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

 

[Sale]

Qantas surprised me in a good way today!
I rang QF 13 13 13 this morning at 09:00 (about a refund) and got straight through. At the end of the call the CSM Joe asked me how long I had been on hold - When I said no hold time, he said that was good - and that Qantas is having a renewed push to cut the call wait times.
Great if it continues.

 

[ramboflyer]

Qantas surprised me in a good way today!
I rang QF 13 13 13 this morning at 09:00 (about a refund) and got straight through. At the end of the call the CSM Joe asked me how long I had been on hold - When I said no hold time, he said that was good - and that Qantas is having a renewed push to cut the call wait times.
Great if it continues.

Do you know where the call was answered?

 

[Sale]

No - at a guess on accents it would have been South Africa. (And I am Silver, so no bonuses there). Still a 6-8 week wait for the cash component, but the points should be back with 48 hours.

 

[jpp42]

At the end of the call the CSM Joe asked me how long I had been on hold

Interesting, when I worked a call centre job over a decade ago, the software would show how long the caller had been on hold before answering.
We were instructed to look at this, and if was longer than 10 minutes, we were to say something like, "we apologise for the extended hold time." Odd that they don't have the ability to see this.

 

[Danger]

Six calls to Qantas today and all but one was answered offshore, even as a platinum selecting options for regular (paid) bookings.

 

[Gladstone Tim]

A pleasant experience tonight with my call answered by a lovely lady in Fiji. Wait time was less than 5 minutes and lasted 18 minutes. A kind AFFer, Todd, had set an alert for any changes to my PER-(A330) SYD-BNE January flights. Sadly his alert came through about aircraft downgrade to a 737 whereas QF only advised of a slight schedule change. Both the res agent and automated system advised of a feedback opportunity at the conclusion of the call but was disconnected. Apart from what seemed like extended periods of stony silence, all my bookings were successfully changed. Wasn’t even challenged that a 10 minute schedule change warranted such drastic alterations. My first flight choice had no award availability but my second did. ‘‘Twas a very positive experience in light of what I was dreading.

 

[Pliny]

Qantas surprised me in a good way today!
I rang QF 13 13 13 this morning at 09:00 (about a refund) and got straight through. At the end of the call the CSM Joe asked me how long I had been on hold - When I said no hold time, he said that was good - and that Qantas is having a renewed push to cut the call wait times.
Great if it continues.

Interesting. I tried the 131313 number and they said if I wasn't flying in the next 24 hours not to bother them.

I gave 1300 659 161 as pinned above and they were customer care and said I'd be waiting 1 to 2 hours. I'll just have to put it in my diary for another try when I can be by my phone.

 

[DC3]

Interesting. I tried the 131313 number and they said if I wasn't flying in the next 24 hours not to bother them ..

That message has been playing for 2 years. No-one pays any attention to that.

 

[CMA222]

That message has been playing for 2 years. No-one pays any attention to that.

or to almost anything else that Qantas says it will do !

 

[clifford]

I have a booking CBR-SYD-MIM-MEL-ADL, which has a schedule change due to the MIM-MEL sector no longer operating.

So Qantas have tentatively changed the booking to CBR-SYD-MIM-SYD-MEL-ADL, which of course won't ticket because of minimum connect time failing in MIM and MEL.

The only courses of action I have are to contact a call centre (which I am dreading) or cancel the booking for a refund (which won't happen anytime soon). I just don't think that Cape Town could sensibly deal with this.

How frustrating, Qantas.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Interesting. I tried the 131313 number and they said if I wasn't flying in the next 24 hours not to bother them.

I gave 1300 659 161 as pinned above and they were customer care and said I'd be waiting 1 to 2 hours. I'll just have to put it in my diary for another try when I can be by my phone.

I don't know why Qantas does not offer a call-back service, it is inconsiderate to waste people's time.

 

[Pliny]

I

I don't know why Qantas does not offer a call-back service, it is inconsiderate to waste people's time.

I don't know why Qantas does not offer a call-back service, it is inconsiderate to waste people's time.

I have another number I'll try. 1300 659 161
Unless someone has a better suggestion.

 

[xabialonso]

I want to share my positive experience with the amazing Mila from the Fiji call centre on thursday night (around 10pm Sydney time).

My hold time was roughly 3 minutes (I'm a Bronze) and she handled my classic reward booking change with ease. She was obviously very experienced. She put me on hold whilst she processed the change but the call disconnected during the hold. To my amazement, she called me back within 20 seconds! I was on hold for a further 20 or so minutes whilst she awaits for the system to process the change, during which she constantly 'refreshed' the call just to avoid call being disconnected.

She assured me the new e-ticket will be issued at around 9am the next morning. When I checked my email at around 8am, voila, the new e-ticket was issued!

Mila was an absolute queen!

 

[Pliny]

Well I'll be. I'm on the phone now . I got through in 5 minutes to sort out my wife and my 6 flight credits that show up online but can't be used online for reasons beyond my comprehension.
20 minutes now I was told new booking numbers were created and there is hope I may be able to book online. We should receive emails in 24 hours. Fingers crossed.
The numbers pinned by OP work. Thank you.
The number I used was . 1300 659 161 on Sunday morning exactly 9.00am when it opened for calls.

 

[robinsparkles]

Well I'll be. I'm on the phone now . I got through in 5 minutes to sort out my wife and my 6 flight credits that show up online but can't be used online for reasons beyond my comprehension.
20 minutes now I was told new booking numbers were created and there is hope I may be able to book online. We should receive emails in 24 hours. Fingers crossed.
The numbers pinned by OP work. Thank you.
The number I used was . 1300 659 161 on Sunday morning exactly 9.00am when it opened for calls.

I've noticed wait times are shorter now. Do you know which call centre you got?

 

[JohnM]

I don't know why Qantas does not offer a call-back service, it is inconsiderate to waste people's time.

They do - at least on the 131211 WP line. It's worked well for me twice about 5-6 weeks ago.

 

[blackcat20]

They do - at least on the 131211 WP line. It's worked well for me twice about 5-6 weeks ago.

I had a call back as an SG not that long ago.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Just an aside from a frequent lurker on this thread, but I check in here often to see how this is going as I have been making good on my decision to avoid QF until this is fixed.

I'm pleased to see some improvements, not surprised that many of the problems persist, but mostly it just continues to strike me as I read the thread that you can feel the intense relief, elation and almost giddiness from people when they finally manage to achieve what they set out to achieve. Pretty much sums up what the state of affairs has been, when basic competence results in such joy.

I flew Air NZ on my trip to North America last month, Fiji this month, and Air Canada next month, and have to say my experience having to call each of them for various bits and pieces has been a shocking eye-opener at just how bad things had become at QF. The two clinchers were Air Canada answering without even a single ring after choosing the relevant option, and Air NZ apologised for the long wait time (it couldn't have been even 10 minutes) and then navigating through some complex changes without a moment of hesitation and then asking me to stay on the phone to confirm I'd received the new e-ticket.

Here's hoping the improvement at QF is real and continues.

 

[Mr H]

My recent experience s that the long waiting times have been fixed but that the competence of the agents is still the exception rather than the rule. Part of the problem is that the visible signs of an agent working through the problem and the incompetent agent lying to get you off the line are very similar - so the risk is that you don't trust the agent who will fix things for you.

 

[Pliny]

I've noticed wait times are shorter now. Do you know which call centre you got?

I didn't ask unfortunately but she gave her name Lagi. I searched and found Lagi is a Samoan girls name.