Travel Nightmares Put Qantas on Notice

Australian Financial Review2022-06-17

Donna Stolzenberg has flown with Qantas exclusively for seven years, but the 54-year-old advocate for homeless people is now considering switching carriers. “I don’t want to change,” Stolzenberg tells...

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Cam20
2022-06-17
Cam20
[Cool] [Cool] [Cool] [Cool] [Cool] [Cool]
neiynaut
2022-06-17
neiynaut
Tell me your opinion about this news...
Mindthink
2022-06-17
Mindthink
Ok
Jaackkass
2022-06-17
Jaackkass
Thank you
CHLOETx
2022-06-17
CHLOETx
Great

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Arriving in Melbourne from Darwin via Sydney – with a connecting leg that was cancelled twice and delayed by several hours – and already tired and frustrated, the night only got worse after her luggage didn’t arrive.Donna Stolzenberg is considering switching preferred carriers after multiple issues with Qantas. Trevor CollensAnd Stolzenberg only narrowly avoided another travel nightmare after she moved prescription anti-migraine medication (her chronic migraines are so bad she at times loses her vision) from her checked luggage to her carry-on bag at the last minute. “I usually just pack it in with my toiletries,” she says.She’s planning to decide whether to stay with the airline or switch carriers at the end of the year.Stolzenberg is not alone in her experiences, with customers at the sharp end after air travel restarted in earnest in April. Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) data shows issues are widespread in the industry.BITRE said April had “the worst on-time performance figures recorded since recording commenced in November 2003” across all domestic airlines. Just 60 per cent of Qantas flights arrived on time in April, while 65.8 per cent of Virgin Australia flights arrived on time and 73.6 per cent of Regional Express flights were on time. Qantas cancelled domestic flights at a higher rate than other carriers, the data shows.“This month’s figures were impacted by weather-related events, congestion ([the] highest number of sectors flown since the commencement of COVID-19) and other COVID-19 related issues. The equivalent figures for April 2021 were 85.2 per cent for on-time arrivals,” BITRE said.Although BITRE is yet to publish the figures for May, Stolzenberg says delays and cancellations have become a pattern since she returned to the air. The Qantas regular – a platinum frequent flyer, no less – recalls another delayed flight between Adelaide and Melbourne in late April. That time, she was nearly stranded in South Australia the night before a knee surgery she had booked for 7am.The international experience isn’t smooth sailing either. Thursday, an engine issue in Dallas led to a nearly 24-hour delay for 300 passengers travelling to Sydney. Some stranded passengers reportedly slept on the airport floor.Industry-wide problemsWhen contacted for this article, Qantas rightly pointed out it was not the only carrier struggling with a post-pandemic surge in demand for air travel – known as “revenge travel” – either locally or overseas.We believe our relationships with customers are stronger than one bad experience.—Stephanie Tully, Qantas chief customer officerAirlines in Europe and the United States have experienced similar problems as they struggle to plug staff shortages. Irish budget airline Ryanair has urged the UK government to bring in the military to solve the chaos, while some US carriers have even substituted in bus trips for planes on short routes.But Qantas is Australia’s only full-service airline and bears the weight of 102 years of history. Customers expect good service from the company, so how much damage have the teething issues wrought on the “Spirit of Australia”?Qantas chief customer officer Stephanie Tully admits the airline was not as match fit as it should have been in April, with high staff absenteeism rates because of COVID-19 the biggest surprise.Tully says Qantas has hired hundreds of new staff to plug gaps and worked to “flatten” its schedule throughout the day to not overcrowd the tarmac in peak times for the June holidays. Rhett WymanHowever, she believes the consequences are negligible. “The customer preference for Qantas has not changed,” Tully says. “It is recoverable and the brand is in a really strong position, and many of the customers I’ve spoken to are understanding of Qantas’ need to come back from hibernation. But we do also need to deliver for them moving forward.”“Qantas is still one of the top-performing brands. What we measure internally is brand trust and brand preference and those two things have been resilient to what happened in April,” she adds.Roy Morgan put Qantas sixth on its most-trusted brands rankings in March; Qantas was 15th on Brand Finance’s Top 100 Brands 2022 list; and it won the Trusted Brands’ 2022 airline award, the carrier used to prove its position. These assessments were made before April.Brand Institute chief executive and Griffith University associate professor Karl Treacher is more negative. Qantas was the fifth-healthiest brand pre-virus in the Institute’s 2019 National Reputation Health Report but, if the poll were taken today, Treacher says the airline “wouldn’t be in the top 50”.“Expectations of relationships with brands have increased significantly in the digital age and COVID-19 has accelerated that,” he says. “So, if we do not get the level of service expected, it is now so much more outrageous.”“I think there will be substantial short-term and medium-term damage to the brand and that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars in the end.”Just 60 per cent of Qantas flights arrived on time in April.RepTrak Australia managing director Oliver Freedman does not think Qantas is a reputation in crisis despite some recent damage to its brand and reputation over April and May.“It’s fair to say the reputation is still strong but has softened a little over that time, and that isn’t surprising given it’s been a tough couple of months,” he says. “There is some misattribution of problems to Qantas. People don’t really understand the airport is the responsible party for long security lines.”Still, Qantas will have to end widespread cancellations and delays if it is to stop the brand from suffering further. The pressure is on Qantas to quickly cauterise the wounds of April, as governments start to monitor how frequently travel plans face disruption, as seen by new regulatory edicts that the UK government issued to their airlines this week.The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has already quietly consulted consumers as it takes a close look at complaints about Qantas’ travel credit policy. While the consultation is now closed, the ACCC did not have an update on the matter when approached.There is no excuse for the company’s failures, Tully says, with Qantas working hard to make sure it does not experience similar shocks during the upcoming June school holidays.“We feel really prepared, and it’s our No.1 focus to get this right. We know we have customers who didn’t have the experience they deserve or expect. We need to get it right, so they have the confidence to fly with us.”Tully says Qantas has hired hundreds of staff to plug gaps and worked to “flatten” its schedule throughout the day to not overcrowd the tarmac in peak times for the June holidays.Qantas says it has also reduced average call centre queues – ordered by frequent flyer status – to under 30 minutes for normal customers, and under five minutes for high-tier loyalty members after recent weeks saw the average wait time balloon to hours.Fatigued, overwhelmed staffAsked why the airline was not prepared for these problems before the April rush, given it spent two years hyping the pent-up demand that would follow the pandemic, Tully says Qantas was caught off-guard by an extreme level of staff absenteeism as demand and activity rapidly ramped up. About 18 per cent of the Qantas workforce was out with COVID-19 or isolating in early April.“Absenteeism hit much harder than what we planned for. During planning for the peak that is about to hit us now, we are factoring in those learnings, so we are match fit come June and July,” she says. “We are already operating at pre-COVID-19 levels, and the business market is back as well, so the ramp-up to this coming peak will be much less severe,” Tully adds,But these promises will rely largely on fatigued and overwhelmed staff, already hollowed out during the pandemic and still reeling from the chaos of the previous months. Qantas sacked nearly a third of its pre-pandemic staff, which unions say has led to a significant drain of skills and experience.Flight Attendant Association of Australia national secretary Teri O’Toole says morale is seriously low, with cabin crew regularly calling in sick or fatigued ahead of shifts. “Flights are short on staff each day. Which hurts customers because there are fewer hands to service them,” O’Toole says.Further, Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association federal secretary Steve Purvinas said Qantas had not replaced one of the 300 engineering workers it had lost during COVID-19.“We are back near pre-COVID-19 flying levels and not one licensed engineer has been replaced. This means there are insufficient staff to service the fleet. Ongoing delays will continue,” Purvinas said. “Our members are tired, overworked and stressed.”Qantas made efforts to ease the load in April by bringing on executive staff to help ground handlers load planes with passenger baggage, but the unions are sceptical about how far that went to addressing the issues.Tully says Qantas has the appropriate level of staff to run its schedule and will hire more workers as capacity grows. She is confident that Qantas will give customers the level of service expected this June school holidays and put to bed any questions about its ongoing strength and brand.“Our relationships with our customers are not transactional, they’re long-term relationships,” she says. “We believe our relationships with customers are stronger than one bad experience.”Maybe, like Stolzenberg, they should reassess in a year.","kind":null,"is_publish_news":true,"is_publish_highlight":true,"is_publish_live":false,"is_publish_wemedia":null,"editions":null,"column":"","sentiment":"0","news_tag":"","news_rank":0,"symbols":[],"gpt_button":1},"commentList":[{"id":9057387954,"gmtCreate":1655466610478,"gmtModify":1676535645174,"author":{"id":"3586053412837856","authorId":"3586053412837856","authorIdStr":"3586053412837856","name":"Cam20","avatar":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/037da9ce01a8e834173bfb42cccaa40f","vip":1,"crmLevel":2,"crmLevelSwitch":0,"idStr":"3586053412837856"},"htmlText":"[Cool]&nbsp;[Cool]&nbsp;[Cool]&nbsp;[Cool]&nbsp;[Cool]&nbsp;[Cool]&nbsp;","listText":"[Cool]&nbsp;[Cool]&nbsp;[Cool]&nbsp;[Cool]&nbsp;[Cool]&nbsp;[Cool]&nbsp;","text":"[Cool] [Cool] [Cool] [Cool] [Cool] [Cool]","images":[],"top":1,"highlighted":2,"essential":1,"paper":1,"likeSize":0,"commentSize":0,"repostSize":0,"link":"https://ttm.financial/post/9057387954","repostId":1183791597,"repostType":4,"isVote":1,"likeStatus":false,"favoriteStatus":false,"reportStatus":false,"tweetType":1,"langContent":"EN"},{"id":9057955714,"gmtCreate":1655455271138,"gmtModify":1676535643159,"author":{"id":"3583315864208322","authorId":"3583315864208322","authorIdStr":"3583315864208322","name":"neiynaut","avatar":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/18f725d1a79de45143a8e94c6ef1f8da","vip":1,"crmLevel":4,"crmLevelSwitch":0,"idStr":"3583315864208322"},"htmlText":"Tell me your opinion about this news...","listText":"Tell me your opinion about this news...","text":"Tell me your opinion about this news...","images":[],"top":1,"highlighted":1,"essential":1,"paper":1,"likeSize":1,"commentSize":0,"repostSize":0,"link":"https://ttm.financial/post/9057955714","repostId":1183791597,"repostType":4,"isVote":1,"likeStatus":false,"favoriteStatus":false,"reportStatus":false,"tweetType":1,"langContent":"EN"},{"id":9057952917,"gmtCreate":1655455053239,"gmtModify":1676535643119,"author":{"id":"4102837759709900","authorId":"4102837759709900","authorIdStr":"4102837759709900","name":"Mindthink","avatar":"https://community-static.tradeup.com/news/89b965229f7209196369426d161728ee","vip":1,"crmLevel":2,"crmLevelSwitch":1,"idStr":"4102837759709900"},"htmlText":"Ok","listText":"Ok","text":"Ok","images":[],"top":1,"highlighted":1,"essential":1,"paper":1,"likeSize":1,"commentSize":0,"repostSize":0,"link":"https://ttm.financial/post/9057952917","repostId":1183791597,"repostType":4,"isVote":1,"likeStatus":false,"favoriteStatus":false,"reportStatus":false,"tweetType":1,"langContent":"EN"},{"id":9057951036,"gmtCreate":1655454781725,"gmtModify":1676535643025,"author":{"id":"3579694464702846","authorId":"3579694464702846","authorIdStr":"3579694464702846","name":"Jaackkass","avatar":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/22b17786fc8109e6e72d54c54b5fe035","vip":1,"crmLevel":2,"crmLevelSwitch":0,"idStr":"3579694464702846"},"htmlText":"Thank you&nbsp;","listText":"Thank you&nbsp;","text":"Thank you","images":[],"top":1,"highlighted":1,"essential":1,"paper":1,"likeSize":2,"commentSize":0,"repostSize":0,"link":"https://ttm.financial/post/9057951036","repostId":1183791597,"repostType":4,"isVote":1,"likeStatus":false,"favoriteStatus":false,"reportStatus":false,"tweetType":1,"langContent":"EN"},{"id":9057924630,"gmtCreate":1655454156820,"gmtModify":1676535642939,"author":{"id":"4092909754707150","authorId":"4092909754707150","authorIdStr":"4092909754707150","name":"CHLOETx","avatar":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/acf47a2ebb9880486cc57d0f74168c85","vip":1,"crmLevel":5,"crmLevelSwitch":0,"idStr":"4092909754707150"},"htmlText":"Great","listText":"Great","text":"Great","images":[],"top":1,"highlighted":1,"essential":1,"paper":1,"likeSize":1,"commentSize":0,"repostSize":0,"link":"https://ttm.financial/post/9057924630","repostId":1183791597,"repostType":4,"isVote":1,"likeStatus":false,"favoriteStatus":false,"reportStatus":false,"tweetType":1,"langContent":"EN"}],"isCommentEnd":false,"newsSizeData":{"likeSize":18,"commentSize":5,"repostSize":0,"favoriteSize":0,"likeStatus":false,"favoriteStatus":false},"APP":{"userAgent":"Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; 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