gcashin

Frustrating example with an AP agent who seemed to be making up rules. Had an Aeroplan flight reward YYC-YYZ-YYT with a 60 min connection. There was a schedule change that moved it from a widebody to a narrowbody and changed the connection time from 1 hour to 2h40 mins. Called in to get it changed to a more reasonable connection time.

After "investigating" the schedule change for about 10 minutes, he came back and told me what I knew and had told him, which was that there had been a schedule change (duh).

The most reasonable option was a YYC-YYZ-YYT flight that was a "direct" flight, but with a 50 minute stop in YYZ. The original booking was a YYC-YYZ-YYT with a 60 minute connection in YYZ. Even though they were almost identical transit times to my original flight (60 min connection in YYZ vs. 50 min stop in YYZ), the agent flatly refused to request the direct flight with a stop. He was making up rules like "you're not allowed to change from a connecting flight to a direct flight (with a stop)." Basically wouldn't budge, saying there's no way that would be allowed.

I'm 99% sure he was just making stuff up to be a jerk. Has anyone else heard of this "rule" that the agent was so sure about? Seemed absolutely ridiculous to that with a significant schedule change, you're not allowed to get rebooked onto a "direct" flight with a stop that's almost identical to the original connection time.

Adam Smith

HUCA?

I've been re-booked from a YYZ connection to a true direct flight (i.e. non-stop) on a revenue ticket before. YYC-YYZ-YHZ to YYC-YHZ.

Jumper Jack

HUCA is fun but not when it takes forever to get through lol

CrownRoyalForever

Was once rebooked after a schedule change on a SCL-PTY-YYZ Copa flight to AC nonstop SCL-YYZ. Without being charged YQ to boot.

HUCA.

Cheers

gcashin

Yeah, unfortunately I'd already been on the phone with him for ~20 mins before he starting making up rules, so I'd been a bit too far in to HUCA. I had a feeling off the start that he was useless, but I figured he'd still be able to do a basic schedule change request. In hindsight, should have hung up earlier before we got too far down the rebooking path where he dropped the "no direct flights" bomb.

YYC-YYZ flights are pretty frequent in the summer, so ended up with a flight 30 mins before what I'd asked for that connected onto the "direct" flight I'd wanted.

Not the end of the world, but one of those instances where AP agents can be so aggravating by making up rules and insisting that they're right. The annoying thing is that it doesn't cost them anything to provide good service in this case - just seems to be so ingrained into the culture to say no and make up rules to justify it.

kwflyer

You need to be careful when you get dumb agents on the phone, if you get too far along and you huca they will likely notate your file, so the next agent can reinforce the made up rules.

you may need to escalate this to a lead agent if that's the case.

YEG_SE4Life

So, to recap, you got on a flight that gets you where you want to go at, what you consider to be, the most reasonable time. You take off 30 minutes earlier than, what you consider to be, the most reasonable time. The person who booked this is useless. Did I paraphrase this properly? Were you this disrespectful with him on the phone, or is that something you save for when you talk about someone behind their back?

rankourabu

lol... ok.. let me get this straight... this is the supposed super duper elite agents doing this? Thats too funny. How is that possible? SE should be served by the best agents, no?

OP lemme ask you, have you ever had this kind of issue with a 1K phone agent?

gcashin

Yeah, exactly the case where it was too far the path to rebook the schedule change before he starting making up rules, so wasn't really an option to HUCA at that point.

I don't think Aeroplan has specific agents for priority calls - I think it's all the same agents but status members get front-of-the line service (which could arguably be an issue in itself), but definitely poor service regardless of whether it was a priority line agent or not. In general, I find most AC agents are better than the Aeroplan agents.

That being said, I do find UA 1K phone agents are much more empowered and interested in making things right, so I'd certainly never had any of this type of thing from a 1K agent.

24left

Right.

And AC does not have a SE line either.



Unlike UA (DL, AA etc), we are reminded daily that Air Canada does NOT own its own "FF" program. Others here may have more knowledge about what services were in the contract between the two companies, but there is a world of difference when I speak with DL or AA who can see my entire profile, paid flights and FF side and some of the nonsense we sometimes experience when calling Aeroplan about missing miles or some such.

We all know how this mess came about and I certainly don't know whether it will ever change when the contract expires. Like many of you, I have been lucky with great agents at both AC and Aeroplan, and I've had my share of newbies or those lacking the interest to do their job or those not knowledgable enough to deal with very frequent fliers. Whatever.

IMHO, companies who see customer service as an expense will never spend more to improve it. Companies who see customer service as a path to increase customer spend because of better service, will offer more and also empower their staff to make decisions without having to call a number of other supervisors for the answer.

Anyway, how may threads do we have now where it's some version of "You're wrong. I work at the airport" or "I'll just guess the answer because it's faster" (and we all know that faster is so much better than correct. Not).

gcashin

In general, yes - there was a significant schedule change, and the agent refused to book the flight I wanted because he made up a rule, so I ended up getting me second choice of flights, which was 30 mins beforehand, and actually ends up with a ~20 min longer connection that I had in the first place. In this case, it's more about the service than the outcome, given that flights on this route are frequent enough that an extra 20-30 mins isn't a huge deal.

I believe we've only met once briefly in person at one of the YYC mini-do's that Adam had organized, but anyone who knows me well knows that I absolutely would not have been disrespectful to the agent. If anything, I'm often told I'm being too polite. I'm surprised you'd jump to thinking I was rude to the agent over the phone as a reason for why the agent was providing poor service.

The large part of the forum on FT is sharing examples of either good or bad. An agent made up an arbitrary rule to justify poor service and insisted it was the law of the land. If relating an example of poor service is "talking behind their back", a lot of FT would fall into your definition of that.

I'm one of the first to praise good service, but this was extremely frustrating when you get an agent who behaves like this and makes up an arbitrary rule.

YEG_SE4Life

Fair enough, and I believe that you do have a point. I just think that you made it personal, and it was disrespectful, when you called him useless and suggested that he made the rule up, just to be a jerk. The problem could very well be that he didn't know any better, which would lead more towards poor training or bad memory. I have certainly defended something that I believed to be true, only to learn, or to be reminded, that it was far from true somewhere down the road.

gcashin

Point taken - I tried to focus on the facts, but this agent was very frustrating to deal with, so part of this was my take after spending far too long on the phone for what should have been a simple change. Definite example of "I work at the airport - you're wrong" and insisting that this was a rule without bothering to check the procedures.

gcashin

Well said. The disconnects between AC and AP certainly don't do the customers any favors, and makes it far more difficult than it should be in cases like this. In general, airlines that own their FF programs seem much more competent in handling flight rewards (as it should be).

And yes, definitely another example of "I work at the airport, you're wrong."

Admiral Ackbar

The obfuscation between AC, AE and altitude is deliberate and profitable to all parties involved. Period.