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Fiona Byrne, The Age\u2019s CBD columnist, writes that Australian golf legend Greg Norman has taken a very public swing at Qantas, calling it the \u201cnever on-time\u201d airline and describing it as outdated and unreliable.<\/p>\n
Norman, who was a high-profile celebrity ambassador for Qantas for decades, teed off at the airline\u2019s management on Sunday, challenging them to get the service back up to his expected standard, adding the hashtag #alottodo to make his point.<\/p>\n
![\"Australian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/c837bb61572851f45b48f97158745a6fd6720b04.jpeg\")
Australian golfing great Greg Norman has teed off at Qantas after his flight was delayed.Getty<\/p>\n
He also questioned whether profit had been put above \u201ccustomer caring, reputation and service\u201d and he said it used to be one of the world\u2019s top three airlines but \u201calas no more\u201d.<\/p>\n
Known as the Great White Shark since the early \u201980s, Norman took a fair bite out of Qantas, blasting it on his 244,000-strong Instagram account and saying he was looking for another airline to travel with. Among other things, the lack of Wi-Fi on the long haul seems to have been part of what riled him.<\/p>\n
US-based Norman recently attended the NRL grand final in Sydney and was travelling from Sydney to Dallas on a Qantas A380 over the weekend. A delay in leaving appears to have been the trigger for his epic spray.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have always tried to support my national airline @Qantas<\/a>. Sadly, their reputation of the \u2018never on-time\u2019 airline (or the ones I am on \u2013 this time Syd-Dallas circa 3 hrs late departing) + an hour to get one bag in Dallas now has me looking elsewhere,\u201d Norman fumed online.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe @emirates<\/a> longer but reliable, Wi-Fi, comfort caring.<\/p>\n \u201cToo bad, as @Qantas<\/a> was once one of the top 3 in the world for a great travel experience.<\/p>\n \u201cAlas no more #whathappened<\/a> Profit before customer caring, reputation and service!?<\/p>\n \u201dAnd not to have Wi-Fi in this day and age with the cost\/ticket – #insane<\/a> #dated<\/a>. Ground staff excellent – Qantas admin get to work and bring back the pride in – \u201cThe Spirit of Australia\u201d and be a world leader in your industry again!! #alottodo<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, Qantas was well aware of Norman\u2019s dummy spit when CBD called on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, our flight from Sydney to Dallas Fort Worth on Saturday was delayed departing Sydney while our engineers fixed a fuelling issue,\u201d a Qantas spokesperson told us, with no mention of Norman\u2019s other gripes.<\/p>\n No doubt someone will let Norman know Wi-Fi is being rolled out on Qantas\u2019s A380 fleet, and is available on its 787s and A330 planes.<\/p>\n It might be too little too late, as it sounds like Norman will have swapped his boarding pass allegiances before that rollout is complete.<\/p>\n Julie Bishop\u2019s accidental \u2018false flag\u2019<\/p>\n This was a change to the programming: Julie Bishop, who normally uses her Instagram page to share highlights of European trips and designer dresses, last week reposted a conspiracy-laden video describing the flydubai incident<\/a> as a \u201cfalse flag\u201d for Israel.<\/p>\n The former foreign minister, who led Australia\u2019s overseas efforts from 2013 to 2018 (and more recently became infamous for her role in the Australian National University\u2019s prolonged crisis<\/a> when she was chancellor) reshared a video from the Daily Rumble, a vague Instagram account that promised \u201c100% independent news on the Middle East\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not the story they\u2019re telling us,\u201d announced its presenter, before launching into some generally debunked conspiracies about how the incident unfolded \u2013 all to gain more than seven million viewers.<\/p>\n So did our former foreign minister really believe the video she\u2019d reshared with her 110,000 followers? \u201cIt was an accident,\u201d she told us. \u201cI deleted it as soon as I realised it had been done.\u201d<\/p>\n We\u2019ve all been there.<\/p>\n An even slower news day<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get mad, get even. We brought news last week that Sydney\u2019s favourite tech villain and a regular of this column, Richard White, had sent his staff at the beleaguered WiseTech a surprise email with a \u201cgift\u201d: an AI jingle made by one of his children.<\/p>\n \u201cThe song and video is so good and the song is so catchy that I think we share the love and give it to you all to see if your children love it as much as we do,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n But Jazzy Learns, the AI character White had shared with staff, called us out on Instagram for how \u201ca proud, supportive dad moment of his teenage daughter [was] usurped and demonised by the media\u201d. We were accused of picking up a \u201ccheap headline on a slow news day\u201d without referencing the actual work.<\/p>\n A cheap headline? We\u2019d do nothing of the sort! But we are fans of the (slightly) good-natured response.<\/p>\n Get the day\u2019s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n No gift articles left<\/p>\n You’ve used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.<\/p>\n Close![\"Greg](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/788f6c3502ee110691a2dcc9466ab313e96d1968.jpeg\")
Greg Norman (left) was among the guests of the NRL, along with US ambassador David Brat (orange tie) and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (foreground) at the 2026 NRL grand final in Sydney last week. <\/p>\n![\"Anthony](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/7f66d78339bf177d8e83440607f90261076bb6ead344236414b45cf6935ace99.png\")
Anthony Segaert<\/a> is the Parramatta bureau chief at The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously an urban affairs reporter.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners