Qantas Considers Bringing Call Centres Back to Australia

Qantas planes at Brisbane Airport under stormy clouds
Qantas wants to improve its customer service. Photo: Matt Graham.

In news that customers will welcome, Qantas is considering bringing more of its call centre work back to Australia.

As flagged by Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson at today’s AGM, the airline is currently in the process of reviewing its contact centres. As part of this, Qantas is providing more training to agents and reconsidering its overreliance on cheaper offshore call centres operated by third parties.

“We’re also reviewing our call centres more broadly, with extra training for agents and considering whether we bring more of this important task back onshore,” Hudson said.

So, why is Qantas considering this and how did we get here?

A brief history of Qantas call centres

Qantas previously had call centres in Brisbane, Melbourne and Hobart. But, in order to cut costs, it closed its Melbourne call centre in 2015 and the Brisbane call centre a year later. At the time, this resulted in the loss of around 450 full-time Australian jobs.

Qantas kept its call centre in Hobart – which continues to provide excellent customer service – and went on to open new call centres in Auckland, Cape Town, Manila and Suva. A third-party company called Mindpearl manages the South African and Fijian locations under contract.

Call centre outsourcing isn’t inherently a problem if the agents are well-trained and given authority to take ownership of problems. Virgin Australia, for example, has been quite successful in setting up its main call centre in Manila.

Unfortunately, as many Qantas customers who’ve dealt with some of the outsourced call centres would attest to, this hasn’t always been the case.

In recent years, there have been countless complaints on AFF (and elsewhere) relating to Qantas’ overseas call centres. Key issues have included long wait times, call dropouts, agents giving wrong information and even overseas call centre agents accidentally cancelling customers’ bookings.

Hudson has acknowledged these issues, telling shareholders today that she wants Qantas “to be easier to deal with”. Increased training and more call centre staff in Australia would almost certainly help with this.

If it does bring more call centre work back on-shore, Qantas certainly wouldn’t be the first large Australian company to do so. Telstra is another example of a company that realised outsourcing its call centres overseas was doing more harm than good. Last year, Telstra announced it was bringing its call centres back to Australia.

Other technology improvements

Another way to reduce the pressure on call centres is to make it easier for customers to self-service. Qantas is investing in that, too. For example, it recently launched a significant update to the Qantas App.

“Technology also has a role to play here. We’ve invested tens of millions of dollars to rebuild the Qantas app from scratch, making it easier for people to manage their journey – from changing a flight to tracking your bag,” Hudson said.

Hudson also revealed at today’s AGM that the airline is working on permanent improvements to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program. These will be announced in early 2024.

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.
________________________

Related Articles

Community Comments

Loading new replies...

Doesn't matter the location, they need the staff to be properly trained first.

Reply 22 Likes

Unpopular opinion: I think they should outsource the call centres to countries that get customer service (e.g. USA). And while they’re at it can they please bring back customer service desks at airports so that when a flight goes IRROP I don’t have to be put on hold for several hours? It would also be nice if they could hire Americans to work in those customer service roles here in Australia (again they get customer service)

-RooFlyer88

Reply 3 Likes

I still call centre Australia home!

Reply 9 Likes

I still call centre Australia home!

Under Alan Joyce’s reign it was I still hold (on the line) Australia home

Reply 2 Likes

And while they’re at it can they please bring back customer service desks at airports so that when a flight goes IRROP I don’t have to be put on hold for several hours?

They're there, just only a couple of people per counter and not with many flashy signs. Although it's usually airside not landside.

Reply 1 Like

Unpopular opinion: I think they should outsource the call centres to countries that get customer service (e.g. USA). And while they’re at it can they please bring back customer service desks at airports so that when a flight goes IRROP I don’t have to be put on hold for several hours? It would also be nice if they could hire Americans to work in those customer service roles here in Australia (again they get customer service)

-RooFlyer88

I'm all for great customer service, but US based airlines are far from the beacon of amazing customer service in my opinion.

Reply 4 Likes

I'd put up with (now the media's heard of it - Fashion of the Day, drumroll please) A.I. answering my calls ... if the clowns behind QFIT had nothing to do with it and it had sensible authority!

Reply Like

Doesn't matter the location, they need the staff to be properly trained first.

Yes and no!

Try having a conversation with an o/s call agent who truly and honestly believes qantas doesn’t fly after 8am between Sydney and Melbourne, on any day of the year.

No matter how wet behind the ears, you simply wouldn’t be faced with that sort of ridiculousness from staff based in Au.

Reply 7 Likes

Unpopular opinion: I think they should outsource the call centres to countries that get customer service (e.g. USA).

It would also be nice if they could hire Americans to work in those customer service roles here in Australia (again they get customer service)

Is this sarcasm? I feel like the some of the poorest customer service I've experienced has been trying to deal with call centers for USA based airlines. Heck even my last experience at Flagship check-in JFK was less then stellar.

Reply 2 Likes

Is this sarcasm? I feel like the some of the poorest customer service I've experienced has been trying to deal with call centers for USA based airlines. Heck even my last experience at Flagship check-in JFK was less then stellar.

Oh, i find US agents absolutely fantastic. They know their stuff backwards and work with you to get problems solved. This is across AA, UA, and AC. I don’t fly delta so no data points there.

Reply 1 Like