Amazulu

Which is the whole point of running an airline too. Recently did some flights with Singapore, and they were all full. Talking to people on the flight into Perth, who were coming from all points of the globe, and they said the same thing.

Fluid36

Qantas are actually complaining about the privately owned Australian airports charging too much tax - creating price gouging here:

http://travelconsumerdaily.com/story.php?id=721

Which is rich considering the information here:

http://www.southsearepublic.org/arti...blem_of_Qantas

Amazulu

They should also be complaining about the UK's ridiculously high departure taxes

Fluid36

Yeah, they are ridiculous as well.

bcworld

Yup, Pacific fares were through the roof, mostly due to Qantas successfully lobbying the Australian government...they're not as bad now given there are some more carriers flying the route. Whether or not Singapore Airlines should be allowed to fly it is an interesting point...dunno. They might not be interested now there's more competition.

itxrd

But why would you want to pay twice as much for the same thing? Basically we're saying Aussies are stupid enough to pay it, so lets charge them. And we'll get away with it for as long as we can. Woolies, Coles, Qantas they are all at it. And thats why Australia is a rip off now.

It is cheaper to buy something in the UK + get it shipped here, than it is to buy the same thing here. Often the postage is more expensive within Australia too. nuts

Aussies are wisening up slowly but boy are they mugs.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Retailers the world over will charge what they think the market can take. If they think they can charge more in Australia for the same products then they will do. That doesn't make Australians "mugs".

moneypenny20

Still at a loss as to why QANTAS is being blamed. When you book an Aus-UK-Aus flight with Virgin and get it for the same price as it would be UK-Aus_UK then I'll take notice.

As to your other comments, you can't buy Aus-UK-Aus flights from anywhere other than Aus so you can complain all you like and call the Australians mugs but if you need to fly overseas, you pay the price.

denzil73

Ok so I seem to be backed up by articles saying Qantas, helped by the government, artificially keep pricing higher than it should be, right?!?!?

I've always thought the only way Virgin were allowed to operate was keep their pricing similar to Qantas and then we have Tiger airlines who had a show entirely dedicated to showing how 'bad' they were and only be allowed to operate certain 'coastal' routes. I mean unless anyone can give proper evidence but when Tiger can fly you return for a few hundred dollars from Perth to Singapore but Qantas are many times that amount why wouldn't you want to limit that rivals ability to give cheap or at least reasonable pricing. Few years back if you could get out of Oz cheap to Singapore or HK then local airline, if booked directly and not thro an Oz company, where over a third cheaper than the equivalent Oz operated flight.

Again, I only say this as I have noticed this whilst travelling and wouldn't say it otherwise. Due to competition in Europe you can fly the same distance as say a flight from Brissy to Melbourne for a fraction of the cost.

I care not about how much a shareholder makes yet know that a company needs to make a profit to put that money back into the country but the shareholders won't necessarily so shareholder=who cares about their profit.

also, I have heard it from the mouth of a Qantas maintenance supervisory manager that Qantas are outsourcing maintenance to make more money for the CEO/shareholders and this is why Qantas' impeccable record has been so badly smudged over the last few years since floating the company or whatever they did.

I'm just trying to open peoples eyes that things aren't how they perhaps should be but unless the populace stand together to shout their displeasure then companies will do as they please. Just take Arnie for example telling companies in California to use their advertising money for cleaner energy research and what not and those companies survived and California seems better for it. The companies and economy will survive with better pricing but just that the poor little shareholder won't make so much profit and as most super funds deal with the more stable mining shares then I doubt it'll have much effect on supers either.

Food for thought maybe

bcworld

No you're not right. The situation with trans Pacific air fares has nothing to do with your examples for Uk-Aus flights. And I still have no idea what your point is about airport taxes?

Tiger Airways is Tiger Airways...how is it worthy of a comparison with a full service airline? If you want to fly Tiger, fly Tiger...however if your plane goes tech, there won't be a nice lounge to wait in for 2 days til they find a replacement!

As for maintenance...don't get suckered in by the unions attempt to paint outsourcing as the reason for all QF's issues. In many cases the maintenance has been onshore.

denzil73

And Aussie's are being penalised for taking their money outside of Oz just like the backwards Aussie credit cards with exchange rate fees. Do UK and USa cards do this? No, they even give you money back for using your card inside the country of origin.

The Oz companies have caught on to a great money spinner but unless we tell em to get f***ed then we will continue to be penalised.

as for the Aus origin tickets even the travel agents will tell you that a few years back the Oz government, by Qantas pressure, blocked the ability to use external booking agencies and this locks the pricing in and allows Qantas to charge what they like. The downside is that the other airlines able to fly the Qantas routes have caught on too and charge a bit less but much more than they used too a few years back and again more than inflation.

Don't defend something just cos it's from your country. British Steel made some of the best steel in the world but they priced themselves out of the market and towards the end when they tried producing cheap they couldn't due to the unions interfering and workers being overpaid. So I'm open minded enough to see beyond any national pride. Heck we only won the rugby a while ago cos of Johnny Wilkinsons left foot otherwise Oz was the much stronger team

denzil73

Airport taxes used to be part of the ticket price, as it still is in UK and other countries, but Qantas split them out to make it fairer yet the ticket price remained at the same price as before the tax was excluded and then you now had to pay the taxes ontop. So, you ended up paying more for the same flight. Any straighter?

moneypenny20

Wasn't defending anyone. Everyone's eyes (on here at least) are already open regarding the cost of flights. We know they're exhorbitant, there are countless threads on the subject and many of us don't go back to the UK for holidays for that very reason. Some of us don't go back because we don't want to but that's another story.

bcworld

What exactly is it you think Qantas / the government did? Because the situation is no different to anywhere else in the world.

As for inflation, there has been some serious inflation in jet fuel prices over the last 10 years:

bcworld

Complete rubbish.