Qantas loses top spot as Australia’s most trusted travel brand after catastrophic few years

Qantas has lost its top spot as the country’s most trusted travel brand after the airline was plagued by a series of embarrassing blunders.

The national carrier lost the top gong to Virgin Australia in the ‘Trusted Brand Awards for 2023’ on Wednesday.

Roy Morgan Australia released the list on Wednesday after soliciting the opinions of 25,000 residents asking which brands they trusted most.

Qantas was initially rated as the most trusted travel brand in 2022, with its fall from grace due to the many controversies surrounding the airline, including high ticket prices, illegal layoffs and poor baggage handling.

An ACCC investigation was launched into allegations that the airline had sold tickets on flights that had already been canceled, while Australia’s High Court ruled that the airline had illegally dismissed more than 1,500 staff during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The airline has undergone a massive shake-up following the problems with the replacement of CEO Alan Joyce and the resignation of high-profile board members.

“Over the past year, we have witnessed many examples of how a lack of trust and rising distrust can destroy a brand’s reputation and directly impact the bottom line,” said Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan.

In August, Roy Morgan revealed Qantas was the 13th ‘most suspicious’ company in Australia.

“The previously highly trusted Qantas took a nosedive, dropping more than 100 places from the sixth most trusted brand in June 2022 to the thirteenth most distrusted brand in June 2023,” the company said.

To top it all off, the domestic airline, Jetstar, was also one of the least trusted brands, ranking 16th most distrusted.

Roy Morgan acknowledged that Qantas has a good safety record, which remains intact.

Qantas has also received a significant amount of government subsidies while making several cuts in recent years.

The airline received $2.7 billion in taxpayer subsidies, including $900 million in JobKeeper subsidies, due to pandemic lockdowns.

Two weeks before he left, CEO Alan Joyce announced that Qantas had made a record profit of $2.47 billion.

It was also believed that Mr Joyce had been given a $24 million golden handshake despite being at the helm when the airline became embroiled in several controversies.

Qantas had outsourced baggage handling and maintenance, was regularly criticized for declining standards and even ran into legal trouble under Joyce’s administration.

Last month, the ACCC suggested Qantas should be fined $250 million if the airline is found guilty of selling tickets for canceled flights.

Qantas came under fire again after laying off 6,000 staff during the Covid pandemic.

Of the 6,918 complaints the Airline Customer Advocate received in 2022, more than 4,000 were about Qantas.

The company appeared on the NSW Fair Trading public register of the most complained about companies every month in 2023.

Gold Coast businesswoman Sam Cardone had her credit card charged more than $6,000 when she tried to book Qantas flights to Fiji using credit from canceled flights.

The airline has come under constant fire for the difficulty of using its system to get credit for flights canceled due to pandemic lockdowns.

Australian country music star Lawrie Minson hit out at Qantas baggage handlers on Facebook after the metal case containing his custom Maton guitar was destroyed.

Mr Minson shared photos and videos of the clumsily repaired case that Qantas sent back to him after he flew from Sydney to Darwin in early August.

Handlers wrapped the aluminum housing in a few pieces of orange tape after it was almost completely crushed in transit.

Luggage problems were a recurring problem.

A mother flying from Sydney to Wellington was left waiting at a deserted baggage carousel at 2am only to be told Qantas had decided not to load their 60 suitcases due to in-flight weight issues.

Her flight was also late.