Hey Peeps,
I find it funny that so many people have this great love for Qantas and are a little miffed at getting screwed by new baggage allowances and charges.
For those that can't remember, Qantas, when they had the monopoly on Domestic routes were charging 800-1000 one way to fly from Sydney to Perth. When the airlines routes were divvied up and Ansett went head to head, Qantas suddenly became the good guys with cheap flights all round Oz.
Back in the day, Qantas had half decent service, good looking cabin attendants, good maintenance scheduling and highly trained professional employees. Since then, the cabin staff border on rude, and are usually indifferent, most major maintenance has been outsourced overseas, all the cuties have gone to Virgin.
As soon as Ansett went belly up, Qantas upped their flight charges again until the appearance of Virgin. Thank you Richard Branson!
I like Virgin, their flight staff are friendly and cute, I've only ever paid a maximum of $8 for excess baggage (funny 
$8). And they keep the Air Fare as they promote. I rarely pay more than $169 each way from Sydney to Perth and will support them forever because if I support Qantas at the expense of Virgin and they pull out of Oz, then the prices will be back to 800-900 each way.
So although I don't get a movie or a crappy snack in flight, I see that as insurance to keep Qantas honest. Qantas are a pack of bastards and are waiting for the day when they can screw you over again with expensive airfares. They only care about your money, not your service or comfort.
Support Virgin, or anyone else that keeps the fares low. The same thing happened with Canada 3000. I could fly to Hawaii for just $800, not now! They folded after 911 
and of course airfares went up within days of their collapse [}:)]
Always support the underdog, without them, you'll pay through the nose and service will not improve comparatively.
Good winds,
Rant Over!
