Is there still a Premium Desk or has it been "enhanced" ?

[equus]

Suspect it might still be around. As an SG, had a call from "Qantas Premium" on the weekend, trying to see if I wanted to change a flight. Dash8 flight, and 1 flight attendant called in sick - so was going to be load limited, and looking to move people. When I said I was already at the airport (early, no check in agents yet open at ABX), was told no problem, the flight would probably be going, and being there early meant I wouldn't have an issue.

When check in opened (well shortly after), went to put the bag in, and the other desk had someone trying to get on the flight on Staff travel - was being told flight was limited to 36pax, and more than that booked, so was going to be on the next flight. He was not happy. Coming boarding time, he is first on - travelling in the jump seat on the old Dash8-300.

 

[MrJetset]

As an SG, had a call from "Qantas Premium" on the weekend, trying to see if I wanted to change a flight.

Wrong. Qantas Premium doesn't exist on weekends. In fact, QFLink do delay and cancellation notification themselves, IME far superior to mainline because they call you!

 

[njba]

My call was answered with "Qantas premium" but the experience was anything but. Where do they find these angry bureaucratic and unhelpful people?

 

[equus]

Wrong. Qantas Premium doesn't exist on weekends!

I did say "Qantas Premium" in quotes - that was what the person who called me said they were. I have no way of knowing why they label themselves that, but noted it at the time, because it seemed strange that they would be contacting an SG.

 

[jpk]

(they tried to tell my my flex ticket could only be change twice online which was by design and that any more changes would attract the call centre service fee - took 40mins of standoff to get them to back down)

I had a similar experience last week - was told a flexy can only be changed once online (I had quite a few last year that I changed heaps of times) and that I had to pay $40 for her to change it, even though I could not do it online. My response of "that doesn't sound very flexible then" resulted in the fee being waived, but the tone was very much one of doing me a one-off favour and don't ever expect it again. I wasn't impressed.

 

[bmcc]

I've had calls answered as "Qantas Premium" on weekends. I think they have trained agents to say it when answering WP or higher.

The last few months I have received woeful service. Not a single international award has ticketed correctly because of human error.

Regrettably, I've shared your experience over the last ~6 weeks.

In the years prior, (mostly just as SG), calls have gone through very quickly and been dealt with professionally.

My experience trying to book a fairly simple award (Zone 10 F, 192k) has been a nightmare. It took 6 separate calls, each accompanied by between a 10 and 20 minute hold time, before I finally received a ticket. The reasons were, variously, that the Emirates "system" had changed which made mixed QF/EK itineraries difficult to ticket; that there was no availability (until the agent checked on a "backup" system which revealed availability aplenty; agent attempted to charge my card as a Visa instead of an AMEX; delays with taxes from the HK ticketing office....the list goes on!

A very disappointing experience and one that I hope is not soon repeated.

 

[Brisbane Flyer]

Called the Platinum number yesterday, got the Qantas Premium greeting, then got excellent service, I requested a J award seat for end of November, LAX-BNE...took 5 mins to get a positive answer + go thru the credit card transaction.

Cheers
BF

 

[travs]

100% anecdotal info: I was curious where my last Qantas call was routed, so I asked the agent a few weeks back. According to him (16 year QF call center vet) things have been in flux w/ call centers recently. He wasn't a QF premium rep; just the next guy up. They supposedly put the status calls in faster queues, but have been load balancing between BNE/HBA/NZ call centers. It seems like the first priority is to keep status members from waiting, rather than routing them to a specific desk.

That said, he was great and extremely helpful.

 

[JohnK]

Called Platinum number from Chiang Mai on Saturday. Not sure premium desk works on weekends but call was answered relatively quickly.

 

[infinity]

Intersting that Red Roo has not participated in this thread???

Red are you able to comment!

 

[Lendav Orav]

I worked for QF early 2000's in BNE call centre and even then, as general res not a specific premium team, we would take WP calls and answer them as "Qantas priority" (NB "priority", not "premium"). They just got routed to the front on the queue. Took WP calls all the time in fact!

 

[Awesom Andy]

I suppose the question is, would we prefer to be answered by the first available operator anywhere (ahead of other calls), or be put on hold for a period of time, however long it might be just to reach a dedicated premium desk?

 

[marki]

I suppose the question is, would we prefer to be answered by the first available operator anywhere (ahead of other calls), or be put on hold for a period of time, however long it might be just to reach a dedicated premium desk?

It might be a desk located in the imaginary minds of premium customers ( all fictitious)

 

[turtlemichael]

Intersting that Red Roo has not participated in this thread???

Red are you able to comment!

I'd interpret Red Roo's silence one way. If this is commercially sensitive anything is commercially sensitive.

 

[Pushka]

Red Roo hasnt been visible in any thread for a while.

 

[Red Roo]

I'd interpret Red Roo's silence one way. If this is commercially sensitive anything is commercially sensitive.

I interpret your comment as factual. Any company's policies, procedures and strategies would be considered commercially sensitive. :shock:

Red Roo hasnt been visible in any thread for a while.

I'm actively listening...

 

[junbugging]

Red Roo hasnt been visible in any thread for a while.

Attempting to answer each and every "Hey Red Roo" no matter how trivial or unjustified would quickly render any social media engagement entirely ineffective. As Etihad quite magnificently demonstrated on FlyerTalk for a sustained period of time.

 

[penegal]

You don't have to be a genius to work out that QANTAS is trying to minimise their "cost to service" customers out of the air (this means call centre, frequent flyer, customer care, etc and pushing as many interactions as possible through as "self service via the online channel"). QF would be irresponsible to their shareholders if this wasn't the case. Every company on the planet is doing this so it's nothing new. I don't really have enough experience of the "premium desk", but based on previous press releases QF has indicated a desire to amalgamate call centres and best deploy headcount to deliver adequate service at the lowest cost. No doubt there is some kind of continuing program for call centres, which may or may not involve a "virtual" premium desk achieved by specific IVR routing.

FWIW, most inquires can be managed via the website, so I actually only call QF a handful of times per year. In each case it is because I can't transact online (e.g. not a website feature, or an issue or request which can't be handled online).

Call centres are a classic "80/20 rule":
* 80% of the work can be done with 20% of the knowledge
* 80% of the cost comes from 20% of your interactions / customers

Most smart companies manage them as such...

---

My most recent interaction was a complex booking issue that required a manual review of the PNR and a manual fix on the eTicket. No way this could happen online.

Wait time was minimal - 30 seconds.
Answer was "Qantas Premium"
AHT was about 25 minutes as the issue was complex, and required support or team leader assistance.
FCR was successful (problem was resolved satisfactorily on the first call).
Agent said she had been with QF 15 years and had never dealt with this problem before.
Service was perfect. Couldn't fault her, and she learnt how to do something new (Hopefully she never has to do it again, but now she knows if she has to).


Aside - My FFN dropped out of the PNR, but I think I have now been able to add it back in online. I will keep an eye on this booking as the PNR must be several hundred lines long now, and things tend to go haywire with long PNRs.

 

[MrJetset]

FWIW, most inquires can be managed via the website

Depends on the definition of 'most.' Complex itineraries, cities not populating in the drop down boxes, awards not ticketing correctly, awards requiring cc to be verified at the 'local office' all require speaking to an agent and have been 100% of my calls to QF this year.

In addition, once a booking is changed online it cannot be changed again online.

 

[kimnkk]

Aside - My FFN dropped out of the PNR, but I think I have now been able to add it back in online. I will keep an eye on this booking as the PNR must be several hundred lines long now, and things tend to go haywire with long PNRs.

Ooh last 2 times i called up to make amendments to 2x280k RTW ticket, they took over 30 minutes on hold to ticket the change.

The time i didn't ask them to ticket immediately, it didn't go through after waiting for 3 days so i had to call them and they said something was holding it up. Both times they said the it was so long and messy that it is difficult to ticket, but wouldn't elaborate why it was difficult to ticket.

Now i have to call up to make another amendment, dreading it!