Hi there this might sound trivial however I am a QF platinum member and this year I have flown with Qf, SAA, Virgin , Emirates, CA, MU and JAL and have noticed that Qantas is the o

Sad to see that some people are becoming very personal on this forum. Could we please keep it civil and respect each others opinions / thoughts? I think everybody is entitled to her or his say / opinion and there is really no need to attack fellow contributers. A meaningful discussion is always good, but is it really necessary to burn down others?

Couldn't agree more. I've emailed David about Daniell's remarks. Freedom of expression does not extend to offensive behaviour.

I can't believe some of these comments. I personally find it quite offensive to have someone sitting next me on an aircraft picking their teeth! Yes in Asia it is common to see and even spitting the contents on the floor! However on aircraft give me a break, take your toothrush and clean your teeth. 

As for QF load factors on the HKG route, when I have flown with them over the past couple of months they seem very healthy in J. There seems to be a lot of unjustified negativity towards QF on this site.

Providing toothpicks on an aircraft has nothing to do / is not related to picking your teeth at your seat. I agree that this should be done in the bathroom and not in public (just like brushing your teeth for that matter).

Load factors on an aircraft / route say nothing about the quality of the service provided. Scoot could be packed each flight, but that does not make them a 5 star airline.

Before I am getting comments on being biased and against QF, I am a Platinum FF and personally fly them a lot and also enjoy their service (in premium classes).

I am QF Platinum and fail to see what that has to do with toothpicks the whole thing is trivial to say the least. However would people rush to the toilets to floss or pick their teeth,I doubt it. Having travelled on many airlines who do offer toothpick's the picker's still do at their seat in full view of other pax.

In restaurants I often see toothpicks at the exit, not on the dining tables. While this may work at restaurants, it's hardly workable in a lounge or on a plane (there's nowhere to leave to in order to pick one's teeth). I suppose Asian airlines (or those airlines with substantial Asian patronage) cater for this due to it's cultural normalcy in Asia.

I apologise if any of my comments have caused anyone any personal offence. I think as consumers, and as business travellers, it is natural we will compare different products and services and point out shortcomings in the hope that they will fix those issues. Qantas does many things right too, such as their Sydney First Lounge, while CX (the airline I often use to compare Qantas to) does many things wrong too, such as their old coffin style business class and the shell economy class. I don't expect anyone will take any personal offence at my criticisms of Qantas. 

I'm also fascinated to realise a lot of people seem to mind if someone at another table in a restaurant is using toothpicks. I don't want to get into a cultural sensitivity discussion here, but I think spitting on the floor is somewhat different from using toothpicks, its perfectly normal in 3 michelin star restaurants in HK to see business men using toothpicks, but I doubt you'll ever see a local under the age of 70 spitting on the floor!

One reason I mentioned load factors is because I noticed CX is picking up a huge amount of Mainland Chinese customers in Business Class, the type who has a lot of money to throw around, takes their entire family and nannies/maids on Business Class, and can't speak English. Maybe many of "us" (myself included) would find their flying experience a bit less enjoyable if there were too many people like that on board, as a business Qantas probably could do a lot better with this market...?

I'm not interested in getting into a flaming match like others have, but I will respond to your last paragraph here (totally business orriented). 

Qantas' is having an exceptionally difficult time competing for foreign origin traffic at the moment, not because of their service level or frequency/planes or whatever, but because of the exchange rate.

HK isn't the best example because the currency has been as volatile as others, but the theory is the same:

A HK$10000 HKG-SYD fare used to bring QF up to A$1400+ in revenue. These days, it only raises A$1250 in revenue. CX sees no difference regardless of how the exchange rate changes, but QF is losing up to 20% of the value of foreign origin fares today compared with 4 years ago, simply because our dollar is 20% stronger.

Subsequently, they either have to take the loss of revenue, which makes profits very tight, or they have to raise their fares to sustain profitability. Neither are viable options for QF because our market is so competitive. The third option, which is what QF is doing, is to focus their efforts on Australian origin traffic, the value of which is not impacted by forex movements.

This is why we see QF sticking to  a very western/Australian product, and why it often feels like the Asian market is not focused on. They cannot afford to carry Asian origin traffic, because it simply isn't profitable or secure. 

It's not an issue that gets a lot of airtime, but it is one of the fundamental underlying reasons why QF International isn't doing very well. If exchange rates were what they were 5 years ago then QF would be declaring $500m+ profits, indeed as they were 5 years ago.

Not really related, but I thought it was worth clarifying that QF is not abandoning or ignoring foreign traffic (particularly in Asia) by accident. 

As it happens, I'll be at the Qantas First Lounge in Sydney tomorrow and will make a point of asking the team about what happened to their toothpicks!