Qantas Customer DON'T care!

[FromTheRail]

My recent interactions with customer care weren't the best either, I was asking about what the regulations were for carrying an inflatable life jacket on board and the reply I got was basically 'read our website'.

Since coming to Australia I have found customer care very good with other companies, Qantas CC just reminds me of the UK!

 

[BD1959]

Edit: QF will only deal with the agent/person who directly made the booking as far as I know. Not with the passenger if using a T/A.

Not true in my experience. ALL of my business travel is mandated via a Corporate TA. QF have no issue texting me to call them if they have an issue (like light loads on the xx:15 and xx:45 SYD-MELs), similarly the Plat Desk has never once rejected a call because the booking was made through a TA.

Regards,

BD

 

[BD1959]

My recent interactions with customer care weren't the best either, I was asking about what the regulations were for carrying an inflatable life jacket on board and the reply I got was basically 'read our website'.

Since coming to Australia I have found customer care very good with other companies, Qantas CC just reminds me of the UK!

Did they not tell you that Qantas supply these - this is not Easyjet, you don't have to BYO !!!

Regards,

BD

 

[straitman]

dgwally,

I sympathise with you and appreciate your comments that you have had learnings from this.

QF customer care should have pointed you straight back to the TA so that's the only place they have let you down. The rest of your comments are irrelevant to the outcome of this event and could/should be followed up separately.

I deal with QF corporate and QF customer care on a daily basis and have found that whilst they are not perfect, they are very responsive and really try to help where they are able. Remember that there are many people working there and it is not always possible to get back to the person you were dealing with the first time. Having said that I always strike up some basic report with them and on appropriate occasions I get their direct phone contact.

 

[FromTheRail]

Lol

I'm only taking it as I need it after the flight for the Sydney-Hobart race

It would more likely be RyanAir that make you BYO

 

[straitman]

My recent interactions with customer care weren't the best either, I was asking about what the regulations were for carrying an inflatable life jacket on board and the reply I got was basically 'read our website'.

Since coming to Australia I have found customer care very good with other companies, Qantas CC just reminds me of the UK!

Carrying an inflatable life jacket comes under the ICAO/IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations and to expect a call centre operator to know the answer is an unrealistic expectation.

 

[DC3]

Not true in my experience. ALL of my business travel is mandated via a Corporate TA. QF have no issue texting me to call them if they have an issue (like light loads on the xx:15 and xx:45 SYD-MELs), similarly the Plat Desk has never once rejected a call because the booking was made through a TA.

Regards,

BD

Thank you for the information.

Perhaps the OP needs to obtain higher status.

I think that the OP won't get anywhere the way that it's going. That T/A needs to get onto it to see what can be done, if anything.

 

[dgwally]

QF customer care should have pointed you straight back to the TA so that's the only place they have let you down. The rest of your comments are irrelevant to the outcome of this event and could/should be followed up separately.

I do agree... but from a Customer Service level it was handled poorly!

The 'what' people say is important.... how they say it and the interest they show in it is just as important!

 

[Princess Fiona]

Not true in my experience. ALL of my business travel is mandated via a Corporate TA. QF have no issue texting me to call them if they have an issue (like light loads on the xx:15 and xx:45 SYD-MELs), similarly the Plat Desk has never once rejected a call because the booking was made through a TA.

Regards,

BD

That's interesting as despite the Plat desk being ever so polite and helpful they have always pointed out to me that they cannot touch a booking made via my TA on the couple of occasions I have inadvertently called them forgetting that it was a TA booking.
I think that the OP's problem revolves entirely around this issue and perhaps QF should have headed him/her off politely but immediately on the first point of contact and directed them back to their TA.
It's also pretty poor that the TA didn't give options to the OP regarding changing the PER-SYD sector as an alternative to an exorbitant fare increase.

The moral of the story :
If you want QF (or indeed any Airline) to make changes to your booking then you must make that booking direct with the airline.

 

[FromTheRail]

Carrying an inflatable life jacket comes under the ICAO/IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations and to expect a call centre operator to know the answer is an unrealistic expectation.

It was an email enquiry, so was expecting a bit of a better answer and had looked but couldn't find the exact information and was looking for a bit of advice on where to find the information

 

[straitman]

It was an email enquiry, so was expecting a bit of a better answer and had looked but couldn't find the exact information and was looking for a bit of advice on where to find the information

The reason you cannot find the answer is because there is no easy answer.

The LJ is fine by itself but the issue will be with the gas bottle and that requires someone with DG acceptance training and people with this qualification a thin on the ground. (When I did the course it was 2 X 8-10 hr days with home work and that simple qualified you to use the manual which is 1000s of pages.) Without that training it is not possible for anyone to give you an appropriate answer.

Depending upon your gas bottle there could be any one of several answers to your question.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I think some people are confusing Qantas Reservations with Customer Care. You call reservations regarding any day to day queries with regard to your booking and Customer Care for issues that need to be resolved eg chasing refund or giving feedback with regard to a flight delay ie you shouldn't be calling Customer Care regarding C02 cylinders on lifevests. If reservations can't find the answer they will call the in house DG's people for verification.

 

[DaveB]

Not all airlines stick to the fine print, whatever it might say with some using a common sense approach of trying to help and not screw the customer.
I have three of us going on the same planes from Sydney to Da Nang all in J on 27 December which were originally booked a day later on five different reward bookings. When SQ recently introduced an extra morning peak period service operating 3 or 4 days per week, the first flight out of Sydney was pushed back an hour or so on the other days including our original 28th December departure which meant we would miss our connecting flight to REP and on to DAD. My initial thought was to go out on the prior evening flight which SQ was happy to do on the spot and also even happy to hold the booking for me for 24 hours whilst I thought about it further as it would result in a lengthy monring stopover in SIN before the afternoon flight. Best solution was to travel a day earlier on the morning flight though thought it would be impossible checking their was zero reward seat availability on any of the flights involving SQ and Silk Air flights. SQ & MI happily delivered at zero extra cost to us despite being the busiest time of the year and all of us having zero status with them.

 

[harvyk]

Not all airlines stick to the fine print, whatever it might say with some using a common sense approach of trying to help and not screw the customer.
I have three of us going on the same planes from Sydney to Da Nang all in J on 27 December which were originally booked a day later on five different reward bookings. When SQ recently introduced an extra morning peak period service operating 3 or 4 days per week, the first flight out of Sydney was pushed back an hour or so on the other days including our original 28th December departure which meant we would miss our connecting flight to REP and on to DAD. My initial thought was to go out on the prior evening flight which SQ was happy to do on the spot and also even happy to hold the booking for me for 24 hours whilst I thought about it further as it would result in a lengthy monring stopover in SIN before the afternoon flight. Best solution was to travel a day earlier on the morning flight though thought it would be impossible checking their was zero reward seat availability on any of the flights involving SQ and Silk Air flights. SQ & MI happily delivered at zero extra cost to us despite being the busiest time of the year and all of us having zero status with them.

That is very different, when the airline does a schedule change it's up to the airline whom made the change to allow pax to move to different services without charge. QF does that as well.

 

[DaveB]

Our flights were on five separate bookings being the only way to 'game' the system and get all of us on the same planes in J. SQ and MI were in no way obligated to amend the MI flights or for that matter ensure we at least met the connection, compounded by being all points redemption bookings.
Having worked in QF for a short period and my father being there for close on 30 years, I unfortunately have experienced the difference between the airlines approach to customer care.

 

[Sera]

maybe if they werent all being sacked they would care a bit more!

 

[gibbo8]

Well I must say Qantas customer care has not even allowed me to make a judgement apart from the fact that they do not answer emails. I was on the very delayed QF107 in early august and sent a request to customer care to get reimbursed a taxi fare (which is apparently the only way to do this). I have had no response, despite 2 further follow-ups. Makes you wonder if anyone is even there.

 

[storr007]

In a few weeks Im due to fly to Hong Kong via Sydney in Business Class (Im in Perth so to fly anywhere with Qantas Int you need to fly domestically first)

All booked and paid via a Travel agent. I attempted to change the PER-SYD flight to an earlier date so I could stay in Sydney before flying to Honkers. The price to change the Ticket was over $1500, I understand the reason for the high price and decided not to change the ticket. The Ticket did allow for Stop-overs and the reason for the high price was due to a change in booking class.

The concern I have is that I was gong to buy another ticket for PER-SYD Economy a few days before my original flight, then fly from SYD-HKG on the original booking. (Basically paying for an extra PER-SYD flight)

This is where I get lost..... Qantas have advised me that if I don't fly PER-SYD on the original booking all my onward flights would be cancelled. Im attempting to give Qantas extra money.... I want to Fly Qantas but nope... can't be done !

I had previously had issues with Qantas and discussed them with Melanie from Customer Care (It took 6 weeks to get a reply from my original contact with CC and that only happened because I called them!) Melanie 'Listened' to my feedback but didn't seem concerned.

I wanted to discuss my PER-SYD issue with Melanie and placed a call to Customer Care. I Was promised a call back... it never happened so I called back. Spoke with Jospehine and she was LESS than helpful. Actually she really had a poor attitude and Im sure I interrupted her Friday arvo drinks.

My experience with Qantas goes up and down... lately its going down and rather fast!

I know there are Fare Rule, and only some things can be done.. but honestly Qantas... The one thing you can do is LISTEN to your customers, treat them with the same loyalty they show you!

This poor attitude shown by Qantas is nothing new. It is very easy when you are sitting behind a desk and do not have to face somebody to fob off a caller with garbage reasoning and unfortunately this attitude is becoming the norm with many semi government type companies. I can see no valid reason why the passenger could not use the Sydney/Hong Kong flight provided the passenger had given Qantas sufficient notice. It is merely a matter of pushing a button on a computer. My family had a similar problem with BA two years ago whereby their return flight was Manchester/London/Singapore/Sydney however they stayed longer in London than anticipated. BA customer service refused to assist and therefore 2 adults and 2 children had to make their way to Manchester only to change planes at LHR enroute to SYD. A quick note to BA head office did the trick. In the reply from BA they received an apology, stating there was no valid reason why their request could not have been approved, together with London/Manchester the train fare reimbursed. Well Done BA...a bit co common sense goes a long way. Often or not airlines sell the unoccupied seat as a standby ticket and cop the fare twice. We are in the 21st century, Qantas staff need more training in PR. Little wonder their load factor is decreasing.

 

[Pat2065]

I know it's been said several times in this discussion, but in this case it seems apparent that the travel agent is the best point of contact to achieve a revised itinerary and/or avoid cancellation of onward legs.

However, prices can seem bizarre. A couple of years ago I found a very attractive J fare on CX from Sydney to Sapporo with a stop-over in Hong Kong. If I had just booked Syd-HK-Syd on the same days on the same flights and not gone on to Sapporo, the fare would have been over $1000 more per person. I'd say CX was encouraging Sydney-siders to fly to Sapporo to ski. Worked for us.

Maybe status does make a difference to service, but I find QF generally very helpful and responsive. I may not have said that as couple of years ago, even for the platinum call centre, but lately I have found them terrific in managing a couple of tricky situations.

 

[storr007]

Pat, I agree that status may make a difference however if Qantas does segregate and not treat a passenger, with a reasonably simple request to the best of their ability, what chance do they think they have of that passenger ever becoming a Platinum member.
The circumstances whereby a passenger has multi segments then requests to forgo an initial segment and join the itinerary at one of the other segments, should not be an issue, provided the airline is given sufficient notice. Airlines who do not support this issue are merely being difficult.
I often think that Qantas forgets that they do not rule the Australian sky.