I know of people who have as a result of Alan Joyce and the board of Qantas's decision to ground all flights:
The unions look after their members, the Qantas employees. The Qantas Board is supposed to look after their shareholders by making money. A key part of making money is making sure you look after your customers, and Alan Joyce playing the industrial action hand just as the unions have has shown that customers only matter when it's convenient for him. We aren't surprised when unions use customers in their game, but I am surprised then the company does this.
The mate that missed his sisters wedding summed it up when he said, “What Alan Joyce did, was reaffirm to me that for all the trips you need to make for the important moments in your life – don’t trust Qantas.” He said Tiger Airways cancelled once on him on a leisure trip at the last minute and were not able to accommodate him on any other flights (too bad, so sad was basically what they said). He said he never flew with them again because he just didn't trust them to get him to where he needed to be.
It seems the trust factor played an important part of his selection of airlines. When you buy a ticket, you want to be able to trust that they can, and will do everything they can to make sure you get there. What Qantas just did to him was show him that when they're in a fight with the unions, they will knowlingly treat their customers like pawns in the negotiations and subsequently disrupt their plans. You don't win trust by using your customers as pawns in your negotiations.
It reminded me of the ad's MasterCard used to do "For everything else there's MasterCard." An appropriate catchphrase Qantas might use could go something like, "For the important moments in your life, too bad so sad."
I wonder how Alan Joyce would feel if he missed his brother/sister's wedding, missed out on a christening, missed out on a childs birth, missed a funeral for someone close, missed anything important, not because there was an accident, incident, crazy weather pattern that was unforseen - but because the CEO of some airline knowingly chose to cancel his flight and thereby put at risk the chance for him to attend these important events.
Feel free to share your stories of how the disruptions affected you, maybe someone from Qantas will listen and see what they've done to some people's lives.
- Missed a family wedding - a friend of mine missed his sister's wedding in Brisbane (he was flying from Perth, and by the time he realised what was going on, flights on Jetstar and Virgin were gone, and driving for four to six days across the Nullabor was going to take too long - and yes he did seriously consider that)
- Will miss the Melbourne cup - they were not able to check into their accommodation and so lost their reservation, deposit and no longer can afford to rebook their flight and accommodation
- Missed an interstate job interview (though fortunately, the prospective employers were able to reschedule)
The unions look after their members, the Qantas employees. The Qantas Board is supposed to look after their shareholders by making money. A key part of making money is making sure you look after your customers, and Alan Joyce playing the industrial action hand just as the unions have has shown that customers only matter when it's convenient for him. We aren't surprised when unions use customers in their game, but I am surprised then the company does this.
The mate that missed his sisters wedding summed it up when he said, “What Alan Joyce did, was reaffirm to me that for all the trips you need to make for the important moments in your life – don’t trust Qantas.” He said Tiger Airways cancelled once on him on a leisure trip at the last minute and were not able to accommodate him on any other flights (too bad, so sad was basically what they said). He said he never flew with them again because he just didn't trust them to get him to where he needed to be.
It seems the trust factor played an important part of his selection of airlines. When you buy a ticket, you want to be able to trust that they can, and will do everything they can to make sure you get there. What Qantas just did to him was show him that when they're in a fight with the unions, they will knowlingly treat their customers like pawns in the negotiations and subsequently disrupt their plans. You don't win trust by using your customers as pawns in your negotiations.
It reminded me of the ad's MasterCard used to do "For everything else there's MasterCard." An appropriate catchphrase Qantas might use could go something like, "For the important moments in your life, too bad so sad."
I wonder how Alan Joyce would feel if he missed his brother/sister's wedding, missed out on a christening, missed out on a childs birth, missed a funeral for someone close, missed anything important, not because there was an accident, incident, crazy weather pattern that was unforseen - but because the CEO of some airline knowingly chose to cancel his flight and thereby put at risk the chance for him to attend these important events.
Feel free to share your stories of how the disruptions affected you, maybe someone from Qantas will listen and see what they've done to some people's lives.
