Qantas aims for better customer service with $10m training centre

[chooms]

Qantas aims for better customer service with $10m training centre | Travel | News.com.au

Qantas aims for better customer service with $10m training centre

By Steve Creedy
The Australian
January 29, 2009 12:01am

QANTAS is about to send 18,000 staff, from the chief executive down, back to school as part of a massive push to boost customer service standards.

A high-tech $10 million training facility, which opened yesterday in Sydney, is at the centre of the strategy to propel the Qantas brand back to the top.

The move comes after a horror year for the airline where delays and maintenance problems battered its reputation with travellers, The Australian reports.

Up to a third of its planes ran late and cancellations sky-rocketed as a result of an industrial row with engineers.

It also comes as full-service airlines, which face a downturn in premium passengers because of the economic crisis, are being forced to compete more fiercely to fill business and first class seats.

The new Centre of Service Excellence brings all Qantas customer service training under one roof and covers areas ranging from makeup and grooming to telesales, check-in procedures and wine appreciation.

Facilities include a 126-seat auditorium, four cabin-crew training pods that simulate aircraft environments and a hi-tech area where staff can send suggestions to management using interactive screens.

It also features "customer experience zones", demonstrating the environments that passengers in various classes, and on various arms of Qantas, experience in the course of their journey.

Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti, who will be the first top executive to undergo training, said one of the main changes Qantas passengers could expect as a result of the new centre was more consistency in the airline's customer service.

He said customer service would be a big differentiator for airlines competing for high-end customers in difficult times

 

[Chicken or Beef]

Maybe they can train up some of AA's crew as well. Perhaps the level of service in the US has something to do with no tipping on board! Don't you just hate that over the top, 'fake' friendliness in restaurants because I immediately presume they're like that because they're after a bigger tip?!

I know a lot of people tend to criticise Qantas for many reasons, it is still (already) one of the best airlines in the world. This centre will only further enhance their great service.

 

[serfty]

Maybe the New CEO is aware of (and trying to eradicate) Qantas staff's reputation for inconsistency of service.

 

[Platy]

Hmmmm a $10 million training facility does not guarantee either the quality of the training or the competency of "trained" employees.

 

[Platy]

PS. They have been promoting the retraining of everyone in customer service for MONTHS. By the sound of it, the initiative hasn't even started yet.

 

[Platy]

Maybe the New CEO is aware of (and trying to eradicate) Qantas staff's reputation for inconsistency of service.

maybe the new CEO doesn't know what customer service is and thus has had to go to enormous lengths to hide his ignorance

 

[comint]

maybe the new CEO doesn't know what customer service is and thus has had to go to enormous lengths to hide his ignorance

I would argue quite the opposite. When flying on the airline that he set up from scratch;

• press the FA call button and you get an instant response, Qantas service results in this area are atrocious
• I have been served by FAs in the kneeling & looking up (servile staff) position on JQi in economy. Not even QFi J can deliver consistency on this standard
• A smile, every time on JQ. (I will accept that QF has sparked up a bit in this area recently.)

 

[serfty]

I would argue quite the opposite. When flying on the airline that he set up from scratch;

• press the FA call button and you get an instant response, Qantas service results in this area are atrocious...

Agreed, especially that point.

On Qantas flights I call this the Ignore button.

 

[Evan]

Agreed, especially that point.

On Qantas flights I call this the Ignore button.

Yep, i use it as a good reason not to bother pressing it, get my cough out of the seat have a walk around and go to the galley myself to get what i want from the crew that are sitting around talking But have met some nice people and the distraction is welcome.

E

 

[NM]

Yep, i use it as a good reason not to bother pressing it, get my cough out of the seat have a walk around and go to the galley myself to get what i want from the crew that are sitting around talking But have met some nice people and the distraction is welcome.

E

Yes. I cannot remember the last time I actually pressed the call/ignore button.

 

[Platy]

I would argue quite the opposite. When flying on the airline that he set up from scratch;

• press the FA call button and you get an instant response, Qantas service results in this area are atrocious
• I have been served by FAs in the kneeling & looking up (servile staff) position on JQi in economy. Not even QFi J can deliver consistency on this standard
• A smile, every time on JQ. (I will accept that QF has sparked up a bit in this area recently.)

I wouldn't want cabin crew to be kneeling to assist me as a passenger. QF cabin crew have "full service" to dole out on flights, not just the clobber that pax are willing to pay for on JQ. Yes, the job done we're on a break now, have a feed and a chat is endemic in QF J and Y and p*sses me right off and needs to be stamped out.

IF Joyce had a clue he'd be more courteous to his staff.

 

[docjames]

I'm not sure about the wole "rest" thing - perhaps one at a time would be a better option, it sure doesnt look good with the entire crew hastily eating on the 2hr flight BNE-MEL vv.

 

[Platy]

I'm not sure about the wole "rest" thing - perhaps one at a time would be a better option, it sure doesnt look good with the entire crew hastily eating on the 2hr flight BNE-MEL vv.

Absolutely!

And there's too much of a sense of "get the service over and done with so we can all put our feet up for ther rest of the flight" on some QF flights!

Also, I really can't understand why on a relatively short flight, say 2 to 3 hours (BNE-MEL, CNS, BNE, CNS-SYD, etc) the cabin crew would NEED a rest?!

 

[pblackm]

How about giving Qantas the benefit of doubt? I tendered on one aspect of this project, and my colleagues worked on the project. Having pored over the plans, it is an impressive facility. Putting all staff through this centre will probably improve most of them, and have no effect on the rest - overall, a net improvement. For a few years I have averaged 250% of Platinum SCs, and have experienced the good, bad and in-different. This training centre can only be a plus.

 

[docjames]

Oh, I agree the new centre is a fantastic idea - I guess we're pointing out WHY it's needed!

Re: rest breaks - I guess you need to consider the crew DO need rest breaks, and it's difficult to get that on the ground turn around (given the a/c is on the ground for a very short time, which includes deplaning/boarding and any setup required).

If they have a full day, in-flight may be the only chance for a real rest break they get. But it should be one-at-a-time, not all in.

 

[Keith009]

• I have been served by FAs in the kneeling & looking up (servile staff) position on JQi in economy. Not even QFi J can deliver consistency on this standard

I can't think of anything that's more of a turn off than subservience and servility like as described... Which is why I find flying on airlines like JL, SQ and CX so uncomfortable at times (so much so that on one JL flight I told the crew to stay away unless absolutely necessary), unlike the friendly, down to earth Australian hospitality that guarantees a great experience every time I fly QF.

If subservience and servility is the standard that the new training centre aspires to then I'd rather staff be "untrained."

 

[Evan]

I can't think of anything that's more of a turn off than subservience and servility like as described... Which is why I find flying on airlines like JL, SQ and CX so uncomfortable at times (so much so that on one JL flight I told the crew to stay away unless absolutely necessary), unlike the friendly, down to earth Australian hospitality that guarantees a great experience every time I fly QF.

If subservience and servility is the standard that the new training centre aspires to then I'd rather staff be "untrained."

I have been close to that on JL also ! for sure not high on my list of airlines to fly but sometimes they routes and times make it worthwhile.
SQ is ok, in the whY cabins its more casual most days, CX i think there service is great and not over the top but i can understand it may be a bit too much for some people.
QF and also BA/AA are like you say casual and relaxed.

Any training can be a bonus, customer service is about being observent and perceptive. You have to try you best to guess and read how a person wants to be treated and everybody is different so its really not an easy task.

E