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

 

[RooFlyer]

2 x 15 min wait time on PlatLine during the 1st week of Vic lockdown; seems reasonable to me. When on the call, there was absolutely no hurry on the agent's part to move onto the next caller!

 

[suze2000]

This week there have been messages on the Pleb line that there's a long wait and if you aren't flying within 24hrs to call back when you are. (I can't see how this would help the airline's forward planning but I digress...)

Today there was an option for callback, which I took, and lo and behold, I was phoned almost exactly when it was predicted by the system! It works!

(I had to cancel the second flight in my booking MEL-BNE-BDB because obvs I am headed to hotel quarantine tomorrow. There are reasons I'm not willing to just wait it out and hope for the best here in MEL)

 

[Limewood]

Qantas changed our return flight BNE/CNS noon flight to 6am! same day (idiots), cannot change it to 12.50pm flight online, tried twice to speak with them, waited over 3 hours and hung up, similar happened to family over 3 months ago, Ok Covid has been in force on/off months why don't they put on more staff on and offer what is called "service"?!.

 

[Ade]

Ok Covid has been in force on/off months why don't they put on more staff on and offer what is called "service"?!.

I don't think there is an answer to this question ... there have been so many instances where the "service" from QF is not great ... but QF doesn't seem to improve on anything .. #SadReality

 

[Mark1966]

... Covid has been in force on/off months why don't they put on more staff on and offer what is called "service"?!.

Because they are not selling as many seats, have lower revenue and cannot afford to add extra [staff] costs?

 

[Limewood]

We will consider flying Virgin instead both ways.

 

[AIRwin]

We will consider flying Virgin instead both ways.

No lounge in CNS though...

 

[eric2011]

No lounge in CNS though...

In these difficult times I will take convenience over a lounge

 

[nightelves]

In these difficult times I will take convenience over a lounge

If you need to call them I find early early morning to be the easiest and also after 7am they allow for callback.

 

[rekeno]

They cancelled my original flight and gave me a mission impossible flight with connection time of -2h (yes, negative 2 hours), and yes, it was displayed like this on my itinerary, which itself is something to be amused at.

Anyway, I had to call the hotline, not sure if it's my luck, I called this morning about 8:30 AEST, and got through within 5 minutes (gold member). Just for reference.

 

[jonboixxx]

We will consider flying Virgin instead both ways.

Just beware Virgin are also altering flight times BNE-CNS. Most of my Friday morning flights have had time shifts and also some of my returns. Looking 12 months ahead , the mid morning flight has disappeared altogether. QF has also downgraded some of my J bookings BNE-CNS by swapping in Qantaslink 717's. It's all over the shop!

 

[stryker]

It's all over the shop!

Even from week to week, unfortunately, which just leads to more calls and longer waits?

 

[Anna]

I called QF yesterday at lunchtime because I figured I had some time I could sit and wait on hold. They answered within 5 minutes, before I'd even finished my sandwich. I was astounded.

 

[rekeno]

I called QF yesterday at lunchtime because I figured I had some time I could sit and wait on hold. They answered within 5 minutes, before I'd even finished my sandwich. I was astounded.

Guess what, after my yesterday morning 5 mins success, I called again this morning for another booking, and yes, another 5 mins! And today I realized they didn't play for the "only call for flights within 24 hours" voice recording, so does it mean the situation significantly improved?

 

[Limewood]

No lounge in CNS though...

Its a return flight we live in Cairns.

 

[bPeteb]

Qantas changed our return flight BNE/CNS noon flight to 6am! same day (idiots), cannot change it to 12.50pm flight online, tried twice to speak with them, waited over 3 hours and hung up, similar happened to family over 3 months ago, Ok Covid has been in force on/off months why don't they put on more staff on and offer what is called "service"?!.

We had exactly the same change. Dec 27. Couldn’t change online. Very luckily for me I have access to the premium line and wait was short. My sister had to make changes to some other flights after cancellations and wait times were four hours one day and two and a half the next. Just not acceptable

 

[Mort]

As a reference point, had a AKL-MEL flight on the 1st AUG cancelled (expected), unable to change or get a refund online. (part of a nested trip which I was able to change part of online)

As NB called at 2.15pm, offered callback, decided to stay on, answered @ 3.10pm by Hobart, extremely helpful, refund organised, and also had them fix up 6 other vouchers which had been coming up with unable to book online errors. these were from early 2020.

If anyone else has that issue, the rep was able to resolve them by going into the voucher details and re-entering the value of the voucher which when saved appears to reset the voucher and then worked online (tested each one worked after updating)

given I was half expecting several hours of wait time, happy with the end result.

 

[SYD]

As you can probably imagine, I’ve had a couple of cancellations for upcoming flights...and needed to call three times in as many weeks. But the WP line has been quite fast (less than 5 mins wait each time). Once, it rolled through *too* fast and I hadn’t even got my PNR in front of me!

A friend (NB) reached out on FB today for advice and once advised they could get a refund, called and got a message of a 2hrs wait time, so they did the call back option and received the call in under 2 hrs.

 

[Peasant]

I'll chime in with another positive experience...5 minutes and handled very competently. Hope we are back to original programming and this is the new normal. If so, well done Qantas.

 

[BruceBris]

I'll chime in with another positive experience...5 minutes and handled very competently. Hope we are back to original programming and this is the new normal. If so, well done Qantas.

Unfortunately, I have tried to call to cancel an international Points flight and was told to call back later if not travelling in the next 24 hours. Advised (of course) to go to the web site but cannot get a refund, only a credit, online. I have had terrible experiences trying to use credits so only booked this because it assured me it was fully cancellable. I'll be in London by the time it's only 24 hours so am at a loss as to how to deal with it.

Unfortunately, I'm only Gold.

So... NOT well done Qantas.