You are so right, Paul1405

>>One thing that the QANTAS issue personifies and Alan Joyce is a leading example of, is the poor management skills reflected in Australian industry.<<

And very much related to this, is the fact that when we do "go overseas" for executive talent, we tend to get it most horribly wrong, Joyce being only the most recent example. Sol Trujillo at Telstra springs to mind as a classic "corporate cringe" choice, with his brand of macho-man posturing being taken as an indication of talent.

Which inevitably brings us to the quality of Board membership, where people notable only for their ability to squirm up the greasy pole of corporate life make one stupid decision after another. And these talent-free (and frequently ethics-free, it turns out) individuals are welcomed with open arms on multiple Boards, perpetuating the process of toxic inbreeding.

As for the topic here, blaming the customer for a company's poor performance is to get the entire problem arse-about-face. We are the victims of their disasters, not the cause.

Pericles, while I'm happy to be corrected on seveal fronts here, no one can deny that a large part of any struggling locally owned business is the consumers quest for an ever cheaper product/service.

So the consumers do have to accept at least some of the blame.

How about I rephrase this a little for you, rehctub.

Instead of:

>>the consumers quest for an ever cheaper product/service...<<

...will you accept:

"the consumers quest for good value for their hard-earned dollars."

If Qantas cannot provide a service comparable with its competitors, why should I encourage them, and penalize myself, by paying more and getting less?

A lot of the criticism is aimed at Joyce. Well what the airline expects
when they interview an applicant is a CV of success and an a program
to build the airline and improve the bottom line.
What airlines need but just cannot conceive is a CEO that will downsize
the airline while maintaining a profit.
This what ALL airlines face and it is quite a different skill to what
CEOs normally work towards.
It is no secret that airline numbers are decreasing and mergers have
happened everywhere. Projected passenger/km is still increasing but not
at the projected rate. Yet they buy aircraft and advocate that the
taxpayer poor money into airports.

They have no future except increasing costs especially fuel which is
their largest cost. In an era of zero growth it is no longer
Up Up & Away !

Pericles, even you must agree that when one can pay more for a cab to the airport, than to fly Bris to Sydney, thats a result of consumer pressure at work. It is also unsustainable.

An interesting figure I have seen is that you would use more fuel
driving to Brisbane that you would use flying there on a full aircraft !

Joyce got his job on his record on getting Ryanair out of a hole.
However that is not the skills that QANTAS needs.