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

 

[Lynda2475]

And yet i currently have tickets to US and have not yet entered anything into the APIS link on MMB. QF need nothing beyond the info already saved on your qff profile and a payment to issue a ticket. You can add APIS which is your passport details (number, expiry date, nationality) and place you plan to stay after you get the ticket, as i have always done.

This was case pre- covid as well.

 

[MooTime]

I suspect some, just the very smallest portion of these posts are fake & created from another source...... Not that I have any Intel.

 

[N860CR]

I suspect some, just the very smallest portion of these posts are fake & created from another source...... Not that I have any Intel.

Why? Because qantas service is actually outstanding and everybody here is just complaining for the sake of it?

 

[ScotchNavajo]

Worst case scenario is that you realise too late that there’s no one at the airport to help you. Seriously wouldn’t risk it!

Just to be clear, I meant I’ve got a separate domestic flight in the next couple of days so will aim to get it sorted out then - this new booking isn’t until July. I definitely am not planning to just turn up at the airport and hope for the best!

Post automatically merged: Mar 27, 2022

Haha you won't be able to sort it out at the airport!

Probably wasn’t clear - see previous post. I’m going to try and get it sorted when I’m there for a (separate and much earlier) flight this week.

 

[TheInsider]

I suspect some, just the very smallest portion of these posts are fake & created from another source...... Not that I have any Intel.

It's the Russian bot-farms!

Post automatically merged: Mar 27, 2022

Probably wasn’t clear - see previous post. I’m going to try and get it sorted when I’m there for a (separate and much earlier) flight this week.

What I mean, there is no ticket people to assist with your enquiry at the airport. They will direct you to the contact centre for any reservation issues.

 

[ScotchNavajo]

It's the Russian bot-farms!

Post automatically merged: Mar 27, 2022

What I mean, there is no ticket people to assist with your enquiry at the airport. They will direct you to the contact centre for any reservation issues.

Ah yep fair enough. I had a similar issue before and spoke to some QF people at the SYD lounge, who were able to get it sorted. But appreciate it’s a bit hit-and-miss, and I hopefully won’t be relying on that anyway. Totally take your point!

 

[kangarooflyer88]

And yet i currently have tickets to US and have not yet entered anything into the APIS link on MMB. QF need nothing beyond the info already saved on your qff profile and a payment to issue a ticket. You can add APIS which is your passport details (number, expiry date, nationality) and place you plan to stay after you get the ticket, as i have always done.

This was case pre- covid as well.

As someone who pre-pandemic was flying a lot within North America and to North America, you are 100% spot on when it comes to APIs. They're not required to make the booking but are something you need to provide at some point before you get on the flight. Generally it's name, date of birth and travel document details (I say travel document since passport isn't always needed for "international" travel, such as flights between Canada and the US). It is ideal to enter them as you book and often it gets prepopulated if you book using your frequent flyer account, but again not necessary. Entering it last minute (i.e. during check in) is fine but may raise some eyebrows definitely with TSA (i.e. increasing your likelihood of getting the dreaded SSSS).

-RooFlyer88

 

[RooFlyer]

re APIS.. you may not agree with it, but at least on flights to/from places like the USA, QF has not issued tix without it for years (pre pandemic). it's been a requirement for quite awhile. specially for certain destinations.

Just sayin'

Yes, but it new for purely domestic flights, isn't it? I've had to fill it in for my flights in the past ?4 months or so.

 

[Anna]

Yes, but it new for purely domestic flights, isn't it? I've had to fill it in for my flights in the past ?4 months or so.

Wait, what? You mean the APIS banner showing on my upcoming ADL-MEL trip isn't just a work-experience-kid IT glitch?

 

[Lynda2475]

APIS is optional for domestic bookings, again there is the ability to enter it but it doesn't prevent flights ticketing (and if you dont complete it for domestic it doesn't stop you flying).

 

[jfl]

Flight still hasn't been ticketed, and now the QR FCO-DOH-JNB J leg has dropped off. Tried calling to fix and got through to SA callcentre straight away, but they hung up while I was on hold.

This is beyond a joke...

After multiple calls, my issue has FINALLY been resolved! I called 1300 025 396 at 6:15 AEDT this morning and was on hold for roughly 50 minutes, before reaching Emily in the Hobart call centre. She was immensely helpful and resolved all my issues in 15 minutes that the Fiji and SA call centres had created. FCO-DOH-JNB J rebooked (albeit a different flight due to the other J award seats I had booked disappearing). She even got my flights confirmed and ticketed with QR while I was on the phone.

So in total, around 6-7 hours on hold and 3 hours of call centre time taken up by this issue, which got resolved in 15 minutes by a competent Australian staff member.

Offshoring may look good on a profit/loss statement but it's incredibly frustrating for customers. I'm considering switching to KrisFlyer or Avios after my QFF points have been spent - this was an absolute pain to work through.

EDIT: regarding APIS - I brought this up on the phone whilst talking to the Hobart rep and they said no, not required for these flights at time of booking and can be entered later. Not having APIS does not stop the ticket for being issued for this itinerary. As suspected, the Fiji rep was full of it.

 

[Mr H]

I'm considering switching to KrisFlyer or Avios after my QFF points have been spent - this was an absolute pain to work through.

I'm not convinced KF is much better for call centres - and Avios is difficult to acquire and has terrible redemption rates for long-haul.

 

[Silvia]

I've never had problems to get in touch as a WP; however, last week it's been impossible... yesterday I gave up after 1.5 hrs, today I'm up to 45 min. No priority phone line. The app doesn't allow me to do seating and the way flights are going I'll end up in row 30; however, of course the bid upgrade option is working perfectly.

 

[RooFlyer]

Wait, what? You mean the APIS banner showing on my upcoming ADL-MEL trip isn't just a work-experience-kid IT glitch?

Oh, I'm sure it is; just not a very recent thing.

APIS is optional for domestic bookings, again there is the ability to enter it but it doesn't prevent flights ticketing (and if you dont complete it for domestic it doesn't stop you flying).

Its the presence of it, in red as if equiring attention, that seems to be new(-ish) for domestic bookings. Or maybe QF IT just lost the info that it used to 'remember'.

 

[RichardMEL]

Re APIS. I totally agree it shouldn't be required for ticket issue - and isn't for domestic (after all in Australia nobody checks any kind of ID so I can fly as Mr Alan Joyce if I like). All I was saying is in my experience pre-pandemic (I have not yet booked to go back) most definitely was not going to get ticket issued without at least SOME form of APIS entered. Now perhaps, as suggested above, many are pre populated via FF profile and maybe nit all fields are required but more than once tickets would not complete without being entered (and the "You must enter APIS to complete booking" type banners were there in MNB and/or an email would show up at some point if not done).

Others' experiences seem to vary of course and that's fine.

I always considered it to be a QF-centric thing. I mean the APIS (for the USA anyway) definitely required before flight to do the data matching and all that for the TSA) but could be done even at check in (had that happen with airlines like UA). QF seemed to want fields to be entered though - even though they could of course be edited up until check in.

anyway this is probably a separate thread I guess.

 

[jfl]

Re APIS. I totally agree it shouldn't be required for ticket issue - and isn't for domestic (after all in Australia nobody checks any kind of ID so I can fly as Mr Alan Joyce if I like). All I was saying is in my experience pre-pandemic (I have not yet booked to go back) most definitely was not going to get ticket issued without at least SOME form of APIS entered. Now perhaps, as suggested above, many are pre populated via FF profile and maybe nit all fields are required but more than once tickets would not complete without being entered (and the "You must enter APIS to complete booking" type banners were there in MNB and/or an email would show up at some point if not done).

Others' experiences seem to vary of course and that's fine.

I always considered it to be a QF-centric thing. I mean the APIS (for the USA anyway) definitely required before flight to do the data matching and all that for the TSA) but could be done even at check in (had that happen with airlines like UA). QF seemed to want fields to be entered though - even though they could of course be edited up until check in.

anyway this is probably a separate thread I guess.

The reason I suspected the CSR was fibbing was that if I booked the itinerary through the website (SYD-LHR, FCO-DOH-JNB, JNB-SYD), I would not have to enter any APIS. Only passenger information.

The fact they said I cannot amend the booking to fix the middle leg without APIS was surreal.

 

[Townsend]

Well i finally solved the problem. I started at 0830 and my problem was finalised at 1430! Many thanks to AFF for the above numbers. I had no luck with the NZ/Hobart number and hung up after an hour.

I solved the problem with the SA/Fiji number but it took six calls. Most of the operators seemed to be very pleasant but have no training whatsoever! I was being told things that I knew were totally incorrect. Supervisors would not take my call but I was lucky enough to get through eventually to a SA operator who knew what he was doing.

Surely Qantas realises what these incompetent call centres are costing them?

 

[Berlin]

I'm not convinced KF is much better for call centres - and Avios is difficult to acquire and has terrible redemption rates for long-haul.

I had my fare share of nightmarish call centre experiences with SQ/ Krisflyer so don't hold your breath!

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Re APIS. I totally agree it shouldn't be required for ticket issue - and isn't for domestic (after all in Australia nobody checks any kind of ID so I can fly as Mr Alan Joyce if I like).

This for me has been the wildest experience having flown exclusively domestically recently. If I was flying out of Toronto or Los Angeles there would be ID checks at every step of the way (even for domestic flights) including at the security check point and at the boarding gate. Heck when I was flying out of some airports in the UK they had biometric departure gates!

Heck, I once was flying "domestic," from Frankfurt to Detroit on Lufthansa and the agents kept insisting I needed something called an ESTA (whatever that is). It wasn't until I called a station manager and they explained the intricacies of my citizenship did they realize that not only did I not need to complete such a thing, but I was forbidden from even completing one (since the country I'm from isn't part of the VWP with the US but showing my passport is sufficient to get in). So it's not much of a surprise that people working the contact centres for QF may not be aware of the ins and outs of APIs. I reckon most of them have never heard of TIMATIC never mind used the system before.

-RooFlyer88

 

[RooFlyer]

Surely Qantas realises what these incompetent call centres are costing them?

They possibly do. Its just a matter of whether they care, or if the costs show up on their particular department's P&L. Opportunity costs of course won't show up anywhere.

If I was flying out of Toronto or Los Angeles there would be ID checks at every step of the way (even for domestic flights) including at the security check point and at the boarding gate.

Not really my experience in flying out of USA and Canada too many times to recall, although last time was in 2020. On that trip I recall having to show passport at LAX and JFK entry airside security (but not HSV or DFW in the US or YYC or YVR in Canada ) and then of course there is no departure immigration" for the USA and I don't think I underwent an ID check for boarding US domestic flights, but that's a little hazy.