Hearing other conversations while calling AA
 

Has it always been like this?

The last few times I called the EXP line, I've been able to hear other agents very clearly. Selected tidbits such as:

"Well, the fare has dropped by $44.50, and the change fee is $500 so the new difference is $455.50..."

"I'm sorry but there is no upgrade availability on the New York to Los Angeles segment..."

"If that's one of those carriers you can't book online, we can waive the ticketing fee..."

Did my hearing get better, or are AAgents sitting closer together now? Has anyone else noticed this?

I feel like I've been noticing this since I started having access to the EXP line? Granted, I was previously US CP rather than AA EXP so that was a bit under a year ago...

I had a number of calls with the non-EXP line yesterday. On about half of them I could hear other AA conversations.

To me, that was the case pre-merger as well. I have commented on it to the EP agent I was talking to and she/he just laughed and always said we are close to one another.

I've noticed it for awhile from time to time on the EXP line. Guess its tight quarters in the call center.

Last week I started to recite my email. She asked why, and I said because you asked for it! She didn't.

Sounds like AA needs to invest in quality headsets for the agents. Small quarters are common in the call center world - not sure how small AA packs them, but sounds like they are fairly close. If they invest in a proper noise cancelling headset, this is mostly a non-issue unless a nearby agent is exceptionally loud.

A lot of call centers are set up with rolls and rolls of little cubicles so crosstalk is not unusual. I can't remember if it was AA or some credit card company but a few years ago I got chatting with the agent and we discovered she was in a call center about five miles from my house. It would have been easier to meet her in the parking lot and do whatever business we were doing. On the other hand I was working with an Internet based travel agency a few years ago and during one of the conversations with my assigned agent I heard a dog barking. Asked her about it and it turned out she was working from her home in Phoenix for a Ft Lauderdale based agency.

I noticed the same a few months back. But it is not always the case. At the time, I also noticed that whenever I could hear other conversations, the agent was not very well versed in the specific AA EXP procedures and details of benefits. I concluded that it was the former US agents where this would happen.
So I put my hypothesis to the test. Whenever I would hear others in the background, I would ask: "May I ask you if you were formerly working for AA or US?" And the answer always was US. I did tell one of them of my observation, when she asked why I had that question. She laughed and said that she had heard of something similar to that before.

So, when that happen, you can try to ask and see if this is consistent.

This can happen and isn't uncommon.

(They need Bose mic'ed headphones like many pilots use. Don't expect PAR/D to buy a bunch of them soon...)

Actually a standard call center headset would solve this..

While there are many companies out there that make them, a good common standard is Plantronics, such as this one: https://www.plantronics.com/us/produ...uId=sku4780016

Yep; I've used several varieties and yes, Plantronics is good for that. I was trying to be a tad facetious. My first NR Bose headsets, eons ago, included a boom mic (for pilots).