Originally Posted by lincolnjkc (Post 34162010)

This is something that various UA employees I've talked to seem to have trouble understanding. I had one mid-senior-ish type ("Regional Manager") try convincing me that AOD is "the same" as or even "better than" having a staffed CSC or agents in club.
They may be able to preform the same actions, and they may be as qualified -- indeed the "same" but it feels wildly impersonal to try talking to someone on a mobile device rather than being in the same place breathing the same oxygen and able to flip a monitor around and show what they're seeing and -- more importantly -- knowing you have their full and undivided attention, that the call won't drop, your battery won't die, etc.

Maybe part of this is the horrendous taste the "chat" feature left in my mouth when a simple request to fix a reservation that was out of sync due to an upgrade took several 'agents' over 4 hours in two different chat sessions (with at least 2 of the agents just ghosting me mid-chat leaving me to start over with a new agent because apparently they can't see the history) -- part of that time delay was undoubtedly because they were serving multiple chats at the same time. (After the first chat failed I should have just called reservations but I really wanted to see if that was a one-off or if what I wanted could actually be accomplished via chat.)

I can see one potential benefit this has is in IROPS balancing demand and availability. Without AOD if you have a situation in, say, ORD and 5 agents in the CSC... you have 5 overwhelmed agents and that's all you have to work with. With AOD, you might have 5 agents in ORD but also 5 agents in LAX who are bored because it's a sunny day and all is going to plan, so you've doubled service throughput without any actual changes in staffing or cost. There are also potential advantages for non-English or limited-English speakers being matched with agents who can more effectively communicate with them in a preferred language. But AOD should be a customer option from a menu of options, not a replacement for in-person service from a local human.

Without staffed CSCs or club service desks, UA may think there going to force AOD but rather it means I just have to roam the concourse/club to find and ambush a random CSR if something goes wrong. I don't like doing that, UA shouldn't want me doing that, and it's certainly not why I pay for a club membership.

Originally Posted by lincolnjkc (Post 34162010)

This is something that various UA employees I've talked to seem to have trouble understanding. I had one mid-senior-ish type ("Regional Manager") try convincing me that AOD is "the same" as or even "better than" having a staffed CSC or agents in club.
They may be able to preform the same actions, and they may be as qualified -- indeed the "same" but it feels wildly impersonal to try talking to someone on a mobile device rather than being in the same place breathing the same oxygen and able to flip a monitor around and show what they're seeing and -- more importantly -- knowing you have their full and undivided attention, that the call won't drop, your battery won't die, etc.

Maybe part of this is the horrendous taste the "chat" feature left in my mouth when a simple request to fix a reservation that was out of sync due to an upgrade took several 'agents' over 4 hours in two different chat sessions (with at least 2 of the agents just ghosting me mid-chat leaving me to start over with a new agent because apparently they can't see the history) -- part of that time delay was undoubtedly because they were serving multiple chats at the same time. (After the first chat failed I should have just called reservations but I really wanted to see if that was a one-off or if what I wanted could actually be accomplished via chat.)

I can see one potential benefit this has is in IROPS balancing demand and availability. Without AOD if you have a situation in, say, ORD and 5 agents in the CSC... you have 5 overwhelmed agents and that's all you have to work with. With AOD, you might have 5 agents in ORD but also 5 agents in LAX who are bored because it's a sunny day and all is going to plan, so you've doubled service throughput without any actual changes in staffing or cost. There are also potential advantages for non-English or limited-English speakers being matched with agents who can more effectively communicate with them in a preferred language. But AOD should be a customer option from a menu of options, not a replacement for in-person service from a local human.

Without staffed CSCs or club service desks, UA may think there going to force AOD but rather it means I just have to roam the concourse/club to find and ambush a random CSR if something goes wrong. I don't like doing that, UA shouldn't want me doing that, and it's certainly not why I pay for a club membership.

Originally Posted by NikoLGA (Post 34104855)

This has spread into the concourses too. In IAD, Concourse A customer service center is no more. The real estate is unchanged, but it's become a billboard for Agent on Demand. Funny thing is, all of the outstations that have customer service centers (think airports that are not hubs but big enough to have United Clubs) still have fully staffed service centers, probably because they are coveted positions, given they have comfy seats for the agents perusal.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...409e13bf51.png

Originally Posted by SS255 (Post 34161541)

Who else cowers in fear every time this thread gets bumped to the top? :D

Originally Posted by uanj (Post 34163551)

Ugly signage, especially the smaller ones which will be readable only at a distance of about two and a half feet in front. If worked in Brand Marketing for United I would refuse to allow the company logo to appead on such unattractive signage.



I am starting to! I usually have pleasant, productive conversations with an agent standing in front of me when I rebook.

But in the last week I had two calls with the GS line to rebook, both calls taking the better part of an hour. The first one I gave up on after 55 minutes, the agent THREE TIMES had to call a supervisor to help him out.I bailed when he said he needed to put me on hold a fourth time. The second agent needed to call the rate desk for some reason which took 20 minutes. Very disappointing. I would pay an annual subscription if I could get my calles routed to an ex- Dearborn or Honolulu agent.

Originally Posted by Amargolis (Post 34259144)

Sounds like UA has received the feedback from all of us loud and clear and will be reversing the decision. Fingers crossed!

Originally Posted by fumje (Post 34374176)

And now, a good handful of months after being closed, the CS desk in ORD B6 is open for business again. :)


I didn't need any assistance, but from people-watching for ten minutes, I saw a steady flow of misconnect pax get help from the agent. :tu:

Originally Posted by fumje (Post 34374176)

And now, a good handful of months after being closed, the CS desk in ORD B6 is open for business again. :)

Originally Posted by unitedbusiness (Post 34374274)

looks like there’s a new self service kiosk besides the desk as well. Awesome for re-booking, seat changed and upgrades!

Originally Posted by lincolnjkc (Post 34374521)

I don't believe the old counters had the luminescent glow to them so while a minor 'upgrade' it seems they really did do some construction/renovations (of dubious value but...I'll take it) while the wall was up.

Originally Posted by lincolnjkc (Post 34374521)

I don't believe the old counters had the luminescent glow to them so while a minor 'upgrade' it seems they really did do some construction/renovations (of dubious value but...I'll take it) while the wall was up.



IIRC that's been there since the wall went up but I agree it's nice to have especially since they seem to have broken the ability to do mid-trip seat swaps from the app. (Though maybe they've since fixed it... it's been a few months since I've had reason to try)

Originally Posted by RobOnLI (Post 34374539)

Agree. It looks like the wall was up while they did construction. At least the aesthetics are nicer.

I wonder where the automated entry gates are going or are they just missing from that pic?

-RM

Originally Posted by lilpisher (Post 34260176)

When I was in B6 a couple weeks ago, an agent who helped me (I flagged someone down in the club and she went "behind the wall") confirmed agents would be returning. She implied it would happen concurrently with a move to the automated access gates (assuming similar to what we saw in the new EWR club pictures).