A preferred solution would be for the system to recognize numbers provided by the customer in advance. This is fairly routine for many carriers and businesses these days. This permits the call to be answered in the preferred language and the first question asked is, "are you calling about your flight to XXX on 20 October?" If the answer to that question is "yes" the call is then transferred to the appropriate person and that is it. If the answer is "no" the litany may be required.

On the use of these systems is growing as the goal is to shift as many as possible tot he website or automated phone systems and to have people (who cost a lot of money) only handle matters which a machine cannot handle.

As to the language issue, if the system isn't pre-programmed to recognize the caller, it is a fallacy that location of the phone number provides the chosen language. While it may well be that a majority of callers from UK numbers speak English, it may also be that HVC's from the UK prefer Arabic.