90 Reasons NOT to Fly Qantas

[Happy Trails]

Those on-board pump-action soap dispensers.

First press - nothing.
Second press - nothing.
Third press and they discharge over the front of your trousers.

Not a good look as you emerge from the dunny.

 

[medhead]

Everyone is talking about switching to Virgin and Virgin does inconsistency just as well if not better than Qantas.

Try working out their drink policy.

Actually Virgin are consistent according to you. Consistently rubbish is still consistent.

Their drinks policy is very easy to work out. Consistently related to time of day and varying between week day and weekend. Just like qantas.

Not to mention the post you replied to said nothing about switching to virgin.

 

[winwil]

I am looking to stop collecting Qantas FF points and shift to another airline. I am a platinum Qantas frequent flyer using only international flights and was sufficiently disappointed by my Qantas frequent flyer redemption experience to move my future points elsewhere.

Here are my reasons:

$30 per person surcharge to book flights using the phone but the website does not work for OW alliance flights. The website might work for Qantas redemption flights but these are never available. So you are forced to call and incur the fee. In my opinion the ACCC might be interested in this one- unconscionable, surcharge no where near actual cost, false advertising that redemption flights are free?
$60 per person surcharge to use a credit card to the exorbitant tax and charges. The ACC might be interested in that one too.- unconscionable, surcharge no where near actual cost?
Exorbitant taxes and charges amounted to more than $1050 return Europe each. With the surcharges more than $1100 for your reward flights when I can buy them commercially for $1350 with another airline including taxes and charges.
Exorbitant points surcharges as a result of being forced to use non Qantas flights, due to lack of availability of Qantas reward flights.
Qantas have ditched my status ASAP when you stop flying them for a bit despite enduring long term regular Qantas usage.
Full points spend on Jetstar redemption flights, but minimalist service and no frequent flyer privileges despite the full points expense of a genuine Qantas flight.
No flexibility on redemption flights should you need to change them. Any flexibility costs you even more points
In other words no meaningful loyalty from Qantas to a very frequent flyer. Obviously Alan Joice after trashing one the best airlines in the world also does not want my business and hopes to fix the business.
To be fair to Qantas their staff are generally still excellent and the business class flying experience is still very good- not as good as Qatar but equivalent to many of the better airlines.

In contrast Air NZ for instance kept me on gold despite not flying them for several years, presumably hoping to get my business back
I get equivalent dollars instead points that I can spend on any flight- including discounted seats. This is a huge benefit.
No phone surcharges, no credit card surcharges, no exorbitant taxes and charges.
At least equivalent flying experience to Qantas if not better.
I got a nice noiseless headphones present some years ago when I was platinum with them.
Feeling of loyalty from the airline and that is actually willing to show some gesture of trying to keep your business/ get my business back.

I see on this site AA might be much more generous in flight redemptions, notwithstanding not being as good an airline from a flying experience viewpoint vs Qantas. However that is no issue to me because I have no choice but to fly them in USA anyway and they are no worse to other USA airlines in terms of flying experience or service.

Qatar is the best airline I have flown from a flying experience viewpoint. I wonder what their FF scheme is like?

Qantas- How frustrating it must be to your staff who know what real service looks like from former days but who are now having to implement policies that are plain bad value to your regular customers vs competition. I am glad I don't own Qantas shares.

What international airline ff schemes have other people gone with after realising Qantas frequent flyer points are just not good value at least for international users?

 

[Melburnian1]

Another reason NOT to fly Qantas is Alan Joyce's boasts about having returned the airline to profitability.

However some of this has to do with the declining aviation turbine fuel price per litre (or it will once the effect of previous hedging by QF wears off) while arguably QF has not invested in new aircraft to the extent that it should have.

A possible A$700 million profit (or higher) in 2014-15 is dwarfed by the previous $2.8 billion in losses incurred in just one financial year, and how shareholders have not received an interim or final dividend since 2009. In a number of other Australian companies, the Board and CEO would have 'departed' long ago if financial circumstances were similar but these people at QF seem to be teflon coated.

While the QFi roue network has shown some encouraging signs (extra flights from Oz east coast to LAX and YVR as one example), the roue network is a shadow of what it was 10, 20 or 30 years ago, the JQ strategy has arguably been at best mediocre and at worst fiancially disastrous (Hong Kong, Japan, Vietnam as three examples not to mention Singapore) and most I know with QF FF points balances of 500,000 or above find them impossible to redeem on QF, as winwil comments.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

NOT to mention, if you ever get provided with a small tub of tomato relish to go with those wafers, never ever open that relish container facing you, lest the relish will splash all over your hands and shirt/jacket/trousers.
If you don't care, open the relish facing the seat, but have water to wipe the relish splash off your hands, and ask for several paper serviettes.
If you want to have milk with your refreshments, or coffee, tea, its the same, make sure you pop open the lid of the milk tub away from your clothing, but sacrificing the seat back where the tray normally is.
If you don't mind your booked seat, being given away to someone else, while you would still be on that same flight, you will be "for operational reasons" be moved away from your preferred seat.

 

[eminere]

NOT to mention, if you ever get provided with a small tub of tomato relish to go with those wafers, never ever open that relish container facing you, lest the relish will splash all over your hands and shirt/jacket/trousers.
If you don't care, open the relish facing the seat, but have water to wipe the relish splash off your hands, and ask for several paper serviettes.
If you want to have milk with your refreshments, or coffee, tea, its the same, make sure you pop open the lid of the milk tub away from your clothing, but sacrificing the seat back where the tray normally is.

Are you serious? This is an issue specific to Qantas and therefore a reason to not fly them? Are you actually saying that Qantas deliberately designed those containers to explode on opening?

Perhaps you should just stay home and practise opening containers, before you next choose to fly. I am no Qantas apologist but this is ridiculous.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

I don't fly for work, so don't wear a good white shirt and tie, or a good pair chino pants, but if what happened to me yesterday, with the tomato relish, I would not be too pleased.
If there is a way of opening that small tub of relish without it going everywhere, please let me know.
How to petitely peel off the cover?
How to let the air in there escape without the pop and splash.
Lunch was an a cold chicken and avacado wrap, with some mayo, in a box so easy to handle.
Refreshment was the wafer, 2 small cookies and the dreaded tub of relish.
Flying with VA, I go Saver Lite so no food.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Are you serious? This is an issue specific to Qantas and therefore a reason to not fly them? Are you actually saying that Qantas deliberately designed those containers to explode on opening?

To be fair - actually it is the airline's decision to choose the containers and packaging it does. It's not just QF however, but some airlines do avoid the issue.

There's a wide variety of packaging that can be difficult to open in flight - not just for 'able' bodied pax, but also the young/elderly or those who might have arthritis. Orange juice, milk, yoghurt, salad dressing... all can be difficult.