If you had a day to spend with AJ to fix QF what would you say ?

[RichardMEL]

This is a huge bugbear of mine. AJ treats ADL like a leper colony for International flights and then double whacks us with disgraceful earning rates.

I was really surprised when I was there the other week and noted not one but TWO daily (I don't know if both flights are every day,) SQ A350's to SIN. QF? Beuller?

 

[RichardMEL]

Remember most people (apart from people like us) are governed by several basic rules when it comes to travel - the priority is either going to be based on -

- price
- schedule

and for business pax, possibly things like travel policies, corporate contracts/discounts etc.

(and for a minority, maybe airline X is the only carrier that serves their port).

People can vote with their business.. but that, too, will ebb and flow... someone may have a poor experience with VA, or SQ or whoever and drift back to QF... and may have great experiences with QF and figure well if the flights meet my needs at a price then OK sure

and then of course there's the big huge elephant

QFF

They've done a pretty good job (I reckon) of insinuating themselves into most Aussies every day sphere.. Even people who may fly once in a blue moon probably have a woolies card, or buy petrol at BP or bank with a bank that offers a QFF card, so on and so forth.. and there's as much aspirational desire there as there is for more of us more "serious" (or bigger users if you will) FF's who can and do use points of our preferred loyalty schemes to our advantage as best we can.

So yes, QF are part of a big duopoly here that yes command schedule (probably not so much price, but it does happen ) premium in many markets in Oz (international is another thing but let's keep it simple).

Just a few days ago my sister, who flies once a year if she's lucky decided to hop up to OOL for a retreat in a few weeks and where did she go? Yup, QF app because she's QFF with a few thosand points, uses woolies etc. When the QF flights did not meet her schedule requirements fully I suggested well what about looking at JQ, VA etc? "But I won't get points with Virgin will I?" ... in the end I think she picked JQ for a flight, but the points bundle was huge premium over the Starter or whatever it is fare so I think she went that.

And with that example just a few days ago she demonstrated all THREE of the above in play.. and still went QF one way and QF Group (JQ) the other.


All that aside...
I still reckon if QF invested heavily in its infrastructure such as call centres and online the changes and positive return could be profound... I mean how many people would NOT need to call if online worked as well as many other airline websites do? What if using vouchers wasn't a PITA.. what iif every 3rd booking didn't send you to the Far Queue for manual processing cough? What if seat selection wasn't so glitchy? What if you could actually see and book all partner awards online etc etc etc...

Heck, what if you could put in a seat release request online as a plat?

With demand going down on the phones from all the BS the online systems create even a modest investment there in numbers and training would again result in far more satisfied public who get an answer in a reasonable time by someone who can actually help them.

in theory anyway.

And all those people who can call and get helped, and do the stuff they need and want online that works the first time every time without confusing messing about will almost certainly be far more willing to come back and use you again....

Maybe I'm just a simple soul though. It must be all too complicated for me to grasp

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Nice to see you back posting.. too many are disappearing...

Wearing my shareholder hat , AJ is doing a pretty good job.
Wearing my customer hat , the airline sucks and I only fly qf if there is no better option (there mostly is)

Imo he is probably making the best of the situation so I would say… carry on.. Don't need a day ...a minute would do….

Totally agree!! AJ does an excellent job. He's the perfect guy for the role.

My complaints are all macro-level, which I'd argue are not AJs doing - but rather, the challenges of the teams under him in other areas of the group.
There could be very good reasons for some of these problems we face as passengers/loyalty members.

- Budget limitations [does investment in X drive up any important airline metric?]
- Limited oversight [not a priority, therefore meh-decisions are through]

However, the two things I'd like to see fixed are:

1. An end to the discrimination against fellow oneworld carriers on earning structure (ie: MH, CX)
2. When passengers are involuntarily downgraded in cabins, the airline should be giving compensation equal to whatever the most expensive cash ticket price at the time of downgrade, in which they were originally booked into (ie: stop the airline from profiteering from downgrading passengers)

 

[RichardMEL]

Absolutely agree that AJ has done a very good job for the shareholders and a financial perspective overall.

None of which paying customers (who are not shareholders) care about of course.

Sometimes you have to spend money to make (more) money IMO

 

[woodborer]

1. An end to the discrimination against fellow oneworld carriers on earning structure (ie: MH, CX)
2. When passengers are involuntarily downgraded in cabins, the airline should be giving compensation equal to whatever the most expensive cash ticket price at the time of downgrade, in which they were originally booked into (ie: stop the airline from profiteering from downgrading passengers)

It's hard to tell what happened between MH when they had their falling out with QF. But certainly, the Enrich program pulls the same stunt when flying QF (although, maybe to a more limited extent)

 

[trippin_the_rift]

It's hard to tell what happened between MH when they had their falling out with QF. But certainly, the Enrich program pulls the same stunt when flying QF (although, maybe to a more limited extent)

What most airlines do is simple:
- Earn/Burn X on home metal, and Z on other carriers

Qantas logic:
- Earn/Burn X on home metal, then if your airline competes on any routes we fly to, earning on your airline will be either ZERO, or considerably less than QF earn.

Enrich actually has cheaper points burn for their members on Qantas, than Enrich members on Malaysia Airlines.

It's corporate discrimination, my friend. Nothing more or less.

 

[jase05]

I was really surprised when I was there the other week and noted not one but TWO daily (I don't know if both flights are every day,) SQ A350's to SIN. QF? Beuller?

11 a week during January

 

[woodborer]

What most airlines do is simple:
- Earn/Burn X on home metal, and Z on other carriers

Qantas logic:
- Earn/Burn X on home metal, then if your airline competes on any routes we fly to, earning on your airline will be either ZERO, or considerably less than QF earn.

Enrich actually has cheaper points burn for their members on Qantas, than Enrich members on Malaysia Airlines.

It's corporate discrimination, my friend. Nothing more or less.

Yes, but QF and MH took it a step further than they normally do with competitors. That's how we got the nonsense of posting flights in Business as though they were in Economy (in the case of Qantas).

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Yes, but QF and MH took it a step further than they normally do with competitors. That's how we got the nonsense of posting flights in Business as though they were in Economy (in the case of Qantas).

Like I said - Qantas discriminating against MH other oneworld carriers. It's bad for passengers and needs to stop.

 

[dajop]

Qantas logic:
- Earn/Burn X on home metal, then if your airline competes on any routes we fly to, earning on your airline will be either ZERO, or considerably less than QF earn.

I actually think most on here, when it comes to MH and the like, aren't that concerned about the inferior earn/burn of the QF program. The main concern is the inferior status credits on competing routes!

 

[trippin_the_rift]

I actually think most on here, when it comes to MH and the like, aren't that concerned about the inferior earn/burn of the QF program. The main concern is the inferior status credits on competing routes!

Like I said... Qantas discriminating! ;-)

 

[harvyk]

1. Train the phone support staff

2. Get the phone call times under control. Waiting hours to have a call answered is a very bad look.

3. Be more pro-active with customers when you make a mistake. If something goes wrong, and it's QF's fault I shouldn't have to do battle with complaints to get my issue sorted. I should be told "yeap, our bad, here is how we'll make it better", and then provide that thing that makes it better (extra points, a partial refund, etc...).

Number 3 is perhaps very important and yet the hardest to measure, people rarely judge things on the good experiences, but they often judge things on the bad experiences. A really bad experience will even trump price in all but the most price conscious of people. A really bad experience might be enough so that you don't get a second shot at proving how good you are.

The thing is that not everything can be easily measured from quarter to quarter. It might be months or even years that the bad experience will affect someones purchasing decision (especially for infrequent flyers), and in a game where single percentages matter it doesn't take too many disillusioned pax who how chose someone else for their annual family trip for them collectively to be making a difference in figures at board meetings. So by being pro-active and saying "yeap, our bad" you lessen the risk that the person chooses to fly with someone else next time, especially those who are not bound by corporate policy.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Redeeming points on short notice is pretty much impossible and you have to be extremely flexible if you do find something.

Some people on here have the luxury of booking F/J/Y almost 1 year in advance, l'd be lucky to know what l'm doing 2 or 3 weeks in advance - chance of finding F/ J (or even Y) at such short notice - impossible.

 

[Vic]

Actually I have.

That's not the point I was trying to make.

You can't generalise about company culture from observations of small numbers of staff interactions.

Good thing I wasn't generalising. I was related firsthand experience of that culture that was supported by a comparison of jetstar and qantas staff levels of engagement as a team.

 

[RichardMEL]

Good thing I wasn't generalising. I was related firsthand experience of that culture that was supported by a comparison of jetstar and qantas staff levels of engagement as a team.

Not to labour the point here but you've made an observation based on...? seeing some crews having lunch someplace (based on your earlier comment)? if you just see a few people who work together having lunch either together or apart that's an observation.. you can't generalise the entire company culture from things like that, IMO.

Just as I can't determine that all JQ tech and cabin crews get on great based on my flight the other week as described above.

 

[dajop]

I was really surprised when I was there the other week and noted not one but TWO daily (I don't know if both flights are every day,) SQ A350's to SIN. QF? Beuller?

That's a seasonal service, twice daily some days of the week. Finished now that it's February - and back to single daily.

QF have multiple daily services to its hub from ADL

 

[sudoer]

AJ treats ADL like a leper colony for International flights and then double whacks us with disgraceful earning rates.

There's a small pocket of value in flying CX ex ADL..

 

[jase05]

There's a small pocket of value in flying CX ex ADL..

How could I forget that
Still doesn’t make up for the MH and QR earnings. I know they want us to fly through DXB on EK but come on!

 

[GoldCanyon340]

QF have multiple daily services to its hub from ADL

I’m single handedly running the campaign to get a domestic J lounge for Radders. When it happens you can all thank me

And of course international OW and EK pax could use it to avoid the ignominy of the white bread tuna sandwiches in the QP.

 

[jase05]

I’m single handedly running the campaign to get a domestic J lounge for Radders. When it happens you can all thank me

And of course international OW and EK pax could use it to avoid the ignominy of the white bread tuna sandwiches in the QP.

We are getting a new airside multi-user premium International lounge