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Qantas in review

Given the coverage I gave my flight delay yesterday with Qantas, it's only fair to round it up fully.

Having arrived at Sydney airport at 9am on Sunday I got to the hotel at 9.35 Sydney time, 6.35 Perth time. That's 12hrs 35 minutes. It was a long day. The flight was, in total, delayed by 5 hours. And for the people waiting in Perth for the plane to arrive so they could get on it to wherever it was heading next, that was a 5 hour delay for them too.

My overall experience wasn't a complete disaster. We got to Perth and I made it to the conference after all. And, on very positive notes, I found all the Qantas staff superb, the plane - when it got going - surprisingly comfortable, the in-flight service way better than expected, and a few bobs of turblence aside the journey was smooth. People-wise my only gripe was why did they board us when they knew there was a problem. That was a mistake.

But these things meant my experience wasn't a complete disaster. Had I not had the entertainment and producivity capabilities of a laptop and internet, I may have viewed things differently. Had I been on the final leg of a trip back from the UK as some were, I might have viewed things differently again, and had they not fixed the plane after 5 hours and the flight got cancelled and we were transferred to the following day (which nearly happened), then that would have been goodnight Vienna for attending the conference.

So, you could say that flight delays happen, get over it!

But it's not quite that simple with Qantas. You see the common reaction from most was, "******* Qantas, this is a joke". Not only that, but there were visible, audible and palpable signs that people are scared witless when flying Qantas these days.

For example, the pilot felt compelled to reassure us (once the doors were locked), that "the aircraft was completely serviceable".

In touch with my girlfriend throughout the whole saga, she felt compelled to say, "Oh my god, I hope the plane's safe."

On the ground waiting for news in the terminal, fellow passengers asked the desk staff, "Is the plane safe?"

And, during takeoff when some (probably normal) grinding noises and shuddering were going on, many looks were being exchanged that basically conveyed the thought we might all die at any second.

Was this an overreaction? If I had been on this plane, or this plane, it's widly unlikely I would have been anywhere close to a trip to Perth on another one. Even a lesser incident like this one can be a worry. But you don't need to have a directly bad experience to fear one.

Years ago it was explained to me that a good reputation is hard to gain and easy to lose, while a bad reputation is easy to get (usually you get it when you lose your good reputation) and almost impossible to shake. Qantas might still be the safest airline in the world by some stats, but right now their reputation is in tatters, their flights usually problematic to some degree (someone said to me they are on average 40 minutes delayed and they are officially the worst ontime airline in Australia) and even if they are safe, the passengers have lost faith.

That's a tough situation for a company to be in. I wonder if the flight home tomorrow will be any better. 

Qantas: All show, no go

Edited and updated - 2.49pm. We've re-boarded.

The view from my Boeing 747 seat at Sydney airport, bound for Perth, supposedly. Rows of planes but this one isn't going anywhere.

I've been here for an hour now, and it's getting hotter and hotter inside. Boarding was already delayed by two hours as there's a problem with the in-flight entertainment system intercom and they can give no timeframe on it. So it's three hours and counting. Again, this was the same problem that delayed the plane originally. Why on earth did they board us?

Domestically, wherever possible, I'll fly Virgin Blue. Faster, more efficient service, less delays and certainly not the cadre of problems and near-disasters that Qantas are suffering these days.

Like Mercedes Benz found when it slashed costs across its range, it takes a while for the corner-cutting to manifest as product problems. Bean counters make for healthy profits, not decent service or staff that will support you. It's a short-term strategy if ever I saw one. Even if they rebuilt their service procedures to anything like they used to be, it will take Qantas a long time get back to being a respected, trusted airline in many a customer's view.

Update: we've now disembarked and I'm bck in the terminal. It's cool and there's mains power, with an update coming in 20 minutes. We'll see. Now been at the airport for a grand total of 4 hours.