Forget ground staff — Qantas should have outsourced its entire board

Robert Keogh writes: It is apparent Qantas didn’t go far enough with its outsourcing (“‘Not many airlines do such a dumb thing’: how outsourcing took Qantas from soaring to sore”). I’m sure that had it gone to Bangladesh or Cambodia, it could have secured the services of a CEO and/or a board and chair for 10% of what it paid Alan Joyce, Richard Goyder and co. The mistakes such people may have made would no doubt have been different from those of that cohort but it’s hard to see how they could have been worse.

Judith Dee writes: Three years ago my four children, all students then, scraped together $500 each to give me and my husband an anniversary present: a $2,000 Qantas gift card. COVID hit but we were told it was impossible to have the expiry date changed, and my daughter had the card put in my husband’s name so he couldn’t share it with me. There were many other conditions which seemed totally unreasonable — for something the kids had paid cash for.

After many phone calls we gave up. We spent the card but had to buy an extra ticket for me and Qantas airfares had inflated so much that the total cost was enormous. Our children are happy thinking we went on a nice holiday with the card and will never know the truth.

Paul Lowry writes: I once worked for a great airline. I was there in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. Back then the government owned Qantas. It didn’t usually post big profits but it employed thousands of Australians who paid their taxes and spent their well-earned wages in Australia. They worked for award wages, not underpaid by third parties, and they were proud of the company they worked for. The pilots and engineers were considered some of the best trained in the world, and because Qantas valued its passengers they responded in kind.

Back then, it was a company all Australians could be proud of. Alas, no more. Thanks to Joyce who must be said to have followed the “pirates’ code”: “Take what you can, give nothing back.”

Farewell to a great Australian company.

Evan Saggers writes: What Qantas has done to its staff is typical of what is happening all around us, large corporations taking the axe to those who are reasonably paid and possibly referred to as “middle class”. There seems to be an accelerating push to create an extremely wealthy class and an ever-expanding cohort of poor-but-still-working. 

How our country is going to survive with outsourcing and reduced individual incomes only time will tell. The government’s tax base is shrinking rapidly, moved on by the 500 or so companies that operate in Australia but don’t pay tax here.

I work for a large mining company; I met the CEO once who thanked my colleagues and me personally for making the sacrifices in order to produce our valued product. To quote: “You guys are the backbone of our business and our greatest asset.” Some 15 years later, working for the same company, my colleagues and I are considered its greatest liability and are treated with disdain.

I am fortunate to be approaching the end of my working life and find it hilarious to watch how productivity is heading south so fast it is catching the current crop of so-called management by surprise. Highly expensive automation is, at the least, a joke and the shareholders of the majors are constantly being duped by, at best, dodgy statistics.

Peter Ittak writes: In 2019 my 90,000-odd Qantas frequent flyer points were wiped. There was zero warning from Qantas — I noticed only by chance when viewing my frequent flyer statement that my points balance was zero.

There had been a couple of years where, for various reasons including family illness, I had not been flying. After explaining to Qantas, and then having some long-winded dialogue, it agreed to reinstate my points, but I had to do some new point-earning activities first. I passed.

I’d like to thank Qantas for this. It’s made my choice of which airline to evade effortless. I have become a loyal avoider of Qantas and have never flown with it since. Learning from this best practice, I have also not given Qantas any notice that I would be withholding my custom, and contribution to its profitability, on a lasting basis.

While Qantas chose not to reinstate my earned points, it did, however, try to woo me by clogging my email with marketing material. This it has been doing every few days ever since, spruiking countless credit card products, insurance products and whatnot from allied companies.

I’d like to thank Qantas for this too. It’s made my choice of which businesses to evade so effortless. I have become a loyal avoider of allied companies to Qantas. In keeping with this best practice (of Qantas), I have also not given these allied companies any notice that I would be withholding my custom, and contribution to their profitability, on a lasting basis.

Robert MacDonald writes: I stopped flying Qantas late last year mostly because of price and service. All that I read in your article makes me very worried about flying Qantas again until it fixes this outsourcing of maintenance and other crucial activities.

I also consider that labour-hire strategies are bad practice and lead to the stripping of conditions for employees. I prefer to understand that all the crew on the plane are part of the same team, not outsourced with split agendas and loyalties etc. I now fly Virgin.