oranjemakker

The answer: yes (with bells on)
They now have an absolutely absurd and cumbersome system where before they validate your airpoints number they send you a text, which then directs you to a form which you have to fill out and explain the reason why you are calling.
Presumably this is another "enhancement"? Who on earth designs this ridiculous system?

rtv4

Is it much different to before?

The voice prompt before asked why you're calling (and sometimes misunderstood you), and the form authorises you so they don't ask verification questions.

It also says you can press 0 to skip it.

oranjemakker

i did not get the prompt to skip it or I missed that. it just seems a bit cumbersome. QF just asks me for a pin, would that not be easier?

nzkarit

Depends on the risks they are trying to mitigate. Given the auth is out of band & can use non phishable MFA methods such as U2F or WebAuthN it provides more security & greater provenance that are interacting with the actual account holder.

oranjemakker

Yes of course understand, but it seems like it always a balance between security and ease of use. personally I find the fact that now I have to authenticate every time I want to cancel a flexi to be a hassle, when I am already logged in which I think needs authentication anyway.

Who is in charge, the IT team or customer team?

ParetoEfficiency

Whatever they're doing with this flow, it's definitely making the call wait times a lot shorter, I got connected soon after going the form and the agent launched straight into assisting me. Personally thought it was bearable and the time spent on the flow was better use than listening to the on hold music.

greg23

I think it's absolutely absurd. If they need to verify my identity, they can do so once they connect me with an agent like every other company on earth does. A series of simple security questions should suffice, surely? Like date of birth etc...

How exactly do they propose I call from the car and fill out a form? Or is this a one time registration for calls originating from my mobile number?

ParetoEfficiency

Just press 0 next time

greg23

It didnt tell me that was an option to press 0, it just stated it had sent a text to my phone, which linked to a form.

Maybe commonsense for those behind this absurdity should have thought to add something like "if your driving or its not safe to complete a form, press 0".

Adding: I just attempted by calling again, and can 100% confirm there is no mention of an option to dial 0.

rtv4

After 60 seconds of the hold music it will say:
If you have completed the form, have not received the text, or are unable to complete this verification step, just press 0 at any time

nzkarit

Date of Birth is basically public information at this point, hence it not being a considered a security control.

Other companies are having issue with fraud and what not and a lot of organisations are working on different methods for authentication. There doesn't seem to be consensus as a secure way to do yet, other than moving to an in app voice call.

For example the voice matching stuff is falling out of favour as the deep fake voice stuff is super easy and cheap to create a voice print. Like five minute of voice and US$1 on a site to clone a voice which will get accepted by voice auth.

It gives you the 0 prompt after a minute or so.

You need to auth every time and it also asks for reason and booking reference if applicable.

I am guessing there has been some fraud or people maliciously changing bookings or similar, so they had to put in controls to mitigate/reduce the risks.

greg23

I think what Air NZ have chosen is overly onerous on the caller, and seems rather antiquated.

Id much prefer a PIN number, like banks do. Interesting that banks seem to think a PIN number is satisfactory, yet Air NZ have chosen a manual form filling option for every call.

rtv4

Maybe, but I've had times where it didn't pick up my form submission and they just revert back to the previous security questions anyway

I'd guess it's just for cost savings? Having callers self service the authorisation / providing booking reference / calling reason will save operator's time and prevent miscommunication.

Hmm, I have ANZ and BNZ and neither of these use a PIN number for me - ANZ does voice verification, and BNZ sends a push notification to your phone where you click confirm.
I've had more trouble calling banks when it asks why I'm calling and then doesn't understand and asks me to clarify...

JANZFlyer

I agree, it is a complete pain! It would be great if somehow it could link to the airnz app so you don't have to type out a booking reference... albeit painful I am pretty quick at it.. I got connected immediately so I wonder if being a bit tech literate gets you to the front of the line ?

I usually call when driving so even waiting 60 seconds to press 0 is annoying.

tairantei

yes they txt you on the phone number you’re calling from and then want the code to verify you which is strange and then ask you to type
in your ref booking and why you’re calling…
then customer service answer and ask you for your booking reference and wasn’t to verify name dob etc. it’s nuts