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 304 318
1300 659 161
1300 025 396
1300 659 116

1300 024 715
1300 025 390
1300 659 115
1300 659 134
1300 659 502

 

[BriarFlyer]

May I ask for some advice please?

I have a cash booking via Qantas (on QF flight#) on Emirates. We have 3 people on this ticket.

1) We need to change the date for going back (incl a stop over now iN DXB);
2) One passenger will fly out of SYD at a different date now than the other two.

Given feedback above, would you agree that:
a) I cancel the old ticket for 3 pax completely; and
b) make two separate new bookings; and
c) don’t bother to go through the call centre to try to get these changes done?

Also, if I get a credit voucher for the overall booking, can I use that voucher for the two separate new bookings? Neither of them will be more expensive than the old booking but actually less of course. Is that a problem?

Is there an option to split the passengers onto separate PNRs available through MMB? If so, you can split off the passenger wanting to change flight date and leave the other 2 px on the original booking. Then make changes.

 

[encryptededdy]

Also, if I get a credit voucher for the overall booking, can I use that voucher for the two separate new bookings?

No, one booking only unless your booking was on or before 30 September 2021

Neither of them will be more expensive than the old booking but actually less of course. Is that a problem?

Yes, you will probably be forced into a higher fare class (to clear the new flight must be same or higher value than old one requirement), so you will probably end up paying significantly more than intended.

 

[Zulu0929]

Some interesting stories.
I spent several hours researching some flights from Oz to Europe this past two weeks. Few seats in both directions as one might expect, even for the return flights in September. However, I got there in the end and pressed the book button.....ERROR. As you will know, this means going back to the begining again and after a few more ERROR messages , called QF and waited in the queue for over 2 hours. The Agent I spoke with was average at best and told me that one of the flights did not exist even though I was looking at it at that time. She EVENTUALLY found it. Had I not done the research........!!
The problem with the QF booking site is that even after decades, it still does not work with other airlines, be they ONE WORLD or with EMIRATES.
A point recorded above about using the Pandemic as an excuse is quite right, because QF has always had an excuse for keep you on hold be it bush fires, floods, whatever. Two really gauling features of the wait time is the same piece of music over and over again and the interuption by someone telling you how many hundreds of ways there are to earn FF Points. It is all very well we can earn Points Alan, but we also want to be able to use them. The trouble with Alan and his buddies is that they do not have to use the system as we so called "Ordinary people" do.
This leads me to the point of no perks like Chaufreur drive being dropped for J and First class passengers on redemption tickets. EK was leap years ahead of QF in terms of service and perks and now, since tying up with QF, their service has dropped to the same low level, AVERAGE.
When I cash in 350,000 FF Points QF makes me feel as if I am getting somethignn for free. I spent nearly $350K to get those points. Booking flights and upgrades should be confirmed at the time of request, not the day before the flight with an Oh Sorry, but we managed to sell all the seats.

 

[exLXCXFF]

No, one booking only unless your booking was on or before 30 September 2021

Yes, you will probably be forced into a higher fare class (to clear the new flight must be same or higher value than old one requirement), so you will probably end up paying significantly more than intended.

Thanks @encryptededdy and @BriarFlyer.

As sad as it is but I booked on 01 October 2021!!!

Do you know whether I can use the existing booking and by calling Qantas move 1 pax on another date and retain the other two or is this simply impossible?

I also just checked in Manage Booking and my flight is actually locked from editing and it says call Qantas - seems it is impacted by the 15 hours Emirates issue. I think I have an unpleasant journey ahead!

 

[encryptededdy]

Do you know whether I can use the existing booking and by calling Qantas move 1 pax on another date and retain the other two or is this simply impossible?

I think bookings usually have a defined number of pax, and they must be travelling all on the same flights. So you can't use the existing booking per se.

However, it's definitely possible to split your booking into two (that 1 pax on a new booking, everyone else on existing booking) and get this done.

I'm not sure what the "the 15 hours Emirates issue" is, but yeah if the "Split" button in Manage Booking is disabled, then your only way to do this would be to call up Qantas. If it was enabled, it would theoretically be possible to make all these changes online.

 

[serfty]

Day of week	Monday (today)
Time of call	11:33 AEDT
Number used	13 12 11
Status	Platinum
Hold time	Quoted ½ to 1 hour wait, call-back offered and used, call-back received after 57 minutes
Call Centre (if known)	Auckland, going by Kiwi Accent
Matter resolved	Yes
Details	Called to add a connecting MEL-BNE business segment to an existing BNE-LAX U award in November. Pleasant call, they had the booking as soon as I said BNE-LAX, offered flight options, accepted mine and took my CC for the increased $36 +++. No additional points required. All done in 4.5 min, e-ticket received fifteen minutes later. Total time go to whoa was 73 minutes.

 

[emilbulls]

Had the issue that a flight credit, valued 7,6k, disappeared. Ok, tried to call to the Qantas last Friday, but hung up after one hour.
Tried my luck today again and was connected to South Africa after 1:45 hours wait, just to be disconnected after I told the agent what the reason for my call was.

Yes, there is little I can do, but of course I provided feedback via the customer care feedback form.
Did anyone had luck with contacting Qantas via social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) or is this time wasted?

 

[N860CR]

Had the issue that a flight credit, valued 7,6k, disappeared. Ok, tried to call to the Qantas last Friday, but hung up after one hour.
Tried my luck today again and was connected to South Africa after 1:45 hours wait, just to be disconnected after I told the agent what the reason for my call was.

Yes, there is little I can do, but of course I provided feedback via the customer care feedback form.
Did anyone had luck with contacting Qantas via social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) or is this time wasted?

I think they’ve shutdown the social media team. Haven’t had responses for months. Similarly from customer care.

 

[RooFlyer]

However some call centres I've dealt with, such as a share trading operator, an energy company and NSW TrainLink give a caller the option to request a callback instead of waiting. Seems to work well.

The best call centres give an estimate as to how long a callback is expected to take. This allows prospective passengers/users to undertake other tasks instead of having to have one's smartphone or landline within reach and on speakerphone for half a day.

Day of week	Monday (today)
Time of call	12:05pm AEDT
Number used	13 12 11
Status	Platinum
Hold time	Quoted 15 mins wait, call-back offered and used, call-back received after 55 minutes
Call Centre (if known)	Probably Hobart
Matter resolved	Yes
Details	Called to clarify seating on an upcoming flight. I apologised for calling on a trivial matter but explained that my previously selected J seat (1A) appeared not to have stuck, as MMB showed that I needed to select seat. My selected seat was shown as occupied (but not by me). MMB would not accept my selecting another available seat. Hence the call Pleasant and efficient operator. As I suspected, my selected seat was still assigned to me, just wasn't showing on My Bookings (another example of Qantas IT/website being hopeless and generating yet more phone traffic). All up about an hour, much longer than I'm used to. We'll see if my seat has actually stuck!

 

[gourmet333]

Day of week	Thursday
Time of call	1230 AEST
Number used	General number 13 13 13 and followed the prompts
Status
Hold time	3 hours and 10 minutes
Call Centre (if known)	Based on the accent of the operator I presume it was Cape Town
Matter resolved	Hopefully
Details	I had cancelled a FF reward booking a few days ago but I hadn’t received a cancellation confirmation email saying “the points would be credited soon and the taxes would be credited back to my account in 6-8 weeks”. It took about 15 mins to sort out, for some reason when I cancelled the booking it didn’t register that I needed a refund………. Earlier today I made a prior to call to the same number about the issue and was invited to leave my number and they would call me back when I got to the head of the queue. They said wait time was approximately 1 hour. When they did call back 2.5 hours later (on a terrible line from the SA call centre), I was 10 minutes into the call and I was cut off! Then I had to call back and wait the 3+ hours. Very frustrating.

 

[DC3]

I have been calling the international toll free number every day for two weeks, I hold normally 2 hours then cut off, I got through on Saturday 1.hour 22 minute wait, spoke to agent to link my booking number wife my wife's, I sked agent to select seats together I have her seat numbers after 25 minutes she told me all sorted, I am now at Jakarta airport enroute to Sydney via Singapore , booking reservation not linked and we are not sitting together on Singapore - Sydney flight, I'm pissed off, I'll get to Singapore and try and sort this out, I'm lifetime gold member after this recent experience Qantas have lost my trust just been a nightmare

Welcome to the Club.

 

[Beatjie]

Just got off the phone after 2hours 30mins exactly to make changes on 1 PNR. The person I was talking to had no clue what she was doing and kept putting me on hold but surprisingly she never hanged up the phone. She kept saying she couldn't see the seats available but I was 100% certain it's not a phantom award. After 2 hours, she agrees to put her team leader on and this team leader was RUDE A F. Anyway, they were able to find the seats and she said she requested it and submitted it to ticketing.. I don't even think she did it. I tried to ask her to push the ticketing through but she said no. She asked if there was anything else they can do for me which I replied yes, I have to make another change on another PNR. She straight away replied, telling me that I have to call the reservations line again. I told her what, I have never heard of this before. She goes "yup, because you want to make another change on a different PNR you have to call back. Thank you, good bye" and hangs up on me. But she didnt hang up and put me on hold instead for another 5mins, then I hear noises and then the line disconnects.
This is complete rubbish from the Qantas Centre, they really need to monitor their staff and this is coming from a Team Leader...

I wrote to the ABC Radio in January to ask that they investigate but heard nothing back. I've spent around 25 hours on the phone to Qantas trying to change flights. I'm very reluctant to travel with Qantas again and hoping Virgin Australia will open international flights to the USA soon.

 

[big_RED]

Qantas doesn't seem to have a Google Business account. Should we make some for their call centres and if they receive enough 1 star ratings maybe it'll affect their Google search/SEO and then they might do something?

 

[henrus]

Qantas doesn't seem to have a Google Business account. Should we make some for their call centres and if they receive enough 1 star ratings maybe it'll affect their Google search/SEO and then they might do something?

People are already doing it on other sites...

Type in Qantas reviews into google and you get some of the following links:

Qantas reviews

Qantas (Domestic Airline): 1.5 out of 5 stars from 4,123 genuine reviews on Australia's largest opinion site ProductReview.com.au.

www.productreview.com.au

Qantas International reviews

Qantas International (Domestic Airline): 1.3 out of 5 stars from 1,549 genuine reviews on Australia's largest opinion site ProductReview.com.au.

www.productreview.com.au

273 Qantas Reviews: Written By Customers

I am very shocked that to book a seat online would cost $20 per LEG. I have flown with many airlines on numerous occasions and have never encountered such a ...

www.consumeraffairs.com

They simply don't care.

 

[CMA222]

People are already doing it on other sites...

Type in Qantas reviews into google and you get some of the following links:

Qantas reviews

Qantas (Domestic Airline): 1.5 out of 5 stars from 4,123 genuine reviews on Australia's largest opinion site ProductReview.com.au.

www.productreview.com.au

Qantas International reviews

Qantas International (Domestic Airline): 1.3 out of 5 stars from 1,549 genuine reviews on Australia's largest opinion site ProductReview.com.au.

www.productreview.com.au

273 Qantas Reviews: Written By Customers

I am very shocked that to book a seat online would cost $20 per LEG. I have flown with many airlines on numerous occasions and have never encountered such a ...

www.consumeraffairs.com

They simply don't care.

But they are reopening the domestic and international Business lounges and the First Lounges in MEL and SYD are returning to normal operation - so that will fix it - even if everyone is waiting on the phone !!

 

[whole-lotta-moxie]

I can confirm that the telephone number above 1300 025 390 (confirmed to be active on 4 March 2022) worked for me this evening. It was 1 hour and 45 min wait. Nicky on the call was amazing!! Thank you Nicky at Qantas

 

[redwoodw]

I can confirm that the telephone number above 1300 025 390 (confirmed to be active on 4 March 2022) worked for me this evening. It was 1 hour and 45 min wait. Nicky on the call was amazing!! Thank you Nicky at Qantas

No offense but a 1 hour and 45 min wait clearly shows this isn't working - 1.75 hour wait at the airport would've likely meant most people would've missed their flight already. Hope you've got an Australian/ New Zealand based agent at least.

 

[John Reggars]

I recently booked 2 Award flights Mel-Syd return. Two days after the booking I still hadn't received a confirmatory email of the booking from Qantas, so I called QFF and after a 90 minute wait on hold was informed that because the booking was paid via PayPal it may take 2-3 days for the funds to be transferred and that if the payment didnt go through I would be informed at least 2 days prior to the flight.

No email was received and on checking my booking online with Qantas, the booking was confirmed, including our seat allocation, so I assumed all was well. On the day of departure I attempted to download our Boarding Passes and was met with a message that this had to be done at the airport. On arrival at Melb Airport, on checking in at the Kiosk, my booking was missing. I spoke to the Qantas Service Desk and was then informed that the booking had not been ticketed because the payment had not been received. On asking what I should next I was informed by the Ground Crew, that my only option was for me to call Reservations and make a new booking.

When I informed the Customer Service Officer that it would take at least an hour on hold for my call to be answered so I asked if they could call direct. I was told that they would have to call the same general Reservations number and wait the same time as I would. I called Reservations while my wife called QFF, hoping my Gold Status may expedite their response. After 1 hour on hold, Reservations finally answered my call, while my wife's call to QFF was still on hold.

No explanation or alternate options were offered to me, other than for me to make a new booking, which I did but by this time my flight had already departed. We took a later flight that day but I could not get the return flight booking and again had to book another flight, which was most inconvenient.
Two days after I returned to Melb, I received an email from Qantas advising me that my original booking could not be processed due to non-payment. I have lodged my complaint with Qantas and expressed my total dissatisfaction with my experience via their online survey but have heard nothing and that was 2 weeks ago. Qantas's apparent disregard, for even a modicum of acceptable customer service, is appalling and I question my 40 year loyalty to this airline.

John

 

[dylarr]

I recently booked 2 Award flights Mel-Syd return. Two days after the booking I still hadn't received a confirmatory email of the booking from Qantas, so I called QFF and after a 90 minute wait on hold was informed that because the booking was paid via PayPal it may take 2-3 days for the funds to be transferred and that if the payment didnt go through I would be informed at least 2 days prior to the flight. No email was received and on checking my booking online with Qantas, the booking was confirmed, including our seat allocation, so I assumed all was well. On the day of departure I attempted to download our Boarding Passes and was met with a message that this had to be done at the airport. On arrival at Melb Airport, on checking in at the Kiosk, my booking was missing. I spoke to the Qantas Service Desk and was then informed that the booking had not been ticketed because the payment had not been received. On asking what I should next I was informed by the Ground Crew, that my only option was for me to call Reservations and make a new booking. When I informed the Customer Service Officer that it would take at least an hour on hold for my call to be answered so I asked if they could call direct. I was told that they would have to call the same general Reservations number and wait the same time as I would. I called Reservations while my wife called QFF, hoping my Gold Status may expedite their response. After 1 hour on hold, Reservations finally answered my call, while my wife's call to QFF was still on hold. No explanation or alternate options were offered to me, other than for me to make a new booking, which I did but by this time my flight had already departed. We took a later flight that day but I could not get the return flight booking and again had to book another flight, which was most inconvenient. Two days after I returned to Melb, I received an email from Qantas advising me that my original booking could not be processed due to non-payment. I have lodged my complaint with Qantas and expressed my total dissatisfaction with my experience via their online survey but have heard nothing and that was 2 weeks ago. Qantas's apparent disregard, for even a modicum of acceptable customer service, is appalling and I question my 40 year loyalty to this airline.

John

This is pretty bloody poor. Putting aside the fact that you called to check why it hadn't been ticketed and were pretty much fobbed off — airport staff do not use the general reservation number so this is a lie. They have priority number that they use. They can also share a rotating priority number with passengers (I'm not sure if these are the same numbers they would use if calling themselves) — these are also shared at the top of this thread.

 

[repete]

Confirmation for me tonight no just how bad QF is... on account of a comparison.
I called another large airline in Australia about a flight cancellation at 5:15pm this evening. Call was answered immediately as the initial welcome voice recording finished. Just checked my phone then to see that the entire call took 6 mins! My booking was cancelled as per my request, money returned to payment form (email confirmation by the time I hung up) and the agent assisted with an additional request. It can be done!!