QF Out Of Touch
In MEL Airport there is an adverstisement that has been placed by Deloitte.
Two things standout...a CEO should have "listening"as a skill and one of his/her responsibilites is "staff morale"
Dixon and his crew are deaf and dixon sees "staff morale"as a funny term.
In answer to Willi Bs comments....if you are not happy you dont smile.
This applies to most of QF cabin crew population.
Dixon has declared war on all of his employees....not just crew.
CC tend to be a target for all those individuals whose expectations are not being met.
Travel in real terms is cheaper than it has ever been.
Expectations have never been higher.
People like Wiili B tend not to understand what is really going on at Qantas.
Resources have been reduced ot critical levels...this includes the human resource.
There are less crew on a QF 744 than any other airline with the exception of Air NZ.
Il Duce has admitted in a Strategy Day that "we stuffed up" with the IFE.
QF has one of the oldest fleets in thw world.
The classics are well past their use by dates.
The 767s have been a fantastic workhorse but are now looking tired.
Very few individuals in the course of their employment need to continually apologize for problems and failures not of their making.
Quite frankly crew are an easy target..easy to attack and apart from forums like this are unable to defend themselves.
Crew are abused on a regular basis.After awhile it wears thin and the smile disappears.No one smiles when they are under attack in the trenches.
Employees are attacked by management and Customers alike.
Then there is the response.."if you dont like it leave"
Sorry, that is getting just a little tired.
The comraderie that exists among QF employees is unique.
The truth is that Dixon and Crew have no idea how to tap into to it so they ignore,threaten and intimidate.
CC do their job well and the company's own Performance Behaviour reviews indicate that.There are about 5% of CC who shouldnt be in the job.
Both Crew and management know who they are.
This leaves 95% of CC who meet and exceed company expectations.
It would appear that this does not correlate to customer expectations.
So who is to blame for this?
Are all 6000 QF CC lazy whinging malingerers?
Are customer expectations still stuck in the 70s?
Does the buck stop with Dixon?.
Willi B and others would have you believe it is the CC who are entirely at fault.
You would have to "live"on plane to make that assertion.
Complimentary letters always exceed complaints..the company data verifies this.
Then there are the bases.
The Kiwi base is worked into the ground.
The BKK crew are worked so hard some have passed out onboard.
Many Oz based crew are so concerned about job security they go to work sick.
The LHR base they are here for a good time not a long time.
Then there are the casuals who live in the hope of being offered full time work..it aint ever gonna happen...dixon will tell you that.
CC are human beings..many have children.
Most miss out on Christmas,wedding anniversaries.birthdays, all public holidays and childbirths.
The aviation industry is both dynamic and addictive.
There are challenges every day and night...never a dull moment.
The perception of CC is that it is just one movable party.
In the 60s 70 and 80s it was....not any more
The time spent at home is, as a minimum, 18 days in 56.Two more days in the same period as a 9 to 5 employee.
But then let's take into account RDOs and public holidays.These are not available to CC..
Slip time in foreign ports is now minimal.
4 Day LAX Patterns.
Leave SYD Friday morning...13 hour flight time
Arrive LAX 0630 Local time..awake all night
Go to bed..wake up, eat and then try to get some more sleep
Leave Saturday Night....14 hour flight time.
Arrive Sydney 0630 Monday morning.
Sleep,look after the kids,say hello to your partner and start getting ready to do it again.
For many crew this is their life.
Jetlag,fatigue,customer abuse and company intimidation.
What a glamorous life!
Now,what about pay?
The base pay for a 5 year FA is around $52,000 gross.
There are other components that bump this up.
Picture this ...the company forces you onto leave for 3 months on base pay.
You either go broke or get a second job.
For all the naysayers..how good is service on an American Carrier?
This where QF is heading....and at accelerating pace
Dixon pays lipservice to service
He has already reduced CC costs by 15%...a further 20% to go.
Folks if you complain about service now...just wait til Dixon achieves his cost cutting goal......there will be NONE!
In the ASX Qantas is listed under transport.
The blame is with Dixon...to him you are all cattle paying for a place on his transport...Self Loading Freight.
The days of service on Airliners is coming to an end.
As far as Dixon is concerned you have all been overserviced for too long.
You may not want to lower the standard.
Employees definitely dont....regardless of what you are told to the contrary!
Too bad... Dixon is doing it for you.
You have as much control over it as the employees...NONE!
Last edited by DEFCON4; 12th Aug 2007 at 05:22.