Pascoe

Was told this week that they can't process them in the First wing any more and I would have to go back out to I guess the other J checkin desks (or more likely to that ticketing desk at the end of that block).

CWS- - this all related to that other thread about ticket agents / rover agents etc?

corporate-wage-slave

That would be news to me. Any agent should be able to process an AUP. Was there something unusual in your request?

BertieBadger

And news to me - by way of a data point, I purchased one there on Monday

BertieBadger

By way of a further thought on this, when I asked, the agent could not initially find the number for FMU where she expected to but asked a colleague who gave her a number which worked. I wonder if your agent encountered something similar?

ibbitsc

Stez

Well, in the Flounge the other day, I was waiting at the service desk where another customer was told that she could not AUP him here and he'd have to go upstairs.

I raised my eyebrow at that but assumed it was a staff who can't/won't process his AUP on this occasion.

wyddfa

Oncewild

DELETED

abligh

Had this too.

flatlander

Hrm. The fount of all knowledge [1] told us that all staff had been empowered to do an AUP (and swipe the customer's payment card) awhile back - a tiny foretaste of the all-staff-doing-all-ticketing discussed elsewhere. Are these particularly un-knowledgeable staff (I can well imagine someone being put to work without having finished all the ticketing / AUP / etc training), or a lack of inclination, perhaps even hardware failure, or some other reason?

(If a staff member knew the card reader at their station was broken, they would genuinely not be able to AUP them there).

[1] c-w-s

Pascoe

Hmm. Possibly. But putting them to work asap is one thing. Sticking them in the First wing and therefore potentially compromising an upselling opportunity seems to run somewhat counter to the company's current stance (ie very high focus on revenue management / optimisation). Without knowing the stats, I am assuming that the J and F checkin areas are reasonably good sources of AUP transactions although I could be wrong.

However what I was actually TOLD by said checkin person was not partucularly ambivalent. I was told it can't be done in the F wing any more but has to be done back outside.

Which therefore, if all the above is true is either someone being misinformed, or at worst simply covering up one of these other issues (hardware issue / training or whatever). Which would annoy me more than the actual mechanics of whatever BA decide is the procedure for this - ie the lack of correct information, which is the bane of all regular travellers.

If the procedure is really to go to some other area that's absolutely fine by me. I just prefer to know what that procedure is.

Oh well - not a big deal anyway.

corporate-wage-slave

I've made some enquiries and you definitely can AUP in the First Wing. Indeed while I was checking up on this, a staff member wandered along the First Wing desks with a jacket on with a sign on her back saying "Ask me about upgrades". There are a few AUPs which cause ticketing issues, which may need specialist attention but for 99% plus of bookings, any First Wing agent should be able to do the upgrade. If you look on the desks you'll see the LCD mini-displays where you can put your signature for the transaction.

So unless it was an unconventional booking, the only other reason I can think of as to why this happened was that it was an agent temporarily deployed in the First Wing and unaware that their colleagues could handle AUPs.

Pascoe

That's the percentage bet I guess. Especially as (iirc) he said it wasn't possible even before really looking at the booking. Then checked the booking afterwards and said that in any case, regardless of where I trotted off to do it, AUP was not showing as an option on that flight.

ThatT1Feeling

Yes, I saw a couple of staff wearing these jackets in the general T5 checkin areas this morning. I wonder whether this risks short-term gain for the longer-term pain of customers expecting that they will be able to upgrade any booking for a discount.

abligh

I normally ask for interest's sake whether a J->F AUP is available. Over 90% of the time it is. I'm flying mostly LHR->JFK, LHR->SFO or LHR->SJC (the last of these having consistently less availability).