Scathing Qantas Article

[simongr]

The author of the original article refers to



When I look at the QAN 2012 Annual Report the audited accounts state



So that's not a bad 'liability'.


*

The liability is (at 30 June 2012) A$800 million.

 

[cambriamarsh]

I've been able to change quite a few times, all in the luck of the draw I think.

 

[Rebekkap]

Ouch. Last week my WP partner flew Virgin for a change. He is Gold courtesy of status match. He arrived early and was immediately able to switch to an earlier flight. Qantas never does that.

Qantas has done that for me every single time I've been early at the airport, as long as I don't have checked luggage. "Qantas never does that" is demonstrably false.

 

[markis10]

Qantas has done that for me every single time I've been early at the airport, as long as I don't have checked luggage. "Qantas never does that" is demonstrably false.

Its all about perspective - its not false if the OP has never experienced it!

 

[Steelo]

I agree, I am continually amazed by the willingness of many people and particularly well paid union organisers to bag Qantas based on a romantic notion (from the last century) of what our national carrier should be. A frequent flyer program is a program that rewards loyalty - and I think it adds value to your travel experience. Having spent many hours of travel in waiting rooms many years ago I am continually amazed at an operation like Qantas that can provide such a quality and value added service to its frequent flyers. Unfortunately in the world of customer service - you do not always get it right - however, in general Qantas provides a consistent and high standard of service - domestically and internationally. It would be good research for some writers to do some travel hours on some domestic flights in the US and other countries before being so willing to dump on Qantas.

Would be interesting to see if a scathing VA / JQ / BA (insert airline name here) article elicited just as many responses from people swearing never to use VA / JQ / BA (insert airline name here) again and taking their business to QF instead.

QF isn't perfect but IME and IMO the competition is usually worse. (YMMV of course).

 

[Rebekkap]

Its all about perspective - its not false if the OP has never experienced it!

The OP didn't say "Qantas has never done that for me", they said "Qantas never does that." I stand by my statement that it's demonstrably false!

 

[cambriamarsh]

+1 the staff are 99% great and the flights are on time, in most cases at a cost not much more than a decent lunch!

I agree, I am continually amazed by the willingness of many people and particularly well paid union organisers to bag Qantas based on a romantic notion (from the last century) of what our national carrier should be. A frequent flyer program is a program that rewards loyalty - and I think it adds value to your travel experience. Having spent many hours of travel in waiting rooms many years ago I am continually amazed at an operation like Qantas that can provide such a quality and value added service to its frequent flyers. Unfortunately in the world of customer service - you do not always get it right - however, in general Qantas provides a consistent and high standard of service - domestically and internationally. It would be good research for some writers to do some travel hours on some domestic flights in the US and other countries before being so willing to dump on Qantas.

 

[Pushka]

Qantas has done that for me every single time I've been early at the airport, as long as I don't have checked luggage. "Qantas never does that" is demonstrably false.

All I can relate is our experience. It is most certainly not false for us. As markis10 has pointed out, thankyou!

And I see we are going to have to be pedantic about how we post now. I was talking about my partner's experience, not yours.

The recent virgin experience was last week, and was specifically texted to me by my partner, such was his pleasure at actually being able to come home earlier. And he also had checked in luggage which virgin dealt with seamlessly.

 

[Rebekkap]

All I can relate is our experience. It is most certainly not false for us. As markis10 has pointed out, thankyou!

And I see we are going to have to be pedantic about how we post now. I was talking about my partner's experience, not yours.

The recent virgin experience was last week, and was specifically texted to me by my partner, such was his pleasure at actually being able to come home earlier. And he also had checked in luggage which virgin dealt with seamlessly.

I'm glad your partner had a pleasant experience, and I must say I'm surprised they managed to move him with checked luggage, that's certainly a new one for me.

Truth doesn't vary depending on your perspective - it would be completely true for you to say "this has never happened to us". It's demonstrably not true to say "this has never happened", even if you have never experienced it. Communication stops working if people make up their own meanings for things - it's only when we have agreed definitions that we can communicate effectively

 

[Pushka]

Truth doesn't vary depending on your perspective

It does actually. That is the essence of issues like Racial Discrimination, It isn't up to the "sender" to determine if something is racist, but up to the "receiver."
But this is off topic.

 

[Rebekkap]

It does actually. That is the essence of issues like Racial Discrimination, It isn't up to the "sender" to determine if something is racist, but up to the "receiver."
But this is off topic.

Completely different issue - how people interpret things is not about whether things are true or not, unlike whether or not something has actually happened. It's like saying just because I think it's Tuesday it's actually Tuesday for me, when it's actually Wednesday. It's true that I think it's Tuesday, it's not actually true that it's Tuesday.

Anyway you're right, this is off topic. But when I read the original post, I truly thought you were saying that Qantas never did this for anyone, not that Qantas had never done this for you - which is why I responded as I did, and why I then stressed that saying what you actually mean is important, otherwise people cannot understand you.

 

[travelislife]

This thread is a bit off topic I reckon with regard to some points which tends to happen whenever a Qantas article is bandied around the media! The article was very much about the excessive fuel surcharges charged by Qantas against it's partner Emirates, all the other peripheral stuff regarding Qantas like fly ahead, status, loyalty, etc. I think has it's place in other threads.

I agree with many posters sentiments regarding the comments that come with these Qantas articles by Clive Doorman, but I would also contend that all the people saying 'I will never fly with Qantas again' are sticking by their statement as that is what the numbers show with Qantas' market share (especially international) dropping radically over the last few years, based on competition, which they can't seem to be competitive against for a whole host of reasons, another one of those is the use of fuel surcharges.

I know the argument of earn and burn, but as a consumer with choices of airlines who currently don't charge fuel surcharges with the ability to book flights out of Australia (UA, AA, Ethiad, Virgin, Emirates) I would be crazy to not weigh up the pros and cons which seems a lot of consumers are willing to do. These changes take time though as it takes time for people to accumulate points and it is not until they go to use them that they see things like fuel surcharges. A lot of Qantas FF's have only just experienced this due to Emirates much lower charges so have questioned why the difference in 'Taxes' between Qantas and Emirates.

I always find it interesting how when flyers who have been 'loyal' to Qantas change their flying patterns from say weekly to nothing (I was one of them) no contact is made with that member to at least ask the question of why they have changed their travel patterns. Would be a very cheap/simple exercise, but no they just keep sending out irrelevent surveys which I am sure they have paid a motza for through some marketing firm. As they say cheaper to keep a current customer than look for a new one! Oops, now I have gone OT a bit!

 

[Kef]

Ouch. Last week my WP partner flew Virgin for a change. He is Gold courtesy of status match. He arrived early and was immediately able to switch to an earlier flight. Qantas never does that.

Yes QF do, it all depends on your ticket type and status always helps. Never have had a problem jumping on an earlier flight if I have arrived to the airport early.

 

[drewbles]

Qantas has done that for me every single time I've been early at the airport, as long as I don't have checked luggage. "Qantas never does that" is demonstrably false.

You've been lucky. In all my years as a WP I've never once been able to do it. I've been asked if i'd like to move for 'operational reasons' (ie, flow forward), but unless you're on a flexi fare, QF are not very flexible themselves on moving you unless it suits them. I've had a 100% hit rate at using VA's 'fly forward' benefit, and it's been brilliant.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

You've been lucky. In all my years as a WP I've never once been able to do it. I've been asked if i'd like to move for 'operational reasons' (ie, flow forward), but unless you're on a flexi fare, QF are not very flexible themselves on moving you unless it suits them. I've had a 100% hit rate at using VA's 'fly forward' benefit, and it's been brilliant.

me too. refused me every time

 

[Pinkmoose]

Ouch. Last week my WP partner flew Virgin for a change. He is Gold courtesy of status match. He arrived early and was immediately able to switch to an earlier flight. Qantas never does that.

You must have been unlucky. I have had flights changed several times. I am only PS and only booked the sale fares, so there was no special treatment here. The Qantas staff have always been very helpful to me and always gone above and beyond to help me out.

 

[drewbles]

You must have been unlucky. I have had flights changed several times. I am only PS and only booked the sale fares, so there was no special treatment here. The Qantas staff have always been very helpful to me and always gone above and beyond to help me out.

Pushka meant that VA was accommodating and QF was not. You're the one who's lucky as flying on an earlier flight by request on a non flexible flight is not a published benefit of any QF tier. If you're flying in the 'golden triangle' during peak hour, your chances of being offered an earlier flight are very very high though.

 

[Pinkmoose]

Pushka meant that VA was accommodating and QF was not. You're the one who's lucky as flying on an earlier flight by request on a non flexible flight is not a published benefit of any QF tier. If you're flying in the 'golden triangle' during peak hour, your chances of being offered an earlier flight are very very high though.

I know what Pushka was saying. I was just stating that in my experience I have had flight changes (both earlier and later), in non-peak periods flying all around Australia. I may have been lucky, but this is both unexpected and very welcomed. I don't think that just because you have status you can expect or demand any changes to your flights. These are probably done out of the goodness of some people and, as you state, are not a published benefit.

 

[Pushka]

You've been lucky. In all my years as a WP I've never once been able to do it. I've been asked if i'd like to move for 'operational reasons' (ie, flow forward), but unless you're on a flexi fare, QF are not very flexible themselves on moving you unless it suits them. I've had a 100% hit rate at using VA's 'fly forward' benefit, and it's been brilliant.

Exactly my point too.

me too. refused me every time

Thankyou.

You must have been unlucky. I have had flights changed several times. I am only PS and only booked the sale fares, so there was no special treatment here. The Qantas staff have always been very helpful to me and always gone above and beyond to help me out.

So clearly it isnt just me/partner who is unlucky then....We have found Qantas very helpful, but usually when there hasn't been an issue to fix. Like requesting an early flight. They have never done this FOR US

 

[Aussie_flyer]

I spoke to a staff member at the business lounge in Canberra who told me that unless there was irrops due to weather or something he can't physically change my flight to another one even if he WANTED to . The system won't allow it.