Article: Public Servants Spent $1 Million More on Flights During Double Qantas Status Credits

[Happy Dude]

As long as senior public servants eg ministers receive free CL membership, I don't begrudge any lowly paid public servant getting a few extra SCs.

I also think it is a bit ridiculous to have a whole article on this issue.

Good luck to them. If you have no objection to people getting DSCs on work travel for non-government employers, then it should make no difference when their employer happens to be the government.

Absolutely, I doubt anyone could reasonably argue otherwise...... provided the travel is a legit need. In which case it's just a coincidence or handy bonus that travel bookings increased during the DSC booking period.

If not, and I think this is clear in the tone of the article, the suggestion is that public servants may be unnecessarily spending money that is not theirs for personal gain. The optics don't look too good on the face of it and it's a fair question to ask IMO.

CL doesn't cost the taxpayer - unless you somehow join the dots between regulating the airline and CL membership.

 

[DC3]

Ah. The perks of high office.

 

[justinbrett]

In some cases certainly, however I know for a fact MANY APS and Defence personnel very deliberately book with Qantas specifically for the status credits. I've even heard of status runs being done to rack up a few extra SC. It is very easy to rort, just look at the flight times and say you need to be at destination by X o'clock that corresponds to the Qantas flight not the Virgin one.
The system isn't smart. Ironically I've had a harder time trying to explain in one instance the cheapest available flight was a Virgin J ticket, not the QF Y.
As always, the higher up the bigger the rotting. Some poor APS5 or corporal would be lucky to not get cut from an essential trip, meanwhile EL2/LTCOL will find any bullshit excuse for a yippee trip.

I know for a fact many book with VA as status is more attainable.

I was in the RAAF for 20 years and as an O4 signed off on a lot of travel for my staff.

 

[justinbrett]

This is tax-payer money we're taking about here, there shouldn't be "perks", especially in Defence. It shouldn't be wasted unnecessarily on making a bunch of wasters in Russell more comfortable, at the expense of capability.

Pre WoAG Defence would pay for lounge membership if you could demonstrate you were travelling frequently enough to use it.

The rule that allows SCs was to make up for removing this, with the understanding if you travelled enough you would earn the status that included lounge membership. If you didn’t, then you didn’t need lounge access.

Most execs I knew absolutely loathed travelling and were not doing it for a few toasties and discount wine.

 

[DC3]

This is tax-payer money we're taking about here, there shouldn't be "perks"

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I saw the article in the Canberra Times and it included a graph showing the 20% spike. It also showed spikes of about the same magnitude during weeks without the double status credit offer, so it didn't really support the argument. Some other things to bear in mind:
- Most public servants fly economy even on long flights.
- Most public servants in positions where they are required to travel regularly don't get paid overtime and don't get time off in lieu if they get up at 4am to fly to a meeting in another city and don't get home to their families until 11pm the next day or the next week.
- Public servants don't get frequent flyer points for those flights.

So the attached chart seems to indicate there is little, if any, correlation between DSC and bookings? The pattern is the same whether the DSC is in place, or not. There’s a similar spike each week.

And the same spike for VA on a similar time pattern.

Even if bookings were linked to the DSC promotion period, is anyone sure there is a link between bookings and actually getting DSC? Employees could be making bookings but not receiving double SCs.

 

[OZDUCK]

In my last 10 years or so in Customs it was extremely hard to get anyone to volunteer for trips from WA to Sydney/Canberra to attend conferences.I was at a middle management level ,think Chief Inspector, and got nothing for the privilege of being jammed into economy and usually having to transit via Sydney. The flight home to Perth usually left around 1830 from Canberra to Sydney.

We became big advocates for on-line discussions. At least until my manager bad-mouthed someone high up in Canberra without realising the microphone was still live.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

My issue isn't with status credits -- doubled or not -- earned by government workers when travelling for business.

My issue is with government workers who openly flout the government's "best fare of the day" policy and get away with it (presumably because their bosses do the same) such that I get to help subsidise the purchase of said status credits -- doubled or not -- in the form of their airfare that is higher than it needs to be.

 

[justinbrett]

My issue isn't with status credits -- doubled or not -- earned by government workers when travelling for business.

My issue is with government workers who openly flout the government's "best fare of the day" policy and get away with it (presumably because their bosses do the same) such that I get to help subsidise the purchase of said status credits -- doubled or not -- in the form of their airfare that is higher than it needs to be.

This is based on the false assumption that VA is always cheaper than QF.

As I posted above QF offers WoAG a huge discount on Y fares (in the order of 30%) so quite often on trunk routes VA and QF would be similarly priced. This is an obvious strategy from QF as they know they’ll lose out on government business if they don’t match fares with VA.

Obviously if one airline has sold more seats than the other on a given flight fare will be different, but all things being equal…. It does go both ways especially on routes where VA has less capacity, their flights will be more expensive than QF.

 

[Laptop Jockey]

We seem to be in a parallel universe here.

Well we've got a RAAFie bragging about signing leave apps here, so I think you might be right!

 

[DC3]

Well we've got a RAAFie bragging about signing leave apps here, so I think you might be right!

Perk of office?

 

[Drakecula]

I've never received double status for work travel. Just the normal amount.

 

[justinbrett]

Well we've got a RAAFie bragging about signing leave apps here, so I think you might be right!

If you are an insider as you suggest you are you’d know chain of command doesn’t touch leave (PAC) travel. Thats done centrally.

I’m not sure why you’re trying to sledge me for “bragging”. Sorry if my experience disrupts your narrative.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

This is based on the false assumption that VA is always cheaper than QF.

My comment is carrier agnostic.

 

[justinbrett]

My comment is carrier agnostic.

As I said above I’ve seen a strong preference to an airline (both QF and VA) and the rules are broad enough to usually accomodate that. It’s really a BFOH policy not BFOD, and it’s not a strict dollar amount as need for flexibility and value for money are considerations.

Completely agree there’s gaming of the system, but I wouldn’t call it flouting. When working for the government conditions get worse every year so the game will continue to get harder as time progresses.