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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Yep, you were lucky.
I just held on for 15 minutes only for them to just cut me off. That's one way of reducing wait-time!

Just ringing them to see why they changed my flight booking to another city in the USA that I don't want to go to! Guess I'll find out eventually.
 
Yep, you were lucky.
I just held on for 15 minutes only for them to just cut me off. That's one way of reducing wait-time!

Just ringing them to see why they changed my flight booking to another city in the USA that I don't want to go to! Guess I'll find out eventually.
Sounds very mysterious. Any clues as to which city that may be?
 
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Yep, you were lucky.
I just held on for 15 minutes only for them to just cut me off. That's one way of reducing wait-time!

Just ringing them to see why they changed my flight booking to another city in the USA that I don't want to go to! Guess I'll find out eventually.
Use the other number provided above.
 
Sounds very mysterious. Any clues as to which city that may be?
LA, when I have been booked to SF for over a month.
I presume QF have decided they don't want to resume flights to SF, but why take my money in the first place?
They didn't have the good manners to give me a connecting flight.
However I can get other airlines, direct to SF, for half the price.

QF will probably be in some chaos for a while to come I guess.
 
Yeah SFO… cancelled? Delayed resumption? Whatevs… my flight is affected. Going to LAX instead. Except all my connections are out of SFO :confused:
 
Yeah I had the same problem last night.. had to call to get connecting flights to SFO
 
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The 1300 number, in post # 252
I used that number this morning. On hold for all of 20 seconds. Reward flights cancelled and warned refund of taxes might take awhile. Lovely Australian lady.
I find it interesting that you got excellent service for something the number isn't meant to be used for but when I used it to get assistance with an itinerary underway I got a much different experience.

I had an issue with my trip on Sunday MEL-SYD-ARM where I could not get an onward boarding pass via the app or at kiosks at either MEL or SYD airports where both said there was only one flight on my itinerary. Check in for the next flight had been open for many hours but the systems didn't recognise the second leg existed and when I arrived at SYD I got messages on app and online saying "thank you, your trip is complete". At both airport locations, there was only a couple of Qantas staff who couldn't ("your next flight is showing as 'pending' on the booking so I can't do anything") or didn't want to help ("if your next flight is not for several hours then come back later!"). At Sydney where I was transiting the reception I received when I walked up to the service desk next to the baggage drop for help was particularly icy. I was concerned as the flights were changed in September due to cancellations and I never received a new e-ticket and could not get an e-ticket with the new flights and now can't get a boarding pass whilst in transit. I've done this combination of flights many times and have never experienced this but the QF agents acted as if it is normal and to just go away and come back later.

I called that 1300 number and started to explain my predicament and was interrupted with "where did you get this number? this is only for airport staff" I said I had got it at the airport and then was interrupted "are you at the airport?". No, I left the airport because I was told to as they would not help. The call agent begrudgingly looked up my booking and said I was checked in and a BP issued but I said I couldn't access any BP. Then it popped up on the app. I think the agent sorted it out but made it sound like a hassle and told me never to use this number again.
 
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Very stressful, but good that you got there in the end. Although, no eticket = no right to board.
Indeed, which is why I would have liked that it be sorted out there and then rather than half an hour before boarding which is what they would have preferred me do and is far more stressful. Eventually got there though through persistence instead of assistance.
 
About 20 mins on hold. Has a really nice Australian lady but she also quizzed me on the number so as above I said I'd been to the airport - they couldn't help me but told me to call this number. From there she was all good and sorted my issue out in 5 mins.
 
Frustrating morning... tried the call back option twice but both times it seemed like they hung up before I even had the chance to answer.

Call 1 at 9:50 - was told 15 minutes - call back was 30 minutes later, 10.20
Call 2 at 10:30 - was told 30 minutes - call back was at 11:45
 
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 134 502
1300 659 134

1300 304 318 (confirmed to be active on 27 Nov 2021)
this number was helpful, but had togo airport to get this.
 
Called them 12.30AM to change the dates of flights (not possible online). 90 minute hold on 131313, reached an agent only to be hung up on after another 30 minutes. Called the 1300 number and was only on hold for 7 minutes. Dates changed after another 5 minutes.

1300 number helped me keep my sanity.
 
The Qantas call centre is absolutely shocking beyond description. They do not know the booking systems well and often hang up when your request is too difficult for them. This is pathetic for a supposedly "world-class" airline.

Perfect example:

Many of us had flights cancelled due to Covid.

I was taking my mother to the USA in June/July 2020, which was (at my request), refunded in the form of a flight credit, then issued as a Qantas Pass on 17/11/2021. She had a separate booking reference.

I also booked a flight in late July so that I could head up to CNS from down here in MEL for mid-November this year. Obviously, this flight kept getting cancelled and pushed forward due to QLD border restrictions.

I have spent so many hours on the phone with the most useless people I feel as if I want to cry. I have literally wasted that much time.

The first issue arose on 21/11/2021 when I attempted to cancel my CNS booking. I rang in the early evening. There was no wait time. The agent who took my call had the most indecipherable South African accent I've ever heard. . I wanted to cancel the booking and have the ticket re-issued as a flight credit so that I could rebook when the QLD Government decides that it's safe enough for vaccinated southerners to enter. As it happens, my mother (who had her own booking to Brissie), rang Qantas 20 minutes earlier to cancel and request a credit (also due to QLD border restrictions). She kindly sent me a text telling me that she didn't have to wait to get through, so I took my opportunity.

As the days went by, I noticed that my booking had not been cancelled.

I did have the opportunity to try again the other night when I was over at my mother's place. She could not see any flight credits on the screen (other than the Qantas Pass issued for June 2020 USA booking) and wanted to know where to look on the Qantas website so that she could use her flight credits from the cancelled Brissie flight.

That night, I witnessed a competent agent (rare) walk her through the process of using her Qantas Pass to rebook a flight to QLD. I witnessed it as I could hear the agents voice and I could see mum logging into the Qantas Pass on her laptop.

I made it my business today to have my CNS trip converted into a Qantas Pass because it had been evident to me that the woman I spoke to on the 21st November was completely incompetent, and did not cancel my flight as I had asked.

My first call today was at 16:43. The agent told me that I had already flown my mid-November MEL-CNS sector! I had to explain basic requests to him repeatedly. He told me that Qantas no longer issues Qantas Passes as of 30th September! He could only issue me with a flight credit.

What's the difference you say?

Well, according to this inept agent, in order to use a flight credit to make a booking, you must ring the Qantas customer contact centre. Ugh.

I explained the situation that occurred with my mother just days before. I wanted to be able to book online. After 35 mins, he terminated the call whilst I was on hold. This is shocking because you have no recourse except to ring them back and explain the same story to a different agent.

At 17:18, I immediately called back to attempt to resolve my query. I explained the situation to a different agent. He too told me that I had already flown one of my sectors (impossible because my flight had been changed from Nov 17 to Dec 15), so I asked if I could speak to his manager. He told me that his manager would call me back within half an hour. Obviously, that hasn't happened yet, nor will it.

Then I saw the flight credit appear, and at 18:04 rang up to make the booking. In the meantime, whilst sitting at the computer, I tried to see if I could log in to my existing Qantas Pass from last years USA booking using the card number, expiry date and password, however, the UATP login did not work! I wanted to raise this issue with the agent that was now booking my flight up to CNS in February. He put me in row 10, which I found weird because I am usually able to sit as close to the front of the economy cabin as I can (I usually try and pick row 4 on the 737's if possible). He said that rows 4-9 were blocked, but I could pay to sit in row 9. I don't know why, but I asked him how much it would cost to sit one row further forward (not that I would have paid extra). He put me on hold and literally 3 minutes later the call ended and went to the exit survey.

I made the booking with no seats selected and had not had my Qantas Pass login issue resolved.

Do these agents just not care, or are they under absurd time constraints? Do they actually know the QF systems? It is seriously maddening and it never used to be like this!

Aaaannnnnndddd POST! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, perhaps it was a good thing because just as I was proofreading my post I received a call from (02) 90671509. It was one of the 3 people that I spoke to today. He was quite a decent bloke I have to admit. He gave me some interesting information too. He told me that calls automatically time out after a certain period of time if they are on hold. I think he said an hour, but due to his thick South African accent, it could have been half an hour. It still doesn't explain why calls are terminated because my first call lasted 35mins 18secs and the other two were just under half an hour.

Anyway, I received the following outcome-

He was initially unaware that I had done this. Despite this new information, he really wanted to issue me a refund and cancel the booking. As I had already spent 25 minutes on the phone using my newly minted flight credit to book my flight up to CNS in February, I wasn't going to do that!

The gutsiest thing he said to me was "I'd like to be frank with you. We are trained and able to do simple things like make bookings and issue tickets, cancel or alter bookings but whenever a customer calls in with anything slightly more complicated than that I always transfer them to the frequent flyer team."

I respect honesty, so he put me in row 9 for no extra fee. Looking at the 738 seat maps I have no idea why Qantas would charge a Gold QFF to sit in row 9 when I could always pick row 4?

What's changed?

Regarding my Qantas Pass, he said he would issue me with a new login so I can get into the UATP portal to view my balance as per email.

It's funny how you measure the quality of customer service agents because here I am ranting about how terrible they were and suddenly I found myself calling this man sir and being extra patient, although he was really just doing what should have been done weeks ago.

Terrible.
 
Qantas has rediculously long hours upto 6hours unbelieveable completely unacceptable - Start of the call says call will be answered in less than 15 minutes not sure how Qantas calculate 15minutes - 8pm in night 3 hours wait time then call got cancelled, Called 7am in morning wait 2 hours call got disconnected again called at 10am wait for 3.5 hours call disconnected - wondering is just me who is facing these rediculuous service from Qantas or anyone else has also faced this
 

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