Qantas review by Dave 2014-10-01

My wife and I recently completed a return trip from Perth to Auckland via Sydney with Qantas Business Class. Disappointingly to a Qantas shareholder and Platinum Frequent Flyer, this trip confirmed that Qantas is falling further behind in its competition with other airlines. The short Sydney to Auckland leg was on an Emirates codeshare A380. The Business Class seating and service on this flight was luxurious in comparison with the Qantas flights. In particular, for the long flight (4hrs 35mins) from Sydney to Perth, Qantas used a recycled Jetstar A330. There was no in-seat entertainment system. It was only after discussing it with a steward more than an hour into the flight that we discovered we should have been provided with tiny I-pads for entertainment. These were not in our seat pockets and there was no information advising passengers that they were available. The steward located a couple for us. While the I-pads provided some entertainment options, they were not very good because of the poor quality earphones provided. I struggled to hear even at full volume on the I-pad. In addition, the controls for seat comfort in the plane did not work. We had to get the steward to manually pull on the leg rest and foot extension to make the seat more comfortable. Apparently this was a common problem on this plane. Considering we paid full Business Class fares, we expected better than this. As usual, the Qantas stewards go out of their way to improve the flying experience however their efforts are wasted if Qantas management provide a poor quality on-board environment for passengers. Our recent experience left us feeling 'ripped off' by Qantas. We paid a lot of money for our flights but did not get the quality expected or provdied by other airlines. Qantas needs to improve quickly if it is to remain a valued and profitable airline particulalrly on the services it provdies to West Australians who feel they are being treated as Cinderella by Qantas. Qantas managemnt - lift your game!