I've been waiting for the northern winter 2023 schedule to load so I can book an award home from Europe next year. Booked my partner over using a Qantas One-World award which ended up taking 7 hours on the phone (and they've already changed it) so I couldn't be bothered stuffing around with QF myself (plus I have SQ miles expiring).
I've been checking the app each morning and yesterday did the same. Flights are loaded! Great. Jump on the website to book them and, of course, error message comes up. Damn it! Call and spend about 3 hours on hold. The phone finally rings and it's silent, followed by the line being disconnected. Call again and, after 4 hours somebody answers in a thick South African accent on a poor quality line. I slowly explain the simple 2 sector booking. There are 30 second pauses between me speaking and a response being received. I am put on hold while he goes to check if his computer is plugged in. He comes back and says "you're asking for flights from Paris to Australia, this is Singapore Airlines. Do you want to fly to Singapore?". I explain again, he puts me on hold and says he needs to speak to a supervisor as his computer has a blue screen with white text on it. He comes back and says he is now using a Samsung Galaxy he found in the taxi this morning and can try to do the booking on that. He seems very confused that I live in Australia but am booking from France. I'm put on hold for 30 minutes while he checks with his supervisor to "see if that is permitted". He comes back and I get the ok! After taking my credit card details, the line goes dead. I do not get a call back. Half an hour later American Express calls and ask if I am using my card to put a deposit on a VW Polo in Mitchells Plain.
I then wake up sweating and shaking. Grab my phone and see the seats on the app. Seats are there, my details are saved in my profile (name, contact and credit card) so the booking takes 15 seconds. An e-ticket is received 30 seconds later. I get up and make a coffee while reflecting on my nightmare.
For all the complaints of late regarding their phone service (which I agree is average), at least the IT is pretty good.
I've been checking the app each morning and yesterday did the same. Flights are loaded! Great. Jump on the website to book them and, of course, error message comes up. Damn it! Call and spend about 3 hours on hold. The phone finally rings and it's silent, followed by the line being disconnected. Call again and, after 4 hours somebody answers in a thick South African accent on a poor quality line. I slowly explain the simple 2 sector booking. There are 30 second pauses between me speaking and a response being received. I am put on hold while he goes to check if his computer is plugged in. He comes back and says "you're asking for flights from Paris to Australia, this is Singapore Airlines. Do you want to fly to Singapore?". I explain again, he puts me on hold and says he needs to speak to a supervisor as his computer has a blue screen with white text on it. He comes back and says he is now using a Samsung Galaxy he found in the taxi this morning and can try to do the booking on that. He seems very confused that I live in Australia but am booking from France. I'm put on hold for 30 minutes while he checks with his supervisor to "see if that is permitted". He comes back and I get the ok! After taking my credit card details, the line goes dead. I do not get a call back. Half an hour later American Express calls and ask if I am using my card to put a deposit on a VW Polo in Mitchells Plain.
I then wake up sweating and shaking. Grab my phone and see the seats on the app. Seats are there, my details are saved in my profile (name, contact and credit card) so the booking takes 15 seconds. An e-ticket is received 30 seconds later. I get up and make a coffee while reflecting on my nightmare.
For all the complaints of late regarding their phone service (which I agree is average), at least the IT is pretty good.
