A good agent gave me the details on an itinerary a few days ago. I am ready to book and I called the 1K desk. The agent didn't want the details of what I wanted. She told me that she would look for the available alternatives. I told her that I knew what I wanted and she said she could not do this. I asked for a supervisor and she told me that the supervisor would listen to the recording to see who is right. After waiting 10 minutes I hung up, called again but as another agent was booking my flight my phone went dead. So I used another line and another agent would not book anything without giving me a full set of alternatives. I told her that I knew what I wanted and she refused to listen to me. I hung up. I called again and asked for a supervisor and after 15 minutes on hold I hung up yet again.

Is there a reason why 1K agents have become so rude?

HUCA some more

is there a reason you are booking over the phone?

Not sure we have the full story.

I'm around 75% with quality service from the 1K line this year. At least three agents have been exceptionally helpful lately.

i'd recommend always booking when you find the itinerary you want, it may not be there tomorrow

Not sure of the entire story...

But once a call get handed to a sup, notes get added to the record. (The note might say: "pax wants to do xxx and has been told this isn't allowed.")

This makes it nearly impossible to find a subsequent agent who will override the note.

Can they do this if there isn't a locator yet?

I am booking over the phone because the web site won't always give me the itinerary I want esp. when it involves a flight from LH. I could not book at first because someone else is paying for the trip and I needed their consent. I am more than happy to have a supervisor see the notes and I would welcome them listening to the recording.

And I wrote that an agent was booking the itinerary I wanted until my phone died. I just don't understand why any agent, much less 2 on the 1K line, could not book me what I asked for.

But I was sufficiently frustrated that I did use united.com and this time it worked. Gave me the flights I wanted at the price originally quoted (actually 10 cents more). Still doesn't exonerate the agents who had to assert their superior knowledge.

Perhaps tell the agent that you need to book specific flights because you want to be on the same flights as your friend/colleague/...

TADA?

(Try A Different Airline)

Same here. In the last two months agents have been fantastic. So much so that I emailed 1KVoice about them after getting their name in order to try and get them some recognition. I highly advise that to anybody who gets good service because it helps to change the culture, if anything one person at a time.

Unless I'm interpreting your writing wrong, it appears you're 'hanging up' on the agents because you can't wait more than 10-15 minutes?

They have said they're getting a supervisor. Sometimes these things take time, especially when the weather in EWR is a real hot mess.

You're not going to get what you want by hanging up the phone. How about just staying on the line until the supervisor gets back to you...if it was hours, I would say yea maybe you should hang up, but really, 10 minutes?

Glad you got it resolved.

But what was the itinerary?

I was in touch with someone higher up at United. The problem is more than solved.

I have never had a problem booking a ticket over the phone which could not be booked online by simply feeding the agent the exact itinerary, along with dates and flight numbers, so long as what I want to do is "legal."

I have had agents point out that what I want is doable, but appears to add vastly to the ticket cost and then ask whether I am certain that I want to do what I've asked for.

There has to be more to this story than what OP has said.