Australian airline Qantas has denied claims it left a customer on hold … for 15 hours 40 minutes and one second.

The claims were made by a customer who has told Fairfax media and news.com.au that he called to confirm a flight and, upon hearing the usual canned messages about what a valued and deeply-loved customer he is, decided to put that statement to the test. He then tested it to the limit, fearing he'd lose his place in the queue.

The customer, one Andrew Kahn, has produced screen shots of his mobile phone to prove his marathon was real, and says the all-nighter started at seven in the evening and rolled through the night until he finally lost patience after 11:00 AM.

Qantas denies Kahn was left on hold for 15 hours and 40 minutes, a period of time longer than the trans-Pacific flight Kahn booked. The airlines says hold times were vastly shorter than Kahn states, at a maximum of 17 minutes.

But the ailine has ‘fessed up to another error that meant Kahn’s flight wasn’t properly booked, and couldn’t be retrieved from its booking system.

Qantas says it’s looking into the matter. The Reg expects that will entail terse chats with Telstra and Avaya, which we understand both have a hand in Qantas’ call centres. ®