Qantas to shut airport service desks, force customers onto self-service

[SeaWolf]

Qantas will permanently close its service and sales desks at all airports and lounges, leaving passengers to deal with cancellations and last-minute booking changes themselves at self-service kiosks, online or through a call centre.
The airline will maintain staffed check-in desks, but lost-baggage counter hours will be cut in favour of "self-serve recovery" and all other services will be self-managed as part of an overhaul one union says will make Qantas no better than Jetstar.

Qantas to shut airport service desks, force customers onto self-service

Qantas will permanently close its service and sales desks at all airports and lounges, leaving passengers to deal with cancellations and last-minute booking changes at kiosks, online or through a call centre.

www.theage.com.au

 

[Guvner]

Too bad if your phone goes flat at the airport.

 

[SeaWolf]

Too bad if your phone goes flat at the airport.

And given how stupidly long the wait times are for the QF contact centre, that seems pretty likely.

 

[flyingfan]

I find it hard to believe customers actually told QF they'd rather call or use the app or a browser than front up at a desk when they're at the airport.

Also disappointing that service desks will be removed from lounges too. Guessing this means last-minute flight or seat changes will be much harder?

 

[Bundy Bear]

No service desks at a lounge doesn't sound good, so looks like everything will go online, no more issuing of paper boarding passes, so if the flight gets cancelled the app will tell you your new flight and seat number.

Jetstar becomes the new default option in Australian travel.

 

[glasszon]

Ouch, so if you have no status with QF, what you suppose to do if there's a flight disruption? It take hours for people with no status to get through to the call centre.

 

[Guvner]

It will take even longer now.

 

[Kendall Roy]

AJ is starting the lose the plot

 

[mrsterryn]

This would include international lounges ?

 

[jakeseven7]

Never used the service desk to be honest myself of any airline at the airport so can't really comment on what they do....

Apparently the roving assistants at self check in can help with any weird issues as well, so seems to be more of a transfer of roles and heaping more responsibility on them. Hope they are trained up well.

 

[TheInsider]

Blah blah blah blah. They still don't even know how they are going to do it all from what I've been told. Also from what I've been told they don't want to spend any money on technology.

We also know of the call centre wait times on a normal pre-covid day. Current staff there are furious. Local and national management don't give a cough. Their jobs have all stuck so far during all the cuts.

 

[henrus]

I've been saved a few times by in lounge service desks when a delayed flight has meant that an international connection could have been missed. What are people supposed to do now... wait on a phone line for hours instead. Even with a dedicated urgent phone line, I can still see problems occurring including people missing crucial flights.

 

[sudoer]

I would have less of an objection to this if the Qantas website/app was at feature parity with what can be done at a service desk, and more reliable than it currently is.

Perhaps TAs will see a resurgence in corporate business due to the change?

 

[TheInsider]

I've been saved a few times by in lounge service desks when a delayed flight has meant that an international connection could have been missed. What are people supposed to do now... wait on a phone line for hours instead. Even with a dedicated urgent phone line, I can still see problems occurring including people missing crucial flights.

Luckily there is no international flights

 

[jakeseven7]

Can I ask (honest question) what actually do people use the service desks for?

I have never used the domestic service desk for QF or VA1 or JQ in Australia, ever....

I thought for a second they were talking about manned baggage check but that remains.

 

[TheInsider]

Can I ask (honest question) what actually do people use the service desks for?
I have never used the domestic service desk for QF or VA1 or JQ in Australia, ever....
I thought for a second they were talking about manned baggage check but that remains.

They are talking about manned baggage check - they are part of the service desk function.

People come to the desks because they "don't want to use the machines" or "want to change their seats/flight times", or they think they need to be served by a 'human'.

Or in terms of disruptions, they deal with the rebooking.

 

[jakeseven7]

They are talking about manned baggage check - they are part of the service desk function.

People come to the desks because they "don't want to use the machines" or "want to change their seats/flight times", or they think they need to be served by a 'human'.

Oh I thought international connecting flights / manned domestic bag check remained for security reasons?

The kiosks offer you earlier flight options if you are on the right ticket..... well they do for me?

I guess for older customers that could be challenging using the kiosks, but they still have the roving service assistants right to help?

 

[TheInsider]

Oh I thought international connecting flights / manned domestic bag check remained for security reasons?

The kiosks offer you earlier flight options if you are on the right ticket..... well they do for me?

I guess for older customers that could be challenging using the kiosks, but they still have the roving service assistants right to help?

International connecting flights weren't able to do on kiosks because QF never invested in the technology to enable it. (in the domestic terminals)
The kiosks offer you earlier flights if on a flex ticket or it has been enabled to offer all flights.
Still have the roaming staff around, but the desks will be shutting.

 

[jakeseven7]

International connecting flights weren't able to do on kiosks because QF never invested in the technology to enable it. (in the domestic terminals)
The kiosks offer you earlier flights if on a flex ticket or it has been enabled to offer all flights.
Still have the roaming staff around, but the desks will be shutting.

Right, well no change for me then....! Clearly why I have never used a service desk in Australia!

Of course I feel for the people who have lost their jobs. Really hard times for the industry

 

[flyingfan]

The kiosks offer you earlier flights if on a flex ticket or it has been enabled to offer all flights.

Will pax lose any real functionality on flight changes/seats - ie. unless there's an override (?), would pax actually still be able to have the same ability (or not) to change flights/seats at the kiosks as they would have had talking to a human?