Qantas Call Centre Long Wait Times

My understanding (from unofficial sources) is that there is a pool of priority phone numbers that airport staff give to passengers which rotates every few weeks.

I will attempt to publish the currently active number(s) in this post:

1300 304 318
1300 659 161
1300 025 396
1300 659 116

1300 024 715
1300 025 390
1300 659 115
1300 659 134
1300 659 502

 

[Michaael]

Joyce is a dud and needs to be replaced, this kind of poor customer service will just continue I bet.

From start of covid to now I cant say there has been any improvement, if anything its just progressively got worse.

 

[smckay]

Joyce is a dud and needs to be replaced, this kind of poor customer service will just continue I bet.

From start of covid to now I cant say there has been any improvement, if anything its just progressively got worse.

I have to agree. It seems hard to accept that a CEO refuses to listen to the serious complaints being made against a business and not make major improvements.
For myself, they need to look after all the Joe Public flyers who fill the planes and make the services viable. Ostracising your main client base is not smart, especially when most people just want to get from A to B with little fuss.

 

[RAM]

I have to agree. It seems hard to accept that a CEO refuses to listen to the serious complaints being made against a business and not make major improvements.
For myself, they need to look after all the Joe Public flyers who fill the planes and make the services viable. Ostracising your main client base is not smart, especially when most people just want to get from A to B with little fuss.

I wonder, if Air NZ does improve their call centre/IT issues as promised, how the break-up of revenue fare traffic between Aust & NZ is going to be in 18 months to two years?

That could impact Q profits significantly.

 

[Michaael]

I have to agree. It seems hard to accept that a CEO refuses to listen to the serious complaints being made against a business and not make major improvements.
For myself, they need to look after all the Joe Public flyers who fill the planes and make the services viable. Ostracising your main client base is not smart, especially when most people just want to get from A to B with little fuss.

The people who make up the bulk of their earning are the people travelling at the back of the plane and probably have bronze/silver or no status.

Qantas isn't a premium cabin heavy airline - to which the international business generally loses money and the domestic business (and the frequent flyer business) carry's the rest of them. No one picks Qantas because their domestic business class is good (pro tip; its terrible / old / over priced) or for their lounges (again pro tip; having been in both QC and business domestic lounges they are always busy as hell and pretty average).

The Qantas terminal at Sydney airport again tired / boring / limited (expensive) food options - where as the Jetstar / Virgin / et al terminal has enormous variety.

To ignore those people, or make them wait in call ques for 4hours just wont fly and Virgin v2.0 seems to be proving to be not a half bad airline now. There's nothing "premium" about Qantas domestic economy - other than the price.

 

[smckay]

The people who make up the bulk of their earning are the people travelling at the back of the plane and probably have bronze/silver or no status.

Qantas isn't a premium cabin heavy airline - to which the international business generally loses money and the domestic business (and the frequent flyer business) carry's the rest of them. No one picks Qantas because their domestic business class is good (pro tip; its terrible / old / over priced) or for their lounges (again pro tip; having been in both QC and business domestic lounges they are always busy as hell and pretty average).

The Qantas terminal at Sydney airport again tired / boring / limited (expensive) food options - where as the Jetstar / Virgin / et al terminal has enormous variety.

To ignore those people, or make them wait in call ques for 4hours just wont fly and Virgin v2.0 seems to be proving to be not a half bad airline now. There's nothing "premium" about Qantas domestic economy - other than the price.

My thoughts exactly. The bulk of the people on the plane may not pay the most, but they are keeping that plane in the air. Maybe it's too radical a thought but if I were running an airline I'd make sure my bread and butter pax were happy and returning and get the high status folk the service they expect with decent service and facilities.
QF were near broke a while back according to the little bloke up front but suddenly they can stump up for lots of new planes whilst the domestic and international lounges are pretty rank. I pay for Qantas Club and seriously ask myself why when I get offered toasted sandwiches for breakfast and cheap nasty stir fry for dinner. That's a lot of money which could buy me better(?) food in the food court.
I prefer QF but I am starting to stray onto Skyteam websites to see what's doing.

 

[Michaael]

My thoughts exactly. The bulk of the people on the plane may not pay the most, but they are keeping that plane in the air. Maybe it's too radical a thought but if I were running an airline I'd make sure my bread and butter pax were happy and returning and get the high status folk the service they expect with decent service and facilities.
QF were near broke a while back according to the little bloke up front but suddenly they can stump up for lots of new planes whilst the domestic and international lounges are pretty rank. I pay for Qantas Club and seriously ask myself why when I get offered toasted sandwiches for breakfast and cheap nasty stir fry for dinner. That's a lot of money which could buy me better(?) food in the food court.
I prefer QF but I am starting to stray onto Skyteam websites to see what's doing.

If you get the service right for your bread and butter customers. Then the hard work is 80% done for your premium customers.

At the moment qantas cant satisfy anyone with their service. I mean when qantas cancelled my international flight about 4 weeks ago and didnt offer anything to rectify the issue all I got was an email. The least they could have done was called me to tell me soz man cancelled your flight but here are the options we have available so you continue to fly with us.

 

[smckay]

If you get the service right for your bread and butter customers. Then the hard work is 80% done for your premium customers.

At the moment qantas cant satisfy anyone with their service. I mean when qantas cancelled my international flight about 4 weeks ago and didnt offer anything to rectify the issue all I got was an email. The least they could have done was called me to tell me soz man cancelled your flight but here are the options we have available so you continue to fly with us.

Same here. Cancelled SYD-HND but didn't call me after the promised 72 hours. Left HND-OSL open. I guess I could have got to Haneda somehow.....

 

[Michaael]

Same here. Cancelled SYD-HND but didn't call me after the promised 72 hours. Left HND-OSL open. I guess I could have got to Haneda somehow.....

Yep that's exactly the flight they canned on me.

I had a mid June Syd-Hnd, then a connecting flight on JAL from Hnd-London the next day.

 

[Pixiechick]

I wonder, if Air NZ does improve their call centre/IT issues as promised, how the break-up of revenue fare traffic between Aust & NZ is going to be in 18 months to two years?

That could impact Q profits significantly.

We are so looking forward to AirNZ non-stop to JFK starting September. Normally loyal to OW and QF, but service on board ANZ is great and if prices/ call centre are better experiences, I’d rather stop in AKL than lax or hou to get to the east coast for sure!

 

[justinbrett]

Called tonight (1945). 10 minute hold time.

Very thick Kiwi accent, so assume was NZ call centre.

Fantastic service and BA points booking changed (changed LHR-MUC return into an open jaw LHR-VIE//MUC-LHR - 2xJ).

 

[AstroBBoy]

Anyone want to work at the Hobart call centre

Customer Service Consultant - Contact Centre Job in Hobart TAS - SEEK

As a Customer Service Consultant, you will be providing excellent customer service and technical expertise to customers within the Qantas Group.

www.seek.com.au

 

[dylarr]

Anyone want to work at the Hobart call centre

Customer Service Consultant - Contact Centre Job in Hobart TAS - SEEK

As a Customer Service Consultant, you will be providing excellent customer service and technical expertise to customers within the Qantas Group.

www.seek.com.au

This is the first role I've seen advertised for the HBA call centre in ages.

 

[justinbrett]

It looks like Qantas customer service is back on twitter.

 

[dylarr]

Day of week	Tue 17 May
Time of call	7:00am AEST
Number used	13 13 13
Status	Platinum
Hold time	5 mins
Call Centre (if known)	Hobart
Matter resolved	Yes, but not by the call centre
Details	7:05am SYD-BXG flight was cancelled this morning at the last minute (notified at 4:30am) which was the return sector on a classic reward booking. Was automatically rebooked on next flight which is this evening but not suitable. BXG is not that far from MEL so called up to see if it was possible to reroute to MEL this morning instead. Agent seemed a bit curt about the request, initially saying she'd need to speak to somebody to do that as there was no reward availability but then quickly changed her mind and said all she could do was change the date on the cancelled return sector on the original booking to use it another time and purchase a seat on a new booking. Went to airport instead and immediately rebooked on next SYD-MEL (Y3) no problems at all.

 

[jpp42]

Went to airport instead and immediately rebooked on next SYD-MEL (Y3) no problems at all.

Who did that for you when there's no service desk at the airports anymore? The lounge customer service?

 

[jpp42]

Anyone want to work at the Hobart call centre

Customer Service Consultant - Contact Centre Job in Hobart TAS - SEEK

As a Customer Service Consultant, you will be providing excellent customer service and technical expertise to customers within the Qantas Group.

www.seek.com.au

• We’re often asked to achieve the impossible, but we boldly take on the challenge knowing we’re not alone. When we work together, we accomplish more than we could’ve ever imagined.

*choke* *cough*

But it does have this tidbit:

This is an exciting time to join the business while we review our Global Contact Centre network.

You could read a bit into this if you wanted.

 

[robinsparkles]

I've asked for a supervisor on a call to Cape Town and been told they are in a meeting and there isn't even a colleague who could review the agents proposal before I paid over the phone. I told her I just wanted another set of eyes to confirm what she was doing...and of course it ended up being wrong and corrected on a subsequent call to Fiji.

 

[dylarr]

Who did that for you when there's no service desk at the airports anymore? The lounge customer service?

Agent at the check in counter. Given that the booking was already ticketed, I think the system used by check-in agents at the airports (Altea) can process these types of changes for passengers on day-of especially when it comes to disruption handling.

Would have been a different story if there was a ticket issue.

 

[r21111]

Day of week	Tue 17 May
Time of call	11:33am AEST 5 minutes 11:45am AEST 11 minutes 11:52am AEST 22 minutes (not all calls listed today)
Number used	1300 659 116
Status	Bronze QC
Hold time	Up to 30 minutes
Call Centre (if known)	Capetown
Matter resolved	No
Details	Original direct flight ADL-OOL cancelled (classic reward booked several months ago) QF Suggested change to in email: ADL-CBR-MEL-OOL (not accepted) I suggested ADL-SYD-OOL which has been updated online (along with the original cancelled flight and ADL-CBR-MEL-OOL also still showing-total of 6 flights now showing on the booking) but have been unable to get a ticket. Call keeps dropping out. Have called 2-3 times over past 2 weeks and been promised a call back once approval received. They say otherwise unable to rebook as there are no longer any classic reward seats available. Agent today mentioned call centre having issues with calls dropping out and took number with promise to call back if it drops out (it dropped out while they were checking with a supervisor but they never called back).

Last edite

 

[RooFlyer]

Day of week Mon 25 May

Time of call 3:15pm AEST

Number used 13 1211

Status Platinum

Hold time 15 mins

Call Centre (if known) Hobart

Matter resolved Yes

Details Received e-mails saying 2 flights had changed - different bookings, but both HBA-ADL direct. E-mail said new flight was (just) MEL-ADL. Called the Plat line and agent told me that actually, the replacement flights were HBA-MEL, MEL-ADL both times - just not shown on th e-mail . Agent helpfully found more convenient flights for me on both days and on the second, which was originally points HBA-ADL in whY (no J cabin) said do I want to upgrade, now that J cabins available? Yes, please! Tickets received 5 mins later.

I regard 15 mins as a long wait time for Plat - I feel so sorry for those non Plat who have to suffer the indignities recounted above, page after page. Its utterly disgraceful - Qantas treats its customers with contempt.