Qantas text messages reveal 'annoying' reality for Aussie FIFO worker
An Aussie fly-in, fly-out worker has taken aim at the national airline for rescheduling two dozen of her recent flights – all in the space of just months.
A fed-up Aussie FIFO worker has taken aim at Qantas for rescheduling or postponing her flights over 20 times since October last year. The Western Australian-based woman said she regularly flies from Perth to the state's north for work, and also to Sydney, and on both routes her travels were repeatedly disrupted.
Speaking to Yahoo News Australia on the condition of anonymity, the FIFO worker said the latest cancellation on July 25 prompted her to tally the number of rescheduled flights she'd been forced to deal with in merely months. She counted 25 flights in total, sharing with Yahoo a screen recording of the messages she received from Qantas informing her of the unwelcome news.
Vision shows a text thread on the woman's phone from Qantas, in which dozens of messages are seen informing her that flights were "unfortunately cancelled" and that the airline was "sorry to let you know your flight time has changed".
FIFO worker blasts Qantas's flight cancellations
"So I counted a total of 25 since October last year," the WA woman told Yahoo. "Not all were cancellations — lots were lengthy delays. This is the third week in a row the plane 'had a fault' and they've had to send a new one to site.
"It's actually cooked. I only fly Qantas because that is who contracts my company — so I have no choice.
"It really is so annoying, so many people have had holidays ruined. When you work away from home and you get stuck at work on your time off, it's actually bulls**t."
The woman explained sometimes her flights were postponed for several hours and even overnight, compromising her ability to arrive on shift on time. On the other hand, being forcibly stuck at work has also impacted her ability to have downtime between shifts.
The Perth-based woman said she's now fed up and wishes she was able to fly with other airlines. Yahoo News Australia has contacted Qantas with regards to the FIFO worker's criticisms and a spokesperson confirmed they were looking into the matter.
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Qantas isn't the only Australian airline attracting heat this year over flight cancellations. In January, it was revealed Virgin Australia recorded more than two times as many flight cancellations as both Qantas and Jetstar in the first month of 2024.
The January domestic airline on-time performance report, written by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics, revealed Virgin Australia cancelled 5.4 per cent out of 11,026 domestic flights flown. Qantas and Jetstar cancelled less than 2.5 per cent of their respective 6984 and 8824 flights.
In June, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines held the title, recording the highest percentage of cancellations at 7.9 per cent, followed by Skytrans at 5.4 per cent, QantasLink at 3.4 per cent, Qantas at 3.1 per cent, Jetstar at 2.2 per cent, Virgin Australia at 1.7 per cent, Hinterland at 1.5 per cent and Rex Airlines at 1.1 per cent. The Qantas network recorded 79.6 per cent for on time departures while the Virgin Australia network recorded 76.6 per cent.
Qantas forced to compensate passengers over cancelled flights
In May, Qantas agreed to pay customers affected by recent flight cancellations. The airline admitted it misled people by advertising tickets for tens of thousands of flights it had already decided to cancel.
The Flying Kangaroo was also accused of cancelling thousands more flights without promptly telling passengers of its decision. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) took Qantas to court and the airline will have to shell out $20 million to more than 86,000 customers.
The airline was accused of advertising tickets for more than 8,000 flights that had been cancelled and there were a further 10,000 flights between May and July 2022 where ticket holders weren't advised their journey had been cancelled. Qantas admitted the misconduct went on until 26 August, 2023.
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