In previous posts I've had my say about Qantas and a good deal of it has had little to do with actual facilities. Cabin comfort, meal service, lounges, and so forth are all well and good but ultimately no airline is better than its people. The sad thing is that in the case of Qantas, its people don't consider themselves to be representatives of their airline. When things go awry they quickly dissociate themselves from their employer, like the flight attendant who told me that I "need to talk to Qantas" or the one who went around the cabin blaming "Qantas" for the fact that there was insufficient food for the passengers in economy.

In my book, if a customer suffers inconvenience on your watch you apologize for it, regardless of whether it's your personal fault or your employer's fault--or indeed no one's fault. My exhausted sister-in-law received no such apology last week when her flight was cancelled and she was put, not on the next flight, not on the one after that, but on the third subsequent flight. That's just a recent example. I couldn't count how many times I've waited interminably for a delayed Qantas flight without so much as an announcement, let alone an explanation, let alone an apology, from the ground staff (by the end of the flight there will probably be some kind of apology from the cabin or cockpit crew).

If you work for someone you stand by them. If you're happy to receive thanks and compliments then you should be prepared to accept expressions of displeasure and not go blaming "Qantas" (as if it's something distinct from yourself) or immediately going on the defensive, and you should offer a respectful apology in response.

Qantas staff undoubtedly have a shorter average fuse than most mainstream airlines. In checking in recently at a regional airport for an overseas flight, I proactively (and politely, as always) mentioned to the check-in clerk a problem I had experienced on recent trips in the same situation, arising from the way the check-in was processed, which had caused me a good deal of inconvenience down the track. I asked her to ensure that the same problem didn't happen this time. Well, this young lady chose to construe my request as a slight on her competence and took gross offence at the imagined accusation. While she managed to process my check-in as I wanted her to, clearly she was incapable of (a) accepting that some of her colleagues may be incompetent, and (b) responding graciously to a passenger who had been negatively affected by such incompetence and who was merely trying to forestall a recurrence of it (and the resulting pain to himself). While a certain level of incompetence is to be expected in any organization, unprovoked rudeness is completely inexcusable--I don't care how frequently or infrequently it occurs.

Another thing: you don't talk down to Asian passengers in foul, condescending terms, a scenario that I've observed more times than I care to remember. And if you're a young ground staffer who has been assigned to help an elderly, bent-over female Japanese passenger with her luggage, you don't scream "Help me!" to her hysterically as you struggle to remove her large bag from the belt. If you had any intelligence, presence of mind, or sense of decorum, you would ask an overweight male passenger standing nearby to help you, rather than scream in English at the poor old lady. (I wasn't aware of the situation until I heard the scream, otherwise I would have volunteered my assistance up front, but I did come to the rescue of the overwrought Qantas staffer.)

This isn't just me talking here. I've heard from many disaffected Asian passengers over the years, complaining about insulting or complacent treatment they have received from Qantas (both in the air and on the ground), and I've personally seen instances of such behavior first hand. Not only that, but many fellow passengers have told me about similar experiences. Of course there are exceptions--examples of commendable behavior by Qantas staff, of profuse apologies, of meaningful compensation, of devotion above and beyond the call of duty. I know they occur because I've seen them, I've experienced them, and I've expressed satisfaction and gratitude for them, but after all it's what one would expect from a reputable airline. The problem with Qantas is that the bad behavior is all too non-exceptional, and you don't expect that from a reputable airline. They can buy all the new planes they like, build all the fancy lounges they like, provide all the in-flight attractions they like, but until they fix the problem with their staff they will never be the airline they might be and will never be the advertisement for Australia that they should be.

Clearly the blame for this situation, and the responsibility for fixing it, rests squarely with the management of the airline. Are they prepared to do anything about it? Are they even prepared to recognize it?