Qantas boss Alan Joyce apologises for keeping customers on hold for hours

Alan Joyce has apologised to customers kept on-hold for hours at the airline’s call centres, blaming huge demand.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has assured passengers the airline is beefing up its call centres amid complaints about marathon waiting times. Picture: Getty Images

Qantas boss Alan Joyce has apologised to customers experiencing marathon waits to connect to their call centre, blaming the problem on overwhelming demand in the wake of borders reopening.

Social media posts from frustrated customers have highlighted an increasing problem for the airline with some people placed on hold for up to 8-hours as they attempt to change bookings or get a refund.

The Australian Services Union has also weighed in on the issue, claiming average call waiting times were now between four and five hours, and existing staff were bearing the brunt of customers’ frustration.

In an address to the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Joyce offered an apology to anyone trying to get through to a Qantas call centre.

Mr Joyce said the average wait time was an hour and a half which was too long for general calls, and half-an-hour was too long for premium calls.

“That’s because our call centre with these changes of borders, has gone from 5000 calls a day to 15,000 calls a day,” he said.

“And every time there’s a change, like New Zealand opening up, it spikes.”

Mr Joyce denied there had been any staff cutbacks at call centres, saying staffing had actually grown from 370 people during Covid, to 800 currently

“By the middle of the year we’ll have 1000 people. So we’re trebling the size of it to try and keep up with that volume,” he said.

“But the thing we’re having to do is trying to get people to do a lot of the administration themselves if they can.”

He estimated that 60 per cent of callers could resolve the issues themselves through the Qantas website or app.

“Other international airlines are having the exact same issue, so … I’d say bear with us for the while,” Mr Joyce said.

“Some things won’t be quite what you expect from Qantas but we are working on it and trying to fix it as fast as we can.”

In any one shift, 250 to 300 people are available to handle calls to Qantas, working out of centres in Hobart, Auckland, Cape Town (South Africa) and Fiji.

ASU assistant national secretary Emeline Gaske said staff were exhausted and “working beyond breaking point”.

“These problems started with Qantas offshoring local jobs and cutting in-airport customer service last year under the cover of the pandemic,” Ms Gaske said.

“That puts huge extra pressure on call centres and Qantas didn’t add any new call centre staff.

“Now that we’re seeing the industry recover, and customers return to Qantas, they must repay Australian taxpayers and employ local staff.”

The ASU wanted to see Qantas bring offshore call centres back onshore where staff could receive proper training, access to the best IT systems, and quality control.

“Local jobs that have been cut or offshored in recent years should be returned home,” Ms Gaske said.