2002. The time when agents could think outside the box.
 

I was thinking about this incident a couple of days ago. I thought I would share here.

Around 2002, I was flying from Oakland to LAX. Somehow, my ticket to sequence was not in order, and the electronic coupon needed for my flight was nowhere to be found.

The Oakland station manager did some digging, and found that somehow that coupon was used for my outbound flight. I had no real coupon for the current flight.

She did some more digging, and then finally produced my boarding pass. She simply said, "all set."

When I got home, I looked sharply at the routing on my boarding pass. It said, SFO-Burbank. It turned out, the Oakland station manager found a months old ticket that I never used for SFO-BUR. It should have been voided. But it was still the system. She used that segment to get me on the flight.

Are United employees and empowered to use this kind of thinking today?

2002. The time when agents could think outside the box.
 

Most likely not.

You got lucky in 2002.

Today, every dollar counts from UA point of view. :-)

Umm, I don't think in today's age that the coupons would be used out of order.

but this can happen -- http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...t-my-will.html
Unflown segments marked as used.

In, say, 2007, you would have ended up with a new ticket and a Y fare OAK-LAX, earning 750 EQM.

Yes - I was thinking of that thread, but the circumstances were a bit different, due to the double RT in the same PNR.

The United I flew would do whatever it took to HELP make their customer's life easier. They went beyond and above. Now whether it was just to their elites, is another thing. But they rewarded LOYALTY, flash-forward to today: over-entitled.

I don't mind the TODs, etc., but don't put lambskin on a wolf and call it a lamb. Give me the same opportunities the kettles get, be open with what you are doing. KEEP promises you make to your customers. The list of lies and deceptions are endless.

Even in 2009 and parts of 2010/early 2011.

2002? I wasn't flying much yet, so can't say. But as late as 2008-2012, United agents could fix just about anything. To me, those will always be the good ole days of flying.

^

In today's environment (and this probably speaks for every airline and/or customer facing jobs), I don't see that new customer service reps are trained to troubleshoot, brainstorm or think out of the box. They are taught to check people in, board airplanes, do the basics of customer service. If they are lucky they will receive training in good/better/best/excellent customer service and how to give it with sincerity and a smile.

Coupled with this is a generation of young people (not all, of course) but many(?) who feel entitled to privileges/ rewards/ etc. that they have not earned and so, they are not as thankful or compassionate as they should be.

Sad but true. As experienced, older, wiser employees leave, retire, etc., it will take years for the next group to hopefully catch up. Sorry, folks I'm not a pessimist but more a realist....this is my opinion, the way I see it.

using cheezy actors and IAH style indoctrination. We were told in class to ignore the transaction time (because we all knew SHARES didnt work that fast)... but, really, this. Just like how they are cutting costs by outsourcing to regionals (and the downward spiral of pay), the same is happening with ground handling. I've talked to people who have said, first hand, "Yeah, I was at XYZ and (whatever pretty interface the airline uses) broke and the agent didn't know what to do... so I offered my help and actually boarded my own flight to ZZZ". This isn't limited to just UA, it's any major that's cutting costs by cutting in-house staff and finding cheap vendors that cheap out on training and would rather pump bodies through than invest time in them.

Do you mean that's a trend you see among customers, employees, or both? At the airport I don't see much correlation with age when I see people queuing up early, carrying too much luggage, texting while landing, etc. If anything people < 25 are more resigned to a bad experience since to them that's just "the experience".

Empowerment is not even the issue on this one. I don't think that SHARES can even pull a ticket from another PNR.

The old UA had flexibility to move a ticket to a different PNR (or multiple tickets to a new PNR). But SHARES has to keep the ticket associated with the original PNR.

My golden age on United was around 2002-2005. I used to fly at least a couple of times per month from IAD. Many times, due solely to my own irresponsibility (leaving the office late), I arrived at the airport too late and missed my afternoon/evening flights. Every single time, the 1K check-in counter accommodated me with a smile and with no cost. (I was usually on a mid-priced restricted eco ticket.) I remember once it happened on Delta, where I also had status, and the agent said, talk to the phone, pointing to the phone bank behind check-in. :mad:

That was the main reason (even more than with SWUs) why I valued 1K status so much, and really considered United a premium airline that took care of its best customers.

I haven't been on the domestic-commute slog since then, but I wonder if road warriors can expect the same treatment now?