Qantas:Animal Farm

[Ka.Boom]

October 8, 2009
http://images.theage.com.au/2009/10/07/776370/0810%20cbd%20patriciacross-200x0.jpg That will do nicely ... Patricia Cross was in first class with her husband.
By Scott Rochfort
Qantas appears to have one rule for passengers, one for staff and another for its board of 11 directors.
One CBD spy checking in for flight QF94 from Los Angeles to Melbourne on Friday was surprised that some passengers were unable to get a seat and had to be bunked up for the night in the City of Angels. Obviously those discounted tickets are selling well despite the downturn.
Our informant also noticed that Qantas director Patricia Cross struck it lucky along with four other family members.
Any normal Qantas staff member would have had Buckley's chance of a seat but the US-born Cross and her clan do not travel as staff members.
Cross, we are told, used her FOC (free of charge) tickets to score a first-class berth for herself and her husband, who also reportedly challenged the Qantas staff policy no-no of wearing jeans at the snotty-nosed end of the aircraft.
The former Chase Manhattan banker and NAB director's three children had to rough it in business class. They allegedly raised the eyebrows of several passengers by breaking the Qantas staff dress code by wearing shorts. But apparently FOC passengers are not required to abide by the dress code. Or as the airline said in a statement to CBD: ''These arrangements are provided separate to the Qantas staff travel scheme and are not governed by the scheme''.
Qantas tried yesterday to hose down any further negative publicity, noting that the economy passengers bumped off the flight were not only given hotel rooms but upgraded to business class on the next day's flight, if they chose not to be compensated.
As for Cross, Qantas said: ''We do not discuss the travel arrangements of individual passengers, including directors but, consistent with practice in the airline industry, Qantas directors and their nominated direct family members or partners are entitled to a limited number of flights for personal purposes as part of their remuneration arrangements.'' Cross failed to return phone calls to provide her version.

[CazbahKid]

Yet another Qantas bashing article right on time...

[Ace Wasabe]

The upper echelons of Qantas Management have an enormous sense of entitlement.Dont know how many times I have seen a management passenger have a revenue passenger kicked off an aircraft so that they could travel.
Dixon was renowned for it

[dragon man]

So, is my long service trip an FOC? And if so does that mean i to can where jeans? I think they have opened a can of worms here.

[QF94]

So, is my long service trip an FOC? And if so does that mean i to can where jeans? I think they have opened a can of worms here.


Unfortunately not. LST's are governed by the rule, regulations and say so of staff travel. Length of service is not recognised as much as position within the heirarchy of the establishment. Have position. WILL travel, even at the expense of commercial paying passengers.

Try getting on board with a pair of jeans for your LST, and you will get a dressing down from the counter staff, or their supervisors, telling you you should know better.

One rule for the "untouchables and their families" and another for the staff.

[Like This - Do That]

... but, consistent with practice in the airline industry, Qantas directors and their nominated direct family members or partners are entitled to a limited number of flights for personal purposes as part of their remuneration arrangements.

What is wrong with you people? It's all part of their remuneration arrangements .... why can't you see that that makes it alright? :}

[QF DRIVE]

Mrs Cross is not a staff member of QF. She is on the Board. Staff travel rules do not apply. The FOC upgradeable tickets are part of her package and I am sure she had no idea that some of the cattle were offloaded because of oversales.

Are QF staff so dis-allusioned that they must have a gripe about everything QF ?

If you want her perks, then get on the board.

[Power_Assist]

Why is this even news?

Of course its different rules for the top, middle and bottom. That's why Executives get more perks than Captains, who get more perks than CC etc, etc,

It's a Fact of Life.

[dragon man]

so, the people at the top shouldnt worry about setting a good example and letting the paying punter on board before themslves on an FOC.

[Willie Nelson]

Slightly off topic but we (Qantas' poor cousin) were on turnaround in Hamilton Island the other day and had a 20 minute delay because we had no stairs while the other company aircraft was turning around.....when queried about this resource shortage I wonder if AJ's response would be "We are too stretched trying to pay Dicko's 10 million dollars bonus to afford to run the airline properly"

It is exactly this sort of mentality that is making a once great airline into another big fat legacy carrier.

[packrat]

I dont have problems with managment and their perks.
I do have a problem with Directors taking seats at the expense of full revenue passengers.
The WFC crisis has highlighted the Directors Club for what it is...A small group of people who sit on a number of boards earning $200kp.a for each board they are on.They contribute nothing.Do nothing except attend meetings and enjoy the perks that are being discussed here.
The bloody husband is not an employee and has the temerity to question dress codes.
Animal Farm indeed!!!

[murdoch_disliker]

Well this behaviour must be a Qantas thing, years ago a Qantas manager, on secondment to Polynesian Airlines upgraded her lap dog from the fwd cargo hold all the way to business class to sit alongside her (in direct contravention of company policy). Any time she went out in Samoa, the locals would start singing "who let the dogs out". She didn't go out much after that. Happy ending Samoan style :}

[73to91]

I have seen staff in P class come back to J class to speak to friends. The P class pax had changed into t-shirts and certainly didn't look like premium class pax but the fact that they were 'showing off' to the other staff pax was not a professional look.

But, what do you expect from some of these people.

[Ngineer]

Are QF staff so dis-allusioned that they must have a gripe about everything QF ?

If you want her perks, then get on the board.

Thats right QF Drive.

Customers always should come last. Thats what they have been trying to tell us all along. Why have a plane full of paying customers when they should be filled with the Executives instead. Boy some people are slow!!!!

Which way to the board room?

[breakfastburrito]

Exquisite comment QF DRIVE. NGgineer, nailed it in one, game, set and match.

[QF94]

Which way to the board room?

Is that the same boardroom that GD used at BT in the city? He rarely attended the QF boardroom at Mascot.

True, the board members are not employees of QANTAS. Just at the trough snorting what they can, and as much as they can, before moving on. Nor are they answerable to the same company policies we are. At least that's what they believe.

I could imagine a QF staffer asking for themselves and their family to get on ahead of commercial paying passengers. Firstly, the staffer would get an ear bashing. Secondly, if it was even entertained for a moment by check-in, it would be their job on the line.

QANTAS is most definitely ANIMAL FARM. Everyone is equal, just some more than others!

[Sunfish]

What would really impress me is Members of the QF board travelling incognito in long haul cattle class to see how the other half lives.


I'm not holding my breath.

[stubby jumbo]

I recall a flight that I was working on during the ..." GD reign of terror".

WE were advised by the Capt before boarding ex HKG that...."we were going to have the pleasure of having a few QF Board members on board".

WHO?:suspect:

Naturally, they punce'd on in P/C and mumbled some sort of pap as they boarded. These "decision makers" then polished off 4 bottles of red and a bottle of Neil Perry's finest french bubbles. Not once did they walk past the curtain to say "ggidday" to the workers. In fact, they did their utmost to avoid any dialogue/eye contact with anyone associated with QF.


Now -you may say.....so F*%$&'n what !

And really - I'm not that fussed. But when I read this story today and recall my experience with them it only reinforces the bazzooka's I fired off at the disengagement survey.

When we return to a day when our "leaders".......listen and treat their staff with RESPECT.....then and only then will we get this outfit back on Runway 34R.

SJ

[PPRuNeUser0198]

The directors FOC tickets are 'confirmed' seats from the onset, not stand-by. Status codes for Duty or Staff Travel are 01 'Must Ride' - these will always come before paying customers.

Secondly - Alan has on many occasion travelled in Y on Aust. DOM sectors when there has not been any J. I recently observed for myself, AJ give up his J class seat for his PA so she rode J and he rode Y down the back of a 76 to MEL...

[kellykelpie]

What I cannot understand is why Travel is part of the board's renumeration package but for other staff it is a 'privlege'. I really do not feel privleged when the cabin crew asks the guy next to me for meal choice then tells me "you'll have to wait til last".

[Tee Emm]

Dont know how many times I have seen a management passenger have a revenue passenger kicked off an aircraft so that they could travel.

Nothing new in that. Happened frequently in the Seventies and Eighties with Air Nauru flights where El Presidento decided to travel at last minute. Four rows of seats removed and presidential suite installed.

[Arthur Boy]

Man, some people here are just waaaay too precious.

Lets face it, if we all could all be Directors, with all the perks that go with it, WE ALL WOULD. (and it appears Mrs Cross, in this case, only took what she was entitled to. In all liklihood the DM would not have told her of the offloads....).

I recall positioning QF cabin crews taking all of the First class cabin (migrating from one hotel swimming pool to the next....). And did they say 'no thanks' to the French and Eye Fillet and Lobbies?? No, they didnt. And, nor should they, they were entitled to stick their noses into the trough, so thats that. Good luck to em!

People, get a grip!

[surfside6]

The CC alluded to in the above post were "positioning".In other words they were on duty and travelling to another port to operate another aircraft.In short the CC were required and were on duty(read "at Work").They would also have been suitably attired and not complained about that requirement.
Cross was not on duty but on holidays.She was on an FOC ticket.Her husband is not a Qantas employee and yet he complains about dress standards.If he paid for the ticket he would not have been questioned about his attire.
What do directors actually do?
Not bloody much is the definitive answer.
Many of these people are on several boards and collect substantial amounts from each directorship.
Being a director on any board is one of the greatest cons perpetrated on shareholders.
Its nothing more than the Magic Circle Mates Club with all the perks and vey little if any responsibility

[Al E. Vator]

How can you ever excuse such hypocrisy with stupid and unrealistic throw away lines like "if you want those perks then become a director"? That is the argument of the intellectually limited.

Behaviour such as this from executives of any organisation is a disgrace.

They should lead by example but instead are rubbing the employees noses in it. Forever fighting to lower employees allowances whilst greedily getting as much as they can from managerial rorts.

To have the stupidity to wear denim in First Class and have your kids in shorts in Business Class shows not only arrogance but poor judgement. Poor judgement is not something executives at any organisation should be demostrating so overtly.

No wonder there is such a degree of staff disenfranchisement.