If you don't work for a company, I don't think that there is such a thing as pride. It's simply service at a cost
Ah, maybe it was just me, and had pride when I flew with them. I use to be proud of the fact that they were Australian and you grew up with them and whenever you went somewhere you always flew them. Probably a better word would be loyalty rather than pride.
I guess that is why most people of my parents generation still fly them. It all comes down to exposure and what you are comfortable with. As for now, I fly Emirates where ever I can. For people who haven't travelled very much, flying a non native carrier can be a bit daunting. From simple things as they aren't aware that most people speak english, and in the case of emirates that not everyone who lives in the middle east is a terrorist and wants to kill every westerner in the place.
I think you would find that alot of people fly Qantas because it is identified as an Australian airline, and most Australian's would comfort that idea. Definitely in some cases people fly on price -vs- quality of service.