Does anyone have any insight into what Qantas’ capacity management might look like post-COVID?
I was called twice prior to travelling today and cajoled into moving flights twice. Then I got a call last night asking me if I would be prepared to delay my travel a third time, which I refused.
When I got to the airport they put a special tag on my bag with “Lateral 16” on it, which I can only assume was for triage/flight change related purposes. Everything looked to be on track for an on time departure but when it was time to board Qantas announced a dubious weather related excuse - apparently the plane was ‘too hot’. Then we copped a series of cascading delays, followed by the happy announcement that the flight had been cancelled but everyone had been accommodated on the next two flights.
I’ve been bumped 3 times in the last 5 weeks on trips between Sydney and Canberra.
It looks as though the frugality at Qantas is increasingly translating into a lack of reliability on scheduled departure times. Is this aggressive capacity management a taste of things to come in the post-COVID world? Are we doomed to have an American Airlines style approach going forward? I might just be unlucky but it feels like the airline is getting increasingly ruthless under budget pressure.
It sounds a bit like getting a bus trip to a destination in a developing country. The bus goes when it is full! It makes sense when demand cannot be predicted.
Just curious if you did actually "sight" the airplane at the airbridge or simply received the announcement of the cancellation at the lounge.
If the airplane is there and the crew is there, then it doesnt make sense to cancel the flight just because of low occupancy but if neither airplane nor crew is there at the time of cancellation then there is reasonable suspicion that the cancellation was predetermined.
This was the usual tactics of Jetstar, Virgin Blue, and even Virgin Australia 10 years ago which is why I gave up on them
BTW with all the job cuts of ground staff and baggage handlers announced at QF today in preference for external contractors, obviously it is sad for all QF staff involved to lose their job at this time of the pandemic/recession, and often at their age.
But I wonder would anyone hazard a guess if external contractors will improve or worsen the following?
1. Readiness for embarking/disembarking via airbridge/mobile stairs
3. Cleaning and preparation of plane for next flights
While some of us made some assumption regarding unionised staff attitude and efficiency, I am not sure that external private contractors whose only reason of getting the contract is being the cheapest, will necessarily abide to KPI benchmark any better than current situation, and the obligation of going through the cycle of issuing of breach/remedial action/breach/more remedial action before termination of contract may meant we the pax may have to put up with the brave new world for 2-3 years before anyone knows which contractors work and which don't.....
@XWu There was a plane at the gate (Gate 5, just below the business lounge). The curious thing is that I was sitting at the window and in the lead up to the flight I didn’t see anyone around it. I was at the longe 45 mins before the original departure time - cargo doors remained closed, no catering, no baggage handlers or ground staff (despite an alleged technical issue with the A/C). I think these days there are quite a few planes that just remain parked at the gate until they have to go somewhere.
I’m frankly going to keep using zoom until this third world bus service behaviour stops! I just can’t afford to lose hours of my day sitting in the lounge waiting for a plane to fill up.
On the outsourcing, my guess is that it won’t change much or any change will be marginal. They’ll probably just hire back the same people on 21st century contracts. As you say, it’s hard to motivate people through contractual notices. If they’re able to casualise the workforce that might improve things a bit. I’d normally lament such a change but I’ve missed so many flights over the years due to pointless, petty and poorly explained union action that I’m with management on this one.
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Qantas capacity management and reliability
greg959
greg959
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 15 May 2019
Total posts 64
Does anyone have any insight into what Qantas’ capacity management might look like post-COVID?
I was called twice prior to travelling today and cajoled into moving flights twice. Then I got a call last night asking me if I would be prepared to delay my travel a third time, which I refused.
When I got to the airport they put a special tag on my bag with “Lateral 16” on it, which I can only assume was for triage/flight change related purposes. Everything looked to be on track for an on time departure but when it was time to board Qantas announced a dubious weather related excuse - apparently the plane was ‘too hot’. Then we copped a series of cascading delays, followed by the happy announcement that the flight had been cancelled but everyone had been accommodated on the next two flights.
I’ve been bumped 3 times in the last 5 weeks on trips between Sydney and Canberra.
It looks as though the frugality at Qantas is increasingly translating into a lack of reliability on scheduled departure times. Is this aggressive capacity management a taste of things to come in the post-COVID world? Are we doomed to have an American Airlines style approach going forward? I might just be unlucky but it feels like the airline is getting increasingly ruthless under budget pressure.
GoRobin
GoRobin
Member since 07 May 2020
Total posts 113
It sounds a bit like getting a bus trip to a destination in a developing country. The bus goes when it is full! It makes sense when demand cannot be predicted.
XWu
XWu
Member since 09 May 2020
Total posts 197
Just curious if you did actually "sight" the airplane at the airbridge or simply received the announcement of the cancellation at the lounge.
If the airplane is there and the crew is there, then it doesnt make sense to cancel the flight just because of low occupancy but if neither airplane nor crew is there at the time of cancellation then there is reasonable suspicion that the cancellation was predetermined.
This was the usual tactics of Jetstar, Virgin Blue, and even Virgin Australia 10 years ago which is why I gave up on them
XWu
XWu
Member since 09 May 2020
Total posts 197
BTW with all the job cuts of ground staff and baggage handlers announced at QF today in preference for external contractors, obviously it is sad for all QF staff involved to lose their job at this time of the pandemic/recession, and often at their age.
But I wonder would anyone hazard a guess if external contractors will improve or worsen the following?
1. Readiness for embarking/disembarking via airbridge/mobile stairs
2. Luggage sorting, priority baggage loading, baggage transfers
3. Cleaning and preparation of plane for next flights
While some of us made some assumption regarding unionised staff attitude and efficiency, I am not sure that external private contractors whose only reason of getting the contract is being the cheapest, will necessarily abide to KPI benchmark any better than current situation, and the obligation of going through the cycle of issuing of breach/remedial action/breach/more remedial action before termination of contract may meant we the pax may have to put up with the brave new world for 2-3 years before anyone knows which contractors work and which don't.....
greg959
greg959
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 15 May 2019
Total posts 64
@XWu There was a plane at the gate (Gate 5, just below the business lounge). The curious thing is that I was sitting at the window and in the lead up to the flight I didn’t see anyone around it. I was at the longe 45 mins before the original departure time - cargo doors remained closed, no catering, no baggage handlers or ground staff (despite an alleged technical issue with the A/C). I think these days there are quite a few planes that just remain parked at the gate until they have to go somewhere.
I’m frankly going to keep using zoom until this third world bus service behaviour stops! I just can’t afford to lose hours of my day sitting in the lounge waiting for a plane to fill up.
On the outsourcing, my guess is that it won’t change much or any change will be marginal. They’ll probably just hire back the same people on 21st century contracts. As you say, it’s hard to motivate people through contractual notices. If they’re able to casualise the workforce that might improve things a bit. I’d normally lament such a change but I’ve missed so many flights over the years due to pointless, petty and poorly explained union action that I’m with management on this one.