Pre-Flight
Not affilliated with Qantas airlines
- in fact, they hate us



Qantas Sensors free speech - Bans man wearing anti-Bush T-shirt
From: Reuters news (www.msnbc.msn.com)

CANBERRA, Australia - An airline passenger barred from a flight for wearing a T-shirt labeling President Bush
a terrorist has threatened legal action against Australia’s flag carrier Qantas. Allen Jasson, 55, an Australian
IT expert who lives in Britain, was stopped from boarding a London-bound Qantas flight at Melbourne Airport
last Friday for wearing what the airline said was an offensive T-shirt............But Jasson, who had earlier
traveled on a Qantas domestic flight wearing the Bush T-shirt, said his right to freedom of speech had been
infringed by Qantas. “I am not prepared to go without the T-shirt. I might forfeit the fare, but I have made up
my mind that I would rather stand up for the principle of free speech,” Jasson told Australian media on
Monday, adding he would seek legal advice. Qantas issued a statement saying comments made verbally or on
a T-shirt which had the potential to offend other travelers or threaten the security of aircraft “will not be tolerated.”

Customer asks - When will the first 747 Crash?
From: Skitz at (www.railpage.com.au) March 3, 2008

Is it just me or is the continual breakdowns and delays of the 747's used on domestic duties becoming a dangerous joke? Yesterday I
flew Melbourne to Perth and was delayed on account of an auto pilot failure. Yet this morning I get news that another plane
(undetermined if it was the same plane) made an emergency landing in Sydney. Yesterdays incident comes on a spate of similar
problems with 747's breaking down on the Perth to East coast duties. I have made 3 trips to the east coast and only once I have been
on time and that time was on a 737. Once when travelling with my family we sat at the gate loaded and ready to go for three hours only
to taxi to the far end of Tullamarine to have it fail on take off. You can imagine what it is like having your flight time with kids doubled
when you cannot prepare to have enough kids food and water with you. Another time loaded at Perth we sat there in the heat for three
hours while they stuffed around with a spoiler/airbrake. Coming out of Sydney, same thing, electrical fault waiting for engineers to sign it
off. What is going on? I believe Qantas holds its customers with contempt at the best of time (gone backwards in a big way) and how
long will it be before they lose a plane?  Being

late is one thing, not getting there at all is another. Next Current Affair story on off shore maintenance should be taken with all
seriousnes
130 Qantas customers complains to Sydney Morning Herald
From: Sydney Morning Herald (www.pprune.org)

A poll on the Herald's website drew 130 tales of misadventure and neglect flying Qantas. About a dozen responses were positive. Rob
Bruce, a Sydney marketing strategy manager, wrote to Qantas to officially complain about being called a "piece of shit" by a Qantas
call centre operator. Although the call centre manager apologised that this was "just an expression she uses", Mr Bruce said the
letter was not acted upon. A Coffs Harbour woman had her honeymoon plans disrupted when Qantas changed the couple's flights four
times. Another "gold" frequent flyer complained that Qantas had tried to cut short her three-day stay in Melbourne by phoning, after she
had arrived, to say the departure flight was overbooked and she would now have to leave within 24 hours. Bill Nixon often flies business-
class, and believes service is poor because the airline "has antagonised the Qantas staff to the point they are angry, and it is spilling
out onto the customer".  In December he flew from Los Angeles to Sydney and was "dumbfounded" when the lights were dimmed 30
minutes into the 14-hour flight, with no offer of food or beverages. After complaints, the crew announced they would serve a meal if
hungry passengers pressed the call button. He was "ashamed it was our national carrier" when the American businessman seated next
to him asked if this was typical service. When the two men pressed the button, "about 10 minutes later a surly looking older male
attendant came and asked us what we wanted. The impression we got was that we were a nuisance, and he was not happy with us".
James Duncan, an Australian based in Britain, said many expats won't use Qantas to come home because cabin staff "generally
seem tired and tetchy".

Qantas can be fined $1 million- Watchdog probes frequent flyer scheme
From by. C. Foy-Smith  (http://www.news.com.au)

A "steady stream" of complaints about frequent flyer schemes has prompted a probe by the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission, chairman Alan Fels said. Both Qantas and Ansett, were under investigation and faced fines of $1 million each if the
commission found they promised millions of Australians unrealistic rewards in their points schemes. The news came as new
contender Impulse Airlines took to the skies for the first time this morning, in its attempt to become the country's third largest carrier.
Debut flights left Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. The ACCC will investigate whether Australia's two major carriers breached sections
of the Trade Practices Act, after claims from some customers that they could not book the flights they wanted up to six months in
advance. Mr Fels said he often heard complaints from passengers about frequent flyer schemes. "The most common complaint is that,
having built up points under a frequent flyer scheme, it is actually quite difficult to use the benefits because of seat "unavailability," he
said. Between them, the airlines have more than four million frequent flyer members. Mr Fels queried whether the programs may falsely
raise members' expectations and said the commission would look at whether that broke the Act.  Airlines have newsletters giving hints
on how best to use the points but there were questions about whether the information was enough, he said. But the airlines rebuffed
concerns.Ansett said this morning it was unaware of any criticism and half the frequent flyer seats that it allocated were left empty.
Qantas said more than 90 per cent of scheme members secured one of their first three flight preferences, passengers saw it as a very
good program and evidence they were unhappy with the scheme was "anecdotal". The commission will look at whether frequent flyer
programs raise issues under sections 52 and 53(c) of the Trade Practices Act. Section 52 prohibits misleading and deceptive conduct
and section 53(c) prohibits representations concerning performance characteristics, uses or benefits that services do not have.

FOLLOWUP: After a lengthy investigation, The ACC made the following agreement: Qantas has indicated its actions have been
directed at making available more Award seats for Frequent Flyers and improving transparency about the operation of the program.
Complaints received by the ACCC have been from consumers unable to redeem their points for Award flights to a destination of their
choice on dates and at times of their reasonable choosing, who may not have been aware that availability of Award seating is limited".

Lies, Rudneness and Poor Service - a Qantas Customer's Story
From:  ajdonnison  (http://blogs.sakienvirotech.com)

Well, the Qantas desk didn't open until 2pm, and even then, I'd managed to leave my baggage claim check with the United counter the
previous night, so traipsed back up to Terminal 7 [in LA] to track down the numbers required. Then back to the international terminal
and lo, no sign of the bags, nothing was transferred from United overnight, I'll need to take it up with United. OK, I'm starting to get tired,
my head is pounding again and now I'm dehydrating due to the fever. Not in the mood. Can you call United I ask. No, they won't answer
the phone. What??? Can you try? No, I'm not prepared to do that. What???? So much for customer service. So back to the United
baggage area this time and I check with them. The bag was sent to Qantas the night before, they could even tell me the time. Great! I
also ask them to find out what my realistic chances were for catching the flight that night. Now here is the difference, they told me that I
was a fair way down the waitlist and that the previous night's service saw only one person get a seat from the waitlist, and that my
chances weren't great, and it wasn't looking good for the following night. While not the best news it was at least something I could use to
plan. Back to Qantas, and I still have no baggage, but I ask if I can get onto the flight that day. I'm told that they will put me on standby.
OK, now, what is the realistic expectation of me getting a seat? "We don't normally do standby." How is that an answer? 50%? 90%?
10%?, what are the chances? "I already told you, we don't normally do standby." WTF? OK, So I hang around until 10:15pm (an hour
before take off) and find that there are at least 20 people who are waiting for standby! Don't normally do standby my arse! I manage to
get a seat and am faced with a line of at least 2 hours to get through security, and when I try and ask the Qantas staff if there is some
way through he walks off and ignores me! Finally someone takes pity on us and we get onto the flight. Just in case you missed this - the
United staff on every occasion I had to deal with them were polite, courteous, helpful and open. They never lied to me and tried their
best to assist me. The Qantas staff were simply rude, unhelpful and even outright lied to me. I have always preferred to fly
Qantas because of their in-air service, but I really am going to have to rethink after this episode. Now through all of this I haven't really
realised I was ill, just a bit headachy and frazzled. But on the flight home I manage to pass out and need oxygen a few times. When I get
home the doctor says that I'd suffered (or rather was still suffering) influenza. Well, that would explain the fever, dehydration, headache
and aches and pains. Still, a few days in bed and I'm right as rain. But I'm still putting the final touches to the letter of complaint to
Qantas for their appalling customer service in LA. Oh, and Simon, your name will be singled out as the main culprit, there was no
excuse for your behaviour at any stage, and I'd be willing to guess that the reason United won't take your calls is because of you. P.
S. The bag arrived on the same plane as me, which just shows that Qantas were either still lying or are completely useless. The only
high point was their care of me on the flight home after I'd passed out and the care that in particular one female staff member meted out
(and I'm sorry I never got your name.) Their arrivals team in Melbourne were overstressed but handled me with care and concern that
their LA counterparts would do well to learn from.

Qantas Employees - Rude before the flight
From: www.complaints.com

I recently encountered Qantas flight staff during a stay in San Francisco.  I flew to Sacramento to attend a relative's funeral the following
day.   After an exhausting day I drove to San Francisco and arrived at the my hotel  around 8 p.m. I pulled into the carport and no valet
was present to take my car. Cars were backed up so I was the last car to fit in without interfering with pedestrian traffic. Inside, the line
to check-in/out was  long and was full of the Qantas flight crew(s). I stepped out of the line to check on my car which still had five cars
parked ahead of it. After a lengthy wait, (20 minutes or more), I was checked in and told to park my car in the hotel lot. When I emerged
from the hotel a polite Qantas flight attendant asked me if the only car remaining was mine. I said yes, and rushed to my car. On less
polite attendant signaled to her co-workers that I was crazy. A male attendant who was particularly rude waved his arms at me and
behaved like an idiot. Exhausted, I tried to maintain my composure. The obnoxious crew waved at me, gestured rudely and was utterly
despicable.

Later, I spoke with the hotel bellman and apologized for blocking the entry. He told me that the shuttle driver who was there to pick up
your crew could have easily maneuvered around since I was parked on the far left. Unlike the Qantas staff, he was gracious. In
hindsight, I wish I had spoken with the crew. I would have told them  they were rude and reflected poorly on Qantas airlines. One would
think they could keep their composure and act in a professional manner while in uniform. I would have told them that I was operating on
little sleep, had attended the funeral of a dear relative in 100 degree temperatures with nearly equal humidity. Then I had driven over
90 miles to arrive late at night in San Francisco, not having had dinner. Finally, I had to wait in an unusually long line behind their flight
crew to check into my hotel. Their behavior was uncalled for and beyond rude.