Thread: Problems with QANTAS ?

Yes, all airlines are short of crew. With domestic flights it’s easier to reassign crew within flight and duty time limits and cover with reserve crew (if there are any). Once reserve coverage is depleted, crewing then starts texting and cold-calling crew on days off.
With international (particularly long haul flying) you don’t really have the option to reassign, as existing crews are usually rostered close to maximum legal flight and duty times anyway.

The key is adequate reserve coverage. With less pilots than optimum, fewer pilots will be on reserve, hence the problem. All that’s left is the goodwill of crew that are prepared to work on their days off. And that’s a whole ‘nother story.

Most airlines are experiencing this problem at the moment.

Originally Posted by Hugh Jars

Yes, all airlines are short of crew. With domestic flights it’s easier to reassign crew within flight and duty time limits and cover with reserve crew (if there are any). Once reserve coverage is depleted, crewing then starts texting and cold-calling crew on days off.
With international (particularly long haul flying) you don’t really have the option to reassign, as existing crews are usually rostered close to maximum legal flight and duty times anyway.

The key is adequate reserve coverage. With less pilots than optimum, fewer pilots will be on reserve, hence the problem. All that’s left is the goodwill of crew that are prepared to work on their days off. And that’s a whole ‘nother story.

Most airlines are experiencing this problem at the moment.

I fly overseas once a month and have really noticed how Qantas has become one of the worst airlines. Old planes, expensive, really poor service and a basic couldn’t give a **** attitude to their customers and I fly business class. I would always fly Qantas once but now avoid them if I can. I know that as a public company their first priority is to their shareholders but it seems short sighted to treat their (once) loyal customers like they do. If it wasn’t for their domestic business they would have gone broke a long time ago

for domestic, i try and fly qantas.
never flying tiger again.

Until last Friday, we had a Brisbane - Dubbo - Melbourne service. While I have never used it, I planned to.

The carrier, Jetgo, went into administration on Friday, and suspended all flights. This is having serious repercussions on medical and other services in western NSW, as it had enabled the use of locums and specialists from Melbourne and Brisbane as well as Sydney.

But a reminder that the vast majority of airlines worldwide normally run close to financial margins, with financial disaster only an oil price shock or a war threat away. This is why Qantas, for example, has not provided the necessary number of spare pilots - they cost a lot to keep 'spare'.

Originally Posted by Nick S

I fly overseas once a month and have really noticed how Qantas has become one of the worst airlines. Old planes, expensive, really poor service and a basic couldn’t give a **** attitude to their customers and I fly business class. I would always fly Qantas once but now avoid them if I can. I know that as a public company their first priority is to their shareholders but it seems short sighted to treat their (once) loyal customers like they do. If it wasn’t for their domestic business they would have gone broke a long time ago

Must agree, they have been going downhill for a number of years. The attitude of flight crews is on a par with US domestic crews which is generally appalling. I always try to fly Singapore or Emirates much better service all round. There was one exception where I had no choice but to fly QF business from Manila to Sydney recently and was pleasantly surprised by the improved attitude of the flight crew. Not enough to deter my allegiance to SQ and EM.

There are a couple of good books around (and many staffers) which lay the blame for most of the company's problems (going back decades) on the QANTAS board and then the Poison Dwarf who they hired as CEO. Many, many years of bad decision making and short sighted thinking have gutted company morale, given away the wrong air routes and lost profits where they shouldn't have. If I was a shareholder or employee, I would be screaming for their heads on a platter.

Flight crew = pilots
Cabin crew = flight attendants.

Not likely you’ll get any attitude from flight crew because they are kept behind the flight deck door.

Cabin crew, on the other hand........

On domestic flights I’ve never really experienced attitude from cabin crew....my works preferred carrier is Virgin so cannot comment on Qantas

I always watch and listen to the safety message, often get a nod of appreciation as most passengers don’t even look in the general direction

Flights up and down the east coast I don’t bother the girls at all, pretty easy to sit out 2hrs

- I always sit in the window seat, jam myself in the corner and don noise canceling headphones
- I don’t take the offer of meals/food or drinks
- I take my bottled water on with me
- I go to the loo before boring, one less thing to worry about mid flight
- either have a feed before take off or when I land.

Be interested what attitude people get....

One good thing is I’ve dropped from gold to silver which means I haven’t been flying as much this year.

Have even found alliance to be good even though they are a contracted carrier for Virgin