Compliments are too rare in this world so I wanted to make sure I let it be known I had great service from my first phone call to Continental.
I'm a Delta flyer as I live in Atlanta, but in order to get to El Paso on a decent fare, I'm connecting in IAH to a Continental flight. My corporate travel agent booked it, and I couldn't attach my DL number to my CO flight or choose seats on continental.com. A quick, friendly phone call to a gentleman named Ian took care of all of my needs. He was in Utah, not India, and was so helpful!
I don't know if this is unusual or you all are accustomed to great phone service, but Delta could learn a thing or three from this.
Almost makes me wish I still lived in Houston.... almost.
I'm a Delta flyer as I live in Atlanta, but in order to get to El Paso on a decent fare, I'm connecting in IAH to a Continental flight. My corporate travel agent booked it, and I couldn't attach my DL number to my CO flight or choose seats on continental.com. A quick, friendly phone call to a gentleman named Ian took care of all of my needs. He was in Utah, not India, and was so helpful!
I don't know if this is unusual or you all are accustomed to great phone service, but Delta could learn a thing or three from this.
Almost makes me wish I still lived in Houston.... almost.
Glad you were so impressed. We love our Utah and Houston-based agents.
CO has said a few times that they see the business value in keeping the agents in the US, as so many people can't stand the level of service they generally receive there. We like that, too.
S.
CO has said a few times that they see the business value in keeping the agents in the US, as so many people can't stand the level of service they generally receive there. We like that, too.
S.
I think there's a TPA call center too. Either way, basic stuff like adding a mileage number is no biggie with U.S.-based agents.
I've had to do the reverse for my CO number on DL, and not only was it a pain, getting Elite seats was also a challenge.
btw, CO's website will let you add your FF number yourself. Just pull up the record and update traveller information, and add it there. They accept all partners, so no need to call. ^
I've had to do the reverse for my CO number on DL, and not only was it a pain, getting Elite seats was also a challenge.
btw, CO's website will let you add your FF number yourself. Just pull up the record and update traveller information, and add it there. They accept all partners, so no need to call. ^
Suspended
Just to put my two cents in, I had an excellent CO telephone CSR experience on Friday using OP miles to upgrade an international intinerary on NW. I have been extremely fortunate to get such excellent customer service in past few months. 
I was just thinking the same thing - delighted by excellent multi-itinerary assistance this afternoon.
I can't remember the last time I had a bad phone agent with CO. Contrast that with NW and DL -- I can't remember the last time I had a good phone agent that was fluent in English, understood what I was asking, and was patient enough to consider all of the available options, with either of them.
Many kudos to CO for not outsourcing its call centers, even if it costs more. It's definitely an investment that pays off in increased customer satisfaction.
Many kudos to CO for not outsourcing its call centers, even if it costs more. It's definitely an investment that pays off in increased customer satisfaction.
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Are the elite lines for DL and NW outsourced as well? That would be an incredibly stupid thing to do if they did. I agree that outsourcing call centers is a terrible, idiotic thing to do if only for the aggravation it causes customers. Dell is another bad offender in this dept., as are the online travel firms (with the exception of travelocity.ca which is in Canada and has very helpful CSRs). Originally Posted by ssullivan
I can't remember the last time I had a bad phone agent with CO. Contrast that with NW and DL -- I can't remember the last time I had a good phone agent that was fluent in English, understood what I was asking, and was patient enough to consider all of the available options, with either of them.
The whole job stealing thing doesn't really bother me, although the governmental response, in terms of not expanding job training programs and creating something like an Apollo Project for alternative energy, does. But I don't want to get too OMNI here. Needless to say, it's a structural problem that hasn't been adequately dealt with.
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Every phone call I've made to DL or NW in the last twelve months has been answered in a foreign country by someone with very basic English skills who was not very helpful. Check out the DL and NW FT forums and you'll see a lot of complaints about their call centers. And I'm a very patient person who works with non-US citizens on a regular basis, and am used to hearing English spoken with a thick accent. But some of the phone agents I've had with DL have been almost impossible to communicate with, and have not had much knowledge of anything other than the basics of booking a simple roundtrip ticket between two points.Originally Posted by thenewflesh
Are the elite lines for DL and NW outsourced as well? That would be an incredibly stupid thing to do if they did. I agree that outsourcing call centers is a terrible, idiotic thing to do if only for the aggravation it causes customers.
My wife and I had dinner with a friend Saturday who used to work at the Denver CTO before it was closed. She mentioned that CO was going to start a home-based res agent program ala Jet Blue very shortly. She hopes to plug back into that and again be able to work for CO. I guess the reason for this is that an awful lot of CO res agents commute from DEN and other places. This would eliminate the commute.
CO gives good phone!