Originally Posted by mbreuer

[Mods: please feel free to change the title as appropriate]

Are you certain it was the Elite Desk? The majority of the time[and I am a Plat] you are rolled over to the general line. The key is when they answer and don't say"Ms MM, Elite Desk" and you ask "Did I reach the elite desk"? and there is a pause and then they say "I can help you" instead of answering yes or no to your elite line query. I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is a very eroded benefit



So, it seems to me that many issues aren't the result of unfriendly policy, but of poor training. I thought we might have a thread that the CO-Insider could monitor where we could post problems that are clearly training related (i.e., it's been fixed, but it was frustrating).

I'll start:

My spouse was on a flight ewr-mco, "N" out, and "Y" back. She technically became silver on the return. As I wasn't able to get her the silver early (turned down), I thought it would be nice to purchase the upgrade to First for $46. I called the elite line. They put her into the last first class seat, but were unable to process payment. They told me that the travel agent had done something wrong (booked the flights on separate e-tickets on the same PNR), and the travel agent would have to collect the additional funds. (She had already flown outbound, btw, and was already checked in for the return flight.)

The Travel agent said they couldn't collect the funds, Continental had to.

I called the elite line back. After about 20 minutes on hold, the CSR came back on and explained that because the outbound was non-refundable, there would be a $100 change fee. Additionally, the fare difference was actually about $226. In fact, the $226 was because the Travel Agent had entered the two e-tickets and the CSR didn't see the receipt from the outbound flight ($180+$46=$226). She also wouldn't budge on the change fee. I said, "no thank you." She put everything back into coach and said she'd make notes in case I changed my mind.

I then called co.com support and explained what happened. Five minutes and $46 later, my spouse was in F.

Seems some serious training is needed for the elite desk CSR's. I believe I spent almost an hour getting nowhere when my request (to spend money no less) only needed a few minutes.