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:
Interesting idea but likely totally impossible to enforce.
What if the only A380 maintenance capability was o/s? At a contractor? How do you apply Australian law to them?
Baggage handlers at every foreign airport; check in agents; they’re not QF employees as they’re contractors, so how would you apply AUS law to them?
Same, same with IT staff and call centre staff unfortunately.
Agree completely, although it was once said, by everyone, that it would be impossible to apply Australian GST to small value goods personally ordered from overseas, yet today, GST is collected on a 99c widget ordered from Aliexpress in China.
If we grew the political will, we would find the practical way, but given that the Australian public would benefit rather than a taxation windfall to government, I agree.
I do feel sorry for those who aren’t able to change their flights online. Personally I’ve never had that issue occur to me apart from once when I booked using Expedia and had to call them
I don’t gamble and buy lottery tickets so that’s probably why…- it just works for me and I’m probably up there with you in terms of booking numbers as I manage logistics of other travellers too. I guess anyones personal experience can dictate your opinon but that doesn’t mean you can’t understand other peoples point of view
I’m not doing anything super complicated with our changes (just dates / routes) and mostly domestic. I understand some people seem to be struggling with managing their own online bookings though and genuinely interested and surprised to hear when it happens.
One thing I have found is using QBR is sometimes easier for some people for some reason if you have access.
Have experienced similar issues with Qantas call centre. We had two separate bookings to the UK. My original booking had my name misspelt so correcting that required a new booking reference which was done incorrectly and therefore did not ticket. Multiple changes followed, each requiring us to call. Couldnt be accepted online. Every time it took at least 2 hours to get through. Cape Town people did not know how to resolve any issues, and we got cut off numerous times, particularly when waiting to be put through to ticketing. If my partner hadnt emailed Alan Joyce directly, we would not have got our final tickets. We made it, but only because the email triggered a response from a wonderful person in NZ who knew how to fix things.
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So seems there are two main issues here, and of course are related:
1. Long call wait times for majority of callers
2. some agents are either incompetent (apologies.. "need further training / mentoring") and/or not empowered to resolve issues.
The fact that #2 seems to be a real issue for many, specially in foreign call centers (I have never had any problems with the staff in HBA, and BNE before that) that clearly feeds back to #1 - if issues are not resolved properly or further problems are caused, that requires re-calling and thus extra pressure on call wait times.
And of course, the technical issues that also contribute to a need to call, as discussed, also add pressure.
So is QF going to invest more in training of their call centre staff as well as progressing the promised technical updates? If these two aspects were improved I am sure this would reduce the need to call and thus wait times...
The problem is when QF starts to make invol changes to your flights which has happened a lot of late. Subsequent attempts to change dates result in errors like this ("The fare option is not defined in the database" and other such errors):
Or a greyed out 'Change' button in MMB:
Many of my bookings are in this state at the moment, and will require a call to fix. If these types of IT issues didn't exist it would have eliminated 90% of my calls to Qantas over the last few months.
Agree, this tends to happen with flight credits and other vouchers. I think the online system can't handle all the changes to the PNRs and gets confused (very technical term there). Either way it causes angst.
Not always.. I have had such bookings with changes by QF made allow online changes, but some do get bent out of shape for whatever reasons and there's no joy online to change
OR they get in a state that online tools just can't figure out, or won't allow, sensible changes. For example I had a MEL-ADL-MEL flight that got nuked about 3 times and pushed forward a month or so each time. The last time it happened before I gave up and pulled the plug, the whole thing was twisted such that the return flight wound up being rebooked to a date BEFORE the departure date (the logic that allowed this is baffling, but let's just put that to one side). So when I tried to change that ADL-MEL flight to be after the rebooked MEL-ADL, there was imply no options the online system would alllow. I guess because segment 2 was now before segment 1, and the whole thing fell in a heap (so of course the fault was in the auto rebooking that did not check for this in the first place). So I simply could not do anything with it online... and that's when I gave up and got a refund to TP.
However other bookings have been just fine in terms of changes online.. so it's a bit of hit and miss.
I gave up flying Qantas after lodging a complaint regarding a Business Class flight and then waiting for a reply. In the meantime I was successively busted from Plat -> Gold -> Silver. Finally got a call from Qantas asking if there was a reason I hadn't been flying with them. I reiterated the complaint and was promised a "speedy" resolution. In the meantime, busted to Bronze. The Bronze downgrade happened 5 years ago. Since then the ONLY way I, my family or my employees, will fly Qantas is if the airfare is both cheaper and more convenient. Hasn't happened yet.
Folks, just wanted to know, is there a specific time if I call , my chances are higher? In the morning I called and got the option of call back. After waiting for around 2 hours, got a call and then was put on hold. Then the call dropped off.
When I called 13 13 13 again, this time no call back option. The call continuing for more than an hour now.
When do they give you the call back option ?
Is there an alternative number to be able to connect to the call centre?
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 134 502 (confirmed to be active on 10 Dec 2021) 1300 659 134
1300 304 318
Thank you so much for posting the no. I got through in about 5 mins yesterday & the staff at the Hobart call centre made the changes for me right away.
Folks, just wanted to know, is there a specific time if I call , my chances are higher? In the morning I called and got the option of call back. After waiting for around 2 hours, got a call and then was put on hold. Then the call dropped off.
When I called 13 13 13 again, this time no call back option. The call continuing for more than an hour now
When do they give you the call back option ?
Is there an alternative number to be able to connect to the call centre?
But for some browsers - when you click the next page button - they do not show the top part of the page but place the first 'next' post at the top of the page.
So if you don't know, then you miss what's above....
Here's an idea which I have taken to my Federal member:
If you employ someone from overseas in your business in Australia you are required to comply with all Australian employment laws, naturally! Including paying the award wage.
So, why should a business be able to provide the same service to the same customers but bypass Australian law by employing staff overseas?
What if it was law that pay for workers working for an Australian company providing services to Australian customers had to be the same wherever in the world that job was being done?
I wonder how quickly Qantas, Telstra, Foxtel etc would close those overseas call centres and employ Australians?
Not reasonable. We trade with other countries in services and goods, and have a huge trade surplus thanks to iron ore, coal and agriculture among others.
With Australia suffering labour shortages, it's good that we give employment to many in other countries who also need gainful employment.
Post automatically merged:
This is in 'Herald Sun' this morning: (it was a survey about 'best' and 'worst' sectors for resolving consumer/shopper complaints):
"...Private transport, like airlines, didn’t rate at all on the list of best industries.
Australian mother-of-two Kelly Fogarty, an event director at London’s SoHo Theatre, spent 19 hours trying to reach someone at Qantas.
Australians Kelly and Luke Fogarty and their daughters Emmy, 15 and Belle, 14, reunited in Melbourne after she flew home from London 674 days later after Covid-19 lockdowns. Picture: Supplied, Courtesy of Kelly Fogarty
She chronicled her excruciating back and forth in an epic Twitter thread that has gone viral, with celebrities including author Neil Gaiman calling on Qantas to “take this seriously”.
For almost a month, Ms Fogarty had been trying to confirm a booking for her two teenage daughters, Belle, 14 and Emmy, 15, flying as unaccompanied minors from London to Melbourne on Wednesday, December 15.
“I’ve had half/half good/bad reservations reps – 3 reduced me to tears w patronising tone & lack of kindness. It’s the cut-offs, lack of call backs, of any response or sorted after 19hrs of calls + emails, feedback forms,” she said on Twitter.
Her issue was quickly resolved soon after Qantas was contacted by News Corp for comment. A Qantas spokeswoman said the government’s continual border closures and openings, without warning, drove “huge spikes” in calls. In the past week alone, the company saw a spike of of more than 50 per cent following the Queensland border opening, news of Omicron, and changes to travel restrictions.
Police check the permissions of passengers from QF526 arriving from Sydney. Photo Steve Pohlner.
“These wait times are not acceptable, and we apologise to customers who have waited so long to get through to us,” the spokeswoman said.
“While it was great that international flying came back early, it meant our plan to have agents trained and ready to go was disrupted. We didn’t have the lead time required to train our agents as intended..."
I have been told by inside sources that the Qantas seat availability (at departure time) is close to full (some COVID exceptions) so there is little interest in call center training and more interest in fixing online / app functionality. There is no future for Qantas call centers
Not reasonable. We trade with other countries in services and goods, and have a huge trade surplus thanks to iron ore, coal and agriculture among others.
With Australia suffering labour shortages, it's good that we give employment to many in other countries who also need gainful employment.
Post automatically merged:
This is in 'Herald Sun' this morning: (it was a survey about 'best' and 'worst' sectors for resolving consumer/shopper complaints):
"...Private transport, like airlines, didn’t rate at all on the list of best industries.
Australian mother-of-two Kelly Fogarty, an event director at London’s SoHo Theatre, spent 19 hours trying to reach someone at Qantas.
Australians Kelly and Luke Fogarty and their daughters Emmy, 15 and Belle, 14, reunited in Melbourne after she flew home from London 674 days later after Covid-19 lockdowns. Picture: Supplied, Courtesy of Kelly Fogarty
She chronicled her excruciating back and forth in an epic Twitter thread that has gone viral, with celebrities including author Neil Gaiman calling on Qantas to “take this seriously”.
For almost a month, Ms Fogarty had been trying to confirm a booking for her two teenage daughters, Belle, 14 and Emmy, 15, flying as unaccompanied minors from London to Melbourne on Wednesday, December 15.
“I’ve had half/half good/bad reservations reps – 3 reduced me to tears w patronising tone & lack of kindness. It’s the cut-offs, lack of call backs, of any response or sorted after 19hrs of calls + emails, feedback forms,” she said on Twitter.
Her issue was quickly resolved soon after Qantas was contacted by News Corp for comment. A Qantas spokeswoman said the government’s continual border closures and openings, without warning, drove “huge spikes” in calls. In the past week alone, the company saw a spike of of more than 50 per cent following the Queensland border opening, news of Omicron, and changes to travel restrictions.
Police check the permissions of passengers from QF526 arriving from Sydney. Photo Steve Pohlner.
“These wait times are not acceptable, and we apologise to customers who have waited so long to get through to us,” the spokeswoman said.
“While it was great that international flying came back early, it meant our plan to have agents trained and ready to go was disrupted. We didn’t have the lead time required to train our agents as intended..."
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 134 502 (confirmed to be active on 10 Dec 2021) 1300 659 134
1300 304 318
Thank you so much. I paid for a ticket with flight credit and B pay, rang call centre routed to Cape town, person could not help or understand my quirey. Used your number, routed to Hobart solved in 5mins, was on hold 1 min.
2 hours on hold to Singapore (again) but I am only Silver. Clearly call centres at all airlines are under immense pressure. I wonder what the solution is…
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in <5 mins 
