Is it just me or is this Qantas decision to abandon service desks in lounges and airports an incredibly myopic and frustrating move for a supposedly premium airline?
Qantas has made the frankly spurious claim that it is in response to customer feedback. I respond to 2-3 of their surveys a week and haven’t seen anything on it. I genuinely can’t imagine that any customer thinks it’s a good ideas.
I use the app for all of my flights and reckon I’m at the digitally savvy end of Qantas’ customer base and I still reckon I use service desks 30 times a year - getting home early on flex fares, checking whether there is a spare seat next to me and (if not) moving, rebooking travel companions (if you’ve booked on two separate tickets how will you use the app to move your companion into a blocked P1 seat) and recovery options which require lateral thinking when there are heavy winds on the east coast.
This “talk to the computer” model goes against everything that Qantas has tried to do with premium customer service over the last decade. 18 months ago AJ was all about the benefits of human interactions and how beneficial staff to customer contact was. He wasn’t wrong then. He is now.
This is surely a financial decision, not one from customer feedback. Can't imagine the few remaining flyers wanting to abandon face to face customer service, when at the terminal and when something goes wrong - especially with pandemic/border restrictions! Got the latest V-mail specials and see east-west flights on offer from $245, REX is ramping up along the east coast - competition is back. Meanwhile Qantas preps for some bad financials by further cost cutting??
I’m picking this to be a decision guided by financials. They make the role redundant due to ‘customer demand’, so goodbye to those staff. The role gets renamed and re-hired again due to ‘customer demand’ but at a lower per hour rate.
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Qantas Abandons Service Desks
greg959
greg959
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 15 May 2019
Total posts 59
Is it just me or is this Qantas decision to abandon service desks in lounges and airports an incredibly myopic and frustrating move for a supposedly premium airline?
Qantas has made the frankly spurious claim that it is in response to customer feedback. I respond to 2-3 of their surveys a week and haven’t seen anything on it. I genuinely can’t imagine that any customer thinks it’s a good ideas.
I use the app for all of my flights and reckon I’m at the digitally savvy end of Qantas’ customer base and I still reckon I use service desks 30 times a year - getting home early on flex fares, checking whether there is a spare seat next to me and (if not) moving, rebooking travel companions (if you’ve booked on two separate tickets how will you use the app to move your companion into a blocked P1 seat) and recovery options which require lateral thinking when there are heavy winds on the east coast.
This “talk to the computer” model goes against everything that Qantas has tried to do with premium customer service over the last decade. 18 months ago AJ was all about the benefits of human interactions and how beneficial staff to customer contact was. He wasn’t wrong then. He is now.
XWu
XWu
Member since 09 May 2020
Total posts 197
There's plenty of good will from service staff (if you treat them right) which cannot be done by online services.
dm12
dm12
Member since 08 Feb 2018
Total posts 200
I'm so excited to be abandoning Qantas, I just hope VA2 and Rex will provide sufficient quality of service.
dlight
dlight
Member since 11 Apr 2018
Total posts 18
This is surely a financial decision, not one from customer feedback. Can't imagine the few remaining flyers wanting to abandon face to face customer service, when at the terminal and when something goes wrong - especially with pandemic/border restrictions! Got the latest V-mail specials and see east-west flights on offer from $245, REX is ramping up along the east coast - competition is back. Meanwhile Qantas preps for some bad financials by further cost cutting??
ads086
ads086
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 14 Apr 2014
Total posts 46
I’m picking this to be a decision guided by financials. They make the role redundant due to ‘customer demand’, so goodbye to those staff. The role gets renamed and re-hired again due to ‘customer demand’ but at a lower per hour rate.