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

 

[CMA222]

I hope nothing goes wrong with your flights or bookings. CX support isn't great either from my interactions with limited interactions with them when i needed stuff done.

I was expecting a response that CX also has issues, but they cannot be as hopeless as QF have become.

Interestingly I have since called the CX Oz 13 number about my booking as I realised I could get a much earlier flight out of a prior port and spend extra hours in HKG, if I could change flights. I was aware, and was advised during the call, it would cost me A$350 for the change. My call went straight through to the HKG call centre (zero waiting) was dealt with professionally and efficiently and told I would get a call-back once married segments were separated. I was called back 10 minutes later to confirm the changes before they were actioned. All done and new tickets issued immediately and received while I was still on the phone call. I waited for the request for my credit card number for the change fee when the very helpful guy said, "We messed you around by changing one of your other flight's departure time, so we will waive the change fee because of that inconvenience". That time change suited me fine and meant more HKG lounge time. Enough said !!

 

[elanshin]

I was expecting a response that CX also has issues, but they cannot be as hopeless as QF have become.

Interestingly I have since called the CX Oz 13 number about my booking as I realised I could get a much earlier fight out of a prior port and spend extra hours in HKG, if I could change flights. I was aware, and was advised during the call, it would cost me A$350 for the change. My call went straight through to the HKG call centre (zero waiting) was dealt with professionally and efficiently and told I would get a call-back once married segments were separated. I was called back 10 minutes later to confirm the changes before they were actioned. All done and new tickets issued immediately and received while I was still on the phone call. I waited for the request for my credit card number for the change fee when the very helpful guy said, "We messed you around by changing one of your other flight's departure time, so we will waive the change fee because of that inconvenience". That time change suited me fine and meant more HKG lounge time. Enough said !!

That's great you got it resolved efficiently.

I think the issue is exactly the same as QF though, you got through to HK. If you got Manila or another outpost, they're equally as useless.

 

[KSC]

I recently called when I was in Honolulu as I wanted to confirm a flight delay message I received, as my app was showing different information.
My call went through almost immediately, however took about 10 minutes to confirm, which I was ok with.
Not sure which call center this was with.

 

[Youfah Mizzum]

IME, things are looking up.

Another example of good customer service...this morning I needed to ring QF again just to follow up a credit of points from a cancelled flight done last Monday (the cancellation, not the flight, lol). Points hadn't arrived back in my account.

Got though to Sth Africa (can tell by the accent). The agent understood exactly why I called, put me through to another team which approves/does the instant crediting of points, she asked me to check my account right then & there. And bingo - there's my points back!!
As for the refund of taxes, the credit card I used had since been cancelled but as that takes a few days anyway I was able to provide another card number. I'll wait 7 days to check the funds have been credited but I am quietly confident.

 

[maroonone]

Called today to book classic J award KTT to KIX as Kittila KTT doesn’t get recognised in online booking. Got through within minutes (even though DSC had been announced). Booked with few issues and didn’t have to get booking fee waived as it wasn’t even mentioned as opposed to 2 weeks ago where I had to escalate to get it waived. Overall no complaints and gave good response to survey at end of call.

 

[draper]

Just received an FF group email from Vanessa - 22 feb 2024. Reading through all the fluff it would appear that the new word "Improvements" is the replacement for the old word "enhancements".

 

[TripleB]

Regarding the cessation of triaging repeat callers:

A number of years ago a friend of mine worked in a call centre for a utility company. She'd worked in the same place for a number of years and had become one of the senior hands. Then someone in management decided that it would improve customer experience (and no doubt nps) if the senior staff dealt with all the complaints. So all the people who were complaining or otherwise difficult were coming through to the senior staff.

Management loved it because all their metrics all went up. The senior staff not so much because they rolled from one cranky caller to the next. My friend and the other senior hands promptly left.

I think sometimes it is easy to forget that whilst you really want to speak to someone good on the other end of the phone, the really competent person in the call centre might prefer to not be constantly filling from one frustrated caller with a difficult problem to the next and might like to do a booking for SYD-MEL on a random Tuesday in August once in a while.

Please don't think that I'm excusing qantas for having poorly trained staff answering calls. FWIW if I get through to South Africa I politely apologise and say that I have to go and hang up and call again... life's too short.

 

[MelbFlyer]

FWIW if I get through to South Africa I politely apologise and say that I have to go and hang up and call again... life's too short.

Wow, if I did that everytime I got through to Qantas, I'd have saved literally around 48hrs+ of coughulative time.

For me, as frustrating as it was at the best of times to change my reward seats within my OWA to alternative ones that were showing online, it was worth a try to get it changed with the consultant at hand.

Unfortunately most of the time, I had to HUACA due to being unsuccessful because of Qantas' cough systems (ie. the consultant telling me that the reward seats I was seeing online was only available for new bookings or some other garbage BS reason) and/or training of their consultants.

 

[Jousams]

has anyone else struggled to get through in the last few days? Have got some awards i need to get sorted and its been a >25m wait each time....

 

[levelnine]

has anyone else struggled to get through in the last few days? Have got some awards i need to get sorted and its been a >25m wait each time....

Yeah, huge waits at the moment as a Platinum. I assume it's everyone requesting the release of award seats to get in on the DSC and dump their points before the devaluation (especially if the new tier of seats take inventory away from the fare classes used for Platinum award releases).

 

[TheRealTMA]

Platinum "hotline" yesterday. Wait time 1hr 20 minutes. Ahahaha New enhanced features by QF for FFers.

Issue: wanted to pay to upgrade niece for international flights (bugger she booked on code share QF/EK so could not use points QF or EK points - PITB). All was resolved quite quickly once they answered. SPECIFCALLY said DO NOT SEND THE INVOCIE AND PAYMENT DETAILS TO MY NIECE. So what did they do? ahahahaha

 

[Daver6]

Platinum "hotline" yesterday. Wait time 1hr 20 minutes. Ahahaha New enhanced features by QF for FFers.

Issue: wanted to pay to upgrade niece for international flights (bugger she booked on code share QF/EK so could not use points QF or EK points - PITB). All was resolved quite quickly once they answered. SPECIFCALLY said DO NOT SEND THE INVOCIE AND PAYMENT DETAILS TO MY NIECE. So what did they do? ahahahaha

55 minute wait for me as a WP yesterday. What's crazy is I select the "I want to make a new booking" option. At least the agent managed to release a J seat for me and got it booked on the call.

 

[DCFF1961]

I cant complain about the wait times, as I am getting straight through.....

But here is my issue....

I have a Rewards booking

MEl-NRT NRT-HEL HEL-LHR

QF Economy to NRT then Finnair Business to London

Due to a change of plans, I no longer need or want to go to London, but want to go to Croatia

I can see a Hel-Split flight (Finnair direct) available same day (Sat Aug 3) as my Hel-LHR leg, departing an hour later than the LHR flight

When I call up to request a change, I am told ( 4 times) that it cant be done....

Is this true, or a lack of knowledge ??

If it can be done, how can I talk to someone who can do it.....

If not, as an alternative, should I drop the Hel-LHR segment, and just book HEL-Split seperately...more points, but thats not a big issue, would there be a risk ... ?

 

[ShrinkWrapped]

I cant complain about the wait times, as I am getting straight through.....

But here is my issue....

I have a Rewards booking

MEl-NRT NRT-HEL HEL-LHR

QF Economy to NRT then Finnair Business to London

Due to a change of plans, I no longer need or want to go to London, but want to go to Croatia

I can see a Hel-Split flight (Finnair direct) available same day (Sat Aug 3) as my Hel-LHR leg, departing an hour later than the LHR flight

When I call up to request a change, I am told ( 4 times) that it cant be done....

Is this true, or a lack of knowledge ??

If it can be done, how can I talk to someone who can do it.....

If not, as an alternative, should I drop the Hel-LHR segment, and just book HEL-Split seperately...more points, but thats not a big issue, would there be a risk ... ?

Finnair are notorious for married segment logic

just because NRT - HEL - LHR is available in U, it doesn't mean NRT - HEL, HEL - SPU or even NRT-HEL-SPU is available at U.

effectively you need NRT-HEL-SPU available in U to rebook. cancelling doesn't necessarily return U inventory either

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Just got off the phone to QF, taking advantage of the same day mistake policy, following an epic fail on my behalf booking wrong dates on a booking made just a few hours ago.

I was quite surprised as a Platinum
Member the entire resolution of the call took 46 minutes & 29 seconds until the call concluded.

Certainly not “a matter of minutes” as echoed last week.

I understand today is the end of double status credits and call volumes might spike slightly more than normal.
I was expecting to wait longer than what has recently been reported from QF call centre wait times, however I have never waited more than 20 minutes, even in the peak of the pandemic of mid 2020.
I was disappointed that ongoing long QF call centre wait times appear to be ongoing, even those with status are not immune.

The call was answered in South Africa, however I almost feel off
My chair as the call centre agent resolved my problem Immediately, understood my issue, and pleasantly didn’t have to repeat myself half a dozen times as one commonly does for most offshore contact centres, and was rebooked to my desired dates literally immediately.


So it’s a tale of ongoing long wait times, yet pleasantly shocked at reaching a competent call centre agent, particularly as the offshore BP0’s that Qantas employs to manage their contact centres have a long history of utter incompetence and are still seen as hugely brand damaging to Qantas.

I still prefer Onshore contact centres, particularly the Hobart call centre - if anyone from Qantas does read this

 

[eminere]

The call was answered in South Africa, however I almost feel iff
My chair that the call centre agent resolved my problem
Immediately and rebooked to my desired dates.

Have you received the new e-ticket?

 

[Spacetravel]

I used click to call, which took 35 minutes to be answered by a rather blunt South African agent. I want to cancel a booking that had an involuntary schedule change. The email says:

Hi XX,

There have been some important changes to your upcoming Qantas flight, QF542 to Brisbane. For your reference, we’ve included your new flight details below.

An updated ticket is on its way

You don’t need to do anything. We’ve automatically updated your booking and a new e-ticket is on its way. All other conditions of your booking remain unchanged.

View alternative options

We appreciate this change may impact your plans. If you’d like to view your other options, including a refund or, where applicable, a Flight Credit, visit Manage Booking or the Qantas App.

Thank you for your understanding. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and look forward to welcoming you onboard soon.

No where in manage my booking or the Qantas app does it give me any new options, so I called. The agent told me I accepted the changes and as such all changes are subject to the fare conditions. As per the email it says they automatically updated my booking and reissued a ticket, I had no option to accept. I am certain I didn't accept the changes because I know to leave it open to allow for a free change / cancel if needed. I also know I was surprised by the fact I had no option to accept the changes.

I am HUACA, waiting on hold wish me luck.

Side note: click to call seems pretty cool, and I haven't seen it discussed here, is it new?

Update:
After an additional 35 minutes on hold calling back, I am pretty sure I got Aukland this time, the agent was super helpful, instantly cancelled my booking with a full refund no argument and they also booked another open jaw international booking for me that I was unable to make online with no assistance fees. All this took about as long as the time I was on the phone arguing with the SA agent for a refund.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Have you received the new e-ticket?

Yes, approx 15 minutes later from “ Qantas Contact centres” in full blown Amadeus ticketing format.

 

[eminere]

Yes, approx 15 minutes later from “ Qantas Contact centres” in full blown Amadeus ticketing format.

Happy days!

 

[encryptededdy]

Side note: click to call seems pretty cool, and I haven't seen it discussed here, is it new?

What's Click to Call?