A question for armchair CEOs (including myself)

This is a question for all the armchair CEOs (including myself). If you were in control of Qantas before OW or Emirates, how different would it be compared to today? Would you join some other alliance or keep things as they were? I will write down my answer in the comments.

I would have gone with OW like it already is but instead of Emirates I would have opted for Qatar or Turkish for Europe, maybe Turkish if just the damn flight time was less from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane. I am not sure if people would have liked Istanbul stop but thats it. I would have kept services to Singapore from Perth and Adelaide, and maybe still have a HK and SIN Kangaroo Service. 

This is just a fraction of what I would have done, and my brain seems to have stopped so I am gonna stop here. Would love to recieve your views!

I would have elected to retain the forward hub in SIN and then codeshared onwards with as many carriers as I could lay my hands on, beyond what already existed (like AF to CDG), such as KL to AMS.

Consolidate in one place that you can actually reach using QF metal.

1. Focus on hard product development in the 90s such as AVOD across all classes, lie flat 180 degrees in Business etc. to retain market share
2. Less focus on marketing based on tugging of the emotional heart strings - substance trumps form
3. Better CAPEX planning to ensure timely fleet renewal - e.g. purchase of Boeing 777
4. Understanding the strength and weaknesses of Qantas vis a vis Australia's location - collaborate with asian airliners (e.g. CX) on a less confrontational basis knowing that the true strength of Qantas is its domestic operations i.e. giving up ground on the international sector to preserve relations with asian carriers knowing the golden goose is the domestic operations, which foreign carriers cannot interfere with. On that note the current alignment with EK is a right move but coming from a weaker position. 
5. Consider flights to London via LAX early on, to realign the public goodwill away from the traditional kangaroo route, which has enabled your competitors to easily jump on the bandwagon without having to spend resources educating the public.

Why via LAX?

LAX/LHR was already an established NZ sector. The key was to take oxygen away from the traditional kangaroo sector to prevent new entrants jumping on board easily.

With LAX, QF could tie up with AA across the Atlantic. It is foolish to compete with Asian carriers (and later Mid East carriers) on its natural grounds (kangaroo route). You're better off carving a niche in a market where cost differences are not that servere. 

LAX/LHR was already an established NZ sector. The key was to take oxygen away from the traditional kangaroo sector to prevent new entrants jumping on board easily.

With LAX, QF could tie up with AA across the Atlantic. It is foolish to compete with Asian carriers (and later Mid East carriers) on its natural grounds (kangaroo route). You're better off carving a niche in a market where cost differences are not that servere. 

OOOOH! I get it now - forward hub to Europe through LAX by leveraging AA metal.

It would be good if AA actually flew to more than just LHR and one or two other places ex-LAX, though.

I'm now thinking that DFW has better connections.

Another consideration would have the be the rights - can NZ carry pax on LAX-LHR only?

Given it appears on the Google search 'lax lhr flights', I am going to assume it does.

I can see how it might be structured:

SYD 1730 LAX 1305; LAX 1500 LHR 0840

LHR 1700 LAX 2130; LAX 2325 SYD 0805

It would need a lot more connecting traffic, though.

The people here are commited with comments like these lol

I have a long history of doing this, you know.

Those Frequent Poster points tell it, wish there was a way to redeem them.

It's ranked by upvotes and downvotes; that's why I've got a ridiculously high rank.

I would not have made the Jul 2014 QF FF earn rate and QF SC earn rate changes.

I would not focus so much on the Emirates Memorandum of Understanding and tie in.

I would not focus on so many 737s.

I would have kept the OW agreements between the current airlines as it is.

I would have done what AJ's job cuts though, either by attrition, or redundencies.

I would have kept the 767s flying for maybe 2 more years, until I had the funds to buy the 787s.

I would have put forward a multi fly buy program, going by miles zones, buy 10 trips at a price known for a time period, say 10 ADL MEL/MEL SYD trips for the price of 9 in Y for example.

I would include Tiger Airways into the VA FF earn and VA SC earn rate.

I would let PS have 2 time access to QP instead of 1.

I would have the VA FF membership card have bar codes, or QR codes instead of a strip holding the info.