It was an all American affair at Qantas HQ in Mascot yesterday as some 150 travel agents deepened their knowledge on Qantas’ great connectivity to the USA during a special agent development day.
The timing was perfect for the USA focussed day, with Qantas confirming just last week that its US network would soon grow with new direct flights from Brisbane to Chicago AND Brisbane to San Francisco from April 2020.
It’s all thanks to a new joint venture with American Airlines that is essentially confirmed but just pending the final green light from the Department of Transport (DOT).
Executive Manager of Sales and Distribution at Qantas, Igor Kwiatkowski likened Qantas’ relationship with American Airlines to a marriage that had been on a bit of a break but was now being rekindled.
“Qantas and American Airlines pioneered the concept of code sharing in the 1980s,” he said yesterday.
“We were founding members of Oneworld 20 years ago. We’ve been down the joint venture path before – and we’re back. For us, it’s a longstanding and deep relationship with American Airlines and we are excited about where that is going to take us.”
Executive Manager Sales and Distribution at Qantas, Igor Kwiatkowski
American Airlines was heavily represented at the training day with their Vice President Asia Pacific Shane Hodges just touching down from Tokyo to be there.
The day-long event saw consultants learn every detail they needed about sending their clients to the USA with Qantas.
Brand USA came along to educate agents as well as representatives from Visit California, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas and Denver.
Brand USA Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand Wayne Mitcham said because Brand USA loves the trade so much they have created some fantastic tools for them.
A particularly handy tool is the trip planner where you can simply put in the destinations your clients want to visit with a start date, end date, what type of holiday they would like and then it creates a full-on itinerary.
“You can print it off, share it with your clients and it will make you look like an absolute angel,”
Wayne Mitcham, Brand USA Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand
Agents also got to tour Qantas’ gorgeous four cabin A380 that flies between Australia and the USA.
They were also given plenty of information about Qantas’ Dreamliner with next-generation Economy, Premium Economy and Business cabins that also flies the route.
Agents were reminded that Qantas offers more flights per week from Australia USA than any other airline with more than 40 flights per week from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.
After soaking up all this knowledge, Agents were treated to lunch by Visit California – think tacos, mac and cheese and In-N-Out style burgers before devouring the epic candy bar hosted by American Airlines! YUMBO!
Now that these Agents are pros in selling America, they should be in with a strong chance to win Qantas’ amazing competition with five trips to the USA up for grabs. Click here for all the details.
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- READ: Qantas orders up to 36 new extra-long-range aircraft
- READ: Qantas to fly Brisbane-Chicago & Brisbane-San Fran
- READ: The biggest changes EVER announced for Qantas Frequent Flyers
