Melburnian1
Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2013
- Posts
- 24,673
EK has announced from April 2019 that it will close its Melbourne ticket office as well as city offices in Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, though no closures in Sydney. Thanks to Airline Ratings for that.
I gather last September, PR closed its remaining Australian office in Sydney.
There will be other airlines that have made these cost cuts. EK remains a large operation in Oz, though not as big as when it ran more flights across the Tasman, and soon to eliminate more Oz - DXB flights such as via Asia. Hasn't it also 'downgauged' some nonstops?
Other operators like QF closed such offices years ago. I remember the Qantas one in Collins StreetL often it was very busy.
Internet bookings are all the go but I'd have thought that despite being a substantial overhead - a manager and say even three or four staff, office rental, utilities and so on could easily cost $600,000 a year - there would still be a local role for these with what can be at the better ones invaluable local knowledge.
They're generally good at rebooking passengers or travel agents who've made genuine mistakes - such as putting a surname where one's first (Christian) name ought be, and perhaps in arranging hotels and transfers when flights are unexpectedly delayed.
Travel agents remain a major source of bookings although not all are made in person, especially with Webjet's rise (not one I use due to its booking fees: often cheaper to go to a specialist travel agent, or in some cases book online with the airline).
I'm not opposed to call centres in many instances but can remote facilities deal with such matters well or as quickly?
I gather last September, PR closed its remaining Australian office in Sydney.
There will be other airlines that have made these cost cuts. EK remains a large operation in Oz, though not as big as when it ran more flights across the Tasman, and soon to eliminate more Oz - DXB flights such as via Asia. Hasn't it also 'downgauged' some nonstops?
Other operators like QF closed such offices years ago. I remember the Qantas one in Collins StreetL often it was very busy.
Internet bookings are all the go but I'd have thought that despite being a substantial overhead - a manager and say even three or four staff, office rental, utilities and so on could easily cost $600,000 a year - there would still be a local role for these with what can be at the better ones invaluable local knowledge.
They're generally good at rebooking passengers or travel agents who've made genuine mistakes - such as putting a surname where one's first (Christian) name ought be, and perhaps in arranging hotels and transfers when flights are unexpectedly delayed.
Travel agents remain a major source of bookings although not all are made in person, especially with Webjet's rise (not one I use due to its booking fees: often cheaper to go to a specialist travel agent, or in some cases book online with the airline).
I'm not opposed to call centres in many instances but can remote facilities deal with such matters well or as quickly?
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