Originally Posted by SFOSpiff

Foreign airlines charge more and can provide a better experience. They also often get government subsidies, which wouldn't fly here (oops ) (I'm not talking about one-time bailouts, I mean year-after-year subsidies)

Originally Posted by CollegeFlyer

But, for example, I think the Indian Call Center should be shut down immediately. Numerous years of experience have shown that ICC agents are not adequately trained and have trouble handling passengers' requests or even giving passengers the correct information. No customer should have to put up with that. If a non-elite passenger calls an airline, and gets put on hold for 5-10 minutes before reaching an agent who can help them, that is treating the passenger like a nobody, and may be justifiable. But if the airline connects the passenger to an agent who is completely incapable of assisting the passnger with his/her request, and will sometimes make up rules and "facts" and lie to the passenger just to get a passenger with a complicated request off the phone, is treating the passenger like trash--and that's where I draw the line.

Of course, this is not to say that all ICC agents act in the above manner, but quite a few of them do (as I have found through my personal experience and also other UA flyers' reports). Nor do I suggest that all US call center agents are knowedgeable and well trained (but there are far fewer bad apples in the US call centers than the ICC). This indicates that whatever training and/or quality control standards being used in the ICC are woefully deficient, and the result is that customers are being actively abused on a daily basis. That's not an acceptable outcome.