gradvmedusa

While trying to book a fairly complex reward trip for this summer the agent told me this, "I can only do one more search, then I will have uhhmm used all my uh availabilities" I think she was just growing a little tired of trying to find something that worked(Only 5 or so minutes into the call). Oh well, I will just call back.

wth

Outrageous!!!! What ever happen to meeting the needs of the customer? It's bad enough that they now charge to make reservations over the phone, but I think most of us would be happy to pay $5 if we were given proper assistance, esp. if you had a difficult or complex award need.

This appears to be a clear case of an internal operational measure that is meant to increase effienciency without considering the impact on customer service. That or the CSR was lying to the customer and that is equally bad.

You seem to be accepting this a lot better than I would have.

gradvmedusa

This appears to be a clear case of an internal operational measure that is meant to increase effienciency without considering the impact on customer service. That or the CSR was lying to the customer and that is equally bad.

You seem to be accepting this a lot better than I would have.
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It's not THAT big of a deal, booking an award trip is always a hassle, I went through 5 different agents before I finally got it booked(Still pending conformation on Koran Air for a few flights) But I eventually got an extrodinarly helpful agent who wiaved a few rules for me and searched for flights for about an hour. Not to say that the others 3 that I talked to weren't helpful, they were, just not as creative and creativity is what counts here.
The agent who I talked to finally was amazing, not even getting mad when I realized I had forgotten to request my stopover in Tokyo(The main reason I am going to begin with). She just worked it in, and she also accomadated my request to fly in F on the way back, overall an amazing agent. The best thing an agent can do on a trip like this is get an idea of what you want and then work it all out herself, instead of asking for every little detail, which is exactly what she did(IE: It didn't matter to me if I flew NRT-BKK/KUL/SIN, or on exactly what dates, she just got it done!)
I am not going to write a letter or anything for several reasons, I don't remeber the agents name, I only talked to her for a total of 10 minutes so no big loss and what would I have to gain? Maybe a few thousand miles or something, clearly it's not worth my time.

PS: The agent was clearly lying, I could tell from the tone of her voice as soon as she picked up she wasn't going to be in a good mood/helpful. Things probably got worse when she realized I wasn't elite, and was looking to use "daddy's miles" w/e I'm used to it by now.

Houston_TX1234

I'm kind of at a loss as to why you WOULDN'T write a note to CAL. The first agent annoyed you enough to post here and the agent who made it right for you pleased you enough that you posted it here. Why on earth not let her/his employer know what a great job they did for you? ( I'm thinking this shouldn't have been a "thumbs down" post, but a "thumbs up" post for the agent who got you on your way.)

channa

This wasn't the int'l partner rewards desk, was it (800-344-3333)?

If it was, I'd be very surprised. If this was general reservations, well ....

Pickles

Gives new meaning to the term "magic carpet ride".

ijgordon

EXCUSE ME?!?!? This is NOT about YOU and the reward you "deserve" for having a competent, helpful agent assist with your travel plans. This is about you letting the higher-ups know that you were assisted by a competent, helpful agent so that THE AGENT may be recognized and/or rewarded. I HOPE those comments were an April Fools' joke of some sort, otherwise I pity your selfishness and wish you bad karma in your future travel planning. Grrraaar!

gradvmedusa

What? I think you misread my post. I was talking about why I wouldn't write a note to Continental complaining about my bad experience that I had, like somebody suggested I do. I would like to write a letter to continental about the good agent that I had but she either didn't introduce herself(I was transferred to her and she may have just said something like "How can I assist you Mr. Gradvmedusa" or I just plain forget . Regardless, I thanked her several times during the call for her helpfulness and told her she was much better then some agents to which she responded with a laugh.

I don't feel I deserve anything, nor do I want anything from continental except for helpful and knowledgeable agents. As for calling me selfish what exactly did I do that makes me selfish? I posted here on flyertalk to let other people know that there is an agent feeding people seeking reward reservations a BS line about having a limited number of searches. I would be willing to guess that she only does this on trips that would require a lot of effort; my trip had a stopover, an open jaw and required searching lots of dates and partner availabilities, in addition to skirting the rules on circle trips and direct routings. As for wishing me bad karma, that is really not nice.
however I wish you only good things.

skibum_nj

^ ^ That ijgordon is one angry dude. He could also use some lessons in elementary reading comprehension.