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

 

[MJHoops]

I did not get a call back at all - I know, can you believe it?

7am call to “1300 659 116” which has a message saying thanks for calling about a flight change
Rings straight away answered in under 2 mins
CPT agent - Chuma
I tell her I’m calling about a Japan airlines schedule change
She begins “we emailed cathay on 4 June” … great start
I explain my prior conversations with Penelope and Yusrah as she claims to have no notes re JL flight at all. She does not get cc’d on other’s emails so cannot access them
She cannot call P or Y so she’s emailed them and I wait on hold aprox 15 mins to see if they are around () and she also tries her manager
She says Y replied to her email - the OW team have not responded to the request for new flights. It usually takes 24-48 hours. I’ve explained it’s now 6 business days since it was sent on Friday 24 June. She claims they are very busy etc with so many airlines (thanks I am sure you have knowledge of how busy an external team is and yet you tell me it’s usually 24-48 hours)
She asks if I want her supervisor to send another request. I figure they may as well.
Says I cannot be transferred to HBA. I’d have to ring up and try my luck

Called JL. Today’s agent helpfully (if accurate) said that such a request goes to JL headquarters who are (expectedly) not contactable by me by phone

I’ve resorted to the Stephanie Tully email and filled in a comment/complaint web form to JL, pointing out to QF it’s not my job as the customer to do all the leg work trying to get QF and JL as oneworld partners to fix this

 

[LadyC]

Can anyone tell me how long it normally gets to receive an email about a flight credit? I needed to cancel a booking and should get a flight credit- I cancelled it a week ago and still no email about the flight credit nor is the IT system recognising it if I put in the travel booking reference. Trying to avoid calling up if I can!

 

[dylarr]

Can anyone tell me how long it normally gets to receive an email about a flight credit? I needed to cancel a booking and should get a flight credit- I cancelled it a week ago and still no email about the flight credit nor is the IT system recognising it if I put in the travel booking reference. Trying to avoid calling up if I can!

Sounds like something is broken. When I've cancelled to a flight credit it usually takes no more than 10 minutes to get the e-mail and can use the booking reference to rebook almost immediately.

 

[ChrisMars]

Day of week	Wed
Time of call	10:40 AEST
Number used	13 12 11
Status	Platinum
Hold time	0 seconds !!!!!
Call Centre (if known)	Hobart !!!!
Matter resolved	Yes / No
Details	Just called to enquire about my last week award modification that hasn't been re-ticketed yet, Guys checked, all good, seating in the queue with ~1000 other in front, no blocker for re-ticketing, QF and BA award only so no risk to loose award, it's mostly EK and QR that are time sensitive so no need to escalate at this stage, if it hasn't happened by this time next week definitely call back and we will re-ticket over the phone. Really clear explanation from someone who knows his stuff. 3 min in total.

 

[RooFlyer]

@ChrisMars I wonder why the Hobart agent didn’t put the ticketing through there and then? Whenever I’ve had a delay in reticketing and asked Hobart , they’ve happily put it straight though, even if the flight is some time away. My thinking being ( Rightly or wrongly) that if there is the (inevitable) schedule change again, then it’s better to operate on a complete ticket rather than one that’s caught in the some middle ground. Especially award tickets of ANY kind.

 

[sudoer]

Day of week	Wed
Time of call	10:40 AEST
Number used	13 12 11
Status	Platinum
Hold time	0 seconds !!!!!
Call Centre (if known)	Hobart !!!!
Matter resolved	Yes / No
Details	Just called to enquire about my last week award modification that hasn't been re-ticketed yet, Guys checked, all good, seating in the queue with ~1000 other in front, no blocker for re-ticketing, QF and BA award only so no risk to loose award, it's mostly EK and QR that are time sensitive so no need to escalate at this stage, if it hasn't happened by this time next week definitely call back and we will re-ticket over the phone. Really clear explanation from someone who knows his stuff. 3 min in total.

Thanks for posting, I just called to follow up on this seating issue, also got HBA in <15 seconds who sorted the request within 2 min.

 

[ChrisMars]

@ChrisMars I wonder why the Hobart agent didn’t put the ticketing through there and then? Whenever I’ve had a delay in reticketing and asked Hobart , they’ve happily put it straight though, even if the flight is some time away. My thinking being ( Rightly or wrongly) that if there is the (inevitable) schedule change again, then it’s better to operate on a complete ticket rather than one that’s caught in the some middle ground. Especially award tickets of ANY kind.

Yea true, and in the past I had this request processed over the phone spontaneously, or after insisting if I felt unconfortable. I guess he based his decision on following process, and educating customers to remain patient when there is no reason to be concerned yet, thats fair for me.

 

[dylarr]

Yea true, and in the past I had this request processed over the phone spontaneously, or after insisting if I felt unconfortable. I guess he based his decision on following process, and educating customers to remain patient when there is no reason to be concerned yet, thats fair for me.

Ticketing is a different pay grade. Most ticketing is handled by automation if the booking has been set up correctly. I find Hobart/Auckland excellent at identifying errors and fixing them so that the ticket will issue automatically when they send it off again. However if the issue is more complex they will still send to the manual queue for ticketing to action. If it's urgent, they'll reach out to ticketing and have it actioned on the spot.

 

[ChrisMars]

Ticketing is a different pay grade. Most ticketing is handled by automation if the booking has been set up correctly. I find Hobart/Auckland excellent at identifying errors and fixing them so that the ticket will issue automatically when they send it off again. However if the issue is more complex they will still send to the manual queue for ticketing to action. If it's urgent, they'll reach out to ticketing and have it actioned on the spot.

In this instance, the guy mentioned it was in a manual process queue. But he did check all was good, I guess from a tax/points perspective, timing and airline involved.

 

[Ade]

Day of week	Thurs
Time of call	2123 AEST (Canberra time)
Number used	13 12 11
Status	Platinum
Hold time	~4 mins
Call Centre (if known)	South Africa (going off accent)
Matter resolved	No
Details	Called up to request 1x Y seat CBR-MEl one way on 02 Jul 2022. The agent on the phone, to my knowledge, didn't really know what I wanted. Took me a while to explain to him what I needed and after hearing what I wanted, he asked me to confirm my full name & FF number ... anyways, after confirming that it was indeed me, he went on to put me on hold for over 20 minutes before he came back and said that no Y seats were available and only J seats are available. I'm booking this for a dear friend, who is going thru some stuff ... so, anyways, after a bit of call hold, he said the he had submitted a request for a J seat to be released and it will take up to 48 hours before I can get a confirmation if I got the seat or not ... I'm not going to lie, this is new to me. ... IME so far, I have always had my requests approved instantly and tickets issued within 30 minutes of getting of the phone. I can see that the booking in my QF app, with status as "requested". This dear friend needs to be in MEL by 02/07, so I'm also on hold with VA to see if I can get him a seat. Also booked a car as a backup to drive from CBR to MEL. Also trying to get a seat on Rex. Will update this thread as we go.

Update to this request : I got an email Friday morning that there is an update to my reward seat request and I need to call 13 13 13 to discuss further. I called the number, took at least 20 mins to speak to someone. South Africa, going off the accent. The agent on the phone did not understand why I was calling her. I told her that I had requested a reward seat to be released and I got an email re this.

She asked me to confirm my first, last name, DoB and FF number. Not sure why, but to get things moving, I confirmed. She then said she is going to look into my profile and came back and said "hey there is no bookings in your profile. do you want to make a booking?"

I took a deep breath, collected myself and said no and explained once again why I had called. She then put me on hold for a few mins, came back and asked for the booking reference. I provided it and she said that there is no flights inside this reference. I took that as my cue that the request was denied/not processed.

Anyways, I thanked her for her time and dropped the call. I did do the survey after call and gave her a 3

 

[Franky]

Thanks for posting, I just called to follow up on this seating issue, also got HBA in <15 seconds who sorted the request within 2 min.

Wish it was like that yesterday. Wife has WP status. Made a booking around 0930 yesterday morning for a SYD-PER flight with a 1950 departure last night. The booking appeared in my QF account immediately, but the eticket did not come. From then on, we did the rounds of the kitchen and were diverted to every QF call centre on the planet, who all promised to hasten the ticket, and call back. Still waiting. Was about to bite the bullet and go the the airport anyway, when the ticket finally came thru around 1630. After that, we had 4 follow up calls from 4 different people asking how things were going! Then there was the flight, but I wont go on about that right now….

 

[Ade]

Have any WP/P1s had recent experience calling on behalf of a lower tier friend to seek assistance with basic itinerary changes/etc? This is an option available to me, if feasible.

Yes, I have helped a few of my friends by calling on their behalf to get things sorted. For ease, I keep my friend on the line and then conference in the QF CC number.

 

[Franky]

Yes, I have helped a few of my friends by calling on their behalf to get things sorted. For ease, I keep my friend on the line and then conference in the QF CC number.

After what was happening to us 2 days ago, even calling the Hobart land line resulted in it being immediately diverted to one of the offshore call centres. They really have to bring this part of the business back onshore.

 

[Ade]

even calling the Hobart land line resulted in it being immediately diverted to one of the offshore call centres.

If I may ask, what was the issue you were facing? Apologies if you had mentioned this already. If yes, kindly point me towards the post pls.

 

[Franky]

If I may ask, what was the issue you were facing? Apologies if you had mentioned this already. If yes, kindly point me towards the post pls.

See my post #2591 just above your previous post…

 

[TahoeSkier]

Should offshore CC staff be able to reticket instantly after a small change to a very simple 2-leg QF-metal itinerary, or do all changes push to a further step for approval/reticketing?

Might try my luck with the CC today, and keen to know whether I can request/insist on reticketing while I'm on the phone to avoid some of the issues people have experienced!

 

[Ade]

See my post #2591 just above your previous post…

Saw your post. Re : the delay in issuing tickets - I'm not sure if calling as WP would have improved it ? I tried booking a $ ticket for a mate's family of 4. Couldn't book it online, kept getting the "generic error" page. Called up CC as WP and got the booking completed. My mate said that the e-tickets took overnight to reach him ...

 

[dylarr]

Should offshore CC staff be able to reticket instantly after a small change to a very simple 2-leg QF-metal itinerary, or do all changes push to a further step for approval/reticketing?

Might try my luck with the CC today, and keen to know whether I can request/insist on reticketing while I'm on the phone to avoid some of the issues people have experienced!

They can't directly issue tickets themselves. When they make changes to the booking they will send it off for ticketing. If the booking has been set up correctly, QF's automated processes will issue you with a ticket and this normally happens anywhere from instantly to up to a few hours. If it hasn't been set up correctly, it will go into the manual queue for the ticketing team to action.

If it is stuck in the manual queue and travel is soon or involves travel on partner airlines etc, you can ask them to escalate it to the ticketing team whilst you wait on the phone.

 

[Franky]

Saw your post. Re : the delay in issuing tickets - I'm not sure if calling as WP would have improved it ? I tried booking a $ ticket for a mate's family of 4. Couldn't book it online, kept getting the "generic error" page. Called up CC as WP and got the booking completed. My mate said that the e-tickets took overnight to reach him ...

Seriously? If calling the WP number wasnt going to improve things, what's the point of having a priority number? To explain my circumstances more fully, my wife devloped CV19 symptoms overnight Monday, and tested positive next morning. I had no symptoms, and we were due to return to Perth tomorrow Friday. So we made the decison that I would fly out Tuesday night whilst I was asymptomatic. Making the booking was easy, getting a ticket was like mating elephants. My wife(the WP in the family), has had her booking amended under the original booking reference to next Monday via Melbourne. But, same thing for her, no eticket yet, am hoping it will be generated tomorrow morning, else it will be another marathon phone call for her.

 

[pyffii]

Rang 131211 call answered by Hobart in 20 seconds and unblocked a family award booking made online one hour earlier and eticket was issued immediately....Had a nice chat with Katie who was brilliant and hung up after a few minutes a happy camper