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
 
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Seems to be getting worse. Rang the 131211 platinum line. Was told the wait would be under 15 minutes. Gave up after 2hrs 45 mins. Will try my luck at the airport with service desk/lounge staff.

If it has anything to do with ticketing they'll tell you to call
 
The South African centre on the 1300 659 116 number posted earlier in this thread (thank you so much!) has been excellent both recent times I've used it ...

I think the number and the call centre location are not related. As a Platinum, I've called that number three or four times this week (most recently with a 2h51m hold) and have always been onshore.
 
I think the number and the call centre location are not related. As a Platinum, I've called that number three or four times this week (most recently with a 2h51m hold) and have always been onshore.
Agree. I’ve also had three calls this week. All answered in HBA.

In the most recent instance I was quoted less than 15 minutes and it took an hour.

But, my call was answered in HBA and three of my five issues were resolved including an involuntary reroute for which seats were released from revenue buckets (D). The other two are ongoing but in fairness to the agent I knew those two would require more time.

Don’t get me wrong, the hold times are unreasonable. But I’d rather hold and get HBA, than be answered quickly and get a poorly trained agent.
 
4 hours in the queue yesterday and then another hour on hold while staff fixed a qantas screwup. I checked later and they managed to lose one of my flights completely now.

So I wake up at 1am and am still in the queue again (its 4:17am right now).

Lets see if I can rack up 10 hours in one day.
 
Gaining traction in the media now. Interview with Tully here:


I just listened to this. Lots of excuses and promises to fix things, but as others have said, people want action not empty promises it will get "better every week" that don't eventuate.

Firstly, it may be true that Qantas has more people answering calls now than before Covid, but these people are in places like South Africa and Fiji and aren't trained to nearly the same standard. They are taking infinitely longer to do what an Australian or New Zealand based operator would, give wrong information, hang up on customers, say they will do things but don't, and often fail to perform more complex tasks, so it's a huge net loss for customer service.

Also, Stephanie's claim that "our competitor airline in Australia answers no calls in Australia" is not true. Virgin Australia does have a small team based in Australia that sometimes answers if you call up as a Platinum or Gold Velocity member. I've spoken to them on multiple occasions. By the way, the staff at the competitor airline's overseas call centre are highly trained and a pleasure to deal with anyway.

As others have pointed out, the "following the sun" excuse for having offshore call centres is particularly lame when so many calls made during the middle of the day in Australia are answered in South Africa, where it's the middle of the night.

By the way, I'd be interested to know which phone number Stephanie called when she said the wait time yesterday morning was 25 minutes. Was she calling the Platinum line or VIP Service Team, perhaps? Does anyone know what the actual wait time was when Ben tested it after that interview?
 
I just listened to this. Lots of excuses and promises to fix things, but as others have said, people want action not empty promises it will get "better every week" that don't eventuate.

Firstly, it may be true that Qantas has more people answering calls now than before Covid, but these people are in places like South Africa and Fiji and aren't trained to nearly the same standard. They are taking infinitely longer to do what an Australian or New Zealand based operator would, give wrong information, hang up on customers, say they will do things but don't, and often fail to perform more complex tasks, so it's a huge net loss for customer service.

Also, Stephanie's claim that "our competitor airline in Australia answers no calls in Australia" is not true. Virgin Australia does have a small team based in Australia that sometimes answers if you call up as a Platinum or Gold Velocity member. I've spoken to them on multiple occasions. By the way, the staff at the competitor airline's overseas call centre are highly trained and a pleasure to deal with anyway.

As others have pointed out, the "following the sun" excuse for having offshore call centres is particularly lame when so many calls made during the middle of the day in Australia are answered in South Africa, where it's the middle of the night.

By the way, I'd be interested to know which phone number Stephanie called when she said the wait time yesterday morning was 25 minutes. Was she calling the Platinum line or VIP Service Team, perhaps? Does anyone know what the actual wait time was when Ben tested it after that interview?

2 hour waits pre-covid we’re common, so claiming they have more people working now is hardly offering bragging rights.

Virgin certainly do have Australian staff. In fact, I can’t ever recall speaking to their Philippines call centre. Last call was only a month or so ago and it was answered in Brisbane after a few minutes and the issue revolved quickly and professionally.

I have zero issues with offshore call centres if the staff can do their job. In all honestly, I prefer a competent Filipino to and Australian as they don’t have our attitude problems. Competent being the key word. As much as I love South Africa, competence isn’t a strong point at minimum wage level. Then there’s Fiji…..
 
Personally I couldn't care less where the person who answers the call is. I care that my phone call is answered quickly and that the person is both knowledgeable and capable of doing the job. Trying to explain the finer points of how airline bookings systems work at 2am to a person who just didn't get it (and was a "computer say no" type) was not my idea of fun.

The thing is that had their website been up to it, I wouldn't have even called them full stop, as I much prefer to handle things myself on their website. I was considering going to a TA to get the job done until I realized that TA's couldn't use the voucher I had.
 
QF should keep a log of the FFers and their call wait times (as above). After all they know when we call as soon as we input our details, and in theory they should know when the call is answered (or dropped?). Anyway bonus points/SC should be awarded for every X minutes spent on hold - as a penalty to them for being so poor.

Some poor suffering folks here could rack up at least Gold at this rate...

(this isn't an april fool's post - not intentionally anyway!)
 
I had been dreading making a call but I needed to change a booking.

Rang at 0730 yesterday morning on the Platinum line using +1's WP login. Was told the wait time was 1 to 2 hours and offered a call back, which I accepted. And they did call back! At about 1530 (8 hours rather than 1 to 2.). Fortunately it was Hobart and all done in a couple of minutes.

However, still waiting for the ticket this morning.
 
However, still waiting for the ticket this morning.
just as data point I booked online last night and the ticket took near 12 hours to actually be processed which is unusual so something is slowing things down. Hopefully yours comes through soon.
 
QF should keep a log of the FFers and their call wait times (as above). After all they know when we call as soon as we input our details, and in theory they should know when the call is answered (or dropped?). Anyway bonus points/SC should be awarded for every X minutes spent on hold - as a penalty to them for being so poor.

Some poor suffering folks here could rack up at least Gold at this rate...

(this isn't an april fool's post - not intentionally anyway!)
Or LTP!
 
I booked two tickets on-line yesterday, one for December 2022 and the second for February 2023. While I had to go through the booking process (from start) 4 times to get the booking for February 2023 to work (usual website issues), both tickets arrived in my inbox within minutes. I was definitely not going to phone QF (even as a WP) and if the simple SYD-CNS-SYD flight had not worked the fourth time I was going to book VA.
 
Hi All

Long time lurker here.
Only have Bronze with Qantas but have Platinum with Finnair thanks to their points sales with status the last 2 years.
I am looking at being in Europe for my 40th this year.

So Monday 21st March I made a classic reward booking. Syd-Sin in Qantas economy & Sin-Hel-Cdg in Finnair business for November this year.
I have my booking reference 6xx_XX & had a pending charge on the CC for the fees.

The reference does appear under "My Bookings" - "your booking is processing"
As of today 1st April I have still not received the e-ticket, had the points deducted or had the CC charged for the fees.

I called them a couple of times last week both times over 2hrs and had to hang up.
Called another 2 times this week once on hold 3&1/2hrs and yesterday over 4hrs and again had to hang up.

Lucky these are only for backup flights.
So whats the number I call to only wait on hold for 25mins LOL.
I wonder how many hours I can log on hold to get this sorted.
 
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Hi All

Long time lurker here.
Only have Bronze with Qantas but have Platinum with Finnair thanks to their points sales with status the last 2 years.
I am looking at being in Europe for my 40th this year.

So Monday 21st March I made a classic reward booking. Syd-Sin in Qantas economy & Sin-Hel-Cdg in Finnair business for November this year.
I have my booking reference 6xx_XX & had a pending charge on the CC for the fees.

The reference does appear under "My Bookings" - "your booking is processing"
As of today 1st April I have still not received the e-ticket, had the points deducted or had the CC charged for the fees.

I called them a couple of times last week both times over 2hrs and had to hang up.
Called another 2 times this week once on hold 3&1/2hrs and yesterday over 4hrs and again had to hang up.

Lucky these are only for backup flights.
So whats the number I call to only wait on hold for 25mins LOL.
I wonder how many hours I can log on hold to get this sorted.

If this is a qantas flight on qantas metal… i wouldn’t worry. QF will always create a seat for you.

Delays to ticketing are common with QF, they allegedly do them in order of travel date. So November is a fair way off.
 
If this is a qantas flight on qantas metal… i wouldn’t worry. QF will always create a seat for you.

Delays to ticketing are common with QF, they allegedly do them in order of travel date. So November is a fair way off.
Its a single booking with flights on QF & AY metal.
Only did it as a backup in case of still needing a single itinerary to transit Changi.

I have the same flights later the same week on separate bookings using QF & AY points.
I upgraded my AY flights (Sin-Hel-Cdg) with a LH & SH upgrade voucher.
 
Day of weekFriday
Time of call1200 AEDT
Number used1300 025 396
StatusGold
Hold timeQuoted 1-2 hours
Actual time 1 hour
Call Centre (if known)South Africa
Matter resolvedNo
DetailsHad to call because a flight has been cancelled with the replacement flight not matching the original destination.

Found a suitable flight after 20 minutes wading through options (the agent was not unhelpful/rude but they didn't have good knowledge and there was a language barrier)

"I'll put you on hold for 3 minutes while I make that change"

10 minutes of hold music later, the call dropped without warning and I was taken to the post-call survey.

The flight booking has not been changed.
 

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