Read this forum many times (great source of valuable information - thanks wise flyers) and posting for the first time to share my last 6 months of experience with Qantas.
Recently returned Australian expat. Qantas Lifetime Gold (42,000 status credits) from all the times I flew with Qantas prior to moving overseas. OneWorld Emerald and Star Alliance Gold so lots of experience with many airlines, pre, during and post COVID. Now back in Australia again I thought my preferred airline would be Qantas again.
First preference in making our international move to Australia was to fly Qantas. 4 one way J tickets. Qantas baggage allowance of 56kg vs 90kg with BA. Called Qantas to ask if they would match. Flat no as a answer.
Continued to fly Qantas. 8 flights in past 6 months - 4 international and 4 domestic. Most have been a bad experience.
1. First flight canceled, then the rebooked flight was delayed. Cabin supervisor announced over PA that they didn’t want to hear any complaints as ‘the crew were already having a having a bad day’. Missed the business meeting I was flying for.
2. Second flight delayed as too many pieces of hand baggage had been allowed on board. Aircrew annoyed with passengers.
3. 4th flight the first class check in desk was closed and long queue at business.
4. 5th flight told at check in there was a fee for bags (I had 1 bag on a business class ticket) and then downgraded from business to economy with no explanation, no apology, no refund in ticket cost.
5. 6th flight Qantas lost baggage, said I needed to wait until all bags were out (1 hour wait), then told me not to expect it returned in a hurry and pointed at a big pile of bags that they said were lost and they still had to process.
Sure things sometimes go wrong when travelling. But I trusted that Qantas would look after its customers. That no longer seems to be the case.
6. 7th and 8th flights - this is where it goes from bad to unacceptable service. Booked and paid an eye-watering sum of money with Qantas Service Centre. Qantas failed to issue tickets. 7 calls to customer service, multiple promised call backs that didn’t happen, 14 messages back on forth on Twitter, 2 complaints to Customer Care, emails to Qantas executive team. 15+ hours of my time spent trying to resolve this with Qantas over Christmas. No tickets, no refund, no apology. Next step is to seek refund and re-dress from ACA and Fair Trading.
Online booking system times out or returns errors. Frequent flyer system fails (every time) to link bookings to frequent flyer number. Lounges are closed prior to last flights leaving. Poor quality phone lines to services centres, too much background noise wherever the call centre agents are, placed on hold by agents for hours, and multiple hang ups. Each time need to explain the issue again as ‘for privacy reasons call centre agents can’t see the history‘. At the end the agents don’t seem to understand the issue and don’t resolve it.
This cannot possibly be the ‘Spirit of Australia’.
Recently returned Australian expat. Qantas Lifetime Gold (42,000 status credits) from all the times I flew with Qantas prior to moving overseas. OneWorld Emerald and Star Alliance Gold so lots of experience with many airlines, pre, during and post COVID. Now back in Australia again I thought my preferred airline would be Qantas again.
First preference in making our international move to Australia was to fly Qantas. 4 one way J tickets. Qantas baggage allowance of 56kg vs 90kg with BA. Called Qantas to ask if they would match. Flat no as a answer.
Continued to fly Qantas. 8 flights in past 6 months - 4 international and 4 domestic. Most have been a bad experience.
1. First flight canceled, then the rebooked flight was delayed. Cabin supervisor announced over PA that they didn’t want to hear any complaints as ‘the crew were already having a having a bad day’. Missed the business meeting I was flying for.
2. Second flight delayed as too many pieces of hand baggage had been allowed on board. Aircrew annoyed with passengers.
3. 4th flight the first class check in desk was closed and long queue at business.
4. 5th flight told at check in there was a fee for bags (I had 1 bag on a business class ticket) and then downgraded from business to economy with no explanation, no apology, no refund in ticket cost.
5. 6th flight Qantas lost baggage, said I needed to wait until all bags were out (1 hour wait), then told me not to expect it returned in a hurry and pointed at a big pile of bags that they said were lost and they still had to process.
Sure things sometimes go wrong when travelling. But I trusted that Qantas would look after its customers. That no longer seems to be the case.
6. 7th and 8th flights - this is where it goes from bad to unacceptable service. Booked and paid an eye-watering sum of money with Qantas Service Centre. Qantas failed to issue tickets. 7 calls to customer service, multiple promised call backs that didn’t happen, 14 messages back on forth on Twitter, 2 complaints to Customer Care, emails to Qantas executive team. 15+ hours of my time spent trying to resolve this with Qantas over Christmas. No tickets, no refund, no apology. Next step is to seek refund and re-dress from ACA and Fair Trading.
Online booking system times out or returns errors. Frequent flyer system fails (every time) to link bookings to frequent flyer number. Lounges are closed prior to last flights leaving. Poor quality phone lines to services centres, too much background noise wherever the call centre agents are, placed on hold by agents for hours, and multiple hang ups. Each time need to explain the issue again as ‘for privacy reasons call centre agents can’t see the history‘. At the end the agents don’t seem to understand the issue and don’t resolve it.
This cannot possibly be the ‘Spirit of Australia’.
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