flyguy

A friend told me she was given an 801 number to call Spirit for some trip reservations. Then she learned it was not a true 800 number but a paid call to a location in Colorado that the airline ran. Seems strange but when you think of it in today's world, maybe not so much.

With the advent of more mobile/cell devices that have unlimited distance and time limitations and more people dropping land lines, the airlines may save a few bucks each call. There must be some financial break point for them maintaining the free phone number.

So will other airlines follow suit? Has anyone else experienced this?

rstruthe

I'd expect with internet options including Facebook, twitter, linked in, etc customer service, that phone based service will greatly decrease soon anyways.

sdsearch

Well, this Spirit, which charges "nuisance" fees for anything they can think of, including lots of things most "mainstream" airlines would never think of.

So will other lower-fares-but-ooldies=of=nicket-and-diming airlines follow suit? Maybe.

Will major airlines like AA, UA, and DL, which have seperarte toll-free numbers for each elite status level in some cases? Not likely any time soon.

However, what most airlines do charge is a fee for calling in the first place (cmopared to no fee for booking online). (However, Spirit charges a fee no matter how you booik, ie just a fee for booking a ticket!)

So the cost of the phone call may be negligible compared to the fee the airline charges you for booking over the phone.

(And those airlines that have toll-free numbers, they make up for the cost of them and much more with those phone booking fees!)

jspira

Very few people pay for toll calls nowadays to begin with so I'm not sure if it's really much of an issue. And 801 has been the area code for parts of Utah including Salt Lake City since the creation of the North American Numbering Plan in the 1950s. I really don't think anyone would confuse a traditional area code such as this with a toll-free number, esp. since toll-free prefixes in the United States are very well known and publicized (800, 888, 877, 866, 855, or 844).

Personally, toll-free numbers located in the United States can be a pain to reach when traveling overseas - sometimes the call will simply not go through when I dial +1 800 nxx-xxxx.

danpeake

Many European countries' customer service numbers (not just airlines) are not "800" numbers. Phone calls are so cheap nowadays that I don't think it would really be that much savings for the airlines. In some ways, it makes sense, since it's not really "free" when you're calling an 800 number from a cell phone (still uses minutes like calling any long-distance number) but, in my book, it just looks cheap.

LondonElite

Who knows, but I can't remember the last time I really looked at a phone bill. As mentioned above, it's all so cheap these days, and there are so many communication options, that it doesn't really matter to me.

danpeake

I realize this isn't the point of this thread, but if you run into the problem of calling toll-free numbers from outside the US, this website offers a good solution: http://www.howtocallabroad.com/qa/toll-free.html

Basically you just convert 800/888/877/866 to 880/881/882/883.

heraclitus

That 's a little naive. Do you think it is sheer coincidence that a Florida based company uses a Utah area code that just happens to look very much like -- but is not in actual fact -- one of several toll-free codes? Come on now.

jspira

I had completely forgotten about these NANPA codes. Thanks!

jspira

If the call center is in Salt Lake, which many are (I don't know if Spirit's is, however), then it's not a coincidence, it's just a fact.

Spirit did however publicly announce the change in 2013. It did not keep the toll-free to toll-call conversion a secret.

irishguy28

If you're that concerned about cost, then you shouldn't be ringing Spirit. Their best fares are available at the airport.

aBroadAbroad

As this is a general travel topic, the thread has been moved to TravelBuzz to attract a larger audience.

Thanks all!

~Moderator, Information Desk

relangford

Exactly. Hawaii is 808, etc. The "public" needs to be educated that a number starting with "8" is not necessarily a toll-free number. Now, if the airlines went with the "900" fee-based numbers, that would be a different story.

florin

I'm in the "who cares?" camp. Long distance phone calls used to be expensive (not THAT expensive, but something that you would be careful about); nowadays it's hardly an issue. I'm more annoyed with paying a fee to book over the phone, although the times when I did book over the phone and was charged a fee I got it reimbursed because I only called in the first place when I could not complete the reservation online. (This is Delta, btw.)

With various businesses moving online, sometimes getting someone to answer can be an issue. A taxi company I've been using now has an app that you can use to order a cab (before you had to call). On my last trip to the airport the cab did not show up and I called, but nobody answered. They reduced their phone CSRs to the point where it's hard to get to talk to someone anymore in case of an issue. (I then ordered from another company and made it to the airport in time.)

A fee for making a purchase from them is a pretty ridiculous idea: you pay for the privilege of giving revenue to a company.

Antonio8069

Incorrect. Two reasons:

- # companies are moving their call centers offshore (e.g. UA in Philippines) to reduce costs. Why bother if the cost is disappearing?

- enlightened companies have figured out that call centers are not a cost center, they can be a profit center. There are # companies (Amex is one) who have figured out that if they use highly qualified/trained staff in their call centers, client satisfaction goes up.