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Qantas has accused consumer group Choice of using out-of-date data to hand the business a joke ‘Shonky’ award for poor performance.
It comes after the airline this year faced a string of problems, including huge delays at Easter, hours-long call wait times, and even a revelation that the cabin crew of a Qantas A330 were made to sleep across seats in economy.
At its lowest point in April, less than half of its departures from both Sydney and Melbourne airports were on time, significantly lower than all its major rivals.
On Thursday, Choice’s CEO, Alan Kirkland, said the airline was so bad it appeared to “have gone deliberately out of its way to win a Shonky”.
Qantas said in response that it had been “very transparent” with its data, but that Choice’s figures were “just wrong”.
“We’ve beaten Virgin for on-time flights eight out of the past 12 months, and in some months that’s been by a significant margin,” it said in a statement.
“Our call wait times are less than half what Choice is claiming.
“Our customers have redeemed more than $1 billion in COVID-related flight credits. The conditions for these are the same or better than they were pre-COVID and we’re actively encouraging our customers to use them.
“No one is disputing the fact we had issues earlier this year, and we apologised for that, but it’s disappointing that Choice failed to acknowledge the impact that COVID and border closures have had on the entire aviation industry.”
In October, Australian Aviation reported how Qantas’ performance has improved, with the airline now having overtaken Virgin to perform better on delays.
New official figures backed up recent claims by the national carrier and showed that 69 per cent of its flights by Qantas and QantasLink arrived on time in September, compared to 68 per cent for Virgin and VARA combined.
Qantas said its improvement was due to both keeping capacity in reserve for difficult periods and investing in training and recruiting staff.
In total, it said it would invest $200 million for the remainder of the financial year to roster additional crew, train new recruits and pay for overtime in contact centres.
It also said its new “conservative” approach to scheduling means 20 per cent of its available seats will be left in reserve.
Jim Dollan
says:I don’t care about the figures published for QF v Virgin. That is not the issue! The issue of concern is the appalling deterioration of the service standards of QF once one of the finest airlines in the world and this before Richard Branson was born, never mind the creation of Virgin Airlines. Compared to a few years ago QF is just a shadow of what it was and it all comes down to the Goblin’s miss-management and decisions taken in favour of the Board and the shareholders. Staff and customers have come out at the bottom of the pile here. Truly no other industry or business would tolerate what has happened to this company without big changes at the top including first and foremost the sacking of the CEO responsible bearing in mind that old adage, “The Buck Stops Here”.
Chris manning
says:Absolutely agree with Jim Dollan, but the buck doesn’t stop with the CEO, the buck stops with the board and in my opinion, the entire board should be replaced. Mr Richard Goyder, I am supremely disappointed in your performance as Chairman of Qantas. That you have stood by as a great Australian company has been destroyed and employee’s lives ruined in the pursuit of what… beggars belief.
Qantas is held together by the employees, the same employees that the board and executive belittle, criticise and demoralise on a daily basis. The rot starts at the top and has flowed all the way down.
George
says:Totally agree with Jim, don’t compare with others…just take a look at the company in the past and present!! Really need to fight harder to redeem “The Spirit of Australia”, otherwise it is wrong to even bear that slogan!! Bullying culture in few areas within the group, surely they are hiring, but not enough training to both ground and front line staff! Management need to wake up.
Shiva
says:Strongly agree we Jim Dolan . He nailed it’s so sad to see what has happened to once a great premium airline who’s set standard for the rest airline.