I had a negative experience with Qantas recently, which I will post about shortly in a different discussion... I won't get into it in this post as I have no intention of hijacking this thread. I do think that my sense of brand loyalty did play a role in the whole thing though, so I'd like to give my take on that.
Had anyone asked me a few months ago, about the brand names that I am most loyal to (across all types of products and services), Qantas would have been very high on the list. And my friends all knew this, I wasn't just a customer, I was bit of a "fan" really. My family were world travellers when I was a child, and some of my earliest memories involve getting onto a Qantas plane, and getting handed colouring in books and a little box of crayons by staff who were just terrific with children. Those memories are, and always will be, wonderful.
When I recently made a complaint, and was not happy at all with the way it was handled... I did mention my loyalty to the company, and long history with them in the process. It was never my intention to draw out a different outcome that I think I deserve over anyone else, or beyond normal expectations. Absolutely not (although I can see how it could be taken that way). I firmly believe that issues raised by a long time customer, and by a customer who has only flown with them once, should be on entirely equal footing. I just couldn't help but mention it because of the fact that my image of Qantas as a company, that I held in the highest regard, was shattering before my eyes, and I felt a little in shock over that. But now I realise that that part of it at least, is on me. That was my grandiose opinion of a company, not what they, or any corporate giant, really is.
If one good thing has come out of this, it's the fact that I am done with "loyalty" to any particular airline. And I am not saying that with a disgruntled attitude, I am actually happy about it. I've realised that undying loyalty to one airline was not serving any common sense purpose, it just meant that I was wearing rose coloured glasses and was refusing to take them off... something that did not work out well for me in the end. I am open to whatever is out there in travel brands now, and that is going to be more of an adventure then being stuck in my ways.