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Consumer faith in national carrier Qantas has caused it to slip as one of Australia�s most trusted brands, according to a recent survey conducted by Reader�s
Digest Australia. Qantas fell from Australia�s third most trusted brand in 2002
to equal ninth in 2004, on par with discount department
store Big W and behind Panadol, Colgate and the number-one ranked Cadbury.
The Jetset Travelworld group announced last month that
they have joined the Fly Buys loyalty program. Fly Buy members
will be able to redeem points at Jetset Travelworld agencies.
Jetstar customers will soon be able to make 'ticketless'
bookings 24 hours a day with the airline via SMS. Customers can pre-register for the SMS flight-booking service on the airline�s website.
The airline believe it is one of only two carriers in the world to
offer the service.
Over the last few weeks Qantas, British Airways, Virgin
Blue, Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines have imposed a fuel
surcharge over and above their quoted fares. In the current
condition of dramatically rising international fuel prices, this appears
to be reasonable.
But the surcharge has come under attack from the independent fuel price monitoring organization, Fueltrac.
Fueltrac has criticised the fuel surcharge as �an attempt to increase profit margins by misleading the general public�.
The organization claimed that most large purchases of jet fuel in Australia were paid for in US dollars, and while jet fuel prices had risen over the past several years, the rise in the Australian dollar, versus the US dollar had �more than offset these increases�.
Flight Centre, endorses this view. Graeme Moore,
the New Zealand chief, says that airlines were making their fares
look cheaper than they really were by imposing a separate surcharge to
offset the cost of rising fuel prices. Moore said if airlines needed to
put their fares up they should do so rather than separate the difference
to make their fares look unchanged.
Qantas has terminated West Australian airline SkyWest�s participation in the Qantas frequent flyer program.
Hawaiian�s new 4 times a week service between Honolulu and Sydney
started on 18 May. The service is expected to deliver $66 million
a year to the New South Wales economy.
NSW Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation Sandra Nori
said the new service would allow Tourism NSW to tap into the Pacific North West Coast markets of Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, Phoenix and Las Vegas.
�Travellers from these cities will be able to travel to Sydney, without having to transit in Los Angeles � a huge drawcard for this market."
If you are travelling to or from Sydney airport on 22
June, don't plan to taking a cab! Sydney taxi drivers will be striking over
the NSW government's new �no destination� rules that prevent them from knowing their fare destination.
The �no destination� rule means drivers are not informed of where they are going
when they take a booking.
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