Qantas’ reputation is in a tailspin as passengers savage egregious treatment

John Mosig writes: Should the government have an inquiry into the Australian airline industry? Absobloodylutely (“Misogyny, hoarding, massive complaints — Joyce leaves a shocking mess behind”). I don’t know anyone from my expat family, friendship or business acquaintance groups who now fly with Qantas. More to the point, the mere mention of the name brings a tirade of condemnation on how one of Australia’s most trusted brands has been dragged into the gutter.

John W Callander writes: Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is directed by a board. Therefore board also needs to be replaced.

Phillip Moore writes: The federal government should either re-nationalise Qantas or treat it as just another business. It is astounding that a federal Labor government, which supposedly has the best interests of workers as a core tenet, continues to protect and pander to a company with such an appalling attitude to its staff. Qantas bullies its staff; it bullies its competitors; it bullies the government.

David Simpson writes: The Qantas situation could have been made more palatable if the Coalition government had insisted on equity in return for the multimillion-dollar bailout. 

Chris Pallett writes: Sadly I’m becoming used to government mismanagement and poor decisions, perhaps almost blasé. To me it beggars belief that a CEO of a company can let the company slide to such an extent that:

• Customers who call the Qantas call centre can wait three hours for a customer service agent and then be cut off before being connected, not once but three times;
• Flights are cancelled, poor management and staff shortages;
• Baggage goes missing — I got mine back four weeks later;
• Cabin service? Very little from a crew who clearly wished they weren’t there. (We did too.)

After my four-strike policy we decided to never fly Qantas again until radical changes are made, starting with the sacking of Joyce. He has ruined a wonderful airline and walks away with an enormous financial pat on the back. Will someone please explain how that is even possible?

Bernard Stever writes: Re “MPs loll in comfort as Qantas logs record profits and planes fly like wounded ’roos”: I’m an older, taller man, with various age-related back/neck/knee/shoulder issues and I typically fly business on international routes because of this. In March I flew to Santiago in business class on Qantas, a 12- to 13-hour flight. My wife and I had booked and paid for our flight six months before and had confirmed our seats weeks before our flight.

When we arrived at the airport we jumped into the Qantas business/first class check-in lanes with about 30 people in front of us with all their baggage and only two ticketing staff. After 30 or 40 minutes we got to the agent and were informed that our seats had been changed and we had been allocated separate individual seats. Eventually, after to-ing and fro-ing we were placed in seats next to each other. But my seat was broken. After trying to fix it I called the attendant who told me either I was too big or the seat was broken.

When we got back to Sydney I complained to Qantas through its online customer care/support portal, an altogether useless and unsatisfactory arrangement as the advisers were all offshore third-party providers unable to provide anything other than platitudes about how sorry they are. They were unable to refer me to an Australian-based representative to resolve my complaints.

I’m surprised there has not been a class action or similar case launched. Maybe a suitably constituted inquiry/review is required?

Grant Nichol writes: I just spent three months in South America and took 15 flights. The only delayed flight? Qantas. Qantas also cancelled a flight so I had to stay overnight in Auckland (at my expense) and fly 24 hours later. Oh, and the worst airport? Sydney.

Neil J Smith writes: After being a long-time Qantas loyalist, I’m falling out of love. Living in Adelaide means no direct international flights. It’s hard to imagine that one of Australia’s major cities doesn’t warrant this basic facility. 

Heading for Europe or Asia or the US? Even New Zealand? A domestic connection is required. And to fly to Brisbane? Bumped onto QantasLink or even Alliance-branded aircraft. My most recent flight, 11am out of Adelaide, arriving at 3pm — a “chocolate and caramel slice” for lunch. 

I’m headed to New York in October. I’ve chosen Singapore Airlines. 

Philip Ewen writes: Qantas is my least favourite airline: expensive tickets for no advantages and points you never get any practical use for. I admit privilege here: business class to Helsinki and Tallinn from Sydney last Thursday. Left on a noticeably old Qantas A330. Seats OK but a bit tired. Swapped to an immaculate in every way — seats, staff, plane — Finnair A350 in Singapore.

The Qantas flight left one hour late. The Sydney QA lounge was nice 10 years ago. Now you find cracked tiles and stains in the washrooms, the same ones I noticed several months ago, lounges more akin to sitting in a bucket. The à la carte breakfast has the menu and all nicely set up but not available. Frankly the last trip on — let’s face it, pretty basic — Vietnam Airlines Sydney-to-Frankfurt was comparable.

Qantas has been trading on its legacy for years. It’s always comparatively the second-rate on the many business-class long-haul combined One World airline flights I take.

William Robinson writes: Our flight on Qantas from Broome to Perth and back in July for our grandson’s 18th birthday on a 737 was like travelling on an old Sydney wooden tram. It was packed, ran 45 minutes late, and vibrated and rattled the whole way. We were given a box with a small pie in it and a drink. We have travelled the world with different airlines but Qantas is the worst and we will never fly with it again.

Stuart Ogden writes: I flew Qantas QF2 from London Heathrow back to Sydney on July 10 2023 in economy. My seat was wet when I sat down and it soon became apparent that the air-con was dripping water with very small chunks of ice from above. When I informed the air stewardess the reply was: “I can’t do anything about that but I can get you a towel.” Not ideal when faced with a 21-hour flight. Maybe a gin and tonic to go with the ice?

Two toilets in our section had no running water in the sink. This was remedied by the flight crew with hand sanitiser. The third toilet had running water but a blocked sink which made washing one’s hands impossible without flooding the toilet.

Nothing groundbreaking and I got home in one piece, but one expects better on a long haul, particularly given the cost. 

Dr Sally Gray writes: As I long-term Qantas customer locked in by its frequent flyer program I feel insulted every time I fly: the lack of staff; the disrespectful herding; the hustling along; the lack of attention to requests; the angry disgruntled staff; the cancelled and delayed flights. That’s the flying experience. But what annoys me more is knowing about the sackings (slashing jobs to increase profits), the unfair contracts — the two-tier system where new recruits have worse conditions than old hands, and the offshoring of maintenance. The overall disrespect for the workers, the customers and the country.

What’s happened to Qantas is a most glaring example of what happens when neoliberalism is let rip and we as citizens allow suborned governments to run our country.

Terry Ireland writes: In the past three months I have flown eight times on QantasLink to Mildura and seven times the flight has been delayed by an hour or more. Once my 8.40am flight became 9.30am, then 10.45 then noon, and was then cancelled. And then my bag could not be found for two days. It finally turned up in Launceston.

I am a Qantas Club member and I demanded some compensation for the $48 cost of travelling by Uber to Melbourne airport and another $55 to return home then another $55 back the next day. I was offered $45 total in gift cards which I took — it was better than nothing. On Sunday afternoon Qantas was a total debacle in Melbourne as flights were again cancelled or delayed by up to four hours. I was lucky my Mildura flight was only delayed two hours.

Qantas is an incredible mess of pathetic service with sky-high prices.

John Le Raye writes: South Australians are faced with a monopoly with destinations such as Bali, where there is no competition. Airlines can charge what they like, cancel when they like, and are difficult to deal with offshore call centres.

Our politicians have failed the public. Petitions to Parliament have fallen on deaf ears. The airlines’ self-regulated disputes body is a shameless farce.