While I was not surprised by the comments about declining CP service, and in reality expected it, so far I had been 'immune' to it. However, this evening, that changed. It wasn't a bad experience, but it was telling. It also ended up OK, but took much longer than it used to, to complete the call.
I wanted to change the dates on a return flight from Maine back to Vancouver. The agent immediately said 'You can't do that. You'll have to pay a $107 change fee.' I suppose she meant 'you can change it, but it will cost.' Seemed strange that she didn't think I could afford to change the ticket, in light of the fact I paid almost $3000 for it.
I then explained that it was an unrestricted H fare -- no penalties, fully refundable and changeable. Her response was to suggest that I was probably mistaken, as she had never heard of an H fare, and was quite certain there was no such thing. Of course, after she looked it up, she knew there was such a thing. But it still took her about 4 minutes to search the rules hunting for the change penalty. I made it quite clear that it was unrestricted, and I know that it says UNRESTRICTED ECONOMY FARE at the top of the rules. Still she put a lot of work into trying to find a way to charge me a penalty.
In the end of course, she changed it without penalty. But then insisted that upgrades had been 'zeroed out' and were not longer available on that flight. I was quite surpised, as I understood that of the 24 J seats, 20 were open. She hunted around some more, then spoke to someone else, and finally confirmed my upgrade.
Like I said, I got my flights changed, and kept my upgrade. But instead of the usual 90 seconds or 2 minutes, it took a little over 10 minutes. Not only did the agent not seem like an E/P agent, or even a CP agent, she kinda sorta seemed like she wasn't even an airline agent.
I wish I'd called AA to change my tickets. They've always had E/P service comparable to CP when it comes to reservations and changes.
The race to the bottom has begun.