It's Time To Address The Elephant.........oops !!.....The Kangaroo in the Room.

[Franky]

A few points
1) most FF members are not active QF customers in the traditional airline sense - they have just signed up to a frequent flyer program and likely not sat in a QF seat recently or only very occasionally.
2)Customer service issues are nothing new for any corporate entity. There will always be those who are/will be negatively affected.
3)QF appears to be very successful as an operating corporate entity, so any activism is unlikely to garner much traction
4)I am not sure where "countless" came from. You actually need measurable metrics- such as waiting times on phone.
5)Why do people believe marketing or advertising promoting nebulous concepts such as " I still call Australia home"?.
6) QF is not the only operating airline

Australian based call centres?
One question: how do you know that the person you talk to at a call centre is based in Australia?

I always ask...

Confirmation bias.
What answer would you have got if you rang 131313?

Probably the same, after a wait of several hours...

 

[Quickstatus]

after a wait of several hours

Yes and apologies for the gee up to Mr Bill. I could not pass up that opportunity

 

[Tropic]

think that we are experiencing that we can't have our cake and eat it too. Low travel costs (air fares etc.) with better travel products (food/beverage, more comfortable seats, in-flight experience etc.) and good customer service are mutually exclusive

Um not sure its that simplistic. QF is hardly pitching itself as a lcc. If you charge a premium price then people resonably expect to be provided a premium product. Problem is QF has currently inverted the value proposition. I would have no probs if QF wanted to offer a basic product with no customer service and charged accordingly. The prob is the growing gap between the promise (confected offering) and stone cold reality... Ultimately market forces will apply and punters will decide where they want to spend their money

 

[DC3]

Heres an example. Flying into and out of ROK next month, and not trusting the QF website that said the QF Club was open, I called ROK airport direct (not QF 131313). Spoke to a very friendly staff member (not QF) who initially said she didn't know anything about the QF Club and suggested that I call 131313. She was stunned and amazed when I explained that if I called that number I would probably be speaking to someone in either Cape Town or Suva. Asking me to hold she apparently found a QF "staffer" who told her that the lounge was currently closed but should be open for service towards the end of April. Local knowledge is everything!

“Should be open”? And that was from a local QF person. . Perhaps Fiji would know a bit more?

She was “stunned and amazed”. She actually said that? Anyway, maybe folks from Rocky don’t get around that much.

 

[dk4]

How about QF shareholders, both individual and corporate express their concerns at the next AGM.

As far as I can see, QAN is in absolute financial strife. They have sold off everything they could find buyers for, mortgaged what was left to the hilt: and still they can't pay their bills on time - how long are people waiting for legitimate refunds these days?

I think investors wouldn't even be contemplating a return for the foreseeable future, just fingers crossed their stocks keep some sort of value - and they certainly wouldn't be favourable to supporting costs increases which cripple the airline further. The QAN CEO and team are currently blowing enough hot air to appear to keep plane engines running, but I think, even the smell of their oily rag is evaporating fast.

At the end of the day, we live in a market economy, and IMO the best way to tell Qantas that you are unhappy with their service is - fly another airline!

 

[DC3]

At the end of the day, we live in a market economy, and IMO the best way to tell Qantas that you are unhappy with their service is - fly another airline!

Exactly. Just move on, if it’s to much to handle.

 

[Mr Bill]

As far as I can see, QAN is in absolute financial strife. They have sold off everything they could find buyers for, mortgaged what was left to the hilt: and still they can't pay their bills on time - how long are people waiting for legitimate refunds these days?

I think investors wouldn't even be contemplating a return for the foreseeable future, just fingers crossed their stocks keep some sort of value - and they certainly wouldn't be favourable to supporting costs increases which cripple the airline further. The QAN CEO and team are currently blowing enough hot air to appear to keep plane engines running, but I think, even the smell of their oily rag is evaporating fast.

At the end of the day, we live in a market economy, and IMO the best way to tell Qantas that you are unhappy with their service is - fly another airline!

Easy to say. Some communities in rural Australia don't have the luxury of choosing another airline. In many places iuts either Qantaslink or Rex. I hope you are not suggesting that the Bushies don't deserve a modicum of customer support.

 

[DC3]

QF is a publicly listed company. It has shareholders, and the shareholders are not into increasing the losses.

The Government may wish to subsidise the air travel-related matters of rural folks. Perhaps target your pollies rather than the airline.

 

[drron]

Easy to say. Some communities in rural Australia don't have the luxury of choosing another airline. In many places iuts either Qantaslink or Rex. I hope you are not suggesting that the Bushies don't deserve a modicum of customer support.

Though sometimes it is easier for them. At one stage I flew frequently to DPO. no choice it is QF. However being regular I got to know the crew on the Sunday night plane -all locals so loved the last flight of the day so they could sleep in their own beds -as well as the local QF manager. If it looked like a problem such as really heavy rain or fog I could ring her and things got sorted quickly even if it meant switching me to a flight out of LST.
It was obvious that the locals on the Monday morning flights knew her and the crew as well.

 

[RooFlyer]

One question: how do you know that the person you talk to at a call centre is based in Australia?

For me, its when they see I live in Tas and they ask what's the weather doing there,. because in Hobart its (cold/fine/hot/rainy...)

 

[NM]

Um not sure its that simplistic. QF is hardly pitching itself as a lcc. If you charge a premium price then people resonably expect to be provided a premium product. Problem is QF has currently inverted the value proposition. I would have no probs if QF wanted to offer a basic product with no customer service and charged accordingly.

They do ... its called Jetstar. The challenge QF seems to me to be that many people want to pay JQ fares and have a QF experience. Unfortunately, over time this has meant we are often paying QF fares and receiving JQ service.

The prob is the growing gap between the promise (confected offering) and stone cold reality... Ultimately market forces will apply and punters will decide where they want to spend their money

I think the market forces have already spoken, and we are now experiencing the outcome of the voice of the market forces at work. Unfortunately, I think the market forces speaking the loudest as the punters wanting to pay lower fares.

 

[vetrade]

I have never understood how the location of a call centre makes any difference to service quality.

Surely you jest, Quickstatus? It all comes down to training, competence and understanding the fare rules.
Sadly, the OS call centre staff are significantly lacking in all 3 of these, and that impacts service quality greatly.
The service quality provided by OS call centres is comprehensively below a minimally acceptable standard.

 

[vetrade]

I only use QF because we like the value of J OneWorld Awards using QF points. Outside of that we avoid QF like the plague and use Virgin for all our other flying. Virgin answers their phone promptly and they invariably get done whatever needs to be done without multiple calls and tens of hours on hold. Both airlines have been afflicted with the same problems to deal with but QF's customer service is abysmal in comparison

And another unacceptable QF problem greatly impacting service quality is the poor quality of its platform which has had issues for many years. If that had reasonable functionality and worked satisfactorily, passengers would be able to do many tasks themselves online that they now have to spend hours on the phone to do. Such a platform would probably reduce the workload of call centre staff by 30 - 50% in a matter of days.

 

[DC3]

… The challenge QF seems to me to be that many people want to pay JQ fares and have a QF experience …

There’s an expression that comes to mind: Champagne taste on a beer budget.

 

[vetrade]

I think the market forces have already spoken, and we are now experiencing the outcome of the voice of the market forces at work. Unfortunately, I think the market forces speaking the loudest as the punters wanting to pay lower fares.

I think what we are seeing to a significant degree is pent-up demand where people who virtually haven't been able to travel for over 2 years just want to get away anywhere for a holiday. Those people won't stay at home because the fare is $20 higher. But they also soon find out that to get a hire car at their destination might cost them $150 a day (often more than the airfare they paid), if they can find one; and accommodation costs have been rising too. And don't forget the buffoons in Govenment with their Covid restrictions.

Rather than market forces forcing down airfares, I think other non-airline factors are creating reticence amoung travellers and when an airline like QF makes you stay on hold for 3 - 5 hours those people may think bugger it I'll just drive to Portsea or Palm Beach for a break. And who was the "genius" at QF who came up with the strategy of unlimited fee-free changes which may have stimulated demand to a degree but also would have had such a disastrous impact on call centre wait times?

QF doesn't seem to have forward thinkers who can put together an efficient and cohesive package, but it desperately needs some.

 

[Tropic]

As I said before, I think its really about investment prioritisation - virtue marketing and other confection trumping investing in well trained customer focused staff and efficient systems. QF soft product was on the decline (subject to ongoing enhancement) since well before Covid. On the upside, with so much improvement required, things can only get better...

 

[Mr Bill]

Surely you jest, Quickstatus? It all comes down to training, competence and understanding the fare rules.
Sadly, the OS call centre staff are significantly lacking in all 3 of these, and that impacts service quality greatly.
The service quality provided by OS call centres is comprehensively below a minimally acceptable standard.

Well said

 

[Quickstatus]

Surely you jest, Quickstatus?

I would argue there is not much difference. Most people I would also argue assume that when the agent does not have an “ Australian accent” that agent is assumed to be from OS and immediately though to be inferior. I have had good and bad service from all call centres and I don’t think that local or OS makes much of a difference. It all comes down to training and whether the call centre also looks after other companies’ customers.

 

[Mr Bill]

I think what we are seeing to a significant degree is pent-up demand where people who virtually haven't been able to travel for over 2 years just want to get away anywhere for a holiday. Those people won't stay at home because the fare is $20 higher. But they also soon find out that to get a hire car at their destination might cost them $150 a day (often more than the airfare they paid), if they can find one; and accommodation costs have been rising too. And don't forget the buffoons in Govenment with their Covid restrictions.

Rather than market forces forcing down airfares, I think other non-airline factors are creating reticence amoung travellers and when an airline like QF makes you stay on hold for 3 - 5 hours those people may think bugger it I'll just drive to Portsea or Palm Beach for a break. And who was the "genius" at QF who came up with the strategy of unlimited fee-free changes which may have stimulated demand to a degree but also would have had such a disastrous impact on call centre wait times?

QF doesn't seem to have forward thinkers who can put together an efficient and cohesive package, but it desperately needs some.

I kind of agree with you, although I do appreciate the "unlimited" changes facility given the oft changing Government travel restrictions. I think its a feature that should continue once we are over this covid nonsense. However, one of the excuses QF uses when confronted with criticism of call centre wait times is that you should use the online facility first. There is the problem. From personal experience I have not been able to utilize flight credits online because :
a. I receive a message saying that this credit can not be used online...... contact customer services.
b. Multiple flight credits can not be used to make a single flight booking..... contact customer services.
c. I have had confirmed flight credits, not showing in my booking record...... contact customer services
Why make things easy when you can make them harder?

 

[Anna]

I have had confirmed flight credits, not showing in my booking record...... contact customer services

Me too. Then when I got through after trying for 4+ hours over 2 days, it took the QF rep over 30 mins while consulting 2 other 'teams' to be able to fix the issue, including her being put on hold by those other teams because they were having to do something manually that they told her they ought to be able to do easily

And this only happened because when I got caught in QLD on a day when Nicola Spurrier decided she was suddenly going to slam SA's border shut, QF said their T&Cs meant I couldn't reschedule my red edeal flight for earlier on the same day but I could cancel it for a credit voucher (makes total sense, no? ) and could make a new booking for the earlier flight. Entirely a problem caused by QF's own inflexibility.

None of it makes me want to give more money to QF right now, DSCs or no DSCs.