Organised Boycott of QF the Last Chance?

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rickylee

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Since I have been a member of this forum I have seen many complaints about the continuing Jetstarisation of Qantas. I have not seen anything complimentary about successive changes that QF has made to piss off its loyal and/or premium customers. It seems to me that, rather than focusing on strategies to retain and return premium customers to QF and stem the tide of their exodus to VA and EK, QF is determined to keep pissing us off until no one would fly QF.

The same can be seen on other, less popular or prestigious, online communities.

All this talk about cost cutting cannot hide the well publicised fact that QF wasted millions on a capacity war with VA (until recently) when even a high schooler would know that QF cannot win a race to the bottom against VA, especially when the true battleground is the premium customers that would not be tempted back to QF just because there are additional daily flights at 1430 and 1630. In other words, QF took millions of dollars of spending on the premium customers, which are apparently their bread and butter, and spent them on non-existent customers looking for the cheapest fare for their one-off flights.

However, the love and affection we appear to hold QF as a brand and as a national airline doesn't seem to be declining, though there is clearly no love for the current management and current strategies at any time. Perhaps it is for this reason that the present QF is completely unresponsive to the incessant complaints.

I have flown QF and its O* partners whenever possible, cost be damned. I have never flown on a VA flight (except twice when it was still DJ) and I have flown JQ or ZL only when there is no choice involved. However, the 1 July changes to the QFF program, particularly SCs earned for O* partner flights, are the last straw for me and my loyalty to QF, which have caused me to reconsider my travel options post-1/7.

The discussion starter I want to pose is this:
Would an organised grassroots boycott of QF by its premium customers have an impact on QF management, the last straw as it may be? If so, why are we postponing that? If not, then why do we still fly QF when it is doomed to business failure?

At the very least, if you were a QF loyal customer and have left it behind in frustration, add a post to this thread. Let's see how long it gets.
 
Ask yourself who would be hurt most by such a boycott.

The answer is the staff of Qantas - who have nothing to do with the problems you have with the company.
 
...The discussion starter I want to pose is this: Would an organised grassroots boycott of QF by its premium customers have an impact on QF management, the last straw as it may be? If so, why are we postponing that? If not, then why do we still fly QF when it is doomed to business failure?....
No. We are in the very few % of pax who actually care & know what miles/SC we get. I work in an office where 50% are travelling at any time. There are some who fly to Eu business class who do not have freq flyer accounts and care less. Some have a QF ff account only because that have a company paid Qantas Club card. They have no qualms about paying $$ to QF, SQ, etc for flights when going on leave
 
Sorry, but I don't see any form of boycott having any effect what so ever.

It is similar to the supposed boycott of certain fuel retailers when the price is increased by a certain margin, you always have others who forego the boycott for whatever reasons.
 
Ask yourself who would be hurt most by such a boycott.

The answer is the staff of Qantas - who have nothing to do with the problems you have with the company.

With respect, I do not agree. The staff are already being hurt without any such boycott, and the company feels the dwindling bottom-line before the staff do.
 
It occurred to me that I should add this: I do not think a boycott would work, as I believe only a revolt of institutional investors would make a nanometre of difference. I was just putting the thought out there to start a discussion and see other people's views.
 
No need to start a boycott. If the views expressed here over many threads aren't enough to move QF from the disastrous path they are on, a boycott will do no more than the obvious move away from them that is already happening.
 
Don't know how a boycott would work; but I'm thinking more along the lines of: If you don't like the changes, change patronage and fly another airline! I know that's what I'll be doing post July 1; and I'm sure a few others are in the same boat.

If Qantas benefit from these changes, kudos to them! If they don't - then they'll know the reason why!
 
Rather than an ineffective boycott in which few would overtly participate, wouldn't it be more effective to complain about declining standards on QF to your company's travel agent or even better the company (or government entity's) management who deal with the corporate travel agent?

You could ask your work colleagues to express similar opinions if they felt the same way. I am assuming that you are not self funding your travel.

BFOD policies must also be hurting QF, because internationally it will often not have the cheapest fares. Of course sometimes it may be alone, or one of not many, in offering a nonstop flight between X and Y.
 
Would an organised grassroots boycott of QF by its premium customers have an impact on QF management, the last straw as it may be? If so, why are we postponing that? If not, then why do we still fly QF when it is doomed to business failure?
No, it wouldn't have any useful impact on QF at all. It would only cause them to lose more money. When you have a senior management culture of "no matter what we do, we do nothing wrong", nothing anyone else does will even make them stop and think.
At this stage, I don't see QF lasting more then a few years without government handouts, unless of cause they do the right thing and replace the board.
 
No need to start a boycott. If the views expressed here over many threads aren't enough to move QF from the disastrous path they are on, a boycott will do no more than the obvious move away from them that is already happening.

You are the reason we fly...................
 
I stay loyal (which is a relative term) 90% due to the Qantas staff, 9.99% because of what the airline represented in history (something that it no longer represents).

Management are clearly incapable of understanding the strengths of the airline and using those strengths. So a boycott will do nothing.
 
I do not think a boycott would work, as I believe only a revolt of institutional investors would make a nanometre of difference. I was just putting the thought out there to start a discussion and see other people's views.

For a normal company then yes the instos would have an impact however you'll find that pretty much the only instos who own Q are index huggers who will hold any company in the index, and hold it indeed right down to bankruptcy (Bond Corp, Ariadne, Bell Resources, Adsteam, Centro, etc).

Since the Qantas Board have backed AJ right down the line they cannot boot him out without then resigning themselves - the old snouts-in-trough syndrome ensures that won't happen. Also Qantas has (had due to current and past mismanagement) a large self-managed super fund that parcels out good chunks to many of those same instos to manage. Incest anyone....
 
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..BFOD policies must also be hurting QF, because internationally it will often not have the cheapest fares. Of course sometimes it may be alone, or one of not many, in offering a nonstop flight between X and Y.
With large corporate deals fares paid have very little do with retail fares, especially on long haul business class.
 
I ave been feeling quite left out by the recent changes. I have held QF WP for the last two years and from what Ican see and try to work out I am unable to retain WP. Of course if I fly 5 or 6 business class trips to East Coast America you can but as I now finance my own trips it is impossible. I have voiced my disappointment with QF Platinum Customer care officers who can do nothing to resolve my feeling of disappointment so that is how I have voiced my concern. Since 1 January 2014 I have not flown any QF flights. I must have already left the room just behind Elvis!!!
 
I ave been feeling quite left out by the recent changes. I have held QF WP for the last two years and from what Ican see and try to work out I am unable to retain WP. ..... Since 1 January 2014 I have not flown any QF flights. ....
I an continually amazed why people 100% link the airlines own FFP with the airline flights. People here should know better. You can fly on an airline and collect miles/status with another airline's FFP.
 
I ave been feeling quite left out by the recent changes. I have held QF WP for the last two years and from what Ican see and try to work out I am unable to retain WP. Of course if I fly 5 or 6 business class trips to East Coast America you can but as I now finance my own trips it is impossible. I have voiced my disappointment with QF Platinum Customer care officers who can do nothing to resolve my feeling of disappointment so that is how I have voiced my concern. Since 1 January 2014 I have not flown any QF flights. I must have already left the room just behind Elvis!!!
if you have been able to afford to self fund WP from mainly domestic flights then you should still be able to retain WP, but may need to vary your travel s
omewhat.

Just consider widening your travel horizon (i.e. Overseas) and you could still do it for similar cost.

Of course everyone's circumstances can be different and this may not be appropriate in your case.
 
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I do not think a boycott will help.
-There would not be enough people to make a real impact
-Qantas would ( correctly) view this a temporary phenomenon, rather than a true indication of trends
-Qantas will be well aware that a certain percentage of customers will be so disappointed by recent "enhancements" that they will choose to abandon QF. What we don't know yet ( although many here will guess) is whether the cost savings will offset the loss in clientele

I am also in the process of arranging points to be diverted elsewhere....
 
While I think it's a good idea and really the only way the little man can show his displeasure about something is to go elsewhere, I don't think there would be enough people committed to the task.

For those say it will only hurt the staff, is that the same for made in Bangladesh clothes. I should keep buying the cheapest clothes so I support those in poverty be exploited by big name stores?

Matt
 
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I self fund all of my trips and have already looked at how I can re organise some of my flights to maintain WP status. However, I think the benefits of WP are worth it - and even though it may be a bit more difficult - its worth putting in the effort to look at what options are available. In fact, like many people, I only achieved WP by researching and planning my trips carefully to maximise status credits - and with the changes it will require some additional research and planning. However, at the end of the day I have a budget - and most importantly I need to work out the best way to achieve status credits at the lowest cost - and there is a great discrepancy across different routes and different fares. While the status credits earned on OW flights which compete with QF have been reduced - I want to explore some of the creative ways to plan my travel on those OW routes that will still provide good value. So while I am a bit disappointed by the changes - I am looking forward to the challenge - and I am sure AFF will continue to provide some great tips.

I ave been feeling quite left out by the recent changes. I have held QF WP for the last two years and from what Ican see and try to work out I am unable to retain WP. Of course if I fly 5 or 6 business class trips to East Coast America you can but as I now finance my own trips it is impossible. I have voiced my disappointment with QF Platinum Customer care officers who can do nothing to resolve my feeling of disappointment so that is how I have voiced my concern. Since 1 January 2014 I have not flown any QF flights. I must have already left the room just behind Elvis!!!
 
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