Originally Posted by
spin88
I gotta defend the "senior" employees here. Before 2012 there was a dedicated system of routing to senior agents for GS and 1K. Most of the time you got a HNL or DTW agent, and they were great. As a GS in hundreads of calls over a number of years I never had a HUCA issue. in 2012 they combined the senior sCO agents and went to shares. I found the sCO agents were trained to say no, and I would HUCA trying to get someone in DTW or HNL, but then they were not as proficient with SHARES. Lots of hanging on the phone while they tried to do something. Also losts of "I know this is what fixes the problem, but we have been told expresssly not to do this, and I'll get written up".
That UA does not have great CS for GS (and 1Ks) is simply a management decision to save money. I'm sure in the spreadsheet world set up by the Smith Street Gang having GS and 1K go to regular agents (1) better used resources and (2) reduced the "expenses" that were being incurred by having agents who know how to fix issues fix them.
The problem at UA is not the employees, its the management.
And this is the end result of penny pinching management, loss of the pounds....
This. Before the merger when I was a 1K, I never had to HUCA.
Never. Now, it's a crapshoot. My last TATL is an excellent example. When I booked it a month out, there was no R available on either leg, so I waitlisted. Two weeks out, the outbound flight cleared. Had to call and get the flight re-ticketed. Chatting with the agent about the return flight, I asked what my chances were. She looked and said "doesn't look good, you are 10 on the UG list and there are only 14 seats available at the moment." Called a couple of times before I left to check, and both agents said "oh, I have no visibility on where you stand on the UG list. Three days before departure on my flight home, I realized it was time to change my flight to one that would get me upgraded, and called the premier line with the two alternatives I was sure were good for an UG, since they were R4 and R5. First two agents - "I'm sorry, I can't do that." Third agent took care of it without breaking a sweat.