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
 
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Got my callback a bit over 4 hours after being requested (via 13 13 13) and flights are rebooked. I got caught up in the BNE-SIN cancellations and they were spending quite a bit of time checking possible restrictions on the return. Seems they're taking quite a conservative approach to these restrictions so that must be adding to wait times. I feel for the call centre folks today, being polite and having preferred alternatives laid out made for a quick rebooking.
i find the people when you get through are always really lovely.

the system is an absolute farce though.
 
everywhere into BNE it looks like

Yep being reported today that:
  • Melbourne-London flights delayed to November 27
  • Brisbane flights to LA and Singapore pushed back to February 2022
  • Australia-New Zealand to remain closed until January 2022
 
Never have too big an issue with wait times as a platinum member, I'm rather really annoyed that sometimes you get routed to someone entirely useless.

Ended up with a guy who spoke with a super thick hard to understand Indian accent and knew instantly that this would lead nowhere. He was super friendly though and kept me on hold for ages to check up on a super ancient refund request (well over 8 weeks, more like almost 3 months). Promised me multiple times that it would get all sorted but of course, 2 weeks later with no refund in sight I called again and ended up in the NZ call centre and there was not even a trace of a request on this file.

To be honest- I'd rather wait on hold for longer and not get some Pilipino or Indian with zero insight or empowerment who's just wasting my time. This is not to say that all Pilipinos or Indians are bad people, not at all- it's just that close to 100% of call centres in these countries are just utterly useless, whether it's Qantas or some finance help desk at work :rolleyes:
 
The wait time might be longer if you call in the morning, but much more chance of getting the NZ or Tassie Call Centres which seem to be the only ones who can help with complex queries.

If they'd fix some of the long time known bugs on their website, so us experienced travellers could self serve more online, they could easily reduce calls by 50%.

Wait time not as bad on weeks where there havent been mass canellations and changes, I hope not to ahve to call again anytime soon.
 
Hopefully some knowledge people here can answer my simple question instead of calling Qantas.
If I cancel a classic reward booking from Qantas website, will I be getting full refund, a credit or a voucher? Thanks.
 
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If I cancel a classic reward booking from Qantas website, will I be getting full refund, a credit or a voucher? Thanks.

I cancelled two separate classic rewards, both return flights and in both cases received points back within 24 hours and taxes/fees back on my credit card within 4 weeks. Important to note neither trip had commenced and I still held the credit cards that the taxes were paid from.

I have heard some people have issues where they no longer held the card they paid the taxes with so had to call to organise an alternative account to credit.

If however you only want to cancel some legs of an international classic reward you almost always need to call - this was why i spent hours on hold last Saturday.
 
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I cancelled two separate classic rewards, both return flights and in both cases received points back within 24 hours and taxes/fees back on my credit card within 4 weeks. Importnat to note neither trip had commenced and I still held the credit cards that the taxes were paid from.

I have heard some people have issues where they no longer held the card they paid the taxes with so had to call to organise an alternative.

If however you only want to cancel some legs of an international classic reward you almost always need to call.
Thanks Lynda2475 :)

My case is relatively simple. It is a one-way classic reward booking on an EK flight. The credit card used for this booking is still valid.

Somehow I had an impression (most likely it's wrong) that I will only be getting a credit or a voucher if it's cancelled through the website. Only the call centre staff can process the full refund.

Worth mentioning, I am a bronze customer.
 
Hopefully some knowledge people here can answer my simple question instead of calling Qantas.
If I cancel a classic reward booking from Qantas website, will I be getting full refund, a credit or a voucher? Thanks.
From my personal experience:

Classic reward booking- points back automatically and usually instantly or within a couple of days. Fees and taxes you have a 50:50 chance of getting those automatically after a few weeks and having to enter the call centre cycle from hell (see below)

Fully paid bookings, even those that Qantas has canceled- usually you get a "credit note" so there's no choice but enter the call centre cycle from hell to get your money back. I've done this over a dozen times over the past year or so and have a few 'tips' from this: Always, always write down the name/ time/ date of when and who you've spoken to when originally requesting the refund. The refund is literally never coming though automatically after the initially promised 8 weeks wait time so you will have to call again to follow up. What then usually happens is once you get someone in the AU or NZ call centre on the phone, they will apologise for the wait and call up the 'refund department' directly while you are waiting on hold (agree with others here that morning hours are more likely to route to AU/NZ and, also, hold times for your agent to call the 'refund department' seem to be shorter in the morning) and once confirmed, you will get your money within the next week. They always talk about an email confirming the refund but that only arrives in about 50% of cases and sometimes way before or days after the actual money arrives so don't fret about it.

Of course, if you end up in an overseas call centre, you might as well put the phone down and dial again because that money will never ever arrive without you calling again. Oh and most importantly- try and keep your sanity while listening several times to the super annoying call centre introduction menu, endless senseless advice to instead sort your stuff online and, lately, a way too long blurb about international travel resuming while you only finally in the end want your god%@n refund.
 
From my personal experience:

Classic reward booking- points back automatically and usually instantly or within a couple of days. Fees and taxes you have a 50:50 chance of getting those automatically after a few weeks and having to enter the call centre cycle from hell (see below)

Fully paid bookings, even those that Qantas has canceled- usually you get a "credit note" so there's no choice but enter the call centre cycle from hell to get your money back. I've done this over a dozen times over the past year or so and have a few 'tips' from this: Always, always write down the name/ time/ date of when and who you've spoken to when originally requesting the refund. The refund is literally never coming though automatically after the initially promised 8 weeks wait time so you will have to call again to follow up. What then usually happens is once you get someone in the AU or NZ call centre on the phone, they will apologise for the wait and call up the 'refund department' directly while you are waiting on hold (agree with others here that morning hours are more likely to route to AU/NZ and, also, hold times for your agent to call the 'refund department' seem to be shorter in the morning) and once confirmed, you will get your money within the next week. They always talk about an email confirming the refund but that only arrives in about 50% of cases and sometimes way before or days after the actual money arrives so don't fret about it.

Of course, if you end up in an overseas call centre, you might as well put the phone down and dial again because that money will never ever arrive without you calling again. Oh and most importantly- try and keep your sanity while listening several times to the super annoying call centre introduction menu, endless senseless advice to instead sort your stuff online and, lately, a way too long blurb about international travel resuming while you only finally in the end want your god%@n refund.
Appreciate Berlin for your detailed explanation. Looks like I will have to keep calling them till someone answers the call. Apparently today isn't a good day at all.
 
Appreciate Berlin for your detailed explanation. Looks like I will have to keep calling them till someone answers the call. Apparently today isn't a good day at all.
I'd recommend around 10am Eastern Australia time on Monday or Tuesday.
 
Appreciate Berlin for your detailed explanation. Looks like I will have to keep calling them till someone answers the call. Apparently today isn't a good day at all.

You really shouldnt need to since its a classic reward cancellation.
 
Thanks for the detailed advice!

The notification I got from Cathay said "if you have any questions about this new arrangement, please contact your travel agent" which I am guessing would be QF in this instance.

It's a bit coughty they've said "we've put you on the closest possible flight" which is three days later when they could've put me on the LHR flight instead. I guess the question is whether I get a say in the matter...

Contacting your agent may be fine in normal times, but you can't actually get through to QF at the moment. And they still likely have to go to CX for you. If you can get straight through to CX I'd be giving that a try, just to cross it off. It is probably worthwhile mentioning that you know CX can't reissue the tickets, but you hope they can get you the new flights in the system and QF will reissue.
 
Contacting your agent may be fine in normal times, but you can't actually get through to QF at the moment. And they still likely have to go to CX for you. If you can get straight through to CX I'd be giving that a try, just to cross it off. It is probably worthwhile mentioning that you know CX can't reissue the tickets, but you hope they can get you the new flights in the system and QF will reissue.
Yup I followed your advice. But CX have told me they can't rebook me on the flight from LHR and would have to waitlist me for it if QF asked because there aren't redemption seats available (there are 9+ seats in J otherwise).

However I think this is bullshit from what I can see - given the cancellation was on their part, they're obliged to offer me a rerouting at the earliest opportunity under EU261 (which has been adopted in UK legislation post Brexit) and the fact I booked on an award ticket shouldn't mean I can only access award seats for this. So this should be from LHR rather than from MAN 3 days later.

So back to Qantas...will see if they're any more responsive on FB/Twitter DM...
 
Yup I followed your advice. But CX have told me they can't rebook me on the flight from LHR and would have to waitlist me for it if QF asked because there aren't redemption seats available (there are 9+ seats in J otherwise).

However I think this is bullshit from what I can see - given the cancellation was on their part, they're obliged to offer me a rerouting at the earliest opportunity under EU261 (which has been adopted in UK legislation post Brexit) and the fact I booked on an award ticket shouldn't mean I can only access award seats for this. So this should be from LHR rather than from MAN 3 days later.

So back to Qantas...will see if they're any more responsive on FB/Twitter DM...

But also article 10 of Cathay's own conditions of carriage: https://www.cathaypacific.com/conte...ons-of-carriage-for-passengers-baggage-en.pdf
 
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Indeed! And the flight from HKG now leaves about a day before the flight from MAN is due to arrive!

I really don't think another redemption seat comes into it - I'm quite sure they're obliged to find me any available seat..
That's right. And adding QF to the mix to bat for you might be frustrating and time consuming :( CX is perfectly correct in saying they can't touch the *ticket*. But they certainly can touch the flights in the reservation - they've already done it once, albeit 'automatically'. it then needs to go back to QF to process the new ticket... but the hard work is already done. In theory.
 
Indeed! And the flight from HKG now leaves about a day before the flight from MAN is due to arrive!

I really don't think another redemption seat comes into it - I'm quite sure they're obliged to find me any available seat..
Yea i had a same thing happen last night, i need to leave Singapore 24 hours before i get there.

there is no purchaseable ticket on the flight i'm supposed to be on, but there is business on SIN to SYD for cash money purchase, not sure if they are obliged to put me on that or are they just going to tell me to get knotted
 
Sending thoughts and prayers to everyone on hold.

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