Over the past few years, the same complaints about airlines have appeared time and time again. Some of the most common ones have been airlines making it difficult to get a refund, as well as lengthy call centre wait times and non-existent customer service.
Lots of airline customers have put up with bad experiences or terrible service, but still remain loyal to that company. It begs the question: Why do people keep booking with airlines that previously screwed them over?
Common complaint #1: Airlines that don’t refund cancelled tickets
Throughout the pandemic, airlines have unfortunately had to process millions of refunds for cancelled flights. Some airlines have been more proactive about this than others.
While there have been many complaints about the long wait to get a refund from Qantas, other airlines like Air Canada have been far worse in this regard.
There were also many Virgin Australia customers who were left with Future Flight credits for cancelled flights they purchased before Virgin Australia entered voluntary administration.
The good news is that this is not Virgin’s normal policy – this was an extraordinary situation due to the airline’s bankruptcy. Air Canada too has since cleaned up its act when it comes to refunds for cancelled flights, and most Qantas customers are eventually able to get their money back if entitled to it.
But there are still a handful of airlines in 2022 whose policy is not to refund flights that they cancel. For example, Air New Zealand will only issue passengers with a credit that they can use on Air New Zealand flights within 12 months after the airline cancels their original flight.
Many people would consider this practice to be unfair, but they still book flights with Air New Zealand. Then, when their flight gets cancelled, they then feel obliged to book with Air New Zealand again next time so they can use the credit that they never really wanted in the first place. It’s a bit of a vicious cycle!
Common complaint #2: Terrible call centre service
Qantas isn’t the only airline that has struggled to keep up with the volume of calls coming into its call centre during the pandemic. Recently, Finnair and British Airways even apologised to customers for recent customer service issues and promised to do better.
But the ongoing problems with the Qantas call centre pre-date the pandemic, and in recent times, the Qantas call centre has become one of the worst in the world. The “service” from the Qantas call centre has become so bad that customers are now routinely waiting hours on hold, only for their calls to be disconnected or to speak to somebody who can’t actually help.
To be clear, the Qantas call centre staff in Australia and New Zealand are generally excellent. They’re knowledgeable and provide great customer service. Unfortunately, there aren’t nearly enough of them!
These days, most Qantas customers are instead having their calls routed to one of Qantas’ outsourced call centres operated by Mindpearl in either Cape Town or the newly opened location in Suva. Sadly, many of the staff at these call centres seem to be poorly trained and unable to competently assist with even basic requests. The level of service (not) being provided by these call centres is downright embarrassing, and it’s hugely damaging to Qantas’ premium brand.
For example, one AFF member recently had to call Qantas five times and spent four hours talking to an operator at one of the overseas call centres, just to upgrade a domestic flight using frequent flyer points. This should have been processed on the first call, and shouldn’t have taken more than a couple of minutes!
The wages overseas may be lower than in Australia, but surely it is costing Qantas more overall when customers have to spend so long on the phone and call five times about the same issue? (Not to mention the shockingly poor customer experience.)
Another AFF member recently posted this in the Qantas Call Centre Long Wait Times thread after dealing with Qantas’ South African call centre:
Just got off the phone after 2hours 30mins exactly to make changes on 1 PNR. The person I was talking to had no clue what she was doing and kept putting me on hold but surprisingly she never hanged up the phone. She kept saying she couldn’t see the seats available but I was 100% certain it’s not a phantom award. After 2 hours, she agrees to put her team leader on and this team leader was RUDE A F. Anyway, they were able to find the seats and she said she requested it and submitted it to ticketing.. I don’t even think she did it. I tried to ask her to push the ticketing through but she said no. She asked if there was anything else they can do for me which I replied yes, I have to make another change on another PNR. She straight away replied, telling me that I have to call the reservations line again. I told her what, I have never heard of this before. She goes “yup, because you want to make another change on a different PNR you have to call back. Thank you, good bye” and hangs up on me. But she didnt hang up and put me on hold instead for another 5mins, then I hear noises and then the line disconnects.
This is complete rubbish from the Qantas Centre, they really need to monitor their staff and this is coming from a Team Leader…
– Ktan89, 1 February 2022
Sometimes, both issues are even combined – like the time the Qantas call centre hung up on a Platinum member who called to ask why their refund was taking so long…
If you have a choice of airlines, vote with your feet!
On some routes, it’s true that there isn’t much choice of airlines. If you want to fly for Moree, for example – or directly from Australia to South Africa – Qantas is your only option. But for many journeys, you do have a genuine choice of airlines.
After multiple bad experiences, many airline customers do indeed vote with their feet. But everyone has a different threshold of what they’re willing to put up with before any goodwill is lost.
Ultimately, frequent flyers with a high status tier are the least likely to switch to another airline after a bad experience.
Frequent flyer programs are very good at keeping customers loyal to the airline, even if the airline isn’t loyal back. You may be annoyed after receiving terrible customer service, you may feel your airline has treated you unfairly, and another airline might even have a cheaper flight at a better time when you book your next trip… but if you’re a Platinum frequent flyer, you’ll probably still choose your main airline so you can earn some points and use the lounge.
This phenomenon is known as “golden handcuffs”, where frequent flyers are so invested with the perks afforded by their elite status that they simply won’t consider other airlines, no matter what.
Breaking free from the golden handcuffs
You need to ask yourself: is it really worth booking with an airline that doesn’t answer your phone calls? Is it worth collecting points with a frequent flyer program that makes it difficult to actually book the reward flight you want? And do you want to risk booking with an airline that won’t refund your money, even if they cancel your flight?
Just because you’ve flown with the same airline for years, doesn’t mean you have to submit to “Stockholm syndrome” and keep putting up with bad service!
Even if you end up booking with an airline that doesn’t have a frequent flyer program or fancy lounges, such as Rex, you may be better off overall. The onboard service on Rex is pretty good, their airfares are competitive and they have a solid COVID Refund Guarantee.
If customers keep booking flights with airlines that treat them with contempt, the airline’s management will continue to ignore the major problems facing customers and nothing will change. Sadly, it will probably take more people like the AFF member who cancelled $350,000 worth of Qantas Business Class flights after waiting 71 hours on hold before anything actually improves.
If you currently have status with one airline and do want to make the switch, keep in mind that some airlines may even offer you a status match or challenge to make the transition easier.
You can leave a comment or discuss this topic on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.
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