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removing service agents from clubs? New direction: combo in-person / virtual agents

Old Feb 9, 2022, 10:55 am
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removing service agents from clubs? New direction: combo in-person / virtual agents

Old Apr 13, 2022, 11:47 am
  #106  
 
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Originally Posted by lincolnjkc
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.
Agree, 100%. Very well said.
Its also my personality that prefers to deal on a face to face level. I partially chalk it up to being from the South. 😉
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Old Apr 13, 2022, 7:19 pm
  #107  
 
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Originally Posted by lincolnjkc
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.
This, 100%.

AOD can be a useful add-on, as a demand response tool (e.g., major IRROPS) as well as a solution to staffing issues at strained locations that have insufficient qualified resources to provide the service, or at off-hours, smaller stations, etc.. BUT... by no means should this be deployed as a replacement for live customer service agents at clubs or CS counters in major stations.

It's just not the same.
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Old Apr 13, 2022, 10:57 pm
  #108  
 
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Originally Posted by NikoLGA
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.

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.

Originally Posted by SS255
Who else cowers in fear every time this thread gets bumped to the top?
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.
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Old Apr 14, 2022, 4:12 am
  #109  
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Originally Posted by uanj
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.
If this is the experience that GS members are having with contact agents, seems United would be much better served evaluating their processes and procedures then pushing virtual interactions. These types of long call durations are horribly inefficient for everyone.
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Old May 13, 2022, 12:35 pm
  #110  
 
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Confirmed that the trial of AOD at ORD B6 is not going to roll out to the rest of the system. AOD will be a supplement but United Clubs will still supply CS agents based on staffing/availability.

AOD will, however, be the norm at customer service counters. The plan is for at least one desk per airport to be staffed by "live" agents, but the rest will still use AOD.
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Old May 17, 2022, 9:20 pm
  #111  
 
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Another data point: emailed 1K voice to express my disappointment with the decision to close the ORD B6 UC CS counters. I was assured that this change is not going to spread, and I was also told that the wall they put up around the desks in B6 is planned to be removed. Sounds like UA has received the feedback from all of us loud and clear and will be reversing the decision. Fingers crossed!
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Old May 17, 2022, 11:33 pm
  #112  
 
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Originally Posted by Amargolis
Sounds like UA has received the feedback from all of us loud and clear and will be reversing the decision. Fingers crossed!
If UA received feedback from us loud and clear and actually took action - award seats would be cheap and plentiful, food on planes would be gourmet style, we would be breaking down the doors to get into UC for the food, upgrades would clear faster, planes would never depart late, lifetime benefits would never be degraded, you could fly any airline and use the UC, we would all love the new marketing slogans, schedule changes would never happen, etc
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Old May 18, 2022, 8:04 am
  #113  
 
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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).
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Old Jun 27, 2022, 11:06 am
  #114  
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ORD club agent(s) back

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.
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Old Jun 27, 2022, 11:39 am
  #115  
 
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Originally Posted by fumje
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.
looks like theres a new self service kiosk besides the desk as well. Awesome for re-booking, seat changed and upgrades!
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Old Jun 27, 2022, 12:43 pm
  #116  
 
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Originally Posted by fumje
And now, a good handful of months after being closed, the CS desk in ORD B6 is open for business again.
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 unitedbusiness
looks like there’s a new self service kiosk besides the desk as well. Awesome for re-booking, seat changed and upgrades!
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)

Last edited by lincolnjkc; Jun 27, 2022 at 12:50 pm
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Old Jun 27, 2022, 12:49 pm
  #117  
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Originally Posted by lincolnjkc
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.
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
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Old Jun 27, 2022, 12:56 pm
  #118  
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Originally Posted by lincolnjkc
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)
I thought similar, and that maybe the backsplash was renewed, but I don't have an old photo available to check.

Originally Posted by RobOnLI
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
No sign of any auto-gates anywhere. The entrance downstairs still staffed by a pair of agents or three.
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Old Jun 27, 2022, 1:26 pm
  #119  
 
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Originally Posted by lilpisher
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).
Yep--I was thrilled to find one lone agent posted there on Saturday after my flight got cancelled and I needed re-booking assistance. Long story short, it's a good thing I got a live, in-person agent, since she caught a mistake in my auto-rebooked flight that I hadn't noticed. Three cheers for live human agents.
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Old Jun 27, 2022, 2:43 pm
  #120  
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Good news! Glad to see them back.

MODS- Might be time to update the thread title?
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