Passenger Accommodation
p. 20 · Read in the full issue
New Transit
Set-Up In Lae
Air Company Closes Passenger Accommodation
QANTAS has closed its transit passenger accomodation hostel at Lae, New Guinea, and in future, although the company will arrange overnight accommodation at the Hotel Cecil, Lae, passengers will have to pay for this themselves.
Very little warning was given about this and there have been some complaints from travellers in the Territory. Qantas office in Sydney apparently knew nothing of it until the change-over had been made, and the usual spokesman for the company would make no comment in early November.
Qantas transit accommodation in Lae consisted of half a dozen “Bulolo-type” houses each with comfortably furnished single and double rooms and showers and toilets. A central lounge and dining room were provided away from the bungalows and transit passengers—which included those from outports awaiting aircraft for Australia (and vice-versa) —stayed there free of charge. It was all a good publicity-builder for Qantas and much appreciated by customers.
When it was first opened, four or five years ago, travellers were loud in their praise; as time has gone on they have, in the manner of such things, simply accepted these amenities as a right. The question now arises, of course, whether this kind of free accommodation should continue to be provided by the air company, as the reasons for its provision in the first place now seem no longer to exist.
As FIM understands it, the Qantas passenger accommodation was provided because, for a number of years after the war, the only hotel in Lae was conducted in a very old army camp some distance from the township. Since then, Mrs. F. Stewart has built her new hotel on the fiat at Lae and can
provide for the normal flih travellers.
It is probable that one o reasons why Qantas has a closed its transit accommoi is because of pressure broum bear upon the company Ixf hotel interests.
Qantas has taken block boc in the hotel and can thus n for transit passengers; howe9 T is understood that all passa must pay for this themselvev is that point that has causeoo of the complaints.
In other parts of the worlL of night-stops on through jot is included in the ; Apparently Qantas is takini view that as the Sydner Guinea service terminates ii stop-overs at Lae must bid sidered a break-of-journey as a night-stop.
There was a similar ss argument in Fiji a few when Fiji travellers took thf; that the Nadi airport autll should provide airport accon* tion for transit passengerse matter was eventually solveoa private enterprise took ovv transit accommodation ae airport and ran it as an oo hotel.