On Tuesday morning, the Australian Financial Review ran this headline: Hackers could unmask secret Qantas Chairman’s Lounge membership.
We already know Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his son Nathan are members, of course.
I wouldn’t be surprised if more people clicked on that article than they did on the one that alerted readers to the data breach.
Have we come to a stage with Qantas where, no matter what happens, we actually aren’t that fussed?
The most popular brand loyalty program in Australia, Qantas Frequent Flyer, with 16.4 million members – almost double that of its nearest competitor Woolworths’ Everyday Rewards, at 9.8 million members – had its database hacked with the details of members now in the hands of, well… who knows?
5.7 million members have had various parts of their data stolen – everything from name and email addresses, status and points balances, birthdates, phone numbers and even meal preferences (chicken or fish…. gluten-free? Sorry, we don’t have that listed here).
This week, affected members, myself included, got an email from Qantas’ CEO Vanessa Hudson, apologising again for the gaffe and confirming what data had been lost. Ironically, for a company that just got breached, it then gave suggestions on how consumers can protect themselves.
Despite this, the consumer furore has been… not what could be described as a furore. Not even a mild panic.
When Optus experienced a significant data breach in September 2022, with details of almost 10 million customers exposed, including driver’s licenses and passport numbers, the ramifications were significant.
The government went on the attack, with Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil saying Optus ‘left the window open’ for cyber criminals to conduct simple hack.
It was reported that in the three months after the breach, Optus lost 65,000 customers – churn worth tens of millions of dollars and said to be around 10% of its customers.
A month later, Medibank was attacked, with data of almost 10 million customers breached.
In the December quarter of that year, it was reported that Medibank had lost 13,000 policyholders.
Its shares were obliterated, and the AFR reported that about $1.75 billion was wiped off its market value.
On an affected customer basis, Qantas is a somewhat distant third, granted, but does anyone really expect that it will suffer similar customer losses to Optus and Medibank? Or any real losses at all?
Doubtful, in my mind, as well as the mind of advertising expert Ian Perrin, who runs Speed Agency based in Sydney.
“In isolation, I don’t think the data breach will be as materially negative for the Qantas brand as it was for Optus or Medibank,” he said. “Consumers realise these attacks are malicious, can affect anyone, and have little to do with the preparedness of the company concerned.
“So, they blame the perpetrators, not the brand. Therefore, in the short term, I don’t see Qantas losing customers, and certainly not any Frequent Flyers.”
Even Qantas critic number one, Joe Aston, is bored of data breaches – not even a QF data breach could corral him to launch even a small attack.
“I appreciate the national significance of these major hacks, but I also find them incredibly boring as media stories,” he wrote in his media outlet Rampart.
Perhaps the Optus and Medibank loss is quite literally Qantas’ gain – consumers have seen it all before.
And maybe the same can be said for Qantas and the numerous brand disasters it has had in the recent past, from cancelled flights to lost luggage and the former CEO constantly in the cross-hairs, to the book that even today the travel industry still talks about in muffled awe by the aforementioned Aston.
That last point is key, because while the industry is never far away from a quick prod at Qantas (I will raise my hand and admit guilt as well), it also seems to have lost any sting in the tail it once had. Much like consumers.
When asked if this will change whether he recommends Qantas to customers, Gallivanter Travel GM Liam Giudes told me, “No, it won’t. Qantas still has a very loyal client base, and the blow-back has been non-existent from our point of view.”
He went on to say that he hadn’t heard of any clients requesting not to fly Qantas or to change their plans from Qantas.
His view was echoed by a number of others.
“I had no-one mention it to me personally and none of the team said anything apart from the day it happened. Funnily enough, I’ve booked more Qantas this week than I have for ages,” Spencer Travel MD Penny Spencer said of whether clients were talking about the Qantas breach.
Spencer added she thought Qantas responded well and that sharing the news quickly was being honest.
Crucially, as I heard many times from different advisors, the majority of their clients were high-tiered frequent flyers – they had invested too much in the points and status earn so wouldn’t be changing airlines.
These sentiments are proven in the figures. Which figures? Pretty much all of them. They are rudely healthy, not something you would believe for a company that is semi-regularly beset by PR challenges.
Let’s go to revenue first. No need to comment here, the figures clearly show the trajectory. The heavy (and needed) infrastructure investment counts for the dip in profit (which is still healthy, mind you).
You could take a look at the share price, which gives you an exact, up-to-the-minute data point on where Qantas is in terms of market perception of its performance, brand value, and importantly, ability to capitalise on future opportunities.
Or you could look at domestic passenger numbers from the ACCC. Whereas you could go almost anywhere else in terms of investing, but when it comes to flying (particularly domestically), it’s generally Qantas Group or Virgin Australia. Switching is theoretically easy, there is a somewhat like-for-like alternative (I say somewhat intentionally), but psychologically, it’s anything but easy.
Then there is the brand health front, which is pretty much game, set and match in terms of this argument. This is where it should really show.
And it did, but not for long. After the ghost flights saga, YouGov put out this graph.
It would be hard to argue that the above is not an alarming drop.
But today?
Qantas ranks seventh in YouGov’s Buzz rankings, up 14% in May and in front of Flight Centre, Airbnb, Air New Zealand and Etihad, among many others.
That is yet to account for the data breach, of course, but as you can see from the graph above, it’s a case of a thousand cuts (the various PR disasters), but instead of causing death, Qantas has just come away with a mild paper cut, continually rebounding from whatever small dip there may be.
There is no doubt Qantas will survive, and likely thrive, after this latest challenge. In fact, it may even do more than thrive. Its previous PR attempts were so far off the pace that anything it does now looks and feels like a major upgrade, like it is genuinely changing the company culture. To be fair, it may well be doing this.
Even the aforementioned Aston is cutting Qantas some slack.
“Qantas is condemned for not putting Vanessa Hudson (or anyone, for that matter) in front of the cameras on day one by the same people who condemned Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin for fronting them on day one and having nothing satisfactory to say,” he wrote.
“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it was smart of Hudson to wait five days after the hack to fly home from Greece (where she’d been holidaying, but at least not rubbing it in our faces on Instagram), but she seems to have gotten away with it.”
Aston cutting Qantas slack. Ha. I live in Sydney’s north under a flight path. It was interesting witnessing a Qantas 737 on approach this morning, closely followed by a pig.
I’ll end this sermon with one thought, however, which won’t affect the share price, revenue, buzz, or whatever else we have mentioned here. But it will affect something important – cultural relevance.
Previously, there has been serious backlash when Qantas slipped up. If, as a collective, we don’t do that now, why not? And why did we do it before?
Qantas still runs with “The Spirit of Australia” tag, and its various advertising agencies were famous for leaning into that last decade with rousing, emotional, TV ads that brought tears to the eyes of grown-ups as they depicted homesick Australians coming home on the national carrier.
Even though it was privatised, Australia still saw Qantas as the people’s airline – a representation of what it is to be Australian in the shape of a Boeing 747 with a kangaroo on the tail. A brand that truly sat in the hearts and minds of proud Australians.
Is it possible we have come to terms with the fact that Qantas is not a living, breathing, flying metal version of the ideal representation of Australia, and just an airline? An airline with a great loyalty program?
Has it gained an untouchable status, but lost its mythical one? Genuine question.
The rest of the week
Breaking news went out yesterday when the affable Chris Fundell, marketing boss for Globus family of brands across APAC, announced he will be stepping down from the role at the end of August for a yet-to-be announced plan.
Fundell has been at Globus for 10 years – a strong innings. He’s a Chelsea fan though, but we won’t hold that against him.
News that the NTIA deadlines were looming hit the headlines on Tuesday. While we don’t mean to panic you, the deadline date is now even closer (Sunday) so you’d better get on it if it applies to you.
Travel advisors charging fees for services is becoming a global standard, according to a study released by the World Travel Agents Associations Alliance (WTAAA) this week. Travel Daily reported that on Wednesday – if you have any feedback or thoughts, do drop us a line.
And Ethiopian Airlines has shared its intent to fly to Australia… it just needs some planes. The regional boss made a call-out on LinkedIn. If you have a spare Boeing 787 or Airbus A350, they would be keen to know.
On the cruise front, CLIA has spoken out about the Nice Mayor’s questionable antics when it comes to making a point about cruising.
While we are on CLIA, it announced 10 big-name international speakers for the upcoming Cruise360 in Brisbane. We’ll be in attendance, do say “hello”.
And Norwegian Cruise Line is inviting travel advisors on a new “virtual voyage” to explore the brand’s destinations through fun, interactive activities.
Finally, while it was the week before last, I didn’t write the Weekly Wrap last weekend so didn’t have the chance to reflect on it. Check out the Monarto Safari Resort and neighboring Monarto Safari Park and Wild Africa.
Having attended the launch of the resort, just an hour outside of Adelaide, I can vouch for the fact it is an impressive set up. I’ll be going back at some stage for sure.
That’s it for this week. I’m doing what all good travel journalists do on their weekend and travelling. With snow predicted in NSW’s Blue Mountains and a small cabin with my name on it, it should be a good weekend.
Enjoy.
