Every time, I open my mouth and criticise Qantas, I get push back from Qantas staff and from some Qantas loyalists. Yet, the cadre of passengers I talk to are fed up with an airline that keeps on Jetstar-izing (cheapening) its service.
And it seems we have some vindication. In 2005 and 2006, Qantas was rated the second best airline in the world by the World Airline Awards. In 2008, it took third place. By 2010, Qantas had fallen to eighth place. This year, Qantas was given 15th place. This is the first time, it has been out of the top ten airlines of the world- ever. Consumers, in this Skytrax survey are clearly less happy with Qantas than they used to be.
At the awards at Farnborough airshow this week, the top twenty airlines were revealed as:
- Qatar Airways (second time in a row)
- Asiana Airlines (2011: 3rd)
- Singapore Airlines (2nd) *
- Cathay Pacific Airways (4th) *
- ANA All Nippon Airways (11th )
- Etihad Airways (6th)*
- Turkish Airlines ( 9th )
- Emirates ( 10th )*
- Thai Airways ( 5th )*
- Malaysia Airlines (12th)
- Garuda Indonesia (19th)
- Virgin Australia (32nd) *
- EVA Air (16th)
- Lufthansa (15th)*
- Qantas Airways (8th)*
- Korean Air (24th)
- Air New Zealand (7th)*
- Swiss Int’l Air Lines (13th)*
- Air Canada (21st)*
- Hainan Airlines (23rd)
- Sydney Airport First class lounge (well deserved-it is amazing)
- Best Premium Economy class (it is an impressive product)
- Best Premium Economy class catering (am surprised)
- Best low cost carrier (AirAsia*)
- Best domestic airline in North America: (JetBlue*)
- Best low-cost carrier for Australia-Pacific (Jetstar*)
- Best low-cost airline in North America (Virgin America*)
- Best First Class (Etihad*)
- Best First Class seats (Cathay Pacific*)
- Best Business Class seats (Oman Air)
- Best premium economy seats (Turkish Airlines)
- Best airline economy-class meals (Thai Airways*)
- Best economy class airline seat (Thai Airways*)
- Best inflight entertainment (Emirates*)
Blog article title seems melodramatically terse. “Quantas drops in rating by organization most people have never heard of and will probably never hear of again” seems a bit more accurate.
My argument is that Qantas has plunged in the minds of many Australian fliers, particularly with their premium frequent fliers. These passengers are openly saying in Forums, in lounges and on aeroplanes, how disappointed they are with Qantas attitude and service. Anecdotally,Virgin appears to be the winner of a lot of this traffic. The World Airline Awards, whether you think they are an obscure award are a confirmation that many other fliers are feeling the same. They do represent one of the key activities of Skytrax who claim 18 million passengers of 100 nationalities vote in a range of categories.
Although I do like your revised title! Not going to use it but I have modified slightly my original dramatic one for you!
Glad you took my comment with appropriate tongue-in-cheek level.
🙂