Pre-Flight
| Not affilliated with Qantas airlines - in fact, they hate us |
4 Stimson Python Snakes free inside Qantas plane From: The Telegraph (more at: www.telegraph.co.uk) Posted May 13, 2009 In scenes reminiscent of the 2006 cult film Snakes on a Plane, four of 12 pythons escaped during a two and a half hour flight from Alice Springs to Melbourne. On the ground in Melbourne, staff were unable to find the escapees among the luggage in the hold and the aircraft was removed from service. Joe Aston, Qantas spokesman, said "While (the container) was intact on departure (from Alice Springs), it was discovered on arrival that four of those animals had broken free.” Snake experts said the reptiles had probably slithered into the wamest parts of the plane, such as a motor or heater. The aircraft was fumigated to kill the four pythons. Native to the arid and rocky parts of western and central Australia, the Stimson's python eats its prey whole. They can live for more than 20 years. Virgin Blue Gains 2% additional marketshare of Domestic Flights - Qantas is downgraded From: Center for AP Aviation (more at: www.centreforaviation.com) and egoli (more at: www.egoli.com.au) Posted May 11, 2009 Shares in Qantas, a OneWorld carrier, suffered a 3.3% fall yesterday. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) stated it prefers Virgin Blue to the Flying Kangaroo in the troubled Australian domestic market. RBS stated Virgin Blue has gained 1-2% domestic market share lately, “placing pressure on QAN to maintain its 65% 'line in the sand'”. RBS stated, “options to recover lost ground aren't too appealing - further price discounting to stimulate demand or increase capacity” – with pressure on yield the likely outcome. [note: RBS downgrades Qantas on April 15th and cited: "QAN announced revised profit forecasts due to a “rapid and significant deterioration in trading conditions”. The size of the downgrade was big with QAN signaling profit for 2008/2009 will now be in the range of $100 - $200 mln vs a previous outlook of $500mln. Given the recent rally the stock has had from $1.38 and given the stock finished UP yesterday, we believe an opportunity has arisen to make some profit short-selling QAN. RBS has cut target price on QAN to $1.65 from $2.05 and moved to a SELL recommendation]. Angry Passenger: UK Call center is routed to Australia which is closed Posted by: Webup (more at: www.flyertalk.com) Posted May, 5, 2009 Qantas have largely shut down their UK call centre and that TA component is pretty much all that is left of it. The best way to contact QF is via their 24 hour number in Australia which can be found on their website, although to help you, their number is: +61 (3) 9658 5302. Most of us UK based QF members always use the Australian number as the level of service is infinitely higher than what any of us experienced using the UK call centre. In addition to this, calls to Australia from the UK are generally priced the same as a UK local call so there is no difference in cost for most people. In fact my personal telephone package allows me to call Australia for free (except mobiles). Don't bother with the UK office for anything. Their response is: Call regarding FF...'please call our Melbourne office' 'Im in the UK' 'Then please call at 10pm your time' Call with a Qantas Club member enquiry...'Please call our Melbourne office' Qantas cancels all New Zealand, China and India routes From: ABC News (more at: www.radioaustralia.net.au) Posted April 2, 2009 Qantas says some jobs will be lost when it axes all its domestic flights in New Zealand and shift its entire New Zealand business to its subsidiary Jetstar and cuts to its China and India services. CEO Bruce Buchanan is upbeat about his airline's outlook “We think that's a really exciting opportunity”. Tom Ballantine from Orient Aviation Magazine says Qantas has cut all direct flights from Australia to Beijing as well as all flights between Mebourne to Shanghi. In addition, Qantas also axed all flights between Australia and Mumbai. Platinum Passenger: Membership status is now worthless Submitted by: Craige (Posted March, 7, 2009) Check the new baggage weight restrictions from 1 march - Platinum ff turns up today to find out and get charged $9.90 for extra weight. no warning, staff very embarrased but have to. I am now changing my travel habits I am fed up, i will now reduce my flights from around 80 or 90 a year to less than 20, i am just fed up being treated with contempt. Frequent fliers are not desserting Qantas, THEY PUSHING US AWAY AS HARD AS THEY CAN, WELL I GIVE UP. i am just to explore how i change the way i do business without the travel. Even a recession doesn't deter travel, but Qantas systems of customer abuse and taking for granted, that does. Qantas announce lock down of credit card points usage From: ABC Radio (more at: www.abc.net.au) Posted March 4, 2009 Qantas has begun an aggressive campaign to try to stop its frequent flyers to use their credit card points on other airlines. Simon Hickey the manager of one of Qantas's few remaining profitable enterprises said that at the end of next month, Qantas frequent flyers will be restricted in earning points. Those points will have to come from a specially selected credit card and customer will no longer be able to choose what to do with the points. Some analysts see Qantas as moving to protect a rare profitable part of its business. Brent Mitchell, a research analyst, said that more control over what happens with the points will result in higher profits for Qantas. Passenger dies after falling down Qantas stairs From: SiloBreaker (more at: www.silobreaker.com) Posted: Feb 19, 2009 A 79-year-old man who fell down the stairs of a Qantas plane in Alice Springs has died in an Adelaide hospital. While Qantas said the man's death was "regrettable", they refused to comment. It is believed the man was in a critical condition in Royal Adelaide Hospital for several weeks after he fell down metal steps when disembarking onto the tarmac from a Qantas plane. Anger as Qantas cuts 25% of NZ flights without telling customers From: The Sunday Times (more at: www.theage.com.au) Posted: Jan 14, 2009 Angry Kiwi travelers are vowing never to fly with Qantas again after the airline cancelled flights without informing them in its latest round of cutbacks. About 25% of Qantas weekly domestic flights in New Zealand will have been cut by the end of the month. The cutbacks reduce the number of weekly flights between Auckland and Wellington from 44 to 31, between Auckland and Christchurch from 41 to 33, between Christchurch and Queenstown from 14 to 9, and between Christchurch and Rotorua from 7 to 5. An Auckland woman who paid Qantas NZ$1200 (A$989) to fly her family of five to Queenstown for a February wedding was shocked when she checked her booking online to discover the airline had cancelled her flights and rebooked her on a different service without notifying her. "I will never fly with them again," said the woman. "I was gutted because it was all that money, and just like that they've taken half of Friday and all of Sunday. And there's nothing you can do about it." Platinum Customer: Qantas planes keeps breaking down - 90 min check-in!! Submitted by: Ross (postet Jan. 12, 2008) You know I am Platinum with Qantas and I wonder how I can put up with it to make it so. As I live in regional Western Australia you soon find out that as far as the national carrier is concerned you are just annoying dirt. Last week I was going home for the weekend. The unpleasantness starts with the abysmal Perth domestic Airport. Qantas have scabbed out for years and made sure that Perth has the cruddiest dirtiest most overloaded terminal in the country but it doesn't matter because they are raping West Aussies with fares. I checked in, an altogether forgetful experience and got told the flight was "bang on schedule". Naturally I was shocked because Qantas are NEVER on time in regional WA. Then I get upstairs and not less than 5 minutes later the flight now shows a 3 hour delay. When asked why Qantas Staff explained that "well the plane going to Canberra broke down so we took the one for Kalgoorlie". So I ask "are you saying that people going to Canberra! are more important than those going to Kalgoorlie?" and I get told "yep, well I guess they are hey !".So there you have it. Qantas don't even lie to you - they openly tell you that you do not matter. I will say in fairness that generally I find the cabin crews good but the ground staff - every single one should be fired and get some people in their who can work. They are lazy, rude, slow and un- cooperative. I detest the whole check in process. At Kalgoorlie Qantas actually ream you if you dare to be "late" but fail to understand you have been standing in their d**n line up for over 40 minutes - and guess what ? Its a 45-55 minute flight !!!!! Add to that the dorbs that run the security services in Kalgoorlie and you have the most miserable experience you could ever pray for. How is it they can take over 1.5 hours to check in one 737 of people? Because there is never enough of them, they are poorly trained, they do not listen, they wander off and make sure that there is only ever one person working - ground service STINKS. In this manner you have to think that because! they are treated so badly on the ground there is not much hope of a Passenger being in a good mopod when they (finally) get to board. I agree with all the comments on entertainment systems - 4 transpacific flights in one year and the entertainment was broken on all of them. Qantas really does S**K!! Qantas admits security breach of Passenger data From: PC World (more at: www.pcworld.com) Posted Dec. 12, 2008 Qantas' online booking site last week breached the privacy, with personal details revealed to another party when they attempted to access flight check-in information online. Qantas customer Vicki Doust revealed the privacy breach to Australian PC World. She unearthed the error while attempting to access the company's secure booking site. The details included the full names of customers and their Qantas Frequent Flyer details, as well their home and mobile phone numbers, e-mail addresses and details of their travel itinerary, including return flight details and times. "If an organisation fails in their obligations under the Privacy Act, they run the risk of breaching an individual's privacy and of having a privacy complaint lodged against them." The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) put forward a recommendation to the Privacy Commission that data breach notification become mandatory if there is a real risk of serious harm occurring as a result of a breach. Lloyd Quartermaine, a Qantas media spokesperson, said the company's technical team was still looking into the matter but was unable to say yet what had caused the incident. Poll shows 60% of Australians don’t Trust Qantas From: The Australian (more at australian.com.au) posted Oct. 28, 2008 More than 60 percent of Australians have lost faith to the safety standards of Qantas after the emergency landing of a Qantas flight in West Australia Tuesday afternoon, according to a poll released later in the day. UMR Omnibus, one of Australia's leading research and polling companies, said it surveyed 1,000 people two weeks ago on people's attitudes towards the largest national airliner company, and the results show 63 percent of Australians believe the airline's safety standards have become worse over the last few years. Passenger: Thank God, I don't fly Qantas anymore Submitted by Harry (posted Oct. 15, 2008) I am very glad I found this website, after very rude in flight service back in 1982 I decided never to fly Qantas again but now need to fly with a breathing device called CPAP machine and qantas is the only airline I know of who allow use of it, plugged into the planes electrical system on a cheap basic economy seat. I will now look for any other airline. Qantas 55% Increase - Economy ticket to London now 198,000 points From: The Australian (more at: theaustralian.news.com.au) Posted April 25, 2008 Qantas loyalty boss Simon Hickey is aware that the airline's 5 million frequent flyers are a vocal bunch when it comes to expressing their displeasure. He has seen the complaints about not being able to redeem points, the lack of seats on key routes at popular times and the difficulty in getting upgrades. "But, you know, that's a good thing," he says. "It shows how important it is, how engaged people are in it and how valuable they think it is." In the summer the new Anyseat redemptions will start at about the same points cost as a Classic seat and rise according to factors such as the availability of seats, demand and time of flying. Qantas estimates that taxes and charges on a Sydney- London return trip of roughly $700 will add about 70,000 points to the 128,000-point cost. Qantas for first time this year broke out the program's earnings to reveal a first-half profit before tax of $62 million on revenue of $399 million. Skeleton Crew: 35 people maintains 33 customer applications and 21 web sites Posted: April 9, 2008 (based on www.zdnet.com.au) Ever thought about where your contact email goes when you send it to Qantas, why they do not answer the phone, or why you have to pay to talk to someone? The trick for Qantas has been to prop up share prices, slash customer supports staff and run an internal skeleton crew. According to Qantas', 44 percent of all domestic flight bookings are made online, while 70 percent of frequent flyer redemptions are handled via Qantas.com. Qantas' network of Web sites attracts two million page views a day and more than five million unique visitors a month. What appears as a single site is, however, a complicated mixture of applications spread across six full function sites and an additional 21 region- specific marketing sites. Tate's division of 35 staff is responsible for managing 33 customer-facing applications, as well as eight internal systems. Good luck with support!! Qantas deploy scanner that sees passengers nude From: News Australia (www.news.com.au) Posted April 3, 2008 A security scanner that sees through passengers' clothes will be tested by Qantas at Melbourne airport. The airline intends to introduce the device, which uses millimetre waves to scan the body," at selected Qantas screening points in the not too distant future", Qantas security manager Geoffrey Askew said in a statement. Passengers would walk into the unit and stand in a designated spot for three seconds with arms raised. "The security operative is the only person with access to the image and that person is located away from the screening location". Qantas seek to keep Old 747s around for 15 more years Contributed from: Airliners (www.airliners.net) Posted Mar: 21, 2008 Qantas has ruled out buying any of the new 747 8I models just released and also ruled out buying any of Boeing 777s. According to the German monthly magazine "Aero" Qantas CEO, Dixon, remarked 747-8I "doesn't do it for us, from the customer's perspective it is not what we need". 2-3-2 business on the main deck is not wanted, because every pax is supposed to be either at the window or the aisle. Sleeping space above the main deck is "not convincing". As a result, nine of the current Boeing 747s is expected to be around for upto 15 more years. Despite the fact that they have a very high number of “middle seats” and poor leg-room. In the past, Qantas have decided to replace only a few of the aging fleet with new A-380s and a very slow phase in of the 787s over the next decade. Qantas Expected to get $2 billion - Sells Frequent flier Program From: News Australia (www.news.com.au) March. 14, 2008 New valuations of Qantas has failed to provide support for the airline's plummeting share price. The Qantas share price is having its worst week since the $11billion private equity bid collapsed spectacularly last year, falling 16c yesterday to close at $3.65. It opened the week at $4. Since the start of the year, Qantas shares have plunged from $5.44, wiping $3.4 billion off the market value of the company. Split out for the first time at the company's half-year results, the airline revealed that loyalty was its most profitable division and indicated it might spin off the group later this year. [This is expected to result in higher miles required for standard awards and double miles required for “any-time” rewards. Qantas is also looking into ways to reduce the number of miles rewarded on actual flights]. |
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