That travel consultants are taking to Open Jaw by Travelinfo to express their utter frustration with airline support desks is probably a good barometer of the experience of the whole SA retail industry.
Judging from their remarks, agents are clearly exhausted and annoyed by the amount of time they spend holding for airline support desks. They report not being able to get hold of some airlines at all for days or even weeks! By far the majority of negative comments regarding holding time for airline help desks concerned Ethiopian Airlines and British Airways Avios.
A travel manager in Port Elizabeth who wished to remain anonymous, told Travel News that over the years, airlines have replaced people with online tools, but not everything can be done online. “Before the pandemic, many airlines employed a number of reservations agents. But as foreign government travel restrictions and fears of the coronavirus hammered the airline industry, most carriers let people go. It seems that, as business picks up, airlines have not adjusted to the need for assistance.”
She said: “Even our clients are shocked about the length of time they spend on hold trying to get assistance. In these circumstances we need to speak to someone who can help, someone who will answer the phone. We should not have to run the gauntlet of pressing numbers and spending ridiculous amounts of money holding for hours on end.” She added that all this was happening at a time when rebooking and refund processes were more complicated than they had ever been.
“Airline rules change daily, some will extend ticket validity, some only offer vouchers, some will and some will not refund under COVID conditions. These are not normal procedures any more, and more often than not require a discussion to find a solution. But we are just not winning!”
“I have a client based in the UK who made Avios bookings online to fly to South Africa to see her father who was in hospital and extremely ill. She had a new baby and was waiting for an emergency passport to be issued for the infant. She called me in desperation, the family of three needed to change their bookings to fly one day later and she had spent over £200 (R4 180) on holding on the phone for Avios. The change was not allowed on the Avios website and BA referred my client to the Avios help desk. I too spent hours over a 24-hour period holding for Avios and eventually managed to get hold of a representative who then changed the flights for her just five hours before the original departure.”
When Travel News contacted British Airways for comment, an airline spokesperson commented: “We are sorry this customer was not connected to one of our customer service team straight away. Due to changeable booking plans we continue to experience a high number of calls. We have now invested in additional support in order to help our customers.”
Travel News also contacted Qatar Airways, another airline with complaints about its helpdesk – agents on Open Jaw talk about long holding times and slow responses. Rozell Moller Account Manager for Qatar Airways in Cape Town gave this response: “We have several options and have actually been available full time since lockdown. She listed the methods of getting advice: “The contact centre in Cape Town, email to Johannesburg reservations whose turnaround can be 24-48 hours, the agents trade online portal or the salesperson in their area.”
Said the PE-based consultant: “Airlines are trying to push technology instead of staffing up with people who can answer the phone and assist. We are in unprecedented times and the service we are experiencing impacts heavily on our ability to help clients.”
Ethiopian Airlines could not be reached for comment.
