Generally we are quite spoilt down under with relatively new aircraft in the QF, DJ and JQ fleets but I am surprised by the steady decline in the appearance and upkeep of the QF 767-300's. Myself and other work colleagues fly between MEL/SYD/BNE on a regular basis and apart from the fact that the white kangaroo sits on red tails that are patchy and faded, the interiors are starting to look tatty and worn. Most of the time we are flying in coach and on almost every flight, the seat cushions are sinking, worn out or the entire seat bottom broken. For this we pay for full service when we could be on a new A320 for 1/3 of the fare. I always try to book on a 73H, A330 or one of the 747's that sometimes make the run as part of an international flight. In addition, the general cleaning (obviously more related to ground crew than aircraft type) is also disgraceful, last week I was on a MEL - SYD flight that had dried vomit over the tray table when I lowered it, more often then not, the seat pockets are full with rubbish and the windows smeared with kiddy finger prints. I have never seen anything this bad on a JQ flight although I don't really have enough experience on DJ to comment. If QF profits are due to savings on cleaning and aircraft upkeep and moving an ever increasing number of jobs off shore then perhaps Mr Dixon needs to be reminded that good management is not just about the accolades from economists. No matter how much money he saves by cutting local QF jobs, no matter how good the QF FA's are, no matter how good QF service is, uncomfortable and unhappy PAX will still walk away from QF. James www.airlinesimulation.com