Qantas has finally been forced to publicly reveal which senior public servants and statutory officers have been offered coveted membership of its Chairman’s Lounge.
But the airline has put potentially explosive disclosures on the cost of cabin upgrades from economy to business back on the bureaucracy.
The embattled national airline has revealed in evidence that all APS Senior Executive Service Band 2 and Band 3 members are offered Chairman’s Lounge memberships. These are nominally free of charge but include access to private lounges across the nation with complimentary meeting rooms and fine dining food and beverages (including waiters), as well as offers of cabin upgrades where available.
Asked “how many Australian Public Servants have access to the Chairman’s Lounge”, Qantas declined to enumerate or specify who had accepted its invitations, but emphasised there was an option for membership to be declined — but also did not specify the number of knockbacks.
“Qantas offers Chairman’s Lounge membership to secretaries and deputy secretaries of commonwealth departments, the chairs, chief commissioners and CEOs of key agencies and senior members of the military,” Qantas said in its evidence.
“Membership of the lounge is by invitation, which can be accepted or declined. Qantas does not divulge membership details of any of its lounges, so this question is best directed to the departments and agencies.”
As the scandal around Qantas endures and intensifies, an increasing number of agencies are now declaring Chairman’s Lounge memberships accepted, with some even naming the public servants accepting admittance to the elite establishment personally, like the head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Qantas’ refusal to specify the value of flight and cabin upgrades for public servants will provide temporary air cover by avoiding the publication of a dollar figure value of the benefit, but the details could still be teased out flight by flight in evidence at senate estimates and other committees.
The actual value of a flight upgrade would be the difference between an economy or premium economy ticket and business or first class depending on whether or not the flight was domestic or international. It could also potentially include another traveller like a non-SES public servant who may be upgraded to sit with a senior bureaucrat.
While most senior public servants from Band 1 SES up are entitled to business class seats on domestic runs, in reality, it’s the seat availability in economy that can dictate whether or not a business class fare is booked. Bookings made through a centralised travel and entertainment procurement contract are substantially discounted for volume and the non-accrual of frequent flier points.
This means that if a thrifty deputy secretary, who regularly chalks up a couple of return flights a week, books a full-fare flexible ticket to Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane or Melbourne, there’s an odds-on chance of getting moved to the front for free to fill-up seats at the back.
“For privacy reasons, we are unable to disclose personal information regarding flights taken by individuals,” Qantas said.
“However, as part of the normal course of business, our most frequent flyers may be upgraded on certain flights. Whether this occurs will depend on factors such as seat availability in premium cabins and frequent flyer status. It is up to members and senators to update their Register of Interests, as appropriate.”
While Qantas’ response will send many senior public servants to check their ticket stubs, it will ultimately be the airline of its distributor or travel booker that holds the pricing information for any given day.
Other APS-related questions put to Qantas included how many staff in the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts have access to the Chairman’s Lounge.
Again, that query drew a blank on privacy grounds and was handballed to the agency.
What ministerial staffer gets Chairman’s Lounge access? Capital P for privacy on that one, too.
Perhaps that’s why the door to the Chairman’s Lounge is only marked with a discrete sign that simply says: ‘Private’.
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