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

 

[Pushka]

I just called as a WP to make a new booking with points. Went through the menu system and informed its a wait time for one to two hours. Got me thinking, what if I want to spend cash. Hung up and called again but selected a paid booking not using points. Informed the wait time is one to two hours as well.

If I was a QF shareholder I'd be livid. They're making it this difficult to spend money with QF. That is absolutely insane!

I had to ring last night, WP and advised 30 minute wait. In the end I gave up. Something's changed. It's not like things are being cancelled on the spot now domestically anyway.

 

[Mr H]

If the contractor doesn’t even know the name of the company they’re working for, it suggests they probably aren’t going to be particularly well versed in their role.

Many organisations use trading names that sometimes bear no relation to the official registered name. I imagine many employees in Australia would be surprised to know the official name of their employer, including many government employees whose departments change their trading names with the wind.

 

[bPeteb]

Interesting. I’m WP and dialled 131211 as usual and am sitting in a queue that tells me my wait is between 30 min and one hour. Waited for 10 mins and that’s enough. Yep that’s what the w is for. I don’t have time to wait around and am in meetings in 10 minutes so don’t want a callback. I’ll dial the ‘other’ number later and see how I go.

 

[TheInsider]

Many organisations use trading names that sometimes bear no relation to the official registered name. I imagine many employees in Australia would be surprised to know the official name of their employer, including many government employees whose departments change their trading names with the wind.

Exactly.
The reference to 'Qantas Airlines Limited' is used for a group of employees under certain area, it's just a business name not their branding. Like Qantas Cabin Crew Australia, Jet Connect etc etc.
The name is simply 'Qantas', not even QANTAS any more, Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[ChrisMars]

Exactly.
The reference to 'Qantas Airlines Limited' is used for a group of employees under certain area, it's just a business name not their branding. Like Qantas Cabin Crew Australia, Jet Connect etc etc.
The name is simply 'Qantas', not even QANTAS any more, Nothing more, nothing less.

Yea 100% agree, and "Limited" is a qualifier for the business structure, probably only usefull for legal and finance teams.

 

[RAM]

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with you here. They do care about loyalty, which is why they extended status for members for so long, whilst most airlines offered at most a one year extension on status. You are quite right that things like customer service and the quality of the onboard product has deteriorated, but I would make the argument that this is because Qantas has relegated itself to being just a small regional carrier due to COVID. Whereas most airlines in the world were still offering international service, QF shutdown everything aside from the most essential of domestic services during COVID. Obviously if you are a business like QF and face something like that you'll want to cut off all the fat in your org including customer service to survive, especially if the government hasn't provided you with any financial support to stay afloat. So the real question us elites have is when QF will return to being an international carrier, will it be this year? Next year?
-RooFlyer88

... as long as it does not require spending any potential money that could go to the senior executive remuneration pool.

Extending status (Ok, did cost notional amount for IT to amend database) is essentially extending handcuffs for many fliers. Within numerous AFF threads are comments along the lines of; "If I wasn't WP for life then I would dump Q" - or along similar lines. Right along with status then comes the QFF point handcuffs...

If there were no 'Status' rank to enter into the equation - then who would choose Q over many other international airlines? Certainly there are international airlines that would make you think twice.

Luckily back in the early 2000s our status was similar on both VA & Q. Easy decision for our family, we haven't flown Q since (not even work-related). The VA 'family pooling' made that decision even more rewarding.

_________________________________________​

Queston: If you did not have status (life or current) of a high level would you continue to use Q if your QFF point balance was 3/10ths of nothing given the massive decline in Q customer service levels for all but on the plane?

 

[bPeteb]

Queston: If you did not have status (life or current) of a high level would you continue to use Q if your QFF point balance was 3/10ths of nothing given the massive decline in Q customer service levels for all but on the plane?

Easy answer for me - no

 

[Mr H]

Queston: If you did not have status (life or current) of a high level would you continue to use Q if your QFF point balance was 3/10ths of nothing given the massive decline in Q customer service levels for all but on the plane?

I do not have status and would not even look at QF fares for domestic travel unless they were the only provider on the route. VA usually hits my sweet spot between quality and price. QF used to have some competitive fares on flights to SE Asia.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Ahahaha. Qantus Platinum Hot line - "your estimated wait time is 1-2 hours."

Update: After 1 hr and 12 minutes, got a consultant who was excellent and resolved issue well.

 

[bPeteb]

Ahahaha. Qantus Platinum Hot line - "your estimated wait time is 1-2 hours."

Update: After 1 hr and 12 minutes, got a consultant who was excellent and resolved issue well.

Gee. I literally don't have the time during the day to do this as I spend most of the day on phone/teams meetings. If I could change the flights they cancelled on us yesterday I would. Just the day before is all I need to change it to. Why is their IT so cough? Sigh

 

[Ansett]

Currently on Hold for the VIP team as a P1 and sitting at 15 minutes normally less than a minute.... Eventually got through and the CSR asked if I had been on hold for long and seemed surprised when I said yes over 15 minutes. It appears that there was no backlog for the VIP team and should have been answered straight away.

Interestingly when I rang the VIP 1300 number it went through to Special services which is most unusual, however this is not the first time it has happened to me.

It seems that perhaps there are bigger issues in play here than just lack of people and knowledge. Perhaps there are some glitches in the IT side of the phone system.

 

[dylarr]

It seems that perhaps there are bigger issues in play here than just lack of people and knowledge. Perhaps there are some glitches in the IT side of the phone system.

Wouldn't be the first time an IT glitch has resulted in long wait times for elites, it was only last year this happened:

Major Qantas Call Centre Changes

Qantas has overhauled its beleaguered call centre in an effort to improve the quality of the service provided. But there have been some teething issues,

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[TheRealTMA]

Gee. I literally don't have the time during the day to do this as I spend most of the day on phone/teams meetings. If I could change the flights they cancelled on us yesterday I would. Just the day before is all I need to change it to. Why is their IT so cough? Sigh

I just rang and left phone on speaker while I continied work as normal. Landline NBN phone calls are free so makes no difference to me.

Interestingly, the agent thought she was calling "me" back for some reason.

 

[Jousams]

SG 40 minutes in to the hold - sounds like I could be waiting for a little while longer…

 

[Ansett]

As an aside I had to ring JetStar to do a seat allocation rang the standard 131538 number and after a couple of press or 2 or 3 I was through to a person with in 20 seconds and seat allocation and payment made in under 3 minutes. Hmmmmm is Qantas the Premium Airline or JetStar?

 

[bPeteb]

Decided to ring on mobile and have it on speaker beside me. Exactly 30 minute wait. No advice at start of call as to wait time. On the actual answered call for all of two minutes. Flights to CHC had been cancelled. Available day before or after. Rebooked for day before. Why not extend that holiday

 

[levelnine]

Been waiting for a call back as a WP for over 2 hours now.

 

[clifford]

SG 40 minutes in to the hold - sounds like I could be waiting for a little while longer…

Also SG, around 2:30 this afternoon, answered after 40 mins by a lovely agent in Hobart, who was able to quickly and efficiently reissue 2 tickets with schedule changes.

As there was a downgrade to Y on 1 ticket, the points difference was back in my account immediately. Quite impressed (apart from the 40 mins wait).

 

[willclan]

Have just about given up on Qantas, they are definitely far below Jetstar and Virgin as to answering phone calls. I am amazed that little Jetstar leaves big brother Qantas for dead in their call centres. Long overdue for them to lift their game.

 

[Jousams]

I got South Africa and they just went quiet on me halfway through the inquiry.