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

 

[PeterA]

John Cleese would have a ball with this one. A new Fawlty Towers series, but we need a new title...

 

[MARTINE]

John Cleese would have a ball with this one. A new Fawlty Towers series, but we need a new title...

‘Misery’ 2.0 (vale James Caan)

 

[robinsparkles]

Anyone having issue with the Qantas call center system this morning?
So far I got,
- 3 successful call that connected (but not to Hobart)
- two messages "your account has been locked"
- one "wrong pin"
- one " I didn't find that number" (qff)
- one call that dropped during ring time
- 3 calls with "welcome to Qantas" and that's it
- one dropped call during the "maybe recorded for training ... purpose" message
- One call where the SA agent couldn't hear me, which leaded to a call back within minute from that agent.
The last one makes me feel something is really wrong

Of the 30+ times I've called recently I always got the "your account is locked" message. It did nothing though.

 

[Inuniform]

I’ve been trying to amend an award booking for a few days now. Short call waiting times are somewhat helpful, especially considering my last time seeking assistance we were experiencing wait times of 5+ hours. I guess my request was somewhat complicated, needing to check availability for new award flights before cancel existing flights. I checked availability online before calling, however the availability I see does not always match up to whatever a CSR sees.

I phoned 5 times this morning. My experience ranged from being cut off, being put on hold to check availability for 45 minutes (I ended the call), being told there is no availability and finally having the issue resolved.

It sounded like most calls were from Cape Town call centre. My eventual saviour was from Manila and she was working from home. I could not help but laugh when our call disconnected approximately 5 minutes in, however she called back right away. She did concede that my multi sector changes is difficult and maybe that’s why others were having trouble and/ or disconnecting.

Anyway, initial frustration was extremely high although I am glad I persisted and found someone helpful.

 

[RooFlyer]

One call where the SA agent couldn't hear me, which leaded to a call back within minute from that agent.

I could not help but laugh when our call disconnected approximately 5 minutes in, however she called back right away.

So they (Cape Town + Manila) can call back quite readily (sometimes/when they want/dead lucky ...)! Interesting ...

 

[get me outta here]

Reddit comment, “ Qantas just booked my three year old onto a different flight to me (his Mum). Is there any end to their incompetency?
Currently on hold trying to fix this farce”.

 

[MARTINE]

Reddit comment, “ Qantas just booked my three year old onto a different flight to me (his Mum). Is there any end to their incompetency?
Currently on hold trying to fix this farce”.

She and her husband were featured on 9 today w Carl S. She explained they had been on hold to the call centre for 30 hours so many minutes and so many seconds.!!
Priceless advertising

 

[get me outta here]

What, and not hung up on after 6 hours on hold?!

She and her husband were featured on 9 today w Carl S. She explained they had been on hold to the call centre for 30 hours so many minutes and so many seconds.!!
Priceless advertising

 

[ellen10]

She and her husband were featured on 9 today w Carl S. She explained they had been on hold to the call centre for 30 hours so many minutes and so many seconds.!!
Priceless advertising

I also saw the interview.
They said that Qantas were quite unapologetic and have rebooked them all on new flights but couldn't get them on new flights until 12 days time, so they have to wait another 12 days in Rome before the return flight.

 

[sudoer]

so they have to wait another 12 days in Rome before the return flight.

I wonder if Qantas is paying for 12 nights of hotels and meals wouldn't be a terrible deal if you could work remotely...

 

[Jacques Vert]

What's happened to their travel insurance?

 

[MooTime]

As much as Qantas hasn't been match fit of late, this story sounds as dodgy as a coughtail in Bali.

30hours, tell'em they're dreamin'.

 

[Port Power]

As much as Qantas hasn't been match fit of late, this story sounds as dodgy as a coughtail in Bali.

30hours, tell'em they're dreamin'.

Exactly what I was about to post. No one would remain on hold that long! Perhaps they rang several times, totally 30 hours on hold over a few days of calling? That aside, customer relations was entirely missing. And how stupid and negligent to put a child on another flight!

 

[RAM]

As much as Qantas hasn't been match fit of late, this story sounds as dodgy as a coughtail in Bali.

30hours, tell'em they're dreamin'.

Perhaps a bit quick to jump to conclusions - this is a case of someone ringing Q while in Rome, not Australia. Having tried to ring Q in Europe in the late 2000s - I can tell you it was very expensive (& pointless) due to the extended periods in a queue - over 90 minutes was the quickest. After a number of fruitless calls, we gave up & contacted our travel insurance to find out exactly what we needed to do.

A datapoint - trying to call the '24 hour' customer service number for a major global hotel chain, with varying times automatically put on hold after being auto-answered - only to be told the line operates from 8am to 6pm - only problem it doesn't say what timezone. They operate hotels in the Pacific, Japan, Uk & Europe, North & South America.

Why am I on hold for up to 18 minutes for a service that is closed?

 

[TomVexille]

The article I read said 20 hours across 55 phone calls

 

[jrfsp]

Just rang up to get a date change on a very simple MEL-SIN-SYD booking (sadly wont let me do a date change online)
Good news - answered straight away (Fiji at a guess)
Bad news - spent 15mins on the phone while she figured out how to do a date change, gave up in the end, ill have to try another time.

 

[Pushka]

Excellent service just now on WP. However the news wasn't good. Jetstar (award Qantas booking) cancelled our return international flight. Of course Jetstar hadn't told us yet but Expert Flyer subscription told us the truth.

 

[antycbr]

Travel bookings are not for the faint hearted right now.

Qantas call centres answer the phone quickly but that’s where the competency ends.

I booked a Westjet classic reward for a domestic Canadian flight. WS have a ticketing time line of 24 hours so QF of course didn’t ticket it in time and the sectors dropped out.

Three phone calls including one as a result of a drop out, I am no further in progressing the booking. Each agent has a completely different story as to why the booking is broken, and wants to take completely different actions to resolve the issue.

The first agent didn’t understand anything so after an hour waiting for a supervisor I just hung up. The second agent reinstated the booking (win) which wasn’t a challenge as there was award availability. They then dropped out. The third call is still ongoing but they want to refund and reclaim my points (?) and I’ve told them that they must not charge my credit card again.

All of this is to work around a problem with a VA redemption on Air Canada where the two airlines are arguing - AC did a schedule change and reaccommodated us but VA can’t sort out the ticket so I am now flying AC three times between Toronto and Saskatoon on two different dates (where did the other date come from?) none of which are ticketed. VA app shows me having a stopover in Toronto after I’ve arrived in Saskatoon.
This makes low cost carriers with a simple business model seem very attractive…

 

[Andy72]

Had a scheduled change to an aa flight into a smaller airport in Colorado on an award booking, meaning no direct flights from LAX, and on the way in computer sent me to Aspen, about a 7 hour drive away from my original destination. 1st call answered quickly (SA), 1 hour mostly on hold, problem with ticketing and 14 hours in LAX and a midnight flight to Denver. Was told to expect a call in 15 min with the ticket number. Never came. Rang again the next morning, answered in Hobart, very helpful, redirected via DWF, managed in seconds to release appropriate matching award seats QF, tickets appeared whilst on the phone, and took about 13 min.
Recently WP, cannot believe the difference, and know understand the HUCA rationale.
I hope Qantas fixes the issue with the overseas call centres, it cannot be cheaper other than for the simplest issues because call times and multiple calls do add up, even before you look at the customer experience.

 

[antycbr]

Had a scheduled change to an aa flight into a smaller airport in Colorado on an award booking, meaning no direct flights from LAX, and on the way in computer sent me to Aspen, about a 7 hour drive away from my original destination. 1st call answered quickly (SA), 1 hour mostly on hold, problem with ticketing and 14 hours in LAX and a midnight flight to Denver. Was told to expect a call in 15 min with the ticket number. Never came. Rang again the next morning, answered in Hobart, very helpful, redirected via DWF, managed in seconds to release appropriate matching award seats QF, tickets appeared whilst on the phone, and took about 13 min.
Recently WP, cannot believe the difference, and know understand the HUCA rationale.
I hope Qantas fixes the issue with the overseas call centres, it cannot be cheaper other than for the simplest issues because call times and multiple calls do add up, even before you look at the customer experience.

You shouldn’t need to spend tens of thousands of dollars accruing status credits with QF and oneworld to receive competent service.