Qantas savaged after CEO Alan Joyce claims airline is ‘back to its best’

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has been mocked after claiming that the airline is “returning to its prime” despite the fact that the national carrier is plagued with problems.

Joyce praised her airline on Friday, stating that the ‘Spirit of Australia’ had dramatically improved its services across the board.

“We have been the most punctual of the major national airlines for five months in a row,” he wrote in an opinion piece on Thursday.

‘Our service levels (bags, cancellations, catering and the call center) have returned to what customers expect of us. And we are working to improve it.’

His glowing review sparked a flurry of criticism from disappointed customers who endured a disastrous series of months with the airline.

In January alone, at least six flights were forced to turn back mid-journey, one plane left behind 60 bags and one crew member and one passenger suffered serious injuries when their QantasLink plane hit turbulence.

A Qantas tweet about Mr Joyce’s comments sparked a furious reaction from irate customers ranging from lost baggage, unresponsive call centers and “flight credit” failures.

‘What a bunch of rubbish, what about my poor friend who traveled on her airline who lost her bag and they still haven’t put it together and all they offered her is an absolute joke of $120 and no help at all?’ wrote one reviewer.

Another person added: ‘8 hours on hold your call center says otherwise…’

‘How’s my refund going? 7 months and 8 staff members telling me it’s processed? It must be nice to sit down with billions of dollars of free money,” wrote a third.

Joyce admitted in her opinion piece that the airline had come out on the other side of a difficult time.

“Six months ago, many people felt we had let them down and the numbers showed why,” he wrote.

“Nearly half of our flights were delayed, our lost bag rate had more than doubled, and we were canceling up to 7 percent of our schedule.”

“In terms of perception, it didn’t help that this came after some controversial restructuring decisions to make sure we survived Covid.”

The Qantas CEO highlighted that one of the biggest complaints was the price of airfares and flight delays.

“In order to make our operations more reliable, we had to reduce our flights in order to have more protection,” he wrote.

“We have more aircraft and crews on standby to step in and deal with the supply chain and sick leave issues that remain. Less supply and a lot of demand meant that rates went up.

“The higher rates also reflect inflation in general and higher fuel prices in particular, which have risen 65 percent in the last six months compared to pre-Covid.

“Of course, that is reflected in how much you pay for a flight.”

Joyce downplayed the recent spate of flights returning to base after takeoff, saying it was an indication of the airline’s “strong security system.”

The first aircraft to turn around was a flight from Auckland to Sydney when it issued a mayday over the Tasman Sea on January 18.

The second was a flight from Sydney to Fiji on January 19, the third was a flight from Melbourne to Sydney on January 20, and the fourth was a flight to Canberra on the same day.

The fifth was a Qantas plane headed from Fiji to Sydney with the crew turning around after noticing smoke in the cabin on January 22 and the latest was a flight from Sydney to Coffs Harbor on Sunday.

“These have gotten a lot of attention because we had several in quick succession, but despite the hype, they are actually a symptom of strong security systems,” Mr Joyce wrote.

“Our pilots always err on the side of caution because that’s what we train them for.

“If an onboard system isn’t working as it should, they will often decide to land rather than press on to the destination.

‘I congratulate you for doing it and I encourage you to continue doing it. And despite the obvious drawbacks, I think most of our customers do too.’

Another Qantas customer criticized the airline for leaving more than 60 bags on a flight from Sydney to New Zealand on Tuesday night.

The passenger on the Sydney to Wellington flight said the airline did not tell travelers they had left their bags and only realized they were missing when they stood around an empty baggage carousel.

A social media post read: ‘QF163 from Sydney to Wellington on Tuesday night.

“Qantas managed to get us to Wellington 1.5 hours late…and left over 60 bags in Sydney for ‘weight’ reasons.”

Meanwhile, a passenger and a Qantas flight attendant were rushed to hospital after a regional flight hit severe turbulence on its way to Hervey Bay from Brisbane on Wednesday.

The QantasLink aircraft was forced to return to Brisbane due to turbulence with an ambulance which found it on the ground.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman said one person had neck pain while the other had a head laceration.

In all, five people were treated for injuries and two were taken to hospital.