BA North America RTW desk
 

On the phone with BA's Toronto call center/re this morning arranging a reissue (surprisingly easy with a pleasant person, but it's off to rates so I'll refrain from praise just yet.) But in the course of the conversation I got the lowdown on pending changes in BA's telephone ops in N. America.

The Toronto call center being closed by year end (she said Dec. 31) and the functions including RTW "desk" are being transferred to Miami. There they will be handled by BA's current contract vendor (not BA employees - the Toronto people are.) The CSR on my call said that Miami is already swamped and she couldn't imagine how they'll handle the additional traffic. I didn't get the impression that they are especially thrilled in Canada about the changes.

I asked her where the rate desk will be and she said it's not moving. It's in India and has been for some time, so even now when you talk to BA (apparently system-wide) the rate desk they consult is in India.

Oh by the way I tried to get AA to reissue but because I'd already used all the AA segments booked on the original (BA) PNR, even though I'm adding a couple of "new" AA flights with the revised itinerary, they couldn't see the records on Sabre and told me I'd have to go to BA, sorry. I really don't get it - surely there must be some computer genius that could find a way to have Sabre see Amadeus records on joint tickets. But noooo....

The lack of compatibility between CRS systems isn't entirely accidental -- after all they are competitors and this seemed to be a design point. Now the airlines do suffer from it. I've found BA to be quite helpful and efficient at times, and hopelessly inept and unhelpful at other times; seems to be the luck of the draw in finding an agent who knows the right procedure. BA is quick to say that something cannot be done or prohibited, that usually just means the agent doesn't know and wants you to leave and bother a different agent. In theory consolidating reservations to one center will improve things, but a contract center in MIA to be cheaper than a Canadian operation means it is really paying very low wages and targetting entry-level staff instead of retaining them as they are trained and become more skilled. Doesn't bode well for doing complicated things with BA reservations in the US.

I once wanted to change dates of a flight, since I was in the US I called 1-800-AIRWAYS. Instead of changing the date of my return flight the agent managed to insert the entire text of the Warsaw Convention in the "Remarks" section of my PNR.

:)
Coulda been worse - might have been the Warsaw Pact.

Well, at least I have yet to have an Indian telephone agent smart off at me, or give me a hard time when I ask to be trasfered to a supervisor.