ldsant

I needed to get a seat for my SEA-PHL tomorrow. Couldn't find one online so I called in. Had the BEST rep - she was polite, friendly, helpful. I cannot remember the last time I had such a great experience with an airline rep. It was really refreshing to deal with somebody so great! And yes, I asked to be put through to her manager so I could share my impression.

koopas

+1. I've found the AS agents to be the best in the business.

Tony10s

+2 always great reps

Pulley

+3 - They are definitely the best in the business. I've probably only dealt with reps < 25 times but AS reps stand out in my experience.

golfingboy

+4 enough said.

Very few companies actually act on the fact that your employees are your biggest asset [many companies just talk], and AS is one of those companies ^

United757

"Hello, this is Susan."

am1108

+5 I have no status on AS but during boarding at GEG the gate agent said Have a great flight Mr.(xxxxxxx) and at UA they just stare you down

Quokka

-1,000,000

The best AS (or any airline) phone agents are the ones I don't have to talk to.

Airline phone service reps are only needed when a company does something wrong. I'd prefer companies just do things right in the first place.

jackal

I would have agreed with the previous posters in this thread up until a year or so ago, when they reorganized the callcenters and started having regular agents answer Gold Desk calls. They also changed the standard greeting at that time to the one quoted above. (I also believe they started having some of their phone reps work from home, which sounds like a great idea on paper but in my experience leads to agents who feel less connected to their company, which reflects in the way they handle themselves on the phone.)

The result is whereas I formerly actually enjoyed calling and talking to the Gold Desk, now I dread it. The agents answer sounding half-asleep and generic rather than a chipper greeting featuring the brand they should be proud to work for. On top of that, I have now started to get patently false answers at least half of the time I call--whereas the dedicated Gold Desk agents used to be some of the most experienced agents and could handle any issue, solve any problem, and answer (correctly) almost any question, now I find myself having to call twice (or more) to get my things fixed.

The agents are still friendly; I am just now either regularly put on hold for them to speak to a supervisor or simply have to hang up and call back to get the right answer.

I'm not sure what was wrong with the old system. There were no lengthy hold times, so it's not as if they needed to do this to bring more representatives online to reduce wait times. I don't mind occasionally talking to a less-experienced agent if the more experienced ones are overburdened, but it's now standard practice to get someone who has only been working for the company a short time and has no idea how to answer your question.

Tony10s

Reps Only needed when an airlines does something wrong is just so shortsighted.

Jeeves

Can you give examples of the programs you like?

Westcoaster

I'm running into more incorrect info as well. e.g. The last time my MVPG upgrade didn't clear at 72 hours despite plenty of apparent U space the "Hello this is John" guy I spoke with (not his real name) first told me that my fare didn't qualify. I gently told him that it did and explained how the upgrades work. He said "Oh" and then, to his credit, consulted a supervisor who came on the line to help me. I understand that new people need to be trained. I just wish they would say "let me check on that for you" if they don't know the answer rather than trying to bluff their way through. I do appreciate that he checked with a supervisor when I politely questioned his response.

I agree that the phone agents are generally quite pleasant. And when you get one of the oldtimers who really know their stuff it's great to be able to just relax knowing that you are in capable hands. When I called in recently because of a schedule change I got one of those great agents who immediately knew what I was talking about and took care of everything quickly, pleasantly, and accurately. That's great customer service.

jackal

That used to be the norm when calling the Gold Desk. No, I correct myself: it was universally the experience. I could have written out an Expression of Thanks for every Gold Desk agent I ever spoke with.

I do not know why they had to change and why they can't go back to it. It's not like it was a "benefit" that they reduced to save on costs; they're paying the same number of people to take the same number of phone calls, they just screwed up the call center logic for who takes which calls. (And changing the greeting to the generic, apathetic "Hello, this is Barbara" was an absolute zero-savings/zero-benefit change that should be fixed immediately.)

skimthetrees

In general I've had really good experiences with AS phone agents in the short period of time I started using AS since I got my AS CC. Most were friendly and helpful and spoke good English. Some went out of their way to help me. If I were making a decision on which airline to book based on phone agent support I would book all of my travel on AS.

It's too bad AS dropped the First Class companion code benefit on their CC which was a major reason I got the CC and started using AS. I'm booking more UA again and the experience with their agents is usually quite poor in comparison to AS.

Jeeves

It still creeps me out how they answer the phone. I also get the feeling that they are working out of their home, because you never hear other agents in the background.