Wow, Rotten Cust Service Getting Worse?

 
Old Jan 20, 2007, 12:06 pm
  #1  
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Thumbs down Wow, Rotten Cust Service Getting Worse?

My wife just finished a call into the NC call center to try to book award travel to SYD 330 days out. Huh, no surprise that there are plenty of award seats available through NZ, QF, UA but none provided to US through Star Alliance or the ending Qantas agreement. I knew that I am stuck with the 750,000+ DM miles and will never be able to use them to go to Oz, but it is grating.

She placed the call on speaker so I could hear the tone of the CSR's speech about why there are award seats available but none for US. This CSR was just down right nasty and it was obvious that she didn't like to work, and if forced to, really hated working for US.

I hardly ever call an airline, it seems that what I need to do is possible over the Net. The two or three times I've called US over the past year have been met with CSRs who clearly haven't been trained and communicated with about merger changes. However, I haven't crossed paths with a nasty CSR. Is this the latest change to US? I'd prefer an offshored, clueless but pleasant CSR to what my wife just had to put up with.
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Old Jan 20, 2007, 12:29 pm
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Sorry to hear about the unfriendly CSR. You might follow FT rule #1... if you get a bad agent or don't get a satisfactory answer... hang up and call again. I've found most of the Int'l agents to be very friendly and if you are polite most will work pretty hard to get what you want.
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Old Jan 20, 2007, 12:37 pm
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dukeman, got your PM.

The main problem seems that when you're trying to book int'l award travel, you end up getting stuck with the DM Gold (or whatever level you are) CSRs how don't appear to be trained to understand award availability. I log directly into Shares and SABRE and the seats are there, but whatever US is using in their call centers for DM agents appears to be dumbed down. Perhaps the Int'l group can understand availability better, but we've not been able to get through to them.
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Old Jan 20, 2007, 8:13 pm
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Originally Posted by KevAZ
... the ending Qantas agreement.
Please tell me more about this "ending Qantas agreement." I'm flying to Syndey in September from PHL and I have yet to book a ticket. Thanks.
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Old Jan 20, 2007, 8:19 pm
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Originally Posted by tommyleo
Please tell me more about this "ending Qantas agreement." I'm flying to Syndey in September from PHL and I have yet to book a ticket. Thanks.
It ends soon... see http://www.usairways.com/awa/content...es.aspx#qantas
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Old Jan 20, 2007, 8:21 pm
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Originally Posted by tommyleo
Please tell me more about this "ending Qantas agreement." I'm flying to Syndey in September from PHL and I have yet to book a ticket. Thanks.
From the US website:

US Airways and Qantas have confirmed that their codeshare and frequent flyer program will end on February 28, 2007. The last day to ticket award travel on Qantas is February 28, 2007. The last day to travel on an award ticket is January 31, 2008.
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Old Jan 20, 2007, 8:25 pm
  #7  
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Originally Posted by KevAZ
My wife just finished a call into the NC call center to try to book award travel to SYD 330 days out. Huh, no surprise that there are plenty of award seats available through NZ, QF, UA but none provided to US through Star Alliance or the ending Qantas agreement. I knew that I am stuck with the 750,000+ DM miles and will never be able to use them to go to Oz, but it is grating.

She placed the call on speaker so I could hear the tone of the CSR's speech about why there are award seats available but none for US. This CSR was just down right nasty and it was obvious that she didn't like to work, and if forced to, really hated working for US.

I hardly ever call an airline, it seems that what I need to do is possible over the Net. The two or three times I've called US over the past year have been met with CSRs who clearly haven't been trained and communicated with about merger changes. However, I haven't crossed paths with a nasty CSR. Is this the latest change to US? I'd prefer an offshored, clueless but pleasant CSR to what my wife just had to put up with.

Frankly, I'd have to say you got a terrible CSR, and US Airways has many of those. However, there are still some really nice ones too. In November 2006, I booked a 160,000 first class award to Sydney using my Dividend Miles. The extremely helpful agent even got me First Class on Singapore Airlines. Also, in December of the same year, I was able to find a Business Class award, again using DM, this time a combination of ANA, Asiana, and Thai.
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Old Jan 20, 2007, 8:42 pm
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Originally Posted by fly747first
Frankly, I'd have to say you got a terrible CSR, and US Airways has many of those. However, there are still some really nice ones too. In November 2006, I booked a 160,000 first class award to Sydney using my Dividend Miles. The extremely helpful agent even got me First Class on Singapore Airlines. Also, in December of the same year, I was able to find a Business Class award, again using DM, this time a combination of ANA, Asiana, and Thai.
If you dont mind me asking, could you please rate the 4 airlines you mentioned above(non Qantas): Singapore, Thai, ANA and Asiana and rate them in order of 1,2,3,4 for over all service- meaning which one is #1 #2 #3 and #4. Thanks.
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Old Jan 20, 2007, 9:56 pm
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Originally Posted by kinglobjaw
If you dont mind me asking, could you please rate the 4 airlines you mentioned above(non Qantas): Singapore, Thai, ANA and Asiana and rate them in order of 1,2,3,4 for over all service- meaning which one is #1 #2 #3 and #4. Thanks.
We should really take this to another thread, but one of the things that's great about Star Alliance is that all of the Asia carriers all good. I haven't flown Thai in a number of years, but the recent premium cabin reports are typically very good. Here's my ranking (on a 10 point scale), all based upon business or first class:

1) Singapore - 9.5
2) ANA - 9.0
3) Thai - 8.0
4) Asiana - 8.0
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Old Jan 20, 2007, 11:52 pm
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Originally Posted by kinglobjaw
If you dont mind me asking, could you please rate the 4 airlines you mentioned above(non Qantas): Singapore, Thai, ANA and Asiana and rate them in order of 1,2,3,4 for over all service- meaning which one is #1 #2 #3 and #4. Thanks.
From my experience, I will have to say:

FIRST CLASS

1. Singapore
2. All Nippon Airways
3. Thai
4. Asiana (This airline still has very old flat bed seats in F)

BUSINESS CLASS

1. All Nippon Airways
2. Singapore
3. Thai
4. Asiana
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Old Jan 21, 2007, 10:07 am
  #11  
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Originally Posted by fly747first
From my experience, I will have to say:

FIRST CLASS

1. Singapore
2. All Nippon Airways
3. Thai
4. Asiana (This airline still has very old flat bed seats in F)

BUSINESS CLASS

1. All Nippon Airways
2. Singapore
3. Thai
4. Asiana
I second the high rating for ANA in Business. It was really a fabulous flight. Now I did fly Thai about six years ago but back then the difference in IFE and Comfort level was stunning between ANA and Thai. Thai was very old style business. Food on Thai was great but ANA still won.
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Old Jan 21, 2007, 10:42 am
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Originally Posted by sts603
I second the high rating for ANA in Business. It was really a fabulous flight. Now I did fly Thai about six years ago but back then the difference in IFE and Comfort level was stunning between ANA and Thai. Thai was very old style business. Food on Thai was great but ANA still won.
Thank you. I placed ANA's Business Class in first place for several reasons. In comparison to the SIA J Class Spacebed with only 58 inches of legroom, ANA J offers 65 inches. Also, ANA J features an inflight bar where passengers can get cold and hot snacks in addition to amenity items. Finally, I love the blue duvets that ANA gives in J, they are very comfortable and appreciated on long flights. The only downside I see is that ANA has a B747-400 and B777-300 version with a huge Business Class.
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Old Jan 21, 2007, 4:32 pm
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To the OP - definitely a case of hang-up and call back. I've been able to successfully use my DM to go to all the "in" destinations during peak travel times with very little problems.

Yeah, you have to be a little flexible, and yeah, you have to have some patience, and book way in advance (which it sounds like you were doing) but for all the ways US falters, imho their ease of booking awards is stellar. Referenece, if you will CO's nONEpass.

King - if you have the chance to fly business or first on TG, SQ, ANA, or Asiana - do it. Although I'll warn you, it'll reduce your love of US.
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Old Jan 23, 2007, 10:27 pm
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OK folks, here's where the rubber hits the road.

The "hang up and call back" suggestion is just plane solid human waste. Yes, thank you, that's what has worked for you. However I am of the mind that we're paying stupid, lazy Americans for their jobs if that's the correct approach. Would you join me in kissing off all pretense and firing their arses? Many of you whined about bringing these calls "back to the USA" but my experience is that I would prefer to have a Filipino or Mexican over what I've been having to deal with.

OK. Got that out of the way. Some here seem to be of the Socialist persuasion and feel that we should be happy with uninformed people that don't want to work hard for their customers. (Warbo, please jump in with your normal nasty American bit... Just waiting for you.).

I asked John Reistrup/Director of DM for help, but it appears that US is being blackballed by the Star Alliance and he doesn't want to comment.

AZ Travels the World, this gets to the heart of what's not working at US. They seem to be making everyone (had to think of a nicer way to say it...) put out to the point where they are not part of the team. So please don't move the thread. IMHO, it appears that US is not being completely truthful about their Star Alliance program membership. As much as I hate lawyers (sorry if you're one, but tough luck unless you're a prosecutor), I have approached Terry Goddard/Atty Gen'l of AZ to see if he's willing to look into it. I recognize that this is a bit of "bite your nose off..." for an AZ Atty Gen'l, but there couldn't be better timing than when US is going after DL. Somebody needs to make the airlines come clean on award travel. If you're not welcome for Premium award travel to ASPAC, then you need to include that extra bit in your Ts&Cs and highlight the change to your current FFs.
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Old Jan 25, 2007, 7:57 am
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Originally Posted by KevAZ
I asked John Reistrup/Director of DM for help, but it appears that US is being blackballed by the Star Alliance and he doesn't want to comment.
Wow, quite a rant I agree with much of it though. Anyway, could you elaborate on the above statement?

Sean
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