Qantas call centre call disconnect after long wait

[chenny613]

Just wanted to vent my frustration after waiting hours on the phone after I finally got through to the call centre the call disconnected after 2mins and the operator never called back.

It’s so sad as a customer we literally have no options other than calling again waiting for hours and pray to god you don’t disconnect again. I am currently on hold again preparing for another 2 hours. What’s worse is you know the agent who picks up the call the second time might disconnect you and won’t call you back again.

I really don’t know what to do.

 

[Scr77]

Unfortunately many of us have been in your position recently. Checkout this thread for tips and other phone numbers:

Qantas Call Centre Long Wait Times

My understanding (from unofficial sources) is that there is a pool of priority phone numbers that airport staff give to passengers which rotates every few weeks. I will attempt to publish the currently active number(s) in this post: 1300 659 161 1300 025 396 1300 659 116 1300 025 390 1300 024...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[defurax]

It appears Qantas has drawn the line of "valuable customers" at P1 and CL. Everyone else is expandable.

 

[chenny613]

Unfortunately many of us have been in your position recently. Checkout this thread for tips and other phone numbers:

Qantas Call Centre Long Wait Times

My understanding (from unofficial sources) is that there is a pool of priority phone numbers that airport staff give to passengers which rotates every few weeks. I will attempt to publish the currently active number(s) in this post: 1300 659 161 1300 025 396 1300 659 116 1300 025 390 1300 024...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

I seem to always get cut off when they put me on hold. Not an issue getting through to them but they call just get disconnected. Previous 3 calls I was at various stages but always get cut off with no one calling back. I worked in call centre before I know I would feel bad not calling someone back knowing how long they waited. Just shows most their staff don’t care about customers.

 

[RooFlyer]

Just shows most their staff don’t care about customers.

And the management doesn't care enough to fix the issue, which is long, long running.

 

[chenny613]

I finally got through but straight away I can tell this staff has no clue what she is doing. She is telling me no seats available when I can see the seats myself. Only I can change the flight myself I would already done it. Contemplating hang up call back again and pray again to get someone who knows what they are doing.

 

[RooFlyer]

In the thread linked above, study when calls have got the Hobart call centre, or Fiji. South Africa is hopeless. You may not get Hobart without status, but hopefully Fiji will help.

Is it a paid seat you are after, after a flight change? Points? If its points, then the task isn't straightforward, even if you can 'see' seats (although it shouldn't be this hard).

 

[sudoer]

It appears Qantas has drawn the line of "valuable customers" at P1 and CL. Everyone else is expandable.

I am one of the first to criticise Qantas but will admit I've been impressed by how quickly they've been able to improve WP service lately.

Since the string of bad publicity in early-mid April hold times have dropped very significantly. I've had to call on 8-10 occasions in the past month and the average hold time has been about 3 minutes, with the longest being about 20 minutes. I usually get the HBA call centre unless there is a major issue in the network, e.g. weather IRROPS, when those agents are presumably tied up with an influx of calls on the 1300 priority number.

My biggest gripe now is the incompetence of Fiji & Cape Town staff on the occasion that I get routed to them. For anything other than a simple change, they are useless.

As an example, I recently had two PNRs with identical JL SYD-HND-ITM awards which I needed to change to SYD-HND-NGO. The HND-NGO leg had space available. I called to request the change and got a very helpful HBA agent who informed me the SYD-HND-ITM itinerary was married but proactively offered to lodge a request with the oneworld service desk for JL to divorce the segments. They also added the HND-NGO segment to the booking to hold the seats, but left it unticketed until JL divorced the segments.

JL responded in a matter of hours, and the same rep called me back, but unfortunately JL only divorced the segments on one of the PNRs - they missed the part about the 2nd PNR. Another QF HBA agent lodged a follow up request via oneworld and suggested I call back in a couple of days.

I finally find the time yesterday afternoon to call up, but SYD was a bit of a mess due to weather so I kept getting the Fiji call centre. The first rep tells me JL had divorced the segments but award space on HND-NGO didn't exist, even though I could see it on the QF engine and the seats were already in the PNR. HUACA. The next two reps (still Fiji) tell me the segments hadn't been divorced. 2 x HUACA. The next rep sounded so unsure when I explained the issue that I asked if I should try call again to get HBA and she said yes - lol. 5th time lucky, got Anne Marie from HBA who confirmed the segments were divorced, the seats had already been confirmed, she made the changes and ticketed the booking while I was on the phone.

So while things have improved a lot for WPs, the offshore call centre situation is certainly dire with inconsistent skill levels causing blatantly misleading information to customers. I genuinely feel for those who don't have status and have no choice but to deal with these centres.

 

[chenny613]

I am one of the first to criticise Qantas but will admit I've been impressed by how quickly they've been able to improve WP service lately.

Since the string of bad publicity in early-mid April hold times have dropped very significantly. I've had to call on 8-10 occasions in the past month and the average hold time has been about 3 minutes, with the longest being about 20 minutes. I usually get the HBA call centre unless there is a major issue in the network, e.g. weather IRROPS, when those agents are presumably tied up with an influx of calls on the 1300 priority number.

My biggest gripe now is the incompetence of Fiji & Cape Town staff on the occasion that I get routed to them. For anything other than a simple change, they are useless.

As an example, I recently had two PNRs with identical JL SYD-HND-ITM awards which I needed to change to SYD-HND-NGO. The HND-NGO leg had space available. I called to request the change and got a very helpful HBA agent who informed me the SYD-HND-ITM itinerary was married but proactively offered to lodge a request with the oneworld service desk for JL to divorce the segments. They also added the HND-NGO segment to the booking to hold the seats, but left it unticketed until JL divorced the segments.

JL responded in a matter of hours, and the same rep called me back, but unfortunately JL only divorced the segments on one of the PNRs - they missed the part about the 2nd PNR. Another QF HBA agent lodged a follow up request via oneworld and suggested I call back in a couple of days.

I finally find the time yesterday afternoon to call up, but SYD was a bit of a mess due to weather so I kept getting the Fiji call centre. The first rep tells me JL had divorced the segments but award space on HND-NGO didn't exist, even though I could see it on the QF engine and the seats were already in the PNR. HUACA. The next two reps (still Fiji) tell me the segments hadn't been divorced. 2 x HUACA. The next rep sounded so unsure when I explained the issue that I asked if I should try call again to get HBA and she said yes - lol. 5th time lucky, got Anne Marie from HBA who confirmed the segments were divorced, the seats had already been confirmed, she made the changes and ticketed the booking while I was on the phone.

So while things have improved a lot for WPs, the offshore call centre situation is certainly dire with inconsistent skill levels causing blatantly misleading information to customers. I genuinely feel for those who don't have status and have no choice but to deal with these centres.

Yes I kept getting Fiji today. I finally gave up. I asked if I can simply keep my other flights and get partial refund on the cancelled flight. I thought this would be a common question. But sure enough the answer is I don’t know. I will call you( which I laughed) didn’t want to sound mean but I said I appreciate your thought but the last 3 operators all told me the same. I would be happy if you can call but totally won’t be surprised if this doesn’t happen.

 

[chenny613]

In the thread linked above, study when calls have got the Hobart call centre, or Fiji. South Africa is hopeless. You may not get Hobart without status, but hopefully Fiji will help.

Is it a paid seat you are after, after a flight change? Points? If its points, then the task isn't straightforward, even if you can 'see' seats (although it shouldn't be this hard).

We are using points. We booked these seats 12mths ago as you do. I know we won’t find another reward business seats this year. But surely Qantas staff can make changes on their end. I was very polite and asked. Conveniently the operator said they got an email this week telling them they are not allowed to email reward seat team to make this special change. I am happy each time I call Qantas I seem to have less and less expectation so in the end I am not as upset.

 

[sudoer]

I asked if I can simply keep my other flights and get partial refund on the cancelled flight. I thought this would be a common question.

If you feel comfortable doing so, drop some details of your situation in the thread and the AFF hivemind usually gives good advice on what you can reasonably expect from QF. At least then you will know whether it's worth HUACA'ing several times.

 

[chenny613]

If you feel comfortable doing so, drop some details of your situation in the thread and the AFF hivemind usually gives good advice on what you can reasonably expect from QF. At least then you will know whether it's worth HUACA'ing several times.

Of course. My flights detail
Sydney-Singapore
Singapore-Tokyo
Tokyo- Sydney (the cancelled flight )

All classic reward business flights(direct flights as well) don’t think we have any hope in getting business class as I been told no seats. But I am happy if they can just give us a direct economy back. The lady said she can’t see any economy from Tokyo to Sydney on29/5 when I can see both direct and indirect flights. My only option apparently is refund but I am shaking with fear this person will accidently cancel everything and we end losing all of our business class flights.
As sad as it is we are considering not asking refund in money and points so we don’t lose our other flights and pay for a return flight.
I was so speechless this person couldn’t do anything to help but couldn’t even offer me a partial refund. It’s sad customers are so scared of poorly trained staff and long wait we are waiting to waste few hundred thousands of points
Would love any help or suggestions. I was extremely nice to the staff as I really feel for them but at the same time I am sad customers can’t get any help but give up.

 

[sudoer]

Of course. My flights detail
Sydney-Singapore
Singapore-Tokyo
Tokyo- Sydney (the cancelled flight )

All classic reward business flights(direct flights as well) don’t think we have any hope in getting business class as I been told no seats. But I am happy if they can just give us a direct economy back. The lady said she can’t see any economy from Tokyo to Sydney on29/5 when I can see both direct and indirect flights. My only option apparently is refund but I am shaking with fear this person will accidently cancel everything and we end losing all of our business class flights.
As sad as it is we are considering not asking refund in money and points so we don’t lose our other flights and pay for a return flight.
I was so speechless this person couldn’t do anything to help but couldn’t even offer me a partial refund. It’s sad customers are so scared of poorly trained staff and long wait we are waiting to waste few hundred thousands of points
Would love any help or suggestions. I was extremely nice to the staff as I really feel for them but at the same time I am sad customers can’t get any help but give up.

Were you booked with JL or QF for the Tokyo to Sydney flight? How many pax on the booking?

 

[chenny613]

Were you booked with JL or QF for the Tokyo to Sydney flight? How many pax on the booking?

We were booked on JL51 which I know the route is still operating on Friday and Sunday. We have 3 pax. Someone told me I can request Qantas to email JAL to convert revenue seats to reward seats. But the operator I was talking to told me this is no longer possible. They got an email telling them they can’t do this anymore. I don’t think I trust this person who I was talking to as she couldn’t even answer a simple question about refund.

 

[sudoer]

We were booked on JL51 which I know the route is still operating on Friday and Sunday. We have 3 pax. Someone told me I can request Qantas to email JAL to convert revenue seats to reward seats. But the operator I was talking to told me this is no longer possible. They got an email telling them they can’t do this anymore. I don’t think I trust this person who I was talking to as she couldn’t even answer a simple question about refund.

Qantas can and do make requests to JL via the oneworld service desk - see my post above. But there's no guarantee JAL would open these up so late in the piece. JAL appears to have 3 x J seats available on NRT-MEL flights on 26th and 30th May if either of those work?





On the direct HND-SYD flights, I can only see departures scheduled on Thu 26 May and Sun 29 May. If you needed to depart in between these dates, you might consider 27/5 JL79 HND-SGN J 05:15 arrival, JQ62 SGN-SYD Y 22:35 dep

 

[chenny613]

Qantas can and do make requests to JL via the oneworld service desk - see my post above. But there's no guarantee JAL would open these up so late in the piece. JAL appears to have 3 x J seats available on NRT-MEL flights on 26th and 30th May if either of those work?

View attachment 278047

View attachment 278048

On the direct HND-SYD flights, I can only see departures scheduled on Thu 26 May and Sun 29 May. If you needed to depart in between these dates, you might consider 27/5 JL79 HND-SGN J 05:15 arrival, JQ62 SGN-SYD Y 22:35 dep

Thank this is so helpful! Sadly I tried to call again after an hour wait the moment it was connected it got disconnected. It went straight to feedback. have to call it a day today. Fair to say we hate Qantas.

 

[chenny613]

Quick update for anyone experiencing JAL~Sydney cancellation. I was told no they can’t send a request to convert seat if one of your flight is not with JAL, eg my outbound is is with BA nut returning JAL.
This doesn’t make sense for me whatsoever! But after 5th call I got someone who is much more helpful after pleading with him, he sent a request and even offered to call me back. This operator had answers to all my questions even worked out my fare difference if my request is rejected.
Again really shows just have to keep trying. I will update my outcome as well once I know more.

 

[Anna]

I use a landline when I'm in for a long wait, eg when calling QF or Telstra. The only drop-outs I have had were when I called on a mobile.

 

[GSP]

I haven't had a need to call Qantas much but a month or so ago when Qantas changed my booking to an unworkable time, I had an option for them to call me back, which they did about 3 hours later. Then they couldn't resolve my issue and said they'd call back when they could (this was about refunding points) and they did call back. I had my flights fixed up, but I didn't get the promised points refund after ultimately being bumped from Qantas to Jetstar flight, so another call beckons.