LH FTL in North America generally answered within 2 rings.

AC Basic, getting better, now down to about 2 minutes to get a live voice.

KLM Commoner Plus/Brass Elite Not ever taken within the first three minutes, hold time between 5 and 15 mins.

The term service doesn't really apply to what they do.

UA UGS line is usually less than 1 minute.

UA Premier Executive line (formerlly 1K #) usually 1 to 3 minutes.

All other carriers (bare bones / minimum status), well, I might as well use a sun dial to count time. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

US-I am a US1 and never have a wait to the Chairmen's desk even when rolled to the Gold desk. Also was transferred yesterday to international reservations for an award and no wait at all.

AA-PLT and never have waited more than 30 seconds as far as I can figure.

Have not had to call any other carriers so no experience and no status on them.

Elite lines at CO and AA - can't recall any significant (more than 1 minute) wait.

WN - Only called twice, but no wait.

NW Platinum Elite Line : 99% of the time goes directly to a CSR with no waiting. When a wait does occur it's usually 15 seconds or so. I can't remember ever waiting longer than a minute.

Tried calling BA numerous times on June 29 & 30 (just before new program rules went into effect & lots of others calling). Most times, recording wouldn't even let call go through due to high volume of calls. When I finally got through, the recording warned me that wait times were up to 45 minutes. One thing about it - BA North America Executive Club has the best muzac, so I put it on speaker phone and just waited it out. Somewhat disappointed when someone finally picked up b/cause the music was so good.

Word of caution if you used BA miles to fly on AA.. BA has tried twice to book my ticket with no success yet. The problem is that U.S. gov't has suspended some fees, but the BA computer system is designed to need a credit card payment for a small fee (which doesn't apply these days). Bottom line: AA keeps returning the booking to BA with an "insufficient payment" note and BA customer service rep says they've had a hard time trying to make some of the AA award travel bookings go thru.



[This message has been edited by jmartin (edited 07-03-2003).]

British airways USA is beyond bad. I tried booking award tickets (though I don't have status with them any longer)and I hung up after waiting for more than 45 minutes on multiple occasions. I did eventually did get through once and made my travel arrangements (six months in advance). United premier exec line is fairly good - usually less than a couple of minutes wait time for me.

June 2003 experiences:

UA public line: 12++ minutes on hold (hung up)

UA premier line: <1 minute.

AA Gold line: <30 sec. after long recording and required input of Aadvantage #

My two primary airline progams are AC Aeroplan, and AA AAdvantage. Being top tier elite in Aeroplan, SuperElite, I get through almost immediately, though have had a minute or so wait. Nothing that doesn't zip by.

Even as a Gold in AAdvantage, I have gotten through with a minimum of wait time. Just made an award booking and had little or no wait on both calls.

Hotel programs are the same, next to no waiting time using elite numbers. Even Best Western wait time as basic is pretty minimal, under 2 minutes, if that.

On this score, I have no complaints, though some voice mail menus can be irritating to get through.

I use the Platinum line on AA and have never had no wait more than a ring or two. Except when the "what's your AAvantage number" switch just won't work and I get put into the regular phone line. Then the wait can be several minutes.

I can't believe you beat Upgrademe to it.

It would at least be honest if you mentioned that this was 2 days before the start of the new program rules and that probably half the NA members were trying to cash in their BA miles on the old award levels, hardly fair to blame BA for this. IMHO...

With CO Where I am Plat...hardly ever a wait.

Delta...with no status...the waits are VERY long..that is if you even get connected.. typically I get a busy signal and I've tried at various times..it's REALLY bad over at DL

AF F+ Rouge line in Paris : between 30s and 4mn - agents are efficient and courteous