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

 

[clifford]

Overall a pleasant experience, like it should be.

They're not too bad with domestic bookings.

I'ts what they should be limited to.

 

[HSB44]

Qantas shares surge as Joyce predicts profit

“We have apologised for the customer service issues we experienced, but these issues are widespread. There are light years between the competition and us” Joyce said, adding Qantas was ranked 5th best airline in the latest global Skytrax survey. Rival Virgin Australia came 43rd.

 

[QF4L]

Day of week	Fri 14 Oct 2022
Time of call	08:30am
Number used	1300 659 161
Status	Gold
Hold time	N/A
Call Centre (if known)	N/A
Matter resolved	No
Details	Phone system asked for QF number and PIN, then said that the hours of operation are from 9am and hung up.

 

[TheInsider]

Day of week	Fri 14 Oct 2022
Time of call	08:30am
Number used	1300 659 161
Status	Gold
Hold time	N/A
Call Centre (if known)	N/A
Matter resolved	No
Details	Phone system asked for QF number and PIN, then said that the hours of operation are from 9am and hung up.

 

[bullerdude]

Day of week	Fri 14 Oct 2022
Time of call	11:00am
Number used	Standard, but select international flight change
Status	Gold
Hold time	30min
Call Centre (if known)	Maybe Manilla (as agent was more competent)
Matter resolved	No
Details	Absolutely disgusted with Qantas after this phone call. No issues with the agent, she was polite and professional. Issue is with the service Qantas is provides or forcing the agents to provide by severely limiting their capability/processes and not having an escalation path to the onshore call centres. Had seperate domestic return bookings to Sunshine Coast for my wife (points) and me (paid). Received notification that she had been moved to an connecting flight on the return leg but i was still on the original flight. Called to see what option were available and was told that she had been moved as the original flight had been change by 5 min and there were no reward seats for her to stay on the original flight - I do not believe this for a minute as once tickets are confirmed the seat availability is irrelevant if the flight time changed. The agent offer to change both our booking to different flights that had availability for us to be on the same flight, but was only able to offer once option later in the evening. There was a better option on the website, but the agent said that she could not access that flight for a rebooking and that i would only available for a new booking. I politely queried both of these and was told very sternly by the agent that this was the situation and there was nothing else she could do… despite the fact i know Qantas has resolved issues similar to these for me in the past. End result… requested cancellation and full refund of both booking as there were no suitable options. Understand it’s not the agents fault so my frustration lies firmly with Qantas and the pathetic customer service provided when THEY make the changes.

 

[CaptainCurtis]

Day of week	Fri 14 Oct 2022
Time of call	11:00am
Number used	Standard, but select international flight change
Status	Gold
Hold time	30min
Call Centre (if known)	Maybe Manilla (as agent was more competent)
Matter resolved	No
Details	Absolutely disgusted with Qantas after this phone call. No issues with the agent, she was polite and professional. Issue is with the service Qantas is provides or forcing the agents to provide by severely limiting their capability/processes and not having an escalation path to the onshore call centres. Had seperate domestic return bookings to Sunshine Coast for my wife (points) and me (paid). Received notification that she had been moved to an connecting flight on the return leg but i was still on the original flight. Called to see what option were available and was told that she had been moved as the original flight had been change by 5 min and there were no reward seats for her to stay on the original flight - I do not believe this for a minute as once tickets are confirmed the seat availability is irrelevant if the flight time changed. The agent offer to change both our booking to different flights that had availability for us to be on the same flight, but was only able to offer once option later in the evening. There was a better option on the website, but the agent said that she could not access that flight for a rebooking and that i would only available for a new booking. I politely queried both of these and was told very sternly by the agent that this was the situation and there was nothing else she could do… despite the fact i know Qantas has resolved issues similar to these for me in the past. End result… requested cancellation and full refund of both booking as there were no suitable options. Understand it’s not the agents fault so my frustration lies firmly with Qantas and the pathetic customer service provided when THEY make the changes.

[email protected] - share your feedback.

 

[ausfox]

Called the platinum number at 1140 and after 17minutes of musak I hung up.
Great service, not.

 

[HSB44]

[email protected] - share your feedback.

Is she still there? Does she care?
Or is she focusing all her attention now on how to screw over jetstar customers and make their lives as miserable as possible ?

 

[CaptainCurtis]

Is she still there? Does she care?
Or is she focusing all her attention now on how to screw over jetstar customers and make their lives as miserable as possible ?

She's still there, and she'll care if you send her enough emails

 

[encryptededdy]

Called to get a friend on a seperate booking (but same flights) sat next to me (she is not WP). Cape Town said this is not possible, but they could "link" the bookings, which they did quickly. Obviously I know it is possible to sit her next to me, so I guess I'll have to HUCA some other time.

Day of week	Sat 15 Oct 2022
Time of call	04:45pm
Number used	13 13 13
Status	Platinum
Hold time	0 seconds
Call Centre (if known)	Hobart
Matter resolved	Yes
Details	Friend on separate booking moved next to me in row 2 with no issues. Call only took 5 minutes. Mindpearl once again with the "not possible" even when it's very much possible . She also chased up a pending refund for me, told me she'd call up the team and get it processed today

 

[HSB44]

Day of week	Sat 15 Oct 2022
Time of call	4:30pm
Number used	1300 659 116
Status	Silver
Hold time	2 mins
Call Centre (if known)	I think it was south africa
Matter resolved	No
Details	I tried to use a flight credit to book another flight. She kept me on hold for 25 mins, and then told me she was unable to price it because I was attempting to add on a segment. She said theres nothing she can do, theres nobody to escalate it to, refused to let me speak to a manager, asked me what grounds i wanted to escalate it, said that wasnt proper grounds. The issue is that I had a partially flown flight - and i requested a flight credit for the return leg. I guess Qantas does not actually issue a 'credit' for a new purchase as most people would understand it. they just try to leave the original booking reference open in the hope that i will accept to book 2 x new (expensive) one way flights. the only reason that i had a partially flown flight is that there were no available return flights to choose from - ive already had to pay for an extremely overpriced one way ticket , i dont want to pay for another!! why are qantas like this??? i just want to use my credit so that i dont have to use qantas again.

 

[encryptededdy]

the only reason that i had a partially flown flight is that there were no available return flights to choose from

What were the circumstances behind this? I feel like if Qantas cancelled your flight and left no available alternate options, then you may be owed a refund.

 

[HSB44]

What were the circumstances behind this? I feel like if Qantas cancelled your flight and left no available alternate options, then you may be owed a refund.

I was the one who cancelled the flight - we were half way through itinerary (paid ticket) and needed to change return flight for medical reasons. There were NO available flights at all within a reasonable price and time frame, so we had to book a new one way ticket via emirates/scoot and ask for a flight credit.

What I find infuriating is that I only booked the ticket on the basis that I could get a flight credit for the fare, rather than pay a cancellation fee. Now what they are effectively trying to do is force me to pay for 2 x separate one way tickets and fork out an extra $1K plus vs the normal return fare. I guess I could still try to cancel, but then I need to pay the cancellation fee and wait months & many more phone calls to get my money back.

I dont think that is legal based on the terms and conditions is it ??????
A credit should be a credit!

 

[encryptededdy]

I was the one who cancelled the flight - we were half way through itinerary (paid ticket) and needed to change return flight for medical reasons. There were NO available flights at all within a reasonable price and time frame, so we had to book a new one way ticket via emirates/scoot and ask for a flight credit.

What I find infuriating is that I only booked the ticket on the basis that I could get a flight credit for the fare, rather than pay a cancellation fee. Now what they are effectively trying to do is force me to pay for 2 x separate one way tickets and fork out an extra $1K plus vs the normal return fare. I guess I could still try to cancel, but then I need to pay the cancellation fee and wait months & many more phone calls to get my money back.

I dont think that is legal based on the terms and conditions is it ??????
A credit should be a credit!

I will defer to others here who may know the exact rules better, but in general I agree that it doesn't make much sense that you can't book a return flight for your flight credit.

Was your flight credit the exact return portion of your fare? If so, then I suppose I could think of an explanation: Since your original outbound flight would've been priced as part of a cheaper return itinerary, by returning your inbound flight to credit (without retroactively repricing your outbound flight), then it sorta makes sense that your credit can only be used for a one-way? Unsure if this is the reason though.

 

[HSB44]

Day of week	Sat 15 Oct 2022
Time of call	5:00pm
Number used	1300 025 396
Status	Silver
Hold time	2 mins
Call Centre (if known)	fiji
Matter resolved	No
Details	I tried to use a flight credit to book another flight (see previous post). Lady in fiji call center was more friedly and polite than south africa. Spent 30 mins and she couldnt resolve the problem, but she was open to trying options to fix the problem - she asked if she could call me back in 2 mins so she could reboot her system and try something else (update i agreed, and she did call me back approx 2 mins later) Call #2 She kept me on hold for 20 mins while she tried creating a new booking to add the credit, but eventually she ran up against the same problem - cant add the new segments to the partially flown flight. she said that if i speak to any other agent i will get the same result. She seemed sympathetic but didnt know what to do. She put me on hold for another 20 mins, then she noticed that she had booked one connecting flight the day before, so she amended - but still couldnt fix it. She spent another 40 mins keeping me on hold, before hanging up. Overall spent 90 mins on this call for zero result. Starting to feel very dispondent. Not sure what do next - i need a circuit breaker to get me someone in Australia who understands the problem and the options to solve it. Might have to result to bombarding social media, etc, but I really need to book the flight soon before fares go up...

 

[HSB44]

Was your flight credit the exact return portion of your fare? If so, then I suppose I could think of an explanation: Since your original outbound flight would've been priced as part of a cheaper return itinerary, by returning your inbound flight to credit (without retroactively repricing your outbound flight), then it sorta makes sense that your credit can only be used for a one-way? Unsure if this is the reason though.

The flight value is not the issue - they already calculated my credit based on the lowest flight value estimate (ie they recalculated my fare on the assumption that I had spent the equivalent of a one way fare price).

So I have already had to buy an additional one way expensive fare with other airlines, and then qantas has calculated my credit based on a one way pricing, and now they are trying to rub salt into the wound by trying to make me buy another one way fare.

 

[encryptededdy]

The flight value is not the issue - they already calculated my credit based on the lowest flight value estimate (ie they recalculated my fare on the assumption that I had spent the equivalent of a one way fare price).

Ah, I see. If they repriced it already then I agree it makes no sense they won't let you buy a return fare. I suspect someone with better knowledge of how all of this works needs to get the system to allow it, but given the state of Qantas' call center it seems impossible to reach anyone who can do it, especially as Silver

 

[HSB44]

She's still there, and she'll care if you send her enough emails

We will see - have emailed her. Now I will hold my breath.

I feel terrible for the staff at Qantas - how do they live with themslves every day? must be a miserable place to work.

 

[ShrinkWrapped]

I was the one who cancelled the flight - we were half way through itinerary (paid ticket) and needed to change return flight for medical reasons. There were NO available flights at all within a reasonable price and time frame, so we had to book a new one way ticket via emirates/scoot and ask for a flight credit.

What I find infuriating is that I only booked the ticket on the basis that I could get a flight credit for the fare, rather than pay a cancellation fee. Now what they are effectively trying to do is force me to pay for 2 x separate one way tickets and fork out an extra $1K plus vs the normal return fare. I guess I could still try to cancel, but then I need to pay the cancellation fee and wait months & many more phone calls to get my money back.

I dont think that is legal based on the terms and conditions is it ??????
A credit should be a credit!

The flight value is not the issue - they already calculated my credit based on the lowest flight value estimate (ie they recalculated my fare on the assumption that I had spent the equivalent of a one way fare price).

So I have already had to buy an additional one way expensive fare with other airlines, and then qantas has calculated my credit based on a one way pricing, and now they are trying to rub salt into the wound by trying to make me buy another one way fare.

While I sympathize with you, qantas have actually done the correct thing in this situation. You bought a return fare and wanted to change your return date. When it was t convenient you opted to flight credit the return sector and this was calculated appropriately (e.g. calculated at total value minus one way pricing for flown sector). Remember that one ways are generally more expensive than returns because otherwise everyone who needed one way would just buy returns and cancel.

When you flight credit, you have essentially cancelled the rest of your ticket. You have forced a re-price and re-route as you are no longer flying the return. In the eyes of the airline, you have gone from a return ticket to a one way ticket. The flight credit it's what is left after the cancellation in monetary value rather than the ability to book a return segment

Since what you've flown is now in a smaller credit, you can just reprice it at a return for your convenience. Your original return no longer exists so therefore you need to buy a one way ticket for your return leg separately.

 

[HSB44]

Since what you've flown is now in a smaller credit, you can just reprice it at a return for your convenience. Your original return no longer exists so therefore you need to buy a one way ticket for your return leg separately.

But I already did purchase a replacement one way ticket for the return leg!!
I had to pay $10k for a new return flight via EK/Scoot.
Theyve already repriced the flight and calculated it at the lower price.

I just want to use my flight credit now to make a new booking - You cant advertise a flight credit and then not let your customer use it to make return bookings, and attempt to impose restrictive TandCs and hold them to the exact same segments and make them wait hours on the phone just because you are unwilling to issue the credit in a customer friendly manner. QF cant advertise a flight credit then, when I want to take up that offer, try to force me to finish off a zombie return leg.

Which other airlines do does this? Is that really standard practice?
My old QF booking is finished - ive lost value on it , and had to buy a separate $10k fare with another carrier - I just want to move on and use whats left on a new QF return flight (probably will be my last paid QF international flight based on this experience). Surely the travel credit should be a credit to purchase any other type of qantas fare that I want to?