Earn Qantas frequent flyer prizes playing computer quest game

Qantas will this week launch a Sim City-like virtual town in which members of its frequent flyer program can earn prizes.

The Quest for Qantas Points online game is intended to promote the airline's ever-broadening rewards program, which last week opened a new online shopping mall with 16 new retail partners including Apple, eBay, David Jones, The Iconic, Macy’s and Neiman Marcus.

However, the entirety of the Qantas Loyalty program – including banks, hotels, cruise holidays, restaurants and most recently golf – is showcased in this virtual world, where the aim of the game is for members to explore the town and answer questions about ways to earn Qantas frequent flyer points.

The first prize when Quest for Qantas Points goes live at QantasPoints.com on Tuesday August 19 will be three $15,000 Qantas Holiday Vouchers.

"Some members will know the answers to the questions off the top of their head, other members will have to explore the website to find the answers" says Qantas Loyalty’s Chief Marketing Officer Stephanie Tully, "and by completing five questions you’ll be entered into the competition."

The game was developed by digital media agency RazorFish and can be played through the web browser on any desktop, laptop, tablet or even a mobile phone.

"A lot of work went into the game and it's very engaging" Tully told Australian Business Traveller. "So we’ll probably keep it live for a long time, and use to help new members explore the world."

Tully added that the game will also be used in future promotional campaigns with additional prizes up for grabs. 

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Qantas re-routes jets away from Iraq

Qantas has stopped its flights using Iraqi airspace in the wake of the MH17 disaster.

A Qantas spokesman said the airline has closely monitored flight paths over conflict zones since Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine two weeks ago.

He said Qantas flights from London to Dubai travel over Iraq at an altitude of 38,000 feet and 41,000 feet, well above the minimum altitude for commercial flights over Iraq.

But the US Federal Aviation Administration had just increased the minimum altitude from 20,000 feet to 30,000 feet, prompting a review of Qantas' London-Dubai route.

"Qantas has closely monitored the issue of flight paths over conflict zones, particularly in light of the MH17 tragedy, with safety our first priority," he said.

"We have no new information that alters our safety assessment of flying over Iraq, especially given the altitudes we maintain over this region.

"However given the various restrictions imposed by different governments in the past 24 hours, including by the United States FAA, Qantas has temporarily rerouted its flights within the Middle East to avoid Iraqi airspace. This change will apply until further information becomes available."

The change took effect on Thursday night and will add up to 10 minutes to the seven-hour flight.

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Qantas A380 returns to LAX as water leak floods fliers

A Qantas Airways superjumbo jet returned to Los Angeles International Airport about an hour after takeoff when a burst water pipe sent water down the aisles of the Airbus A380, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

A media outlet identified as 7News Yahoo!7 posted a picture of the jet's flooded aisles on Twitter. The flight took off from LAX around 12:14 a.m. ET Wednesday, turning around about an hour later. The jet landed at the airport about 2:40 a.m., according to FlightAware.com.

Qantas confirmed the incident on Qantas Flight 94, saying the Los Angeles-to-Melbourne flight "returned to L.A. about an hour after takeoff as there was a water leak on board the aircraft."

The Associated Press describes the scene, saying "water ran down stairs in the cabin and dripped onto passengers seated in the lower deck. Some people were moved to drier areas of the plane."

"All of a sudden, people started jumping up and yelling because all this water was coming basically in the middle of the aircraft," Ken Cross, a passenger on the plane, tells ABC 7 of Los Angeles. "They couldn't feed us. There was no entertainment, so you couldn't keep going for 15 hours like that."

In its statement, Qantas says "crew on board did everything they could to help customers, including moving them to unaffected areas and providing spare blankets so they could stay dry."

Qantas adds:

"We're also providing customers with hotel accommodation while the issue is being fixed by our engineers in Los Angeles. We apologise to customers for the inconvenience. There were no safety of flight concerns with the water leak, however the Captain decided to return to LA in the interests of passenger comfort. We are liaising with Airbus to understand what caused this fault."

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Qantas Frequent Flyer reaches 10 million member milestone

The Qantas Frequent Flyer loyalty scheme has welcomed its 10 millionth member.

The scheme – which was launched in 1987 with just 50,000 members – has been one of the airline’s few success stories in recent years, consistently returning solid profits to the group. The five millionth member joined the program in 2007.

“10 million members is a huge turning point, not just for Qantas Frequent Flyer but also the members who have been such a critical part of the growth and evolution of the program,” Qantas Loyalty CEO Lesley Grant said in a statement. “Qantas Frequent Flyer was originally designed for people who travelled for business and wanted to earn Qantas points for personal use, and this remains core to the program today. But it has really expanded in recent years to benefit those who fly from time to time and earn points all the time via other means.”

The scheme now has hundreds of program partners including Woolworths, the major banks, and 38 partner airlines. In celebration of the milestone, Qantas is giving away 10 lots of one million points through a promotion on its website.

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Qantas says up to 450 call centre jobs to go

Qantas will close its call centres in Brisbane and Melbourne with the loss of about 450 jobs, as the airline moves ahead with a $2 billion transformation program.

The Brisbane call centre, which employs around 200 full-time equivalent employees, would be closed by 2016, while its Melbourne operation, which employs approximately 250 full-time equivalent employees, would close by mid-2015, the carrier announced on Wednesday.

Employees in the Brisbane and Melbourne call centres will be offered redeployment to Hobart, where the airline will base its call centre operations in a single facility by 2016.

The decision to close the Brisbane and Melbourne centres follows a three-month review.

It's part of a previously announced $2 billion transformation program, which will eventually see Qantas shed 5000 jobs. Qantas Domestic chief executive officer Lyell Strambi said operating three call centres in different states was not efficient. 

"We are facing some of the toughest conditions Qantas has ever seen, which means we have to look at ways to become more efficient and remain competitive," Mr Strambi said in a statement.

"Having call centres in three different states presents a number of challenges including property costs, duplication of management and operational complexity."

There has been a massive decline in the number of people contacting call centres. Travellers increasingly prefer to book flights online and call volumes have halved since 2005. Paul Darroch, who works at Qantas' Camberwell centre, disputed the airline's claims that Increasing phone and tablet bookings had led to less demand at call centres.

"Even with online check-in, when things go wrong, they always call us," he said. "And if you're running late to an airport you aren't going to do it on your iPad."

Mr Strambi said consolidating three Australian call centres into one would ensure Qantas continued to provide the level of customer service people expect, as well as deliver significant cost savings for the business.

"We are proud that we answer calls from Australia, in Australia, but it is not efficient to have three sub-scale facilities," he said.

Employees who choose not to move interstate and remain employed until the closure of their centre will be given redundancy packages.

"These are decisions we make in full knowledge of the impact on our people, but also the need to protect thousands of Australian jobs across the Qantas Group by taking action to strengthen our company," Mr Strambi said. 

Tasmanian premier Will Hodgman said the state won the right to host the single call centre against direct competition from Queensland and Victoria. A superior cost structure,  state of the art facility, and the call centre's strong track record made Hobart the logical choice, Mr Hodgman said. He said a "sensible and appropriate" assistance package was offer to the airline to enhance the centre beside the Derwent river in Hobart's northern suburbs. The announcement does not impact Qantas' New Zealand call centre operation which has operated for more than 10 years and mostly handles calls from English-speaking customers from outside Australia.

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Qantas & UNICEF extend ‘change for good’ campaign

UNICEF Australia and Qantas have announced an extension of their ‘change for good’ partnership to encourage domestic passengers to donate loose change to the global children’s charity.

Since it commenced on international services 23 years ago, the change for good campaign has raised $28 million for UNICEF’s global child health, child protection and education programs. The new campaign will focus on domestic travellers, giving them the opportunity to pool spare change.

“If every Qantas passenger travelling domestically gave us just a few of their forgotten coins each time they travelled it would make little difference to their day, but a world of difference in saving children’s lives,” UNICEF Australia chief executive Norman Gillespie said in a statement. “We’ve already seen the good work for children that change from an overseas trip can do, and with the support of Qantas, we know we can deliver even more change for good. The 5 cent piece may be the star of our new change for good campaign, but the real heroes are Qantas’ generous passengers.”

Added Qantas Loyalty CEO Lesley Grant; “We are very excited about the potential of this campaign. Our travellers have a proven track record in donating international coins and we think many will be happy to offload their local coins knowing they are making a real difference. With just a handful of small change, UNICEF can spend 50c and give a child exercise books and pencils to kick start an education or spend $1.50 and protect five children from disease.”

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Qantas Airways celebrates 60 years of flying to the United States

Qantas Airways (Sydney) is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its first trans-Pacific services to the USA. On May 15, 1954, a 60-passenger QANTAS Airways Lockheed 1049C Super Constellation aircraft departed Sydney for San Francisco and Vancouver. The journey to San Francisco took around 30 flying hours and involved fuel stops at Fiji, Canton Island and Hawaii.

QANTAS named this the Southern Cross Route in honor of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew who made the first flight in 1928. QANTAS International CEO Simon Hickey said the sixty year milestone highlighted Qantas’ ongoing commitment to the USA.

“QANTAS is proud of its flying history to the US. Some of our most historic moments have been on the trans-Pacific route including the start of the jet age in 1959 with our first Boeing 707 services and introducing the largest commercial passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380, on the route in 2008,” said Mr Hickey.

“The milestone comes in a year where QANTAS is investing significantly in the customer experience to the US, including the opening of our new First and Business Lounges in Los Angeles and the introduction of A380 services between Sydney and Dallas/Ft. Worth from September.

The airline first established itself in North America in San Francisco in 1954, when it took over the operations of British Commonwealth Pacific Airline in September 1947. This year also marks thirty years since QANTAS Airways began nonstop flights between Sydney, Melbourne and Los Angeles beginning in April 1984. These services were operated by the long-range Boeing 747SP (above) with a flying time of around 16 hours. Today, the flying time is around 13 hours.

QANTAS is the only carrier to operate A380 services between the US and Australia.

QANTAS flights to the USA include:

Direct daily Airbus A380 services from Sydney and Melbourne to Los Angeles

A daily Boeing 747-400 service from Sydney to New York via Los Angeles

A direct daily Boeing 747-400 service from Brisbane to Los Angeles

Three Boeing 767-300 services per week between Sydney and Honolulu and;

A daily Boeing 747-400 from Sydney to Dallas/Fort Worth, which will move to a six per week Airbus A380 service from September 29.

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Qantas says it is on track to axe 2200 jobs by the end of June 2015

Qantas Airways is on track to complete 4000 of its planned 5000 job cuts by June next year, with management, engineering, catering, freight, cabin crew, airport and flight operations among those affected. In a presentation to the Macquarie Australia Conference in Sydney on Thursday, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce provided fresh details of the airline's cost-cutting plan. He said the airline was aiming to achieve $800 million of cost savings and reduce its debt by $1 billion by June next year as part of its three-year plan to get the airline back to profitability.

He also revealed the airline would cut its capital spending by a further $200 million this year, bringing the net capital spending down to $800 million. The airline's goal is to reduce its costs, excluding fuel, by 10 per cent over the next three years and to lower the cost gap with rival Virgin Australia Holdings to about 5 per cent in a move that would increase Qantas' margin advantage. Mr Joyce said challenges for the business included high competitive intensity in all markets and an elevated Australian dollar fuel price. But he said he expected international capacity growth into Australia would go down from about 9 per cent this financial year to 4 to 5 per cent in the first half of the 2015 financial year.

''That is more in line with underlying market growth, which means there is less pressure on yield when capacity gets in line with traffic.''

Mr Joyce said domestic market growth in the current half was expected to be about 3.5 per cent and could moderate further into the next financial year.

''But we have to assume the intensity continues and our plan to reduce costs, reduce debt, that plan can work under intense competition,'' he said.

Qantas expects to reduce its number of full-time employees by 2200 by the end of next month and another 1800 by the end of June next year. That will mean only 1000 reductions will be left to be made in the 2016 and 2017 financial years.

Other cost-saving initiatives include plans to simplify its fleet by retiring its fleet of ageing 767s and some of its older 747s, which will have a combined annual cost benefit of $155 million. Mr Joyce said the focus was on debt reduction and reducing capital spending rather than asset sales.

''We are still working through the pros and cons of selling the frequent-flyer business,'' he said, referring to the potential to sell a minority stake in its $2.5 billion loyalty arm. ''It is a complex issue.''

Mr Joyce said the airline was also continuing its talks with the government about amending the Qantas Sale Act to allow for greater foreign ownership of the airline. The Senate is not expected to look at the issue until after July.

''We continue to talk to all parties about that process and we are committed to the repeal of the Qantas Sale Act and working with the government on that,'' he said.

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Qantas to use A380 on DFW-Sydney

Qantas Airways announced Tuesday that it will begin flying the double-decker Airbus A380 between Dallas/Fort Worth Airport and Sydney starting Sept. 29. This is the second A380 service for DFW Airport, which is spending $2.8 million to add a jetbridge at Terminal D, gates 15 and 16, to accommodate the jumbo jet. Emirates Airline has announced it will fly the A380 on its DFW-Dubai route beginning in October.

“The announcement of Qantas Airways A380 service to DFW is outstanding news for our Airport and the Dallas/Fort Worth region, because it adds more seats to what has become a very popular and important route,” said DFW Airport chief executive Sean Donohue in a statement.

Donohue and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price recently took a trade trip to Australia to promote North Texas’ regional economy and tourism. By using the larger jet, instead of the Boeing 747-400, Qantas will be able to operate a direct flight to Sydney. Currently, the Australian carrier flies directly from Sydney to DFW but stops in Brisbane on the return trip. The Sydney to DFW flight is the longest regularly scheduled commercial passenger flight in the world, taking about 15 hours and 25 minutes to travel the 8,500 mile route.

Qantas will operate six flights per week, dropping its Tuesday flight. However, with the A380 able to carry 484 passengers, Qantas will increase its seat capacity on the route by 10 percent per week.

“Dallas/Fort Worth has become an important gateway for Qantas customers since we started flying there in 2011,” said Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce in a statement.

The carrier is a member of American’s Oneworld alliance and also has a partnership with Emirates.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/05/07/5798751/qantas-to-use-a380-on-dfw-sydney.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

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Qantas cuts back London flights

Qantas has cancelled three return A380 flights next month between its new overseas hub in Dubai and London due to weak demand ahead of the peak travel season in the northern hemisphere. The temporary reduction in services follows its decision to cancel three return superjumbo flights from Melbourne to London via Dubai in February and March, citing a slowdown in demand during the northern winter.

Fares for flights to Europe remain at historical lows in real terms due to stiff competition between airlines. Qantas began flying via Dubai to Europe – instead of via Singapore – in March last year when it launched its extensive alliance with Middle Eastern airline Emirates. As part of the latest changes, Qantas has cance

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Qantas opens expanded Broome Regional Lounge

Qantas has opened its new Regional Lounge at Broome Airport in response to what it says is growing demand for premium air travel to and from the region.

The airline says the new expanded lounge offers improved facilities for passengers. “With thousands of Qantas passengers moving through the terminal each week, we have seen first-hand the significant growth in leisure and regional business travel to Broome,” Qantas Domestic CEO Lyell Strambi said in a statement. “The extension of the Lounge will help cater for the increased traffic and give passengers more room to relax and work prior to their flight.”

The airline offers 20 flights per week to and from Broome on its mainline and QantasLink branded aircraft.

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Qantas falls from 14th to 17th place in Brand Australia rankings

While Qantas still remains Australia’s most valuable airline, its rankings are beginning to slip, according to the annual study from Brand Finance.

Australia’s most valuable brand is Woolworths, with a value of more than $12 billion, whereas the other supermarket giant, Coles, slips into fourth place with a value of $7.097 billion. Telstra is Australia’s second most valuable brand, with its value up 59% to $9.3 billion. In third place is BHP Billiton, with a value of $7.377 billion.

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Qantas cuts 5000 jobs, posts $252 million first half loss

No stranger to toughing it out, Qantas boss Alan Joyce has declared he has the full support of the board after announcing the airline's worst result in nearly two decades.

However, Mr Joyce received a fresh blow mid-afternoon, when Prime Minister Tony Abbott played down the prospect of Qantas being handed a debt guarantee, despite the airline hours earlier announcing the $252 million half-year underlying loss and plans to cut 5000 jobs and close routes.

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Emirates Says Qantas Partnership Working

Emirates said its alliance with Qantas was working and had helped the Gulf carrier to improve yields, after some analysts questioned the benefits of the partnership.

Qantas is reducing its workforce by 15 percent, cutting spending and selling older planes after stiff competition at home and overseas pushed the Australian flag carrier deep into the red in the first half.

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A perfect storm for Qantas

It was a perfect storm for Qantas, with all the elements ripe for the anticipated drama. The Australian flag carrier lost A$252 million (US$225 million) for the FY2013/14 first-half ending December 31st and announced it would cut 5,000 jobs as part of a three-year plan to reduce costs by A$2 billion. Other measures include deferring delivery of eight Airbus A380 for the parent airline and 3 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft for budget subsidiary Jetstar.

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Qantas A380, Boeing 747 Collide at Los Angeles Airport

An Airbus A380 superjumbo belonging to Australian airline Qantas collided with a Boeing 747-400 jumbo from the same airline while being towed at Los Angeles International airport late Thursday.

No passengers were onboard either of the large jets, but the wingtips of both aircraft were damaged and two long-haul flights to Australia were cancelled, the airline and airport said.

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