Scandals plaguing Qantas have left travellers disgruntled over domestic airlines

More than half of Aussies have ditched Qantas and switched to another airline when travelling interstate amid the scandals that have plagued the national carrier. Have your say.

Australians say they will be moving away from Qantas and switching to another airline when traveling interstate amid the public backlash and growing scrutiny that have plagued Qantas and ended the career of Alan Joyce,.

Skyrocketing airfares, poor airline reliability and the lack of competition in domestic airlines have also contributed to the rapid decline in flights sold and dissatisfaction among customers over the past few months.

A poll of News Corp readers found 54 per cent would fly domestically with Virgin, followed by Qantas (29 per cent), Jetstar (8 per cent), Rex (6 per cent) and Bonza (3 per cent).

When it came to what matters most when people booked a domestic flight, the price of flights topped the list (45 per cent ), followed by punctuality (25 per cent) and customer service (13 per cent).

“Domestically I used to fly Qantas and had accumulated lots of ff points mainly through cards but I think I will move across to Virgin as flights are generally cheaper and there is much better points cost and availability in premium classes,” one reader said.

Another said: “When I fly I just want a good price and a good service. I don’t want a political opinion. Qantas fails the most basic rule of business - know what your customer wants.”

Qantas has been plagued with a number of scandals over the past few weeks.

It comes as Qantas was recently hit with a $600 million lawsuit from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for allegedly selling tickets on 8000 cancelled flights.

The ACCC alleged for the flights scheduled to depart between May and July 2022, Qantas kept selling tickets on its website for an average of more than two weeks – and in some cases for up to 47 days, after the cancellation of the flights.

Last week, the national carrier faced backlash over the government stopping Qatar Airways from increasing its operations to Australia, while the trashed brand tries to deal with $570 million in outstanding travel credits upsetting many once-loyal flyers.

The latest ACCC report on airline competition in Australia warned that poor service and unnecessarily high airfares will continue unless the lack of domestic competition is improved, including better access for smaller carriers at key airports.

The report said there was evidence market domination by Qantas and Virgin Australia was hurting customers — with service reliability worse and fares higher than in 2019.

At the moment, the market domination of the Qantas and Virgin Australia groups carries 94 per cent of all domestic travellers.

The ACCC also made the point that domestic passenger numbers in the normally busy month of April actually declined from the previous month, and remained below 2019 levels.

Qantas accounts for 36.1 per cent of the market in April, Jetstar 24.7 per cent and Virgin Australia 33.2 per cent.

The remaining 6 per cent was shared by Rex on 4.8 per cent and new low-cost carrier Bonza on 1.2 per cent. The report noted Bonza’s share was expected to grow in May when all of its 27 mostly regional routes became operational.

Amid the public backlash that has plagued Qantas over the past few weeks, Aussie travellers have been left disgruntled over domestic flight operations. Picture: David Swift

The latest cancellation and delay rates also have gotten worse, with industry performance remaining poor compared to long‑term averages.

The industry cancelled 3.9 per cent of flights in April 2023, with only 71.8 per cent of flights arriving on‑time. Jetstar reported notably worse cancellation rates than other airlines.

Which begs the question, who will you fly with on your next trip? Take our polls above and have you say in the comment field below.