Qantas accused of driving away rivals
 

from smh.com.au

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-...0415-a7ke.html

The folks at Menzies, Toll and Aero Care will be happy with this, picking up the extra revenue during a recession!

It makes sense to outsource the work if there are others willing to do the same job at a lesser cost, provided operations aren't significantly affected.

Probably everyone knows that Qantas ground services isn't competitive in terms of pricing for contracted ground handling operations and we have all witnessed more and more international carriers switching over to other providers.

However, some international carriers still stay with Qantas because from my understanding they do actually get better SPA rates for domestic add-on sectors since not all international carriers are like SQ, CX, MH etc. which serve most capital cities here in Australia.

Nonetheless, I have to say those Qantas ground services personnel processing passengers etc. for other carriers do seem to be less friendly, most of them seem not to be terribly interactive with passengers/airline supervisors/duty or station managers when compared to their counterparts handling QF flights.

Also, it seems that those airlines that are using Qantas ground services as their GHA in Australia really need to provide more training to some of the staff as I have came across quite a number of check-in staff whom lack the basic knowledge/skill to get the work done. eg. very few clues on contracted airlines' FFPs and the relevant benefits for elite members, difficulties to use other DCSs instead of the one used by Qantas, lack of communications to seek the appropriate action from airline supervisors/duty managers etc.

Anyway, the business class check-in desk staff (of course he's from Qantas ground services) for my last international flight (obviously not on Qantas) on Saturday, April 18, had absolutely no clue on how to actually update the FFP details recorded in the system. He had to ask the airline supervisor to come and do it for him etc.

Anyway, let's hope there won't be more job cuts...

hmmm...am I reading you right? it makes sense to shed more Australian jobs.

Please refrain from quoting the whole previous post in your post, it is not necessary, thank you - mod

Toll, menzies and Aerocare all employ Aussies to do the same jobs - albeit on ower wages.

oh I know that...simple fact of the matter is that they're shedding one work-force for another, I wonder if the author knows where the QF handlers might find another job.

Apparently the difference between say a Menzies Cust Service officer and QF one is about $300 p/w

You need to quiz Qantas on that point, they are one hiking prices up to push customers away and give reason to make the positions redundant.

I am happy however that in this case the jobs stay here in Australia. As I said above, given the fact we are facing a recession the other companies will be happy to see an increase in revenue through the new contracts when most other businesses are suffering.

From doing a little behind the scenes research into ground handling a while ago, QF had a great little deal going for a number of years where they would charge outrageous amounts for handling foreign carriers in Aussie ports, while the other carriers would do the same at their ports, so in effect it would even up. But now with the extra competition in the market, especially on the international side, it seems like it's more economic to go to the market and seek the cheapest, best quality handler. Nine times out of ten, that's someone other than Qantas

There will be no going back to the good old days for QF, both with ground services and airfares. They will have to put a limit on the prices to meet peoples expectations after the glorious cheap fares people are getting at the moment.

and staff travel.