Qantas Fleet Grounded 29/10

[Deleted member 29185]

So if the unions get their wishes we would get the lounges, biz class and extra bags?

So you work for the unions?

Am I stuck in "Groundhog Day" or has this same post been posted twice previous? That's spam I believe.

 

[ric_melb]

I was really surprised by the Qantas action, but I suppose on reflection something had to be done to stop the stalemate.
Not really that confident the Fair Work Australia will resolve it.
Alan Joyce has just stated on ABC AM that the decision was fully supported by the board at a meeting held Saturday morning.
So I don't think we can just blame the CEO.

I do hope some resolution is achieved fairly quickly so all parties inconvenienced can get on with life,

 

[Deleted User]

Am I stuck in "Groundhog Day" or has this same post been posted twice previous? That's spam I believe.

struggling AFF server I think... Hence there have been quite a few double or triple posts...

This is going to be a very long thread I think... Pass the popcorn...!

 

[PaulC83]

I'm stuck in Ayers Rock! With the next "other airline" flight not available until Thursday............QF put me on a flight to Alice Springs today (they also offered Darwin or Perth on QFLink!, although all the DJ flights are sold out for days) where there would be more opportunties for flights to the east "when they resume"....
:shock:

They did advise that I have lots of spending money now so "spend up"

Let us know if you need some help spending up at a bar

 

[oz_mark]

I am not clear on the CEO/Boards role to consult the Minister/PM/Cabinet in this case,it is a commercial issue with defined boundaries.

As a side note, Qantas has always had a pretty slick team that was good at lobbying the government. I do wonder if this has done some damge to its abilities to get the governments ear. The Minister certainly seemed irritated by it all yesterday.

 

[Red Roo]

Sincere apologies. It was not deliberate. I was having technical issues last night and did not realise this was posted three times. I had a couple of people ask me where to get the most up to date info, so wanted to get something up appreciating that many of you do know where to get what you need!

yeah ok, that's 3 times now. stop spamming the thread. there are other corners of the internet we can use and we do know how to get info we need.

*** Note from admin: To be fair to Red Roo, we have been having technical issues today with the sever dropping continually and it is possible that Red Roo wasn't aware that the pst had been made

 

[munitalP]

My story:

AJ - good on you, rather instant pain than a death of a 1000 cuts

JM - grow up - you knew nothing the same as everyone else

SP - did you or you union read my poll? I did say your full house of Jacks was about to be trumped by Aces! (JM - see, I put it in writing a few weeks ago)

QF-FF, good on you, my MEL/SYD flights booked onto tonight, 5 minutes to get through, 30 seconds to get answered, 15 seconds to re-route me MEL/CBR/SYD on QF Link

VA - good on you offering a 20% discount on fares.... (that is sarcasm by the way)...... but you couldn't have paid for the media exposure, make it 50% and become Australian instead of the funnel for RB's new Island or Space Station fund....

Air Asia - you guys seem to be the only genuine "we'll help you out if we can" airline

JG - see you, your wrought incompetent communist government is going...

All the pro and against reads (except the idiotic posts) on this thread - keep it up, its better than the Sunday papers. Is it just me, or is there an influx of new posters all with the same outlook?

If this lasts for 3 weeks, I have 9 QF flights pre paid affected, but on a positive, I have 3 or 4 VA flights unaffected!

munitalP

 

[Simo]

QF-FF, good on you, my MEL/SYD flights booked onto tonight, 5 minutes to get through, 30 seconds to get answered, 15 seconds to re-route me MEL/CBR/SYD on QF Link

Doing a bit of a status run during the grounding... Lol

 

[QF WP]

Yes, admin advised that there have been a number of connection issues yesterday (don't know whether it was because of the numbers online yesterday).

After watching AJ on Ch7 this morning, I see positives and negatives in the action taken. I'm hoping that the 2pm re-commencement of the FWA hearing will give us either a cancellation of all strikes or a suspension. A suspension doesn't give any clarify in the short term, as ongoing action by the unions will only continue the uncertainty and possible losses well into next year. A cancellation will give certainty from a sooner point in time and probably reduce losses overall (even including this weekends').

 

[Renato]

I was booked on QF1 today , able to ring Qantas and was able to change to QF 301 ( BA 10 ) i consider myself very lucky ,but even if i was not
able to change ticket , I still support Qantas in this move , I myself moved production to Asia 10 years ago due to high costs in Australia , a simple
choice was move or close down, i think Qantas sees the writing on the wall and have to take on the union full on , It must be very hard for stranded
passengers ,and maybe a bit of warning so Qantas and passengers could organize alternatives flights may have been a good idea , them again who knows
the inside problems of dealing with unions on this matter.

 

[munitalP]

My story:

AJ - good on you, rather instant pain than a cut of 1000 deaths

JM - grow up - you knew nothing the same as everyone else

SP - did you or you union read my poll? I did say your full house of Jacks was about to be trumped by Aces! (JM - see, I put it in writing a few weeks ago)

QF-FF, good on you, my MEL/SYD flights booked onto tonight, 5 minutes to get through, 30 seconds to get answered, 15 seconds to re-route me MEL/CBR/SYD on QF Link

VA - good on you offering a 20% discount on fares.... (that is sarcasm by the way)...... but you couldn't have paid for the media exposure, make it 50% and become Australian instead of the funnel for RB's new Island or Space Station fund....

Air Asia - you guys seem to be the only genuine "we'll help you out if we can" airline

JG - see you, your wrought incompetent communist government is going...

All the pro and against reads (except the idiotic posts) on this thread - keep it up, its better than the Sunday papers. Is it just me, or is there an influx of new posters all with the same outlook?

If this lasts for 3 weeks, I have 9 QF flights pre paid affected, but on a positive, I have 3 or 4 VA flights unaffected!

munitalP

...
So, the short sightedness of the unions has now seen Qantas start playing the final hand in this game of Texas holdem. The unions hold a pair of jacks, the flop, turn and river are a jack and 2 aces - the union does not realise the full house they believe will win them the game, is about to be trumped by the two aces that Qantas hold.

What are these aces? Simple. Qantas has started and will continue to ground aircraft to offset cost/losses. Airfares will increase until only very resilient customers will continue to pay the union forced fare increases, and another Australian icon will wither to a point of no return.

...

 

[moa999]

The decision was made to offer no notice, other than the calls 3 hours prior to the announcement to the PM, IR Minister and peak Tourism bodies, due to safety reasons.

The thought of having one rogue employee who did not like this decision and did something vengeful, or perhaps did not complete a routine and maybe mundane safety check, and risk the lives of hundreds of innocent lives.... please, lets not even go there.
.

Almost.
48hrs notices of the lock-out was given. The lock-out commences at 8pm Monday. Until then all employees paid. After then the three unions locked out.
Then for safety reasons the Board chose to ground the fleet immediately for the reasons you have mentioned above.

Even if a weeks notice had been given I suspect the same immediate grounding decision would have been made.

Whilst I don't feel much sympathy for the unions who I feel have brought this on themselves, or the government who have been avoiding this in blind ignorance, I have some sympathy for the lh pilots who have acted fairly profesionally through all of this, albeit some of their demands on the table seem pretty out there.

 

[dfcatch]

Re: Qantas Press Conference 5pm 29/10

Almost.
48hrs notices of the lock-out was given. The lock-out commences at 8pm Monday. Until then all employees paid. After then the three unions locked out.
Then for safety reasons the Board chose to ground the fleet immediately for the reasons you have mentioned above.

Even if a weeks notice had been given I suspect the same immediate grounding decision would have been made.

Whilst I don't feel much sympathy for the unions who I feel have brought this on themselves, or the government who have been avoiding this in blind ignorance, I have some sympathy for the lh pilots who have acted fairly profesionally through all of this, albeit some of their demands on the table seem pretty out there.

I agree - I feel the pilots are getting the raw end of the stick..

That said - they recently threatened to escalate their actions - so good for the goose, good for the gander.....

 

[richie9x]

I am booked on a flight this afternoon BNE-MEL. I haven't had any contact from Qantas and it is impossible to contact them all phone lines are busy. No contact from Qantas yet.

Another day or two in Brisbane would actually suit me.

The interesting thing is the flight is still showing as scheduled. Only flights up until noon are showing as canceled. Not sure if this is significant, or is it that they only cancel the flights a few hours before they are scheduled to depart.

 

[yohy?!]

Joyce live on abc1 now

 

[oz_mark]

A couple of comments:

If this is where the countries IR framework leads, then I think it needs work.

Those Qantas government relations people have got a bit of work ahead of them, the ministers etc looked a bit iritated by the lack of consulation.

 

[coyote25]

I agree - I feel the pilots are getting the raw end of the stick..

That said - they recently threatened to escalate their actions - so good for the goose, good for the gander.....

Their rep said he stated many times escalation did not mean cancellations. He said they were going to stop calling in 15 to 4 hours before long haul flights making QF make the phone calls. Also stated they haven't striked since the 60s.

The pilots have taken moderate action. The other unions have been over the top. "we're on strike, wait now that's it too late we aren't so you have to pay us but still cancel flights lose bookings". That's the behavior that lead to this.

I was going to post earlier this week about how empty melb QF terminal was on Monday morning. Not really empty, plane was nearly full but they cancelled other flights and getting though security was easy especially for Monday morning. I was going to ask if this was combination of strikes plus DJ recent upgrades (hard and soft product) QF was obviously losing bookings.

The question is how many will come back. With status matches I think DJ might now have locked in new loyal customers. Great timing for them.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Re: Qantas Press Conference 5pm 29/10

I've no idea what the union demands were, but I do know they gave notice about industrial action.

I'm not a union fan (far from it in fact), but I do know that unions are necessary to protect the conditions of workers. Anyone who suggests to quit and find another job if you're unhappy, has no idea.

What I can see though, is unparalleled damage to what must arguably be Australias most preeminent brand and a worthy world player. A nonagenarian airline is a pretty special entity worthy of treatment somewhat better than a pawn in some egotistical game of one-upmanship. In Qantas' case, she is the worlds oldest continuously operating airline and bloody Alan Joyce is risking this world heritage for the sake of his overblown head size. Make no mistake, this is AJs mess. The Qantas board could hardly agree to his continued tenure and 70% payrise one day and undermine him the next! This appears to be a game to him. This is no game. Not only has he arrogantly, intentionally disrupted the travel plans of over 80 000 travellers currently, but what about the tens of thousands, no...hundreds of thousands of travellers if this continues for a while? What if he's badly misread the public and he does actually kill the airline. He's threatened it, why should we not believe he's capable of it.

2005 and 2006 saw Qantas ranked 2nd in the Skytrax World Airline Awards.......and they've been dropping ever since. Well done QF board and Alan Joyce, you're systemically stuffing one of the best airlines in the world and now what? Cut it up into pieces to become a lean, mean nothing machine. This is the most callous corporate decision making I've heard of for some time.

 

[munitalP]

...

So, the short sightedness of the unions has now seen Qantas start playing the final hand in this game of Texas holdem. The unions hold a pair of jacks, the flop, turn and river are a jack and 2 aces - the union does not realise the full house they believe will win them the game, is about to be trumped by the two aces that Qantas hold.

What are these aces? Simple. Qantas has started and will continue to ground aircraft to offset cost/losses. Airfares will increase until only very resilient customers will continue to pay the union forced fare increases, and another Australian icon will wither to a point of no return.

...

munitalP

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....urrent-union-activity-tide-support-33697.html

 

[amaroo]

Love it. Bloody unions - nothing but useless thugs. They do have a purpose in supporting members.....but never trying to run a business. Lets see the union talk tough while their members earn nothing. Poor on ALP government, now has to step in and break their cosy relationship with their union financial backers......ha,ha, sweet justice. Boys & girls, accept the world has moved on & "NO ONE" is entitled to a job for life culture or completely outdated work practices. As a QF shareholder, customer & FF I'm very happy & supportive of the action that QF board & management has taken.....along with 94% of the other shareholders - as per the AGM last Friday.