Qantas boss Alan Joyce hitches a ride on Anthony Albanese’s plane
Karl Stefanovic has taken a swipe at Alan Joyce and his troubled airline after the Qantas CEO shared a flight with Anthony Albanese to a jobs and skills summit on the government plane.
The Today Show host asked Mr Albanese to confirm reports he had given Mr Joyce a lift to the Jobs and Skills Summit at Canberra House.
Mr Joyce was among several business leaders who had been invited to take the flight from Sydney to Canberra for the event that was held on Thursday morning.
Stefanovic questioned why the Qantas boss snubbed his own airline to hitch a ride on the government plane nicknamed Toto 1 – the name of the prime minister’s dog.
‘Did the boss of Qantas really get a lift with you on the government jet to Canberra?’ Stefanovic asked Mr Albanese on Friday. ‘Do you think that’s kind of ironic?’
He then made a dig at the airline and the troubles plaguing it, with flight delays and cancellations, long queues and lost luggage among the biggest complaints from passengers.
‘You didn’t lose his bags, did you?’ Stefanovic asked.
Karl Stefanovic has taken a swipe at Alan Joyce and his troubled airline after the Qantas CEO shared a flight with Anthony Albanese to a jobs and skills summit
The Today Show host asked Mr Albanese to confirm reports he had given Mr Joyce a lift to the Jobs and Skills Summit at Canberra House
Mr Albanese laughed off the jibe insisting the plane ride went smoothly.
‘He was well looked after by the Royal Australian Airforce who are very diligent,’ he said.
‘There have been no lost bags on the Royal Australian Airforce ever.’
Mr Albanese explained there will be a ‘charge issued’ to passengers who caught the flight insisting it was not a ‘free trip’.
‘It will help the government to pay for the flight,’ he said.
There were reportedly 50 seats available on the flight with Telstra chief executive Andy Penn and Wesfarmers boss Rob Scott among the invited passengers.
The flight had taken off following the Business Council of Australia’s annual dinner at Fullerton Hotel, in Sydney, on Wednesday night.
‘We put a whole lot of people on the jet that we made available so that people could make it to the summit,’ Mr Albanese said.
Under-fire Qantas CEO Mr Joyce appeared at the summit amid mounting criticism against his airline.
Stefanovic questioned why the Qantas boss snubbed his own airline to hitch a ride on the government plane nicknamed Toto 1 – the name of the prime minister’s dog
Stefanovic then made a dig at the airline and the troubles plaguing it – with flight delays and cancellations, long queues and lost luggage among the biggest complaints
Passengers have complained of delayed or cancelled flights, having to wait in queue for hours at the check-in and losing their bags because of poor luggage handling.
The airline’s lounges recently came under fire for being ‘dirty and overpriced’.
Last week, a TikTok user named Kiki unleashed on the airline with a video review of the lounge that has been viewed more than 47,000 times.
She joked that her ‘sh*t’ toasted sandwich in the lounge cost $700, because of the huge membership fee just to get inside.
Qantas charges a $99 ‘joining fee’ plus $600 for a one-year membership to access its lounges. For two years, membership costs $1,100.
Kiki was also forced to make the sandwich herself, using the ‘make your own toastie station’ that is fitted on the lounge’s buffet section.
Describing her experience, she said: ‘I got scammed hard. It’s dirty, and the food is sh*t.’
After the experience, she emailed Qantas asking them to cancel her membership, but claimed the airline did not respond.
‘I will never make this mistake again,’ she said.
Qantas says the reviews are ‘not reflective’ of the positive feedback the airline regularly receives.
On TikTok, one Qantas lounge member named Kiki said it was ‘dirty and the food is s***’
One customer said of the Qantas Lounge in Sydney that the buffet area was ‘messy and uncomfortable. Nothing was refilled and seem no one do cleaning’ (Pictured, a photo from a review on airlinequality.com)