Posts from the ‘Qantas’ Category
Grant Jones, writing for The Australian:
“In the 16 hours it takes to fly to Singapore and back, Escape joined Perry to see how he achieves restaurant-quality food in the sky.”
It can be an interesting read — that is, if you’re curious about the lengths that a renowned chef goes towards making in-flight meals more palatable.
And then, there’s this:
“”They want to eat lovely fresh ingredients,” he says of first-class passengers. “They want to enjoy food that is contemporary. They want to have an experience in the air that relates to a high-street restaurant experience.””
Crux.
And not forgetting just how adamant some are in getting what they deserve.
“Two testy passengers spoiled their own pyjama party after refusing to take to the skies without XL-sized PJs for the 15-hour flight from Los Angeles.”
Just how anal some people can be will never cease to amaze me.
Sadly, they missed out on just how much everyone else on the Qantas Airbus A380 approved of their misdemeanour:
“QF94 business class passenger Angela Ceberano said the cabin erupted in laughter when the captain announced the reason for the delay.”
Mark my words when I say this won’t be the last time you will hear about such antics, especially from the über-premium cabin.
“Chief executive Alan Joyce said that by Wednesday Qantas had received about 18,000 photos from people wanting to be part of its online campaign, which flashes up faces or a montage in its television ad. A further 20,000 people had asked for their names to be put on one of its Airbus A380 aircraft…”
Obviously — it’s a chance to become famous!
“…and an app that allows people to take their picture and automatically upload it had been downloaded 5000 times.”
A free iPhone (iOS) app. Downloaded 5,000 times. Not too bad, I guess.
“Mr Joyce said the response was far bigger than the airline expected. “There’s still 15 days to go on this so I think the A380 is going to have lot of coverage of names all over it,” he said. “It’s lucky we picked a big aircraft.””
You most certainly did pick (on) it after the QF32 incident.
Oh, and if you can get past that paywall and read the full article, be warned that it’s truly a piece of (art)work. You have been warned.
UPDATE: I had a brief encounter with one of Qantas’s makeshift casting studios at a major shopping centre.
Some snaps:
Last Friday, Qantas launched a new branding campaign aimed at, of course, improving its relationship with customers — this time, refocusing its efforts on individuals rather than their belonging to a supposed culture.
Highlights:
- Rephrasing the renowned Qantas tagline “Spirit of Australia”, to “Spirit of Australians” on two of their aircraft (according to AusBT on Twitter: an Airbus A380 and Boeing 737 (not 787), thus far) — and is also reflected on the Qantas web site;
- “You’re the reason we fly” — giving its existing, and potential, passengers a true(r) meaning when flying with the white-on-red ’Roo;
- New section of the Qantas web site dedicated to this re-marketing effort, as well as new apps for iPhone and Android in support of this; and
- Increasing the involvement or participation of individuals (or stakeholders) in the airline’s repositioning efforts — with activities including “I want my name on a Qantas plane” and “I want to be part of the Qantas ad campaign”.
On the first point, Qantas made a 90-second video explaining how adding two more letters (the “n” and the ”s” in “Australians”) to their tagline will make all the difference:
(Thought: So they just go stick another two letters on the left side of the fuselage — but then, how do they deal with the now-lesser-spacing on the right side?)
My best wishes to Qantas for a successful campaign.
Yesterday, Qantas’s US-based account tweeted this:
@QantasUSA: Here’s a vid of our refitted 747s with A380 features. New seats, cabin mood lighting, espresso machines and more! http://bit.ly/MoNKlz #747
And here’s the video:
A rather convincing and informative video — and it’s all thanks to social media and the power of YouTube (publicising a two-and-a-half minute video wouldn’t have been feasible otherwise).
The video also raises some very interesting points:
- Aircraft revitalisation through retrofitting: In short, Qantas has taken most of the retrofit hints from its Airbus A380 aircraft, which features the new cabin products. Along with a new paint job, those ageing Boeing 747-400s just got given a new lease of life!
- Retaining existing aircraft (and retrofit) versus purchasing new ones: In the short term, the former option is probably more financially-viable, as opposed to introducing more new aircraft of similar capacity.
- Frequent flyers’ familiarisation with product: As shared by select cabin crew in the YouTube video, passengers who flew on the retrofitted aircraft were happy to see the “new product” — whether it’s consistency with the A380 offering, or the doing-away with the old-and-tattery feeling of the previous cabins.
Most passengers wouldn’t be able to tell whether they’re on an Airbus or Boeing aircraft, but they might be able to differentiate between a single- or double-deck one.
My point is, being able to maintain consistency on a positive — and/or even improve upon the — passenger experience is pretty much key.
EDIT: @QantasUSA has provided me with a link to their site detailing the upgraded Boeing 747-400s and their operations.
