Qantas says up to 60 percent of the calls swamping its contact centres “could be resolved online”, with the airline hoping technology investments will help customers to self-serve.
The airline responded on Thursday to criticism of its handling of support volumes as travel returns.
The Australian Services Union yesterday said wait times had ballooned to “four-to-five hours already this week” and said it “expected [times] to blow out further.”
The union said that “Qantas didn’t add any new call centre staff” to its operations during the pandemic, an allegation the airline rejected.
“During the pandemic, the call centres were the only component of our business that grew,” Qantas stated.
“We’ve already hired hundreds of individuals for our call centres, and we’re hiring and training additional people every month.”
“By June of this year, we’ll have boosted headcount by 200 percent (750 individuals) in less than a year,” he says, adding that “new call centre workers take six weeks to train.”
“It will take some time for call wait times to normalise due to the volume and increasing complexity of customer queries,” the airline said. “But we’re striving every day to improve the experience for our customers.”
“While we recognise that many people prefer to speak with a live person to handle difficulties, over 60% of the calls we receive could be resolved online, so we’re providing resources, such as a series of ‘how-to’ films, to help consumers see how they may fix their concerns faster online.”
“We’ve invested in technology to allow consumers to manage their bookings and redeem flight credits through the website or app,” says the company.
