the whole things sounds like a classic case study "How Qantas has lost its premium customers"
Yes it does sound that way. Up to 2008 I travelled mostly with QF in both J and Y. Now it is a mix of CX (price, products, schedule), EK (schedule) and MH (price). Last time I travelled on QF was back in 2010.
For the past 3 years, I always consider QF first when booking a flight and I would have chosen QF even if it is just marginally worst than others but the gap is just a bit too big.