any one know that qantas at management level and other staff that working over 7 years can get very cheap business class up to 95% off their retail price? example sydney to hk retail price $7679, they only pay $500 only. no wonder they are not making money. when i was working with the bank, i don't even get half interest rate on my home loan.
everyone gets sacked before they can complete 7 years? :)
i guess this is what they did, one thing that i also heard that most of them don't get pay increase and bonus, only executive got the bonus. omg. no wonder the replace the bonus and pay increase with this awesome fare :)
Well the one's who are lucky enough to make their 10y long service get a free return trip to any qantas destination for their entire immediate family.
Half the interest rate on home loan? Expecting much?
Rather that take the sensationalist newspaper view, it might be worthwhile understanding what this deal is.
These are standby fares, in other words if business class is booked out then, if domestic, you get downgraded and get NO refund on difference, Internationally you do.
Then there is seniority based on years of service and other factors.
Read this thread for some info
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1576675
And Virgin and other airlines do the same, so its NOT just Qantas. Each Airline has these fares, they might just have different rules on implementation and priority.
As for impact on profitability, its probably very small, given these are standby. And being standby can cause issues. Having just been caught with a staff friends deal, coming back from LA with Virgin where NONE of the 20 people on staff tickets got on the plane. And prognosis for next few days was even worse, so ended up paying for oneway flight back via Hong Kong, extra days accommodation and saved nothing over a commercial flight.
The real impact on profitability is the competition, that our government has control over (reciprocal landing rights) where overseas airlines are just welcomed with open arms - this keeps Macquarie Bank and other Airport owners in the moola but kills Qantas Virgin and other Aussie airlines.
Now do I want higher fares - personally no. But dont beat up on Qantas and their staff, when you want cheaper fares. With our wage costs it cannot be done. But while I would hate to be in their shoes, complaining about it wont change things, and in effect all the whining they are doing and the resentment they have is so misdirected, that its just driving people away from Qantas and their jobs.
On a side note I am amused reading comments all over the internet, where people are down on Qantas management staffing policies, and then in same breath say they will fly Emirates because of better service/pricing.
If they want to support higher wages for Aussies, then pay the fares.
For me I dont get involved with backing Aussie businesses unless they provide the service. Paying more for Aussie Icons, that after they make some profit, is then just sold to an overseas company isnt of interest to me. Now if they had some guarantee it will always remain in Aussie hands then I would be happy to pay that little bit extra. Problem is how do you make that guarantee stick
Standby is a great way for airlines to make pocket money, and a small amount of insurance.
The cost structure for flying a plane from A to B is largely independent of passenger numbers. That is, regardless of how many passengers are on the plane, most costs stay about the same. Ground service, the crew, cabin staff, even the amount of fuel you use varies only slightly per individual passenger.
Given this, the airline aims to make its costs back and a profit before check-in time. When it sells a ticket for stand by, then there are three possible outcomes:
So standby is one of those very rare situations where everyone involved gets a good deal - if you are prepared to accept its limitations (which can vary wildly depending on the airline).
You forgot the situation where:
Full-fare paying passengers get on to flights ahead of standby passengers. Standby only ever get to fly if there are seats available I.e. unsold/empty. So at no point would normal fare paying customers have to compete for seats with standby passengers.
Standby tickets are only available to airline staff, travel agents/ some airport staff … and their immediate family .. Not available to general public.
Standby travelers know to travel in low season and rarely miss out, they always know someone in the check in counters.
Can someone from other airline can confirm if they got same big discount like qantas? I mean okay other company might have one, but have they got the same big discount like what they got at qantas?
Here is one web page
http://www.airlinejob.net/travel-benefits.html
But often this information is kept a little confidential. But Checking some other web pages 90% off isnt outside the norm. And many airlines offer great rates - again standby to employees of other airlines/travel agents/hotel employees. And then the hotels also give great rates for industry members
mate,no firm confirmation on that site, in regards for qantas is confirm, the one at virgin as no one know yet. then we can make proper comparison if other airlines do give 90% discount as well
It's pretty much standard for airlines around the world. It's a great and cheap way to go to places you normally wouldn't on seats that are way more expensive than you'd usually fork out for.
The PITA thing about standby travel is however all the stress that comes with not knowing if you'll get to where you're going on time, specially if you've also booked connecting flights… But with that said, most check-in staff are sympathetic.
Joannatan
And back to or original post - so if other airlines give 80% 70% will that mean Qantas will go bust because of this deal?
Deals like this are perks, that as postulate says, it doesnt cost too much for the airline, so its not going to be the breaker of business that you initially claimed.
The big issue is that if the price is too low, then everyone in the airline wants the action, which means supply and demand issues. Those caught not being able to catch a flight because others are also wanting the same cheap flight.
And getting on the flight is also a crap shoot, as I found out myself, with Virgin. They had seats but elected to take freight (higher profit) so 20 missed the flight.
These deals sound great but like gambling, you mostly hear about the great wins , not the losses.
may be as you don't limit the number of this fare you can give to your staff. as i have been told for business class may be a bit hard to get than the economy class, and higher your level more likely you get that seat.
other company might give the bonus at the end of the year, it push their staff do the best for the company with promise year end bonus will be good, in qantas case, none of the staff care, as they know they won't get the bonus and they can fly cheap any time.
i can't comment other airlines as i just heard the news, not valid confirmation as qantas case.
if 4 big bank do similar what qantas did, they give perk that the staff can take any times, i don't believe all these 4 big banks can perform as good as now.
Maybe you need to read more than the newspapers, use a search engine and spend time you will see numerous references to deals like these, by all airlines worldwide. As I mentioned before airlines even extend offers to other airlines staff. But their own staff get priority
As for banks not offering home loans to staff….
If they are making 90% profit on a home loan, I guess they could but hopefully for us they aren't making that amount out of us. (YET!!)
And yes Hloans are really not a good comparison in this case - different fixed/variable costs
as ozpete said, it's just an employee benefit as a standby passenger.
Why hate on qantas staff getting benefits? If you're that jealous, go clock up 7 years and enjoy!
Can they really only make us of international standby fares after 7 years? 'Cos that doesn't sound right. And specifically only management? Then again, reading back over the OP's post - there's nothing to say if it's firm or standby. But even with firm staff travel, there's still a chance you might not get on…
what i want to say in here is the management give the carrot before the horse is racing. so the horse is not running as the carrot are available to them any time. thats why this company doesn't perform very well. my last trip with jetstar international is very bad. their cabin staff no smile at all, seems they tired or something else. no joke
Then change your heading, as it really is not the reason why Qantas is not making money.
Now poor service can impact a airlines bottom line, but its NOT the complete/only reason like you initially made it out to be.
As said before, competition from multiple airlines permitted to fly in to Australia by our government, is a major factor. Which BTW might be good for the tourist industry, and overall have more benefit to the economy, that restricted entry, but it isn't good for the Qantas group or their employees
I've got a few friends within Qantas, the explanation above re: standby is correct. Depending on your level within the airline/years of service/etc.. determine how often you can take advantage of such things, ie an engineer mate of mine gets a lot less flights than a 10yr+ hostie mate.
yeah, because if you look at Air Australia and the problems it's having, you can see the airline companies need a new idea