Airline customer service channels are struggling to cope with a flood of worried passengers attempting to come to grips with the abrupt introduction by governments of new COVID-19 travel restrictions.
New Zealand and the US were among several countries to introduce restrictions in recent days and leave airlines struggling to deal with the changes.
Singapore Airlines, Qantas, British Airways, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia are among the carriers pleading with travelers to delay contacting them unless they have flights that are immediately affected.
Singapore said it was experiencing an extraordinarily high volume of customer inquiries at customer services centers, reservations and sales officer and on social media channels.
It said this was due to a wave of recent travel restrictions affecting SIA services around the world, including to points in the United States, India, New Zealand and several countries in Europe and South-East Asia,
READ: More chaos as US adds UK and Ireland to COVID-19 bans.
“Additional resources have been deployed to support our agents in Singapore and around the world to cope with this surge in enquiries,’’ it said.
“Customers are encouraged to only contact us if their flight is departing within the next 72 hours in order for our agents to focus on and assist those with urgent flight changes.
“Customers with flight dates beyond the next 72 hours are advised to reach out closer to their trip.
“Alternatively, they can fill in an online form that can be found on our website and an agent will be in touch as soon as possible.”
Air New Zealand has also been swamped and is deploying more staff after the New Zealand government adopted draconian travel restrictions requiring every person landing in new Zealand from almost anywhere in the world to self-isolate for almost 14 days.
READ: Shock new Zealand move to isloate nearly all visitors.
Air New Zealand encouraged customers to contact it only if their flight was departing in the next 48 hours.
The carrier is allowing affected customers due to depart up until March 31 to receive a refund, hold the fare in credit for 12 months or amend the date without change fees.
All customers should check our travel alerts page for information and guidance before getting in touch,” said Air New Zealand senior customer care manager Doug Grant.
“We really appreciate the patience and understanding of all our customers at this difficult time. The entire Air New Zealand team is focussed on providing care and support for our customers.”
European and now British and Irish carriers have been affected by moves by the Trump administration to ban entry to the US by foreigners who visited Europe, the UK and Ireland in the last 14 days.
“Due to high volume traffic, customers are experiencing issues and we recognize that this is frustrating,’’ Delta said.
“To help address customers with immediate travel needs, we are asking those who do not have travel in the next 72 hours to wait and contact us closer to your trip.”
