The next year should be pretty exciting for Qantas, as the airline will start taking delivery of Airbus A350-1000s, which will be used for the world’s longest flights, and will feature an all-new passenger experience. Ahead of this launch, it’s interesting who won’t be invited into first class on these planes (thanks to Live and Let’s Fly for flagging this)…
Qantas won’t offer executives A350 first class seats
While the airline industry often doesn’t pay that well, one nice perk is receiving travel privileges. As you’d expect, the exact privileges (whether you get positive space travel and which cabin you can travel in) vary based on your role, how long you’ve been at the company, etc.
Currently, executives and board members (both current and former) receive positive space seats in the carrier’s first and business class, both domestically and internationally. This isn’t just for the person directly associated with the company, but also, for their family. As you’d expect, that’s a major perk, since it means you can fly the carrier’s Airbus A380 first class as much as your heart desires.
This is where it gets interesting. As reported by Rampart, Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace recently wrote to the company’s current and former directors and executives, to inform them that they won’t be able to use their positive space first class flying privileges on the carrier’s A350s, which will operate the “Project Sunrise” nonstop flights from Sydney (SYD) and Melbourne (MEL) to New York (JFK) and London (LHR).
This same rule will apply across the board for this cabin, including for current Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson. As before, they’ll be able to use their privileges for the carrier’s A380 first class, which has 14 seats. Qantas’ new A350 first class cabin, meanwhile, will have just six seats, and it will be an all-new design, with a separate seat and bed.
This seems like a surprisingly sensible policy
All too often, airline executives and board members simply look out for one another, and take a bit of a “country club” approach to running things. So it’s actually oddly refreshing to see something like this at Qantas, which has been run as a particularly “cozy” operation, in that regard.
What’s the logic for this policy change? For one, making the economics on these ultra long haul flights work will be incredibly challenging. We’re talking about 20+ hour flights that are on very premium configured aircraft, so the airline needs to be able to fill seats at high fares in order to make money flying these planes.
In particular, selling first and business class seats at high fares will be a key aspect to making this work. Suffice it to say that those with positive space travel privileges filling up a majority of the first class cabin with family will make it hard to actually turn a profit on these flights.
That opportunity cost doesn’t quite exist in the same way on the A380, where it’s rare for Qantas to sell all 14 seats at anywhere close to high fares (which isn’t to say the cabins don’t get filled up somehow, but not with full fare first class passengers).
There’s also a certain satisfaction to knowing that former Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce won’t be able to fly in the carrier’s A350 first class as part of his privileges, given the damage he did to the airline.
Bottom line
Qantas has advised current and former executives and board members that the airline won’t be extending travel perks to the carrier’s new A350 first class. These special A350s will be used for the carrier’s longest routes, from Melbourne and Sydney to London and New York.
Given the small first class cabin, plus the need to actually sell seats at high fares to make economics work, this seems like a sensible development that’s in the company’s best interest. I’m sure some people eligible for travel privileges won’t be too happy about this, but oh well…
What do you make of this Qantas executive and board member travel policy change?
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