Qantas wins Shonky Award ... again

[ozflier]

I think posters should at least rejoice that there are next to none business class award overseas seats available ( unless of course ,you use your Virgin points to fly on Qatar.)
Just imagine what the situation would be in call centres if the QFF punters could actually use their points to access international travel at the pointy end!
I suggest there would be bungling on a minutely basis!

 

[Vic]

Time for there to be an inquiry (maybe by our forthcoming corruption commission) about the appropriateness of the gift of CL and Beyond lounge memberships to politicians and senior public servants.

The reality is those government chairman/beyond lounge memberships do not translate into spend. The footsoldiers are all on best fare requirements. If they have a motivation to manufacturer one or other airline as the best option that is entirely because of their personal desire and status, not the department secretary having chairmans lounge.

Of course the Department secretary and the politicians are going to direct their spend to make their top lounge access. But it's different rules for them any way.

 

[antycbr]

The reality is those government chairman/beyond lounge memberships do not translate into spend. The footsoldiers are all on best fare requirements. If they have a motivation to manufacturer one or other airline as the best option that is entirely because of their personal desire and status, not the department secretary having chairmans lounge.

Of course the Department secretary and the politicians are going to direct their spend to make their top lounge access. But it's different rules for them any way.

It’s still a benefit which shapes peoples thinking. I’d hate the ACCC chair to be a member whilst reviewing the takeover of Alliance for example.

It’s fundamentally wrong for politicians to receive this benefit when they set aviation policy.

 

[MARTINE]

It’s still a benefit which shapes peoples thinking. I’d hate the ACCC chair to be a member whilst reviewing the takeover of Alliance for example.

It’s fundamentally wrong for politicians to receive this benefit when they set aviation policy.

People have had to resign over a bottle of wine. Its a bad look. In the past - I worked as a contractor with many Comm Depts and senior public servants. I could not bring so much as a cake to a meeting to discuss my role.
Such a joke

 

[Jason2000]

It’s still a benefit which shapes peoples thinking

100% and in a private owned company do whatever you want but if you're in government department or listed company there is a higher bar and this is conveniently ignored.

You literally have executives coming in and asking questions directly or on behalf of board members obviously with the intent of trying to influence decisions that ultimately mean shareholders / taxpayers are getting less of a return on their investment than they should.

It's pretty hilarious seeing the arguments and discussions that go on from very senior executives and board members, name dropping all over the place e.g. let me call Allan's office and sort this out etc, why does person xyz have CL but not me even though that person had it from another company or other means e.g. well known, on another board, family office etc. It does work from time to time.

I've also heard of consultants being given membership for doing work for Qantas etc. but it was only for a year.

Oh and some of them get special visits from the Qantas executives to "talk about strategy etc" while their pass is handed to them haha I'd love to be a fly on the wall for that discussion.

I have heard from another CEO that as soon as some of that spend gets directed to another airline, that Chairman's soon gets revoked for all

Not sure about that, I certainly never saw it but I have seen a reduction in memberships as it's tied to x million spend.

 

[papeto]

Choice is doing a poll to take to the Federal Government regaring passenger rights - its quick - takes 2 minutes. Spread the word around and get them to complete it. Hopefully we'll be able to get something similiar to the Eu261 regulation protecting passengers rights. If we don't try - we'll never get it.

Now that's Shonky, Qantas | CHOICE

Do you think stronger consumer protections are needed to force Qantas to treat people fairly? Take the poll and have your say.

www.choice.com.au

 

[sanne]

Done!

 

[MARTINE]

Choice is doing a poll to take to the Federal Government regaring passenger rights - its quick - takes 2 minutes. Spread the word around and get them to complete it. Hopefully we'll be able to get something similiar to the Eu261 regulation protecting passengers rights. If we don't try - we'll never get it.

Now that's Shonky, Qantas | CHOICE

Do you think stronger consumer protections are needed to force Qantas to treat people fairly? Take the poll and have your say.

www.choice.com.au

Done

 

[Big John]

Done

Done.

I also specifically included the fact that we need EU261 in Australia.

 

[ausfox]

Done

 

[Ade]

Choice is doing a poll to take to the Federal Government regaring passenger rights - its quick - takes 2 minutes. Spread the word around and get them to complete it. Hopefully we'll be able to get something similiar to the Eu261 regulation protecting passengers rights. If we don't try - we'll never get it.

Now that's Shonky, Qantas | CHOICE

Do you think stronger consumer protections are needed to force Qantas to treat people fairly? Take the poll and have your say.

www.choice.com.au

Done

 

[drron]

And another one done.

 

[Vic]

It’s still a benefit which shapes peoples thinking. I’d hate the ACCC chair to be a member whilst reviewing the takeover of Alliance for example.

It’s fundamentally wrong for politicians to receive this benefit when they set aviation policy.

I'm not at all disagreeing with you, in principle.

the problem is it gets very grey when it comes to the people who are doing most of the travel spend for government - the foot soldiers.

I've personally had to apply for permission to fly in business class as per the travel policy of another organisation that has absolutely no interest in influencing Australia government.

I'm aware of a story of a government employee who determined their own travel requirements - when and where, and pushed all their travel to get platinum with qantas as quick as possible.

And more, all this is independent of the bosses chairman's lounge.

ACCC -I'm not sure about them. Agree with your proposition. Not sure if their boss has chairman's lounge. I thought they were a government owned "business". But I don't know the details, so can only agree with you.

Edit: in terms of private businesses, I've seen them to be vastly more risk adverse when it comes to corruption. Especially, some of the massive mining companies. I have hearsay about one mining company that rejected a very beneficial idea during a planning day because it was banned and were not at all interested in using influence to get the ban removed.

 

[ellen10]

Choice is doing a poll to take to the Federal Government regaring passenger rights - its quick - takes 2 minutes. Spread the word around and get them to complete it. Hopefully we'll be able to get something similiar to the Eu261 regulation protecting passengers rights. If we don't try - we'll never get it.

Now that's Shonky, Qantas | CHOICE

Do you think stronger consumer protections are needed to force Qantas to treat people fairly? Take the poll and have your say.

www.choice.com.au

Done!

 

[Lemon_Party]

"We conducted a mystery shop of airline call centre wait times in September 2022, and found that people needing to get in touch with Qantas by phone would wait 21 minutes on average for their call to be answered, and up to 50 minutes." Choice quote.

But we all on AFF know the real truth about the call centres, its not the time waiting in the call centre queue, that is creating the most angst, its the call centres having no idea how to add flights, fix problems etc. and totally destroying many bookings and creating so much stress.

Maybe everyone should start complaining to Choice about these awful call centre situations and they could document it. The interview with the lady from Choice said that the most daily complaints they received, were about Qantas, out of any other business and it is still happening right now. Not as Qantas say "old data"

I’ve had to ring a few time this year (sadly) due to the inability to make straightforward changes online. I’d have been delighted with a 21 minute wait and even a 50 minute wait would have been a massive improvement on what was usually hours and hours. That’s as gold with presumably a slightly better wait than half the callers.

 

[Rich]

I am curious as to why people took flight credits over refunds. Were they forced to, or did the flight credit appear to offer something better than a cash refund?
I cancelled many flights during COVID, all of which I could get money refunded. I couldn't see any reason to let Qantas hold on to my money.

 

[Auzzieflyer]

I am curious as to why people took flight credits over refunds. Were they forced to, or did the flight credit appear to offer something better than a cash refund?
I cancelled many flights during COVID, all of which I could get money refunded. I couldn't see any reason to let Qantas hold on to my money.

Refunds we’re taking months to return to banks accounts… refunds had a quick turn around. When they were offering refunds, they didn‘t disclose that the refunds were subject to future change fees

 

[PineappleSkip]

Well recommended, @papeto

Choice is doing a poll to take to the Federal Government regaring passenger rights - its quick - takes 2 minutes. Spread the word around and get them to complete it. Hopefully we'll be able to get something similiar to the Eu261 regulation protecting passengers rights. If we don't try - we'll never get it.

Now that's Shonky, Qantas | CHOICE

Do you think stronger consumer protections are needed to force Qantas to treat people fairly? Take the poll and have your say.

www.choice.com.au

Another reason for better protections is the absolute lameness of the existing protections. You may recall that a shonky award last year went to the Airline Customer “Advocate”.

Airline Customer Advocate - The shonky award for leaving us stranded when travellers needed you most.​

 

[Ade]

I am curious as to why people took flight credits over refunds. Were they forced to, or did the flight credit appear to offer something better than a cash refund?
I cancelled many flights during COVID, all of which I could get money refunded. I couldn't see any reason to let Qantas hold on to my money.

Guess that depends on the individual's then assessment of the travel situation? Some might have thought that travel would get back to normal within a few months and they were going use the credits anyway .. me, personally, I took all refunds, which was around $10k worth and got it all well within a few weeks. My personal situation was I made the best use of the DSC (both pax & QBR) that was offered in Feb/Mar 2020 .. so booked all my flights on Flex fare for a year's worth of travel ... but the moment borders started shutting down, I pulled back and took refunds.

 

[PineappleSkip]

I am curious as to why people took flight credits over refunds. Were they forced to, or did the flight credit appear to offer something better than a cash refund?

The call centre discussion is relevant. It was nigh impossible to get through, and I had too much work on at the time to try and wait on line.

They come in handy given the fares I’m finding with QF. OW in early Dec WTB-MEL (preferred by me) for about $750+ or BNE-MEL for about $450+. Easy to use, hard to get value for.