Qantas pleads for Australians' support

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From\
Qantas pleads for Australians' support | Business | News.com.au

QANTAS is set to slash prices and emotionally appeal to Australians to support the national carrier as it moves to combat the turbulence of the recession and two new foreign competitors.


Speaking in London yesterday, Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti said that not since the SARS flu scare seven years ago had the airliner embarked on such a large campaign to remind people about the Flying Kangaroo brand.


Mr Borghetti conceded the airline's reputation had suffered in the past 12 months and the recession had dampened demand for travel.

 

[munitalP]

Come on all you DJ flyers... get behind the national carrier and show you loyalty to our wonderful country...





Mr!

 

[AlphaVictor]

Yes. For the next 12 months Travel Agents will be Qantas's best friends again. After which Qantas will drop them and hook-up with some other floosy. "Qantas loves me", "Qantas loves me not" "Qantas loves me" etc etc.

I think Mr Borghetti has burnt every bridge imaginable with the travel agent community. Don't expect support from them.

 

[Mal]

I think Mr Borghetti has burnt every bridge imaginable with the travel agent community. Don't expect support from them.

... and staff, flyers, frequent flyers. The list goes on!

 

[Nigelinoz]

QANTAS is set to slash prices and emotionally appeal to Australians to support the national carrier as it moves to combat the turbulence of the recession and two new foreign competitors.

Qantas having a slash?Sounds more like taking the p**s to me.

 

[file51]

Go on Qantas... I dare you to go below $1k for the LAX/SFO sectors

 

[FL360]

Read the comments section of that news story, people come out from everywhere (especially WA) bashing Qantas...

 

[comint]

national carrier

Qantas ceased being a "national carrier" when it was privatised. It is now "just another airline"!

Another stupid marketing term that annoys me is "flag carrier", every bloody airline based in Australia carriers an Aussie rego and flag. Tiger is just as much a "flag carrier" as Qantas, although VA is probably the biggest "flag carrier" we have, as they have chosen to plaster elements of it all over their aircraft fuselage.

 

[brissyflyer]

Would be interesting to see who has the larger percentage of Australian shareholders - Qantas or Virgin Blue.

I did see a comment somewhere recently that suggested Virgin Blue is more Australian owned than Qantas.

 

[oz_mark]

Loyalty is a two way street.

Qantas have price gouged at every opportunity for years. Now they want Australians to support them. Oh Please.

 

[trooper]

Count me in as another one who gets irritated by this "flying Kangaroo" rubbish...

I fly long haul with an airline that gives me a (reasonably) comfortable seat pitch in Y, and whose FF program (for all its faults) makes using points for Transpac upgrades a realistic proposition at Gold level....

If we are going to talk about symbols then I'll claim to be supporting the other "ANZAC" carrier.....

 

[kpc]

Loyalty is a two way street.

Qantas have price gouged at every opportunity for years. Now they want Australians to support them. Oh Please.

Just booked a Syd-Nrt return in J on Qf....without the corporate discount, the fare is more than 10K:shock: Even with the corporate rate, it still is nearly 7.5K!! even the TA suggested that I should travel via Sin on SQ for 5.9K...on the new A380 all the way to Nrt to boot in those nice, new wide business seats :!:

 

[docjames]

Just booked a Syd-Nrt return in J on Qf....without the corporate discount, the fare is more than 10K:shock:

Which will suddenly be $5k when someone else (V) starts flying the route.

loyalty....

 

[serfty]

Of course, a Circle Pacific for (currently) $8370

 

[medhead]

Classic.
This from the airline who (Dixon IIRC) came out a recent results annoucement (mid last year) and basicially stated that QANTAS is just another airline and no one needs to owe them any loyalty as the flying kangaroo. With the implication being that QF didn't feel they owed their customers anything either.

What's that line - Show me the money, Qantas. Then we can talk about supporting you.

 

[Platy]

The responses to the original article are unanimously negative. It takes some really bad and declining customer service, and particularly shorted sighted short term management to disenfranchise your customer base so effectively!

Not surprising IMHO. QF lost the plot some time ago in terms of failing to maintain a real commitment to customer loyalty.

The whole Aussie Spirit plea leaves me completely unimpressed.

Supply a good product at the right price - price adjust for the times if necessary.

The airline should surely have stashed some of their enormous recent profits as a contingency against a future downturn?

 

[kpc]

Of course, a Circle Pacific for (currently) $8370

But the beancounters mandate that I need to travel from A->B->A...none of this A->B->C->D->A stuff

 

[Nigelinoz]

The airline should surely have stashed some of their enormous recent profits as a contingency against a future downturn?

Yes, platy, but remember they have to pay your favourite chief executive something like $4 million of that !

(I know his pay doesn't come out of profits-just being mischievious)

 

[Kendall Roy]

The responses to the original article are unanimously negative.

Well remember that News Ltd has an agenda - so any positive comments are more than likely blocked...

 

[serfty]

But the beancounters mandate that I need to travel from A->B->A...none of this A->B->C->D->A stuff

Not even A-B-C-A? (SYD-NRT-LAX-SYD)