UA-NYC

"So you're saying I have a chance?"

iluv2fly

Two chances:

1) Fat
2) Slim

Jace

I don't have 6 months to let them "figure it out". I was willing to give them a couple of weeks, but after 2 weeks of incredibly poor service and phone agents that are just completely unreachable. This Global Services member is going going to do the only thing I can to express my dissatisfaction: speak with my $$$. For now those $$$ are going elsewhere starting with my weekly travel on March 26 and my next high yield C ticket the week after.

UA_Flyer

I continue to receive excellent services when I travel on United (at the airport and in the air) despite the my frustration dealing with problems with website and phone agents. I did fly LH instead of UA because of the "inability to get hold of an agent over the phone" issue recently.

At least, the my GS experience of being taken care during travel has not been impacted since March 3rd. I actually fly more PMCO flights due to better IFE, seats and meals. I had a great customer service experience at EWR recently with one of the BusinessFirst concierge agent.

I am not jumping ship yet!

Often1

Any better or worse than the changeover when US or DL acquires AA?

Anybody who jumps ship now while the industry is in flux is making a huge mistake.

colpuck

What's your cut off for treating people like a king?

goalie

Yup, as he should be ^ but isn't UA1flyer in a world of his own? Yes, he is GS and no dis-respect meant or intended , but isn't he "just a tad above all you other paltry low-life GS's out there ?

halls120

I'm spreading out my business this year to UA, AA and DL, just to be on the safe side.

wxguy

I just called GS to do a same day change for the domestic portion of an international itinerary that begins in less than 24 hours. The call was answered in about a minute. The GS agent had to ask for help twice as there were some complications, but eventually got it done. She was very apologetic about the length of time it took, and was quite pleasant throughout the process. I'm willing to give things a chance to settle down -- this is a two-week multi-country Pacific trip upcoming, and I have another one being planned for next month.

Strom

Again, I'm astonished at the value that GSers are willing to place on EXTREMELY NORMAL CUSTOMER SERVICE. You were obviously touched by the fact that the agent used a pleasant tone of voice. I read your description as a simple change that couldn't be made without putting you on hold twice for assistance -- and no one even sounded bored with their job during the whole thing! Umm, that's understandable ... definitely not worthy of a complaint ... it might even be average, at best ... but praise-worthy?!

I, perhaps living in a fantasy world, would actually hope a first-time UA flyer would get the experience you just described.

I would be praising GS support if someone personally greeted me at the airport or proactively called me and let me know they'd handled an issue that I wasn't even aware of... do you really think your tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue are being rewarded with THAT level of customer service? Wow.

johnmont

Maybe you're a glass half-empty kind of person and pessimistic by nature Strom, but I look at this as positive. This is NOT A NORMAL SITUATION (all caps as you would refer to it). This is a major switchover in software and how things run for an extremely large organization.

The GS member encounters someone on support working very hard and dealing with a brand new system for them without unprofessional biching about a change they probably didn't want to see (and can't do anything about). I think the point is that the customer service folks have been using a particular piece of software for years -- and are now using something very new. The GS agents are "cream of the crop" and very experienced, which means they have a long history with Apollo. It's tough to learn something new.

It's perfectly reasonable to expect that it will take some time to get up to speed, especially on software that (from posts here) seems to be lacking compared to Apollo. I don't know if you've ever had to switch software that you use to make your living on, but it's a very tough process and takes some time to adjust. It took me several months (like six) to feel as comfortable as I did with the previous software I used....

As a side note, I had my first trip since the switchover (I had a self-imposed no-fly zone for three weeks). I found things weren't running like they were before the merger, but I saw a lot of agents working hard and seemingly outside the box to try to make it so. I give the folks on the ground props for that.

With over 45K flight miles so far this year, I'm giving it the year to wait and see, because it's gonna take time for this to all fall out. I think that's perfectly reasonable for someone who has so many miles invested in an airline.

Strom

No argument here. I'm not suggest anyone jump ship based on this customer service experience, I'm just not sure I would be praising an agent and thanking my GS lucky stars for figuring out how to make a ticket change. That seems beyond "glass is half full"...

You want to go where?

There are really three questions to be answered.

1) What is the current quality of service? Given most of the responses to this thread, the answer seems to be pretty obvious: dreadful.

2) How long will it last? This is harder to tell. Two weeks, two months, or two years.

3) Lastly, what will it cost you to switch? If you are high status on UA, what do you sacrifice to move somewhere else? Status, possibly if there is no match. The most effective schedule for your home airport and flight patterns, perhaps. Quality of hard product - depends what carrier you switch to.

Some people will switch merely on principle. I know someone who drove 40 miles to buy groceries because his county added a tax on grocery bags and he disagreed.

For me, it isn't a big issue, I switched FFPs years ago, when I thought United was going belly-up to another *A carrier. As it turned out, because of corporate agreements, I ended up choosing the FFP of the carrier which I now fly most often. For others, though, there are costs to switching which it may not be worth bearing for a relatively short-term service problem.

RandyNZ

I normally don't fly UA anymore, having had several unpleasant experiences in a row (although just chalk that up to bad luck that can happen with any carrier), and have flown primarily on NZ metal intl with my dom US trips on US or WN.

One thing I'm struck with in reading this thread is the similar perception of devaluation of elites by both UA/CO and NZ with both CEOs apparently making comments that "the masses deserve" either the same perks as elites or that elites should be stripped of said perks.

In a way, I wonder if some weird type of communism is spreading through the airline industry - will *A become the new Comrade Alliance??

BearX220

Anybody who spends unnecessary extra dollars to express loyalty that won't be reciprocated with service, benefits or respect is making a much bigger mistake.

I am now cross-pricing US, DL and AirTran for every booking.