65% of consumers say inflight emergencies have left them with less confidence in Qantas
The public think that Virgin Blue is a safer airline than Qantas, according to an opinion survey carried out by Auspoll.
In a guest posting for online comment site The Punch, Auspoll CEO Ross Neilson says that recent mid air emergencies mean that: “A large mass of brand confidence among the Australian public is smouldering strongly, emitting smoke and may be about to drop off the starboard wing into the sea.”
Neilson said that of this 1500 consumers his organisation surveyed, 21% said they believed Qantas was unsafe. And 65% of respondents said that the recent problems had made them less confident in the airline than before.
A total of 41% said they were now more likely to choose another airline.
Overall, 69% rated Qantas as quite or very safe. But three airlines scored better including Virgin Blue which was top with 83%.
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More than that… Qantas should take a leaf out of the Virgin Blue book when it comes to social media. Being able to converse with your customers and their concerns directly can benefit your organisation especially during times like this for Qantas.
Air New Zealand is another really good example of this… recently a customer complained on twitter about the music in the lounge, a few minutes later she was called to the customer service desk and they changed up the tunes to suit the customers.
Regarding the question of safety, people want feedback… more information and answers and while the news is covering it constantly, Qantas should look at more ways to bring people back on side.
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I can remember a time when Qantas could do no wrong……and now this spate of incidents. Funny, it seems to come at a time when they have shipped most of their maintenance off shore.
Qantas have had crashes and fatalities before…..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L....._accidents
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me smells some chac for comment here maybe…lets do a guest ‘punch’ article a news ltd website and also do an interview with them on their ipad app giving glowing reviews!!!!
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Me smells some paranoia from Ed. But I’d suggest at least watching the video before putting together the conspiracy. Not only was my review of the iPad app not “glowing”, there wasn’t any review at all. And guess what, Ed, based on your IP address, I see I’ve written a story about your employer today too. No cash for comment there either.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
ed you just got BURNNNNEDDDDD
haha
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ummmm, i thought this article was about Qantas….who why the ipad comments?
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I think this ‘survey’ goes to show the huge influence the ‘media’ has over the general public, whether there is truth in the news or not! But the survey does demonstrate some weakness on the Qantas side in terms of brand and reputation management in the digital era!?
I recently put the comments below up on The Punch in response to the media hysteria surrounding the Qantas ‘incidents’. The facts say it all but getting this message across is another thing all together:
“I never thought I’d be jumping to defend Qantas but let’s look at some facts instead of ignorant opinions to put these so called rash of ‘incidents’ into perspective.
Qantas operates on average some 565 flights per day and around 370 international flights per week – that’s approximately 225,465 flights per year!
93% of Qantas’s heavy aircraft maintenance and 85% of general maintenance is carried out in Australia by some 5,500 Australian based engineers.
Qantas has the lowest in-flight engine shut down rate of any airline in the world and the lowest aborted take off rate.
There have been 1,015 road deaths in Australia just this year up to September 2010 and yet Qantas has never had a fatal jet crash in 60 odd years of commercial jet operations since 1951.
Aviation accidents are extremely rare, with the probability of a passenger being killed on a single flight at approximately eight million-to-one compared to a 1 in 6,500 chance of being killed in a car accident.
Even if a passenger boarded a flight at random, once a day, everyday, it would statistically be over 21,000 years before he or she would be killed.
Now, can we please get some sanity back into the media coverage and stop the ridiculous and unfounded hysterical commentary?”
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If these mishaps are due to outsourcing to Germany, Singapore and the Philippines, how come Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and Philippine Airlines have had no exploding engines or mid-air emergencies recently?
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I’m definitely within that percentage!
I just finish off paying DOUBLE my original airline flights, so that I can travel with Qantas to Argentina for Christmas. The change being a direct result of friends saying how much safer Qantas was, in comparison to the original airline I was flying with……what a mistake that was!
Not to mention, having made the change and having to deal with Qantas client support, I can also say their customer service is absolutely just as shocking as their plane repairs – maybe they can start with their aeroplanes and then their staff.
I wish Virgin went to Argentina 🙁
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