Stuart Robertson-Fox (Flight International, 5-11 March) has failed to realise that selling tickets is only part of the picture. Customer loyalty and goodwill are almost equally important and provide for future ticket sales. Any frequent traveller on Qantas' domestic services will be very aware of passing through the business class area to his/her full economy ticketed seat and viewing row upon row of uniformed and non-uniformed Qantas staff filling the business seats.
The anger and frustration which the sight of this social gathering creates does little for Qantas' future ticket sales. What should of course happen is full fare economy passengers fill empty business seats and the non-revenue-generating crew locate to the rear. The converse of this is one reason airlines which work hard to develop customer loyalty, such as Singapore Airlines, are so popular.
But I suppose anything goes in the protected environment of a mono- or duopoly.
Richard Kean
Sydney, Australia
Source: Flight International
