Qantas has found out the hard way what happens when you bet against the All Blacks.
As a sponsor of the Wallabies, the Flying Kangaroo had little choice but to put its money where its mouth when in the lead up to the Rugby World Cup final a friendly wager was struck with Air New Zealand.
However, Qantas has paid a price for its loyalty to the Australian rugby team, after the All Blacks successfully defended their title at Twickenham on Sunday with a 34-17 win over a gallant Wallabies.
In the lead up to the big game, some friendly banter between Qantas and Air NZ social media teams led to the two airlines agreeing to a bet.
Initial thoughts were for a change of aircraft livery.
Eventually sanity, or financial considerations, prevailed and the terms of the wager were decided – crews of the losing carrier had to wear the winning nation’s jersey on board.
And that is what occurred on Monday, when Qantas crews received their new uniforms from their counterparts at Air NZ.
A bet is a bet. Today we followed through with #AirlineWager and we accepted jerseys from @FlyAirNZ. pic.twitter.com/2Vk6zJGfNV
— Qantas (@Qantas) November 2, 2015
Air NZ was gracious in victory.
Today @Qantas played good sports and followed through with #AirlineWager wearing @AllBlacks jerseys on board. pic.twitter.com/2tRjgxcboI
— Air New Zealand✈️ (@FlyAirNZ) November 2, 2015
Red Barron
says:Well done both airlines. A good fun event for staff and passengers. Goes to show we take things too seriously sometimes.
Mal
says:Good job Qantas for following through. All good friendly fun and well received by the press and passengers.
Ray E
says:What flights did they wear the All Black jerseys on?
Alan
says:They wore the jerseys on QF143 from Sydney to Auckland today.
Good on both airlines for getting into the spirit of the game.
Tom O
says:Looks like another 4 years of All Black reruns on the Air NZ in flight entertainment systems…drives me crazy