses, teachers, police officers. There were quite a few law degrees, a couple of doctors and one vet that I know off.

The pilots had much more specific training, and had mostly come through the education systems with the very single minded aim of going flying. Nevertheless, whilst there were many science and engineering backgrounds, there were also people with teaching, legal, medical and financial qualifications.

Mostly I expect people still have some level of hope that flying will eventually restart, and so are taking any job, at any level, that offers to pay the grocery bills. I don't know of many who have permanently left the airlines, yet.

 

[Melburnian1]

...Mostly I expect people still have some level of hope that flying will eventually restart, and so are taking any job, at any level, that offers to pay the grocery bills. I don't know of many who have permanently left the airlines, yet.

Fair enough but the 6000 QFi and 3750 (VA 1.0/VA 2.0) who have been retrenched have, at least in the ATO view of the world, 'permanently left'.

 

[AIRwin]

I know someone who left QF to join Westpac...

 

[drron]

And the WIN regional news had a B777 pilot who took the various payments on offer and is now working on a farm near Mungindi.

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

And the WIN regional news had a B777 pilot who took the various payments on offer and is now working on a farm near Mungindi.

Oh I saw that on our local WIN too, he is driving some super-dupa tractor/harvester !

 

[AIRwin]

And the WIN regional news had a B777 pilot who took the various payments on offer and is now working on a farm near Mungindi.

He would have been a VA pilot...

 

[Myrna]

I was calling CommSec the other day and talking to a call centre staff. He said he was a QF A380 flight attendant. He said he hoped he would get his job back once the planes are back in the sky.

 

[Bazzi]

We have four senior QF crew at Woolies - what a breathe of fresh air. They have a great work ethic, have lifted the customer service immeasurably and this is rubbing off on the other staff. Two have applied for the redundancy package as they felt flying post COVID would be very different and they preferred to leave on a career high.

 

[justinbrett]

Quite a few pilots came from the RAAF so many are returning, if only as reservists

 

[BD1959]

My S-I-L had worked QF cabin crew prior to the acquisition of TN and switched to domestic when the family came along. She's just accepted one of the redundancy packages available and is planning her retirement ...

Regards,

BD

 

[Squirrel.Monkey]

I was at a local market in Sydney this last weekend and there was a stall selling lots of dog stuff, clothing, foot lotions and organic biscuits. It was 2 Qantas employees that started the business after they were laid off. The business seems to be going well and speaking to them, they were not planning to go back to the skies.

 

[UP4014]

I know 2, a flight attendant nearing retirement anyway has retired early, the other, a business analyst is still working on tracking freight yields which has grown even using normal passenger aircraft.

 

[RB]

A story in a local paper re a couple of ex-Virgin staff

Former Virgin staff David Everingham and Deborah Garner land new gig in Coffee Hangar Cafe | Wauchope Gazette | Wauchope, NSW

 

[RAM]

My S-I-L had worked QF cabin crew prior to the acquisition of TN and switched to domestic when the family came along. She's just accepted one of the redundancy packages available and is planning her retirement ...

Regards,

BD

That's a useful datapoint! Assuming 'just' means in October & sounds as if not received the cash yet.

Q has been very quiet about how the redundancy processing is going. Back in June Q said that the 6,000 would all be processed before Spetmeber 30th but there has been no update since. As this requires around $600m to be actually paid out - it will come close to totally exhausting all Q's remaining cash left from the $550m unsecured bond issue & $1.36bn institutional share issue (26.6.20).

As over June 30th (prior to the unsecured bond issue some weeks later) they had less than $300m Net Tangible Assets despite getting in the $1,360m from the share issue.

 

[milehighclub]

That's a useful datapoint! Assuming 'just' means in October & sounds as if not received the cash yet.

Cabin Crew VR EOI closed back in August. No decision has been made yet in regards to exit dates and they are over subscribed. Other areas have already had VR approved and those employees have left the company (sad to see a number of amazing ground staff and first hosts leave).

 

[Toula92122]

I heard the redundancy decision had been held up due to the legal challenge by the ex Sunstate? staff. The courts heard the case in September and believe the decision is to be handed down in December.

 

[p--and--t]

I know one cabin crew on QLink is now a DJ.