Qantas

Air Asia X lands in Christchurch and makes some new friends.

Cut-price airline Air Asia X has landed in Christchurch and pledged a six-figure sum to help restore the earthquake-ravaged city’s heritage.

The first flight from Kuala Lumpur landed at Christchurch International Airport just before midnight to applause and cheers from the approximately 300 passengers who were greeted with a Maori powhiri as they disembarked.

At a ceremony at Westfield Riccarton late this morning, the airline announced a percentage of all tickets bought by travellers coming and out of New Zealand will go into a heritage restoration fund to help repair and rebuild many of the city’s iconic heritage buildings hit in February’s earthquake.

Air Asia X chief executive Azran Osman-Rani said the airline had set itself a target of $220,000 and hoped to reach that figure within a year.

”We appreciate all the support we are getting from our guests and hope this financial gesture will assist in some way to restore Christchurch’s heritage icons,” he said.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said the money was another amazing gesture from the company which had shown its commitment to the city even after the devastating earthquake.

Some other airlines were reviewing their services into the and out of the city but Parker said Air Asia X had never once reconsidered its agreement with Christchurch.

Still nothing from Qantas. They must be busy – Pity their CEO doesn’t extend his call to include Christchurch, instead they have abandoned the city. Definitely NOT Mates still.

$15 Million Dollar vote of confidence in the dark days.

Whaleoil’s crack marketing team are impressed that the world class, mass consumer brand Coke has had the smarts to invest in Christchurch. Every time a Kiwi opens up a Coke, particularly in Christchurch, they can take pride. Smart marketing byseizing the opportunity to great long term support for Coke in the South Island.

Ironic it is a $15 million dollar investment, in contrast to the Qantas losers who have incompetently lost $15 million dollars since the earthquake.  The damage to the Qantas brand has been in the tens of millions of dollars in New Zealand. If only the Board had heeded Whaleoil’s free advice.

Coke launch today had extensive free media coverage, stories on the lead news bulletin. The Prime Minister was on the news, downing a Coke.

As a pure media stunt the value was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Meanwhile mean nasty old Qantas has yet to put its hand in its pocket. Not Mates.

The man who donated a Don Binney painting for sale to raise funds for Christchurch earthquake relief is disappointed the auction house took a $16,200 commission from the sale.

Dick Scott’s Kotare over the Ratana Church, Te Kao, which he had owned since 1964, sold for a record-breaking $270,000 at Webb’s auction house in Auckland on Tuesday.

Spokeswoman Renee Tanner confirmed Webb’s had taken a commission from the sale but would not reveal how much it was.

However, Mr Scott said it took 6 per cent, or $16,200, instead of its usual 10 per cent commission.

“I was disappointed they didn’t even go halfway. I thought it was a bit of a poor show, but there you are.”

He had hoped to raise $250,000 for the Christchurch appeal after costs and, although he hadn’t done the maths yet, hoped to still be close despite the auction fee.

Webb’s auction house aren’t doing their bit for Christchurch, instead they are profiteering. The are NOT Mates. They can join Qantas and Jetstar as businesses that should be blackballed.

Dick Scott meanwhile is a true mate of Christchurch. Good onya mate.

UPDATE: The DominionPost withdrew the original post rather than correct their error. Webb’s and the owner of the painting passed through 100% of the hammer price – $270,000, Beyond this Webb’s have raised a further $65,000.

Remember Qantas and Jetstar and their appalling behaviour in the wake of the earthquake in Christchurch. I labelled them NOT Mates.

The incompetent fools that run Jetstar are now cutting back on flights to Christchurch, claiming the earthquake has cost them A$15 million!

Quite how they have managed this, when the armies of insurance assessors, humanitarian workers, displaced people and government officials are struggling to get on to the Air NZ flights is hard to comprehend. The Whale warned them of their major blunders in regard to Christchurch.

Clearly the earlier plea of The Whale was not heeded and they have managed to destroy their brand. A loss this big means executive job losses, heads are going to roll.

I have previously given strategic advice on this issue for free and I am willing to take on the task, with access to his team of elite marketing experts. They use techniques that have not been available to the current team. These amazing, cutting edge marketing strategies of “a bit of commonsense” and “being good to your community, wins over the customers and builds the brand” are highly complicated obviously so the fee will be high.

A great business case study for an aspiring MBA here.

Jetstar and their owner Qantas just do not want to be Mates.

Jetstar has apologised after telling a Christchurch family they would need to provide photographic proof signed off by authorities that their home was damaged in the earthquake before the airline would refund return flights to Australia.

Gillian Smith was to fly to Melbourne tomorrow to visit her daughter Sarah.

It was supposed to be a break from the aftershocks after the September 4 quake and a shopping trip with her daughter, who is 4 months pregnant with her first child.

But after last week’s quake, Mrs Smith wants instead to stay put to look after her Avonside home. She’ll head to Australia later.

Because Mrs Smith has been without a phone, electricity and other amenities since the quake, daughter Sarah took on the task of talking to Jetstar.

She said she battled with three separate staff members trying to get the flights refunded, to no avail.

Sarah Smith has accused Jetstar of being “inhumane” for refusing a refund.

make no mistake dear readers WQantas and Jetstar are NOT Mates, and with their current behaviour they are not ever likely to be either.

I labeled Qantas as Not Mates the other day. They have done nothing to rectify the situation. Meanwhile Air New Zealand continues to show why they are Mates and good corporate citizens.

From: New Zealand Society of Hong Kong
Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2011 14:33:52 +0800
To: NZSHK Mailing List 1<
Subject: CHRISTCHURCH EARTHQUAKE : COMPASSIONATE TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS

Dear Members,

Air New Zealand advises that the compassionate fares for travel in the immediate aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake expire today, 2 March 2011.

A new schedule of airfares is now available for immediate family of victims needing to get back to New Zealand to attend funeral/memorial services and/or to repatriate deceased to their home countries. These are available only through Air New Zealand’s reservations team. The fares are as follows:

• Adult: NZ$500 one-way or NZ$1,000 return plus taxes (fuel surcharges are waived)
• Child: NZ$375 one-way or NZ$750 return plus taxes

Restrictions: One date change allowed free of charge for the return portion only; travel to be commenced by 20 March 2011 and completed by 8April 2011.

This is valid from any of Air New Zealand’s international gateways (e.g. Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo). Contact Air New Zealand at: Jonathan Newman +862 6625 5091 Email: jonathan.newman@airnz.co.nz Address: 5111-12 The Centre, 99 Queens RoadCentral, Hong Kong

What does Qantas do?

Well they offer special rates to all sorts of disaster areas….EXCEPT New Zealand.

However we do now have a possible solution fro getting Aussie rescue workers to NZ for substantially less that Qantas’ extortion.

“Qantas also committed to provide flights and additional services to affected areas once the waters subsided; including transport for SES volunteers from interstate.”

Just send the NSW cops through Brisbane!

Qantas are Not Mates, still. make sure you vote with your wallets when it comes to air travel and stop supporting Qantas.

via the tipline

Hi Cam

Neighbours here in Ngaio here had promo airfares that they purchased from Jetstar at $8 per person to take the whole family down to ChCh to the Antarctic Centre for the day and then back to Welly.  A couple of hundy and the whole family would have an amazing day.  The tickets were to be used this Friday but then the earthquake hit.  They thought they should offer these tickets to ChCh people stuck in Welly wanting to get home cheaply and to ChCh people wanting to get out to Welly for a break.  So they call Jetstar.

A call centre in (Waggawagga?) Australia informs them that this is impossible as the tickets are non-transferrable.

Qantas/Jetstar – not mates!

Qantas/Jetstar continue to show us they are NOT MATES.

This morning I blogged on Mates and Not Mates.

I have just received some more information from a tipline source in Sydney about more Aussie mates.

I can report that Dick Smith stores are Mates. They have signs up in their stores asking for donations all over Sydney.

Coffee Club are mates. A a store in Sydney yesterday the owner was all dressed in Red and Black and had signs up asking for donations.

When people realise that my source is from New Zealand they are deluged with offers of support and condolences by even more of our mates from across the Tasman. Plenty of people know what it means to be mates.

Qantas and their subsidiary are still Not Mates.

Yesterday there was this news about Jetstar where they tried to stiff a nurse who helped out in a mid-air emergency. Jetstar are Not Mates and this just confirms it.

So far our Mates are:

Air New Zealand, Coffee Club, Dick Smith, Fonterra, Kiwishops

UPDATE: The two “Kiwi shops” in Perth have set up donation boxes to collect from local ex-pats.

Not our Mates are:

Qantas, Jetstar

When the earthquake struck Christchurch it devastated the central city, has killed hundreds and left many people without homes, relatives and busineses. It is a time for mates and a time for stepping up.

Air New Zealand stepped up. They immediately put on 747s and charged bare minimum prices to get people home or out of the region. They are a good corporate citizen. They are our Mates.

Our nearest neighbours Australia reacted immediately sending rescue folk, troops and Police from across the country.

From my sources on the ground I hear that the Australian cops have been extremely professional and effective in Christchurch. Great people doing an excellent job. Australia has fronted up above and beyond. We tried to help Queensland where we could and when you do send help you hope that one day, should it be needed that the help is reciprocated. Australia has delivered, they are so generous and supportive. You can’t speak higher of them. 300 plus cops AND the USAR teams, who are world class. The Australian military support has been brilliant too. I understand we have also received donations from all Aussies states. Give Gillard her due, she has fronted. They are our Mates.

They are heroes and mates that we salute.

However we now turn to Not Our Mates.

Qantas and Jetstar reacted far differently.

Jetstar has decided that people travelling to and from Christchurch with a bag (and it has to be an evac) is $99. Anyone else is normal fares. I think it is fair to say that we can call that profiteering.

Jetstar’s owner Qantas also seems to have forgotten how many customers come from NZ. They made a $1000 a ticket getting the outstanding Australian cops into Christchurch. The spirit of ANZAC and mateship does not apply to Qantas. In the darkest day, you remember. Qantas made their views known and we accept their decision.

Qantas has failed to recognise that have a choice of airlines to cross the Tasman.  ”Anyone But Qantas” is the new call.

We remember our mates and Qantas are not our mates. That’s fine, you made the call Qantas, now take the lumps.

Apart from not being our mates, they are idiots and the shareholders should be annoyed.

Option A : Stick a pack of cops on a plane for three hours.

Glory of press statement and stories across your home markets saying:

“Qantas makes plane available at short notice to help Christchurch”

“Qantas has been flying to Christchurch for X years. It is an important part of our network. Qantas was proud to help 120 top Aussie cops to keep the people of Christchurch safe. Kiwis cops have been working tirelessly for the community. In the spirit of Australia, we were proud to help give them a break. We put on a free flight for the police. We also took x pallets of bottled water to help out Christchurch in its darkest days. Qantas is there for Christchurch”

Result : Glowing Trans-Tasman media stories, endorsment and brand enhancement by a major factor. Whaleoil endorsement. Major political figures in NSW and NZ say “good guys”. Customer base takes pride in their airline.

Value : Millions. Kiwis talk for years about Qantas being “our mates”. NSW Government pleased. Australians proud of their airline.
Cost : A$120,000

Option B : Be a pack of tight bastards.

Value : A$120,000
Cost & Result : Crap media across Australia and New Zealand. Immeasurable brand damage. Make an enemy of Whaleoil. Negative Media. NSW Govt has to ask Federal Govt for cash, embarrassing both Govts.

Message to Shareholders of Qantas : Seriously? You let these clowns look after your money? REALLY????

Remember folks, remember well who our mates are in times of need and then when you make a choice for where you will spend your dollars, spend it with our mates. As we hear more of donations and assistance I will create a Mates and Not Mates list. Qantas is now Not our Mate.

So is anyone up for one, seriously?

I don’t think I will be getting on one anytime soon. Especially one operated by Qantas.

And scum airline Jetstar has had its own troubles with an A320 engine.