‘Worst airline ever’ — Aussie travellers blast Flying Kangaroo

Qantas’ reputational issues kept mounting this week, and Aussie travellers didn’t hold back on the Flying Kangaroo’s woes. Join the conversation here.

Qantas’ reputational woes have been mounting in recent weeks, with the ACCC launching legal action after the airline allegedly sold thousands of tickets for already-cancelled flights and CEO Alan Joyce stepping down two months earlier than planned.

Joyce’s early exit prompted some fairly pithy commentary, like this tweet by X user @LeastHesFunny—
“Pfft, Qantas can’t even get their CEO to depart at the originally scheduled time”.

The whole affair also triggered hundreds of comments from readers, who weren’t backward in coming forward in sharing their experience with the Flying Kangaroo.

Read a selction of what angry Aussie travellers have been saying on the topic below.

You can also join the conversation by submitting your comment below or heading to our Facebook page.

‘LOUSY’ SERVICE

BRET

Lousy service, rude staff, uncomfortable seating, terrible airline.

TOMMY R

Qantas is the worst airline ever.

JOHN

Qantas creates ex-customers every day.

CRAIG

Qantas a great Australian airline! Really? It doesn’t have one international flight leaving from Adelaide. At last count there were five competitors who do? That’s why I fly Qatar.

TOO HONEST TO PRINT

As a frequent business world wide flyer for 40 years, Qantas has always been arrogant, from the top to the aircrews. The first thing to do, Qantas, is become humble and focus on pleasing your customers.

TRUE MEANING OF ‘QANTAS’

ROSEMARY

Quick And Nasty Travel Australian Style. Never have anything to do with this second-rate so-called airline again. What, with plenty of quality airlines serving Australia internationally there’s no need to lower yourself to second-rate service and over the top airfares ever again!

QANTAS WAS GREAT... ONCE

ANDREW

Qantas was one of the strongest brands in the world. Now it is a joke.

CUT QANTAS A BREAK

WAYNE

Don’t Australians want a National Carrier? Why do Australians continue to trash everything that is good about our country? Qantas folds, what then??? A Middle Eastern company??? With such dubious credentials re treatment of women and human rights??? Is that what people want? “A spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed the call to Sky News, and that the controversy over the stripsearching of 13 Australian women at Al Hamad Airport while on a Qatar Airways flight in 2020 was among the issues discussed”.

BETTER OFF ELSEWHERE

VORTIGERN

After an unacceptable experience with Qantas in 1998, which predates the Joyce era, I changed to Emirates. The difference in concern about customer service was incredibly better.

PAUL

Qatar and Emirates are 10 times better then Qantas because they don’t have a virtual monopoly. They know that customer service is needed to get people to fly with them.

TOO EXPENSIVE

GREG

Can they now lower fares so I can fly home once in a while instead of every five years?

FUD

Haven’t flown Qantas for a long time. Always the most expensive and add in the woke BS there is zero reason to change that decision.

BROOK

Check out any fare to regional Aust flying Qantaslink.

SONIA

Good riddance to Joyce and too expensive air fares from a “private “company.

MACEDONIA-NEVER-NORTH

I’m still yet to find an explanation why a ticket from Melbourne to Europe cost me $2700 with Thai/Turkish airways, yet Qantas wanted $3700...

NO ONE WORTH ‘OBSCENE’ PAYOUT

LOU

How is there any justification for paying him that sort of money???? Can that be stopped? It’s obscene. No one is worth that much.

JOYCE DID HIS JOB

DAMIEN

I’m not sure what all the fuss is about??? Joyce left with the company making a record profit. He is not in the business to make people happy. Shareholders and management say all the right things, but the fact is all they care about are $$$$$. If a CEO leaves making record profits, then he or she has done her job. You may not like that, but it is a fact.

PUT A LIMIT ON CEOs

JENNI

Should the CEO position be time-based? Maybe five years? Salary far too high and bonuses should be performance-based (or no bonus at all).

WHERE’S OUR MONEY?

PETER

No executive bonuses should be paid until all the outstanding refunds to customers are paid and the Covid bonus payments repaid.

FAIR’S FAIR

OFB IAN

Wasn’t job keeper paid to companies, but all paid to staff? How is this QANTAS doing the wrong thing with jobkeeper? If dodgy stuff has happened, focus on that. This is just an irrational whinge, as is much of the media about this now. Selling tickets to cancelled flights - now this is an issue.

ENOUGH POLITICS, THANKS

CHRISTOPHER

I’m Australian but prefer to, and do, fly Qatar Airways. They are professional, I don’t experience significant delays or cancellations and they don’t promote any political angle to me as a customer. It still contributes to the Australian economy, albeit not as much as if I flew Qantas.

JILL

Even though I have always been proud of Qantas they have lost me with the YES painted on aircraft.

P

Really tired of woke agendas peddled by the national airline, supermarket chains, sport clubs and individuals with a soapbox. Largely coerced by Labor governments, but it’s time our institutions resisted and got back to stability not division.

BOARD ALSO TO BLAME

MICHAEL

I am no fan of Joyce but I feel he is being held up as the sacrificial lamb for the shortcomings of the Qantas board. The directors must, or should, have been aware of the deteriorating state of the company over recent years. The fact they sat idly by and seemingly took no action is not acceptable.

TIGER
Not defending Joyce, however he could not have acted on many of these decisions/policies without the full blessing and approval of the board.

TIME TO NATIONALISE

BRUCE

Australia needs a government owned national airline. Most other nations have one.

NO MORE HANDOUTS

KEEPING IT REAL

No more government handouts to Qantas. Let them go under and let airlines with service and price take over.

IT’S A MONOPOLY

JEREMY

That’s what happens when a government relies on one major business that much. It rejected competition and got in bed solely with one airline. How could we let one airline govern pricing and do this to our own people?

Originally published as ‘Worst airline ever’ — Aussie travellers blast Flying Kangaroo