Agent forgets to mute...I hear a near disaster
May 23, 2013, 2:47 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: NYC: UA 1K, DL Platinum, AAirpass, Avis PC
Posts: 4,599
Agent forgets to mute...I hear a near disaster
Had an award ticket with 2 pax in the itinerary and it involved partner flights.
Called to cancel one of the 2 passengers.
Agent says sure, let me just check something on how to do this properly, I usually split the record first. She puts me on hold, but forgets to hit mute.
I then hear...
"Oh should I press the button or not? It has partner airlines in it"
"Are you sure? Usually I split it first then do it"
"OK"
Pause
"Oh my god. It's gone. No. That can't happen."
"Oh geez what do we do"
"Can we get it back?"
"Oh no. Can I do this"
Pause
"Argh. This is terrible"
Some muffled conversation
"OK let's try this. I don't know."
Pause
"Good, let's call them"
She then comes on and says...
"We're just getting your seats. Give me a moment and the department that's working on it just needs to take care of something"
I look at record and see it's still missing.
She comes back a few later and says "OK we'll email you the new itinerary in a few minutes and the miles will be redeposited"
Record is back. One passenger, other refunded.
Phew.
Called to cancel one of the 2 passengers.
Agent says sure, let me just check something on how to do this properly, I usually split the record first. She puts me on hold, but forgets to hit mute.
I then hear...
"Oh should I press the button or not? It has partner airlines in it"
"Are you sure? Usually I split it first then do it"
"OK"
Pause
"Oh my god. It's gone. No. That can't happen."
"Oh geez what do we do"
"Can we get it back?"
"Oh no. Can I do this"
Pause
"Argh. This is terrible"
Some muffled conversation
"OK let's try this. I don't know."
Pause
"Good, let's call them"
She then comes on and says...
"We're just getting your seats. Give me a moment and the department that's working on it just needs to take care of something"
I look at record and see it's still missing.
She comes back a few later and says "OK we'll email you the new itinerary in a few minutes and the miles will be redeposited"
Record is back. One passenger, other refunded.
Phew.
May 23, 2013, 4:01 pm
#3
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
It's probably more common than we think, though still not nearly as common as just searching for alternate flights on an award ticket online wiping out the whole ticket and record, with no refund and no notification of that.
I always appreciate it when agents don't put the call on mute and I hear how they are reading the new rules and updates du jour and trying to figure things out "it used to be like this, now it's like that...but that doesn't make any sense...that doesn't work, let me try this....that doesn't work either....aaagh! {slams keyboard}....{takes a deep breath}...what about like this?....ah, good!" (This is obviously compressed, as in reality it takes a good 10s of minutes and sometimes over an hour to get to the part where it actually works.)
I get calls like this not infrequently, esp. with the perrenial problems of ticketing award flights.
If you want the full experience of this, try ticketing VN award flights in business. You deserve a medal if you can get the record put together and ticketed (when availability is confirmed on airfrance.us) in less than one week and over less than 10 separate calls and 20 different Delta agents, each doing it differently (some saying the instructions are convolluted and make no sense, other's that it's very simple and easy, with some trying to follow it, others adamantly not and doing it their own way, and everything else inbetween), but apparently no one being able to get it done right.
I always appreciate it when agents don't put the call on mute and I hear how they are reading the new rules and updates du jour and trying to figure things out "it used to be like this, now it's like that...but that doesn't make any sense...that doesn't work, let me try this....that doesn't work either....aaagh! {slams keyboard}....{takes a deep breath}...what about like this?....ah, good!" (This is obviously compressed, as in reality it takes a good 10s of minutes and sometimes over an hour to get to the part where it actually works.)
I get calls like this not infrequently, esp. with the perrenial problems of ticketing award flights.
If you want the full experience of this, try ticketing VN award flights in business. You deserve a medal if you can get the record put together and ticketed (when availability is confirmed on airfrance.us) in less than one week and over less than 10 separate calls and 20 different Delta agents, each doing it differently (some saying the instructions are convolluted and make no sense, other's that it's very simple and easy, with some trying to follow it, others adamantly not and doing it their own way, and everything else inbetween), but apparently no one being able to get it done right.