Qantas slammed for bloated call centre wait times

The national carrier is in the middle of a firestorm as hundreds of their customers revolt against poor service. Now, Qantas has responded.

Qantas is in the middle of a firestorm as hundreds of their customers take to social media to complain of poor service, a glitchy website and bloated call centre wait times.

The national carrier has been hit hard over the past two years after the coronavirus pandemic brought international travel to a standstill.

Since borders reopened in November last year, Aussies desperate to travel again have been buying up flights in massive numbers – but the surge in demand has also created plenty of customer service issues.

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Qantas is in hot water for its call centre issues. Picture: Jono Searle/NCA NewsWire

The airline’s Facebook page has been smashed with hundreds of furious customers complaining they’ve been forced to ring Qantas’ call centre after error messages on the airline’s website left them with no other choice.

On Twitter, dozens of people have posted screenshots of the time they’ve spent on the phone to Qantas, with all calls stretching at least three hours.

Channel 10 weather presenter Josh Holt took to Twitter twice to post screenshots of his almost five hour call with Qantas.

“It is quicker to fly from Sydney to Perth than wait for Qantas to answer the phone and look after their customers,” he joked.

After spending a large amount of money buying overseas airfares with @Qantas they then make you wait on hold for 3 hours & 20 minutes & still counting!
We all want to help our flag carrier after the pandemic but you have to do better than this. #Unbelievable#CustomerServicepic.twitter.com/vmXW6pJksP

— Josh Holt (@JoshHoltTEN) March 27, 2022

@Qantas what a joke. This has been our life for the past 3 weeks daily. JUST NEED TO SPEAK TO SOMEONE!! 😡 😡😡😡😡😡 pic.twitter.com/b11VDuXN3X

— Anise K (@Anisekmusic) March 27, 2022

I don’t even mean since the pandemic, I mean the last couple of months.

— Lauren Beldi (@LaurenBeldi) March 26, 2022

My flight back to Australia tomorrow night was canceled now I am waiting in complete limbo after trying to figure out an alternative flight for 5 hours on the phone.Thanks to @qantas who are aware that the alternative option they gave for the day after will make me miss a funeral

— Emily Sears (@emilysears) March 28, 2022

@Qantas I have been on hold with you for more than 4 hours. If I take you out to dinner, will you please answer my call or call me back ?

— Lara Hyams (@Lara_Hyams) March 28, 2022

Having experienced over the last 24 hours both a 14-hour flight in a packed economy cabin and a four-hour (and counting) wait to speak to someone from @Qantas, give me the squashed like sardines flight any day #onholdpic.twitter.com/iSnawXpWC0

— Andrew Hawkins (@AndrewNJHawkins) March 28, 2022

Even a change.org petition has sprung up, calling on the national carrier to get its act together.

“Qantas is exploiting Covid as a guise to prioritise poor customer service and capitalise on creating further disadvantage for regional Australia,” said Ingrid Miller, the creator of the petition.

Ms Miller said she had taken a “random sample” of the 50 most recent comments complaining about Qantas on social media and found the average wait time was five hours, 36 minutes.

“This poor service issue isn’t just affecting a minority number of customers,” she said.

“Far and wide, people are losing their hard earned money. All the while, Qantas continues to hide behind Covid as an excuse to cut jobs and do people out of their cash.”

The petition has been signed by 463 people, with many taking to the page to rant about their experience.

“I have waited nine weeks for a refund of over $5500. No replies to complaints submitted. Several days of five-plus hours on hold. Eight hours for a call back only to be cut off in the middle of it,” a woman from Dubbo said.

“On one call when speaking to a team member who was helping, I was cut off and have heard nothing and received nothing. Not looking forward to booking with them again. Absolutely appalling situation at the moment.”

The airline’s Facebook page is also copping a beating.

The top comments on Qantas' latest Facebook post. Picture: Facebook

In a statement, Qantas apologised for the delays, describing them as “not acceptable”.

“These wait times are not acceptable, and we apologise to customers who have waited so long to get through to us. Our customers have been very understanding and we appreciate everyone’s patience,” a spokesperson said.

“No airline’s contact centres were designed to be able to manage the record number of calls and complexity of Covid-related queries, which continue to impact customer wait times as people re-book travel that’s been delayed for the past two years.

“We’re also seeing a fresh wave of calls with every change to a border somewhere in the world, as Covid restrictions are wound back, which often occur at no notice.

“Because Covid has significantly changed our network and that of our partner airlines, many customer queries are far more complex than they were pre-pandemic and are on average taking 50 per cent longer to resolve when chatting to one of our agents.

“We’ve already added hundreds of staff to our call centres, and each month we are recruiting and training more people.

“The vast majority of customers can make changes to their bookings online and we have a huge amount of information for customers on qantas.com.

“Given the volume and the increased complexity of customer queries, it will take some time for call wait times to normalise.”