Airline Customer Service

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:21): It was with great sadness that I learnt of the tragic death of a pedestrian at Tea Tree Plaza on Monday and our hearts go out to this family at their time of terrible grief. After a dreadful weekend of deaths on our roads, it is important for all of us to realise that, while accidents do happen, we should all be on our guard to make sure we act with safety foremost on our minds at all times and always take great care on the roads and, most of all, slow down.

As a result of the Tea Tree Plaza accident, we learned of the terrible time a family member was having in trying to change an airline ticket already booked to attend a family wedding later in the month to allow her to fly home from London to be with her grieving family. I am not certain of the exact particulars, but while a good deal of social media agitation seems to have been applied to allow for the ticket to be changed at this end, it seems to be another example of how airline travel has changed and not for the better.

Not so long ago it seemed to be possible for changes to be made on compassionate grounds without too much trouble resulting in positive media for the airlines. Sadly, the stories we hear more nowadays are quite the reverse and are more about the hard-hearted attitudes we consumers are forced to accept.

We all appreciate the pressures of running an airline in the 21^st century and meeting the expectations of a public eager to travel and take advantage of competitive ticket prices. The travelling public is also subject to the necessary checks for heightened security as part of the new normal of our world. I am always still amazed by the even bigger planes shuffling us all around the world with all our baggage in what is an overwhelmingly safe form of travel. That said, customer service cannot be lost as it is surely the one thing that separates airlines into truly being customer focused.

Airline partnerships could be part of where, as customers, we do not fully enjoy the clear lines of how good customer service can be delivered. In recent times, I came to wonder how I could better engage and receive the service and assistance I expect from a carrier. On a flight from Dubai, sadly, a fellow passenger became critically ill and eventually passed away. As I was seated quite close, I witnessed a set of circumstances I am still to process fully and to correspond with the airline. Along with hundreds of other passengers, I was reliant on the airline staff for information and found that for me I was less than satisfied.

The situation was stressful for all involved and ultimately we returned to Dubai after stopping for several hours in Mumbai. It was really on the following evening, as we all wearily made our way back to the airport, that I realised that as a traveller I was basically on my own even though I was travelling with another MP and other acquaintances all seated elsewhere in the aircraft. Because our flight had taken off it was technically no longer in existence and our new flight did not actually exist until it appeared on the departure screens.

What all this meant was that it was impossible for me to change my ticketing and neither of the airlines in the partnership could help me. I found this quite distressing. Almost as distressing, no doubt, for the family of the deceased passenger. He was travelling alone and I imagine someone informed the family of the passing of their loved one subsequently. My sincere hope is that they were given every assistance in arrangements for repatriation.

These circumstances—needing urgent help to re-ticket, and deaths mid-flight—while not perhaps commonplace, surely happen regularly. In the days of online help yourself we still sometimes need special assistance and when it is not forthcoming, when simple human decency is lost in the moment, it is time to regroup and see how things can be done better.

Another recent experience I have heard about concerns a fragile elderly woman and her daughter who travelled from Melbourne to Hobart. After being in a wheelchair and on the aircraft for several hours they landed in Hobart to find no disabled toilet in the arrivals area. Rather, it was necessary for them to go outside the terminal, walk right down to the arrivals area to then find that the disabled toilet was actually located by the door in the wall separating arrivals from departures. It is hard to see, even in the midst of renovations, how this can be DDA compliant or meet any test of decency or sensitivity to the plight of those needing disabled toilet facilities.

The number of older and infirm travellers is only going to rise and if we are not one ourselves we might find ourselves caring for someone who needs these sorts of essential services. The airline boarded two wheelchair travellers on the flight at the same time, but rather than making sure that the higher number seat passenger went on first, allowing both chairs to be seated at the same time, the lower number went on first and everybody else had to wait in the departure area while they were both settled. This could have easily been addressed by making sure that the numbers were boarded sequentially so that both chairs could have been settled at the same time.

Think about how you would feel if you were in this situation and how much compassion you would like to see around the place. It is not just airlines. The car hire company they used left a lot to be desired as well and the assistance at the visitor centres at various tourist sites fluctuated wildly. Hotel accommodation was also an issue. There is a big contrast between recognition of disability services here in Australia and overseas.

This week is National Carers Week and in paying tribute to those wonderful people who voluntarily contribute to making the life of another person more enjoyable, I ask everyone to think about how they can show kindness and empathy wherever they can and how the difficulties that people face in their day-to-day lives can be made easier.