Originally Posted by
lincolnjkc
Are you calling reservations, asking a club agent, a gate agent ... (and if the latter a real UA employee or a contractor)?
The contracted gate agents are typically the worst -- which is why I don't even bother with them anymore -- but they were the last time I heard the "doesn't do that" -- reservations have, typically, been the ones that try the hardest to talk you out of it ("Once I push this ticket to American we can't help you if anything goes wrong... are you sure...?") and UA gate/lobby agents sit somewhere in the middle between res and Club agents.
These were mostly GAs and all were UA employees. I would often also be on the phone with an agent. I would sometimes get conflicting stories but, I was almost always in a hurry to book a flight on OAL after a substantial delay, so I didn't have a lot of time to persuade them or search for a more knowledgable, competent agent.