Dear Qantas...

"In contrast to mines, however, airlines are customer-facing enterprises, where the staff work close to the immediate customers. Many staff perceive that they are being treated unfairly - for instance, because the chief executive was given a big pay increase, while he is asking the rest of Qantas to cut costs.

Where staff think they are being treated unfairly, they are unlikely to invest much discretionary effort. Such staff are less likely to give exemplary service to the customers. Customers who receive poor service are more likely to take their business to another airline that provides better service."

Unaccustomed as I am to writing letters of complaint to anyone; It just is not something I do, very rarely, if ever. Trust me, you would have a better chance of seeing a Blue Moon. It has become clear in recent days that I am left with no alternative but to put pen to paper and at short notice and complain, about an airline; Your airline. Of all the airlines, the once great leader, Qantas; It is saddening in the least to see it's demise.

Australians traveling in Australia and around the world today are in shock at the state of affairs of the once greatest airline.

Look I guess you regularly receive tens of hundreds of these complaint type letters and other communications; Why wouldn't you? You seem or at least (Qantas) seems to have completely lost its way. That is- the Qantas Airlines we all once known and loved have lost touch with its bread and butter paying passengers. Qantas has lost touch with base. Almost it seems to not know why it exists. Moreover If I may use this analogy it's a bit like a 747 without an auto-pilot or a plane without any pilot for that matter. You are allegedly in the travel business. But one could be forgiven for not knowing this. In recent times it seems your only charter is to become a 'cash cow' for those 'greed is good' types, that like to put together deals that would turn Qantas to nothing more than a 'private equity deal.' Do you want the airline to go down the proverbial gurgler in this way?

Do you not respect the fact that Qantas is one of the oldest airlines in the world and was spawned by such legendary Aviators such as the late great Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and the late Nancy Bird? Not only that but decades of ordinary Australian have put their lives into making the Qantas Brand what it is today. I must remind you that the Qantas Sale Act of 1992 specifically made reference to keeping Qantas as an Australian entity. Not, I repeat not a single carrier based in Asia and not Australia. We all know the population in Asian Countries is able to live on five dollars a day. In Australia this would never be possible.

As you would know from your own internal research Qantas passengers have long being prepared to pay a little extra for the 'Qantas Brand' from the reliability to its safety record, As well who could forget the oh so nice Qantas Hostesses. It seems it is quite easy for you to say Qantas staff should become so called flexible. They should be expected as you say to give up long fought for conditions of work that have taken decades to put in place. You want them to work longer hours extra shifts for less money despite the effect that this is sure to have on the delivery of service. You want to sweep these wages and conditions away just to appease those paper shuffler types in Wall Street that make millions of dollars from such Private Equity Deals. Then at the drop of a hat walk away without remorse

I urge you in the name of it being Un-Australian not to preserve the Qantas Brand. Please retain one of our national Icons Qantas the way it is. Qantas was renowned as being the safest Airline; The Airline that all Australians rely on to safely repatriate then back to Australia. The Lucky Country.