It’s obvious to anyone who’s tried to contact Qantas recently – be it by phone, email, social media or elsewhere – that the airline has completely lost the plot when it comes to customer service.

For Qantas customers, the complete lack of basic customer service on the ground is beyond frustrating. But please, for just a moment, spare a thought for the poor staff working at Qantas’ contact centres right now. (Yes, there are still some staff left!)

With so many angry customers and a lack of trained staff, the morale right now at the Qantas contact centres in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa and Fiji must be pretty low. These poor workers would be totally overwhelmed at the moment with the huge workload.

To make matters worse, many of the customers they’re dealing with are already angry before the staff member even has a chance to answer their call or reply to their message. Plus, the simple fact that it’s taking many hours to answer calls, and weeks to respond to emails, is itself leading to even more complaints… and in turn, more work for Qantas staff.

The current situation is clearly not acceptable. But please remember that it is not the fault of the staff members working at the Qantas call centres that you had to wait so long on hold. The blame lies squarely on Qantas management for failing to ensure there are enough competent staff on hand to deal with the number of phone calls received.

This problem dates back to 2016 – long before the pandemic – and originally began after Qantas closed most of its Australian call centres. The many bugs with the Qantas website that are forcing people to call, even though they should be able to self-service online, also do not help.

If your call is put through to a staff member at one of the outsourced call centres in Cape Town or Suva, and the operator doesn’t know how to assist you or gives you incorrect information, this is also not generally their fault. The problem is usually that they haven’t been trained properly. Again, this is the fault of Qantas management.

You have every right to be angry with the terrible customer service from Qantas. But, please, PLEASE, do not take out your anger on the hapless staff working at the Qantas contact centres. These staff also have a right to be treated with respect, and to work in a safe and positive environment.

Try putting yourself in the shoes of a Qantas call centre staff member. Given the serious customer service issues right now, they would likely be on the receiving end of a lot of verbal abuse on a daily basis. It isn’t warranted, nor is it fair.

The same applies to the frontline Qantas staff working at airports and crewing flights. As individuals working for a large organisation, they are not responsible for the woeful customer service situation on the ground.

Unfortunately, the Qantas staff members who actually deal with customers every day have no influence over the day-to-day operations of the airline or on the decisions of Qantas management. So, instead of taking your frustration out on these people, simply vote with your wallet next time you book a flight. If you can help it, do not book with Qantas. This is the only way Qantas management will start to take notice and actually fix the problem.

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.

Matt Graham

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 aviation, economics & 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.