Opinion: Qantas doesn’t deserve its latest beating

Last year, a TV ad campaign by gambling firm Tab asked viewers: What is Australia’s national sport? Union? League? Swimming? Or that strange one where the tall guys huff around a cricket pitch in vests? (Sorry, I’m English. It’s weird.) None of those options are correct. In fact, Aussies’ favourite sporting endeavour is bashing Qantas. Once a source of pride, the Flying Kangaroo’s general rubbishness is something the entire country can agree on.

Some of that bile is, of course, rightly deserved. The airline made a series of unforced errors both during and after COVID, axing far too many staff (some illegally) and then scrambling to launch too many routes, too quickly. The result was some of the worst delays and cancellations on record, with unmotivated staff taking out their frustrations on customers. That doesn’t include a series of other mishaps, from selling tickets to cancelled flights to allowing exhausted crew to sleep lying down next to economy passengers. Qantas couldn’t help but boot the ball into the crowd.

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