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

[Ade]

This! Exactly This!

Plus I sometimes have been unable to check in on various devices - I don't know why, it just says "check in not available, check in with agent at airport."

Most of my trips are (were, unfortunately) overseas and I never was able to check in anywhere other than the airport. I understand this might be due to passport check & the likes. Still need the desk with a human behind it to assist

 

[Melburnian1]

Off the topic, I know, but I just hate the term “customers”. The same with Virgin’s “guests”. Passengers. Whatever happened to passengers.

Coles has customers, and my house has guests.

"Customers" isn't accurate as the rule in English is to use the term that most closely resembles the activity. 'Customer' is appropriate when we shop at Bunnings but not when we are booked (or for that matter freebie) passengers on Qantas, Virgin, Rex, NSW TrainLink or any other conveyance.

'Guests' is also used by Journey Beyond (used to be Great Southern Rail) and is just as repulsive.

Vast majority of us want to be called passengers. I also dislike being addressed by my first name and prefer a simple Mr (surname)'. But we are OT.

 

[jastel]

I am against this idea for the record.

Recently my mother was sick and needed to go to BNE for surgery...my sister is Platinum and made the bookings and she requested a wheelchair and some assistance for mum and dad on the flights. The first 3 flights NO assistance came. She complained and the next flight finally a wheelchair was waiting and someone to push it. Another SERVICE that service desks do.

Also like McDonalds forcing people to use those kiosks, they need to be wiped down between EVERY transaction in the covid world...really in the old world as well. So is each machine going to have a clean between users? I doubt it.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

During my travels, I’ve « adopted » a number of grandparents and a couple of stranded passengers in genuine need of assistance. Guested them into the lounge, and helped sort out their travel problems. Sorry Baz and Shaz, no can do.

I was checking in at the kiosk for a recent flight then went to the auto bag drop and somehow walked away without checking by bag was injected down the belt. Another pax came up to me to let me know then she had issues herself as she'd done a mobile checkin but went straight to the bag drop thinking that the bagtags printed out there so I then helped her get a bagtag from the kiosk.

This decision will be tested during a series of cancellations and/or IRROPs. Will the roaming staff go to the old service desks, or will passengers have to leave the gate (sterile) area, return to the check in area, then clear security again?

Good question because service desk staff & sales desk/ticketing staff were on a higher pay scale than checkin staff/roaming staff so any task previously done by the former group would probably now need to be done centrally by staff on the same or higher pay scale then the checkin/roaming staff at the airport so the latter may just be reprinting a new boarding pass and giving to the pax. I don't know for sure I'm just thinking out loud.

I really don't think they would send people landside unless it was a situation where the pax had to retrieve their luggage due to an overnight disruption. Qantas LInk Dash8 & 717 flight disruptions may still be handled by their own QLink airport service desk staff as they're on a different pay scale to QF mainline staff however I don't know what their plan will be & whether they're doing a similar restructure like mainline.

QLink currently manage their own disruptions eg flight delays & cancellations in addition to the scenario where pax misconnect from a QLink flight to a mainline flight and need to be rebooked eg if you were travelling Moranbah-Brisbane-Sydney where you missed your BNE-SYD flight as a result of QLink being late then they do the BNE-SYD rebooking including a hotel booking if the next flight is the next day.

Now, this is AFF, so I can propose a typical AFF solution. An entrepreneurial member might hover in the check-in area at their local airport terminal looking for people wanting to pay with cash. Can then accept their cash in exchange for paying the amount on a QFF points earning credit card (preferably one with bonus points for QF transactions) and everybody is happy

While that service would definitely come in handy for someone wanting to purchase a ticket I can't see them being as enthisiastic about taking up the offer when it came to paying for excess baggage or heavy charges.

Recently my mother was sick and needed to go to BNE for surgery...gmy sister is Platinum and made the bookings and she requested a wheelchair and some assistance for mum and dad on the flights. The first 3 flights NO assistance came. She complained and the next flight finally a wheelchair was waiting and someone to push it. Another SERVICE that service desks do.

While at a lot of airports WCHRs are stored at or adjacent to service desks, it's the commissionaires who transfer pax from check to the gate or between flights (at domestic airports) not service desk staff. There haven't been any service desk or sales & ticketing staff on shift since late March. From what you've described it doesn't even sound like the WCHR request was in the booking.

Even if pax have boarded the flight without assistance from staff the CSM would see the WCHR request on their ipad plus it's also on the manifest and generally always ask the pax what assistance they need on arrival eg do they need an aisle chair all the way to their seat vs being able to walk to the aircraft door and get into the WCHR in the aerobridge.

If flights are cancelled or changed the WCHR request is cancelled too so must be requested again for the 'new' or rebooked flights. If unsure one is booked ask the staff at the departure gate if the WCHR request is there and if not they can add it in so staff on arrival know about it. The request should also print out on your boarding pass too.

 

[TheInsider]

Recently my mother was sick and needed to go to BNE for surgery...my sister is Platinum and made the bookings and she requested a wheelchair and some assistance for mum and dad on the flights. The first 3 flights NO assistance came. She complained and the next flight finally a wheelchair was waiting and someone to push it. Another SERVICE that service desks do.

Actually the service desks for domestic don't push wheelchairs at all. They have their own staff that push wheelchairs domestically.

 

[Seat0B]

Also like McDonalds forcing people to use those kiosks, they need to be wiped down between EVERY transaction in the covid world...really in the old world as well. So is each machine going to have a clean between users? I doubt it.

And Woolworths self check out - so many things that are COVID unfriendly. At McDonalds, I just play up the silver threads in my hair and get a staffer to assist me - luckily we only use McDonalds for a road trip, and there have been precious few of those this year.

 

[Rangalad]

I was checking in at the kiosk for a recent flight then went to the auto bag drop and somehow walked away without checking by bag was injected down the belt. Another pax came up to me to let me know then she had issues herself as she'd done a mobile checkin but went straight to the bag drop thinking that the bagtags printed out there so I then helped her get a bagtag from the kiosk.



Good question because service desk staff & sales desk/ticketing staff were on a higher pay scale than checkin staff/roaming staff so any task previously done by the former group would probably now need to be done centrally by staff on the same or higher pay scale then the checkin/roaming staff at the airport so the latter may just be reprinting a new boarding pass and giving to the pax. I don't know for sure I'm just thinking out loud.

I really don't think they would send people landside unless it was a situation where the pax had to retrieve their luggage due to an overnight disruption. Qantas LInk Dash8 & 717 flight disruptions may still be handled by their own QLink airport service desk staff as they're on a different pay scale to QF mainline staff however I don't know what their plan will be & whether they're doing a similar restructure like mainline.

QLink currently manage their own disruptions eg flight delays & cancellations in addition to the scenario where pax misconnect from a QLink flight to a mainline flight and need to be rebooked eg if you were travelling Moranbah-Brisbane-Sydney where you missed your BNE-SYD flight as a result of QLink being late then they do the BNE-SYD rebooking including a hotel booking if the next flight is the next day.



While that service would definitely come in handy for someone wanting to purchase a ticket I can't see them being as enthisiastic about taking up the offer when it came to paying for excess baggage or heavy charges.



While at a lot of airports WCHRs are stored at or adjacent to service desks, it's the commissionaires who transfer pax from check to the gate or between flights (at domestic airports) not service desk staff. There haven't been any service desk or sales & ticketing staff on shift since late March. From what you've described it doesn't even sound like the WCHR request was in the booking.

Even if pax have boarded the flight without assistance from staff the CSM would see the WCHR request on their ipad plus it's also on the manifest and generally always ask the pax what assistance they need on arrival eg do they need an aisle chair all the way to their seat vs being able to walk to the aircraft door and get into the WCHR in the aerobridge.

If flights are cancelled or changed the WCHR request is cancelled too so must be requested again for the 'new' or rebooked flights. If unsure one is booked ask the staff at the departure gate if the WCHR request is there and if not they can add it in so staff on arrival know about it. The request should also print out on your boarding pass too.

Well trained agents know how to associate the WCHR or any other SSR to the new flight.

 

[RichardMEL]

re Kiosks wherever they ae.. woolies etc I use the knuckle to "press" the screen, then sanitise that rather than using fingers. It may only be a small difference but even if I don't fully sanitise I'm unlikely to accidently touch my face with my knuckle so I consider it is a bit safer.. That is my solution to that issue. And all the places i have been with self check out type systems (so basically woolies or coles) all have sanitiser right there. I use when I enter and when I exit. Maybe overboard a bit but hey it's just a little bit of effort to improve my personal safety levels (even if the overall risk in the Australian community is quite low).

 

[RAM]

Actually the service desks for domestic don't push wheelchairs at all. They have their own staff that push wheelchairs domestically.

So true.

After getting caught in a rock slide in 2018 & ending up with two nearly crushed feet the day before I flew out of Hawaii - I experienced the 'wheelchair' process at a number of airport. At KOA & HNL there are specific staff who manage wheelchairs, prams etc. The staff could not have been more cheerful, helpful nor conscientious - even getting a cold bottle of water for me while in the departure lounge, & checking every 15-20 minutes that all was ok.

At SYD, getting in around 8pm - no wheelchair. Apologies from HA staff, even showed me the acknowledgment of request on their cabin docs. A few minutes later a very well-dressed man arrived - no fluro here.

Turned out other than me, there were no requests ay Syd International for a wheelchair since before 5pm (departing or arriving) - so all of the staff had been sent home early. The operations manager - my well-dressed new friend - explained this to me sheepishly after I realised he was 'somebody' but not a DYKWIA.

As we were coming down the long corridor towards Immigration - the Duty Free sales staff stepped back. Approaching immigration, 2 officers came over & opened the gate before we got there. Took my passport & declaration card while I was being wheeled along, asked the questions & one got the bags off the carousel for me. Then that one pushed a luggage trolley to the taxi rank (straight to front - waved through by taxi people) while the operations manager continued to answer the many questions I was peppering him with.

 

[John in Melbourne]

Call centre staff read from a script on their screen. They cannot deviate from it. If you have a problem outside of the approved list on their screen they cannot help you. And now many companies are forbidding agents to escalate calls to a senior person.

Sigh...I'm old enough to remember when phoning Qantas meant you'd speak to pleasant, knowledgeable staff who would do their best to fix things for you. And, if they couldn't, they would get a manager who could. Also, they would bend the rules. Double sigh.

 

[jastel]

It was booked with a wheelchair request by my sister via the platinum line (or whatever its called).
No changes or cancellations, and some were expensive full price next day tickets (on a very reduced flight schedule) as you never know how long medical stuff takes.
It was in the middle of covid but the desks were staffed...but my point is there was no service from the service desk...except for the last flight after the complaint.

A service desk is like insurance...only needed when things go wrong.
Qantas says it is a "Full Service Airline" - give service.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Off the topic, I know, but I just hate the term “customers”. The same with Virgin’s “guests”. Passengers. Whatever happened to passengers.

Coles has customers, and my house has guests.

The first time I ever heard 'customer' was on British Airways going back to around 2000... 'for our customers on the upper deck your emergency exits are...'. Still sounds strange.

I dunno if it is some sort of customer experience thing by trying to recognise or value the commercial nature of the relationship.

 

[RAM]

The first time I ever heard 'customer' was on British Airways going back to around 2000... 'for our customers on the upper deck your emergency exits are...'. Still sounds strange.

I dunno if it is some sort of customer experience thing by trying to recognise or value the commercial nature of the relationship.

That's what happens when people go through the 'cookie cutter' marketing degrees that have been progressively 'enhanced' since the 80s - for students' benefit of course, not cost cutting!

For example: one group in the US had the brainwave to refer to 'price cuts', 'discounting', 'sales' as "Investing in increased sales" in communications by retail companies with their bankers & investors (late 1990s).

Within 18 months virtually every retail group of any size around the world was using this 'double speak' and getting away with it. One oft used phrase;
"The decline in the last quarter's results reflect our investment in sales which will lead to improvements in coming quarters."

Trouble is the 'cookie cutter' finance/accounting degrees are still in the pre-2000 mode wrt 'doublespeak', so many analysts (in banking & investment) see similar phrases & think that's very positive. Not just the analysts either.

 

[DC3]

There’s a new thread on an AFFer’s first-hand experience with this:

First experience in QF J lounge with no service desk

Well - we called it & now I’ve experienced it. In the QF business lounge in MEL as we speak. - no service desk staff (unsure if they were the first to go or whether they may be back before the official closure.) - lounge check in staff couldn’t process an on departure upgrade request. -...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Rugby]

Mrs Rugby and I couldn’t check our bags today at SYD T3. The machine keep saying multiple Q tags detected - we were lucky to catch a staff member leaving the closed service desk and got her to check them for us. She suggested next time remove all Q tags and just print paper tags - sigh. If we hadn’t caught her we would have been stuffing around for ages.

 

[justinbrett]

Mrs Rugby and I couldn’t check our bags today at SYD T3. The machine keep saying multiple Q tags detected - we were lucky to catch a staff member leaving the closed service desk and got her to check them for us. She suggested next time remove all Q tags and just print paper tags - sigh. If we hadn’t caught her we would have been stuffing around for ages.

I’ve had a few instances of being in line at the service desk to check in and be offered assistance to use the kiosk. I always reply “I’m happy to wait”.

I swear every time they insist and I let them use the kiosk it never works and they have to check in manually.

 

[jakeseven7]

Mrs Rugby and I couldn’t check our bags today at SYD T3. The machine keep saying multiple Q tags detected - we were lucky to catch a staff member leaving the closed service desk and got her to check them for us. She suggested next time remove all Q tags and just print paper tags - sigh. If we hadn’t caught her we would have been stuffing around for ages.

I had that, got home and unpacked and had an extra Q bag tag in my suitcase. Whoops

(I was adamant to the poor QF helper that I didn't lol)

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Mrs Rugby and I couldn’t check our bags today at SYD T3. The machine keep saying multiple Q tags detected - we were lucky to catch a staff member leaving the closed service desk and got her to check them for us. She suggested next time remove all Q tags and just print paper tags - sigh. If we hadn’t caught her we would have been stuffing around for ages.

It could be a couple of scenarios. Did you have any other Qtags inside the bags as well? The antenna that reads the chip inside the Qtag is underneath the belt you place the bag on.

The Qtag doesn't need to be visible on the outside of the bag in order for it to scan as the antenna can detect the chip within a certain proximity. Some people have a spare bag or backpack that has a Qtag attached within the main bag they're checking in which would cause the "multiple Qtags detected" error.

You could also see this error if one bag was on the belt & the second bag on the floor is too close to the belt so the antenna is detecting both chips.

I usually just stick with paper tags as that removes the need for anyone in the baggage makeup area to have a scanner in order to figure out where the bag is going.

Another reason to keep it simple is reduced hours for baggage services trained people who can trouble shoot missing bags so if anyone else is trying to find your bag a paper tag is easier as they mightn't know how to use or have access to a scanner.

I can't even begin to think what a mess it will be when the baggage handling is outsourced to contractors who have never worked in a fast paced domestic environment but that's a whole other story.

 

[DC3]

... I can't even begin to think what a mess it will be when the baggage handling is outsourced to contractors who have never worked in a fast paced domestic environment but that's a whole other story.

Lots of unhappy campers no doubt.

 

[jb747]

Wheelchairs....did you know that many of the flights were referred to by the cabin crew as ‘miracle flights’. This was more common on some routes than others, but it was especially evident on flights involving Mumbai.

You have a large group of wheelchair passengers at the departure point, but on arrival the wheelchairs would arrive, only to find their intended occupants miraculously cured and walking out of the terminal.

The reason? They were first on, which has obvious pluses. But, they‘re last off. As soon as they found out that they had to wait, then Lazarus did his magic.