Annie is the reason why I fly United
 

I do customer service training all around the world and I ALWAYS mention Annie to audiences of thousands. She does whatever it takes. A few months back I had a colleague who left a memory stick in the eye glass pocket of an upstairs seat on a 747. She tracked the airplane around the world and pulled out all of the stops - and I GOT THE STICK BACK!! She is absolutely incredible!! She knows all of my friends and even recognizes my parents and takes care of them when they fly through Sydney. United had better start figuring out a way how to clone her so she can be around forever! :D

Steve

PS.. I fly so much on United, I dread the long 13-hour flight to and from Australia... I look forward to seeing Annie every time I fly out and just saw her a couple of days ago at the check in counter.... She's like Norm from Cheers - She remembers everyone and once I saw her, I knew I was "home"! If anyone is looking at how to grow their team or advance in their own career, watch Annie, listen to how much she truly loves every passenger, and you'll see the secret to living a fulfilled life!

Great first post! ^

Welcome to FT Slinder09!

United PR, thanks for posting.

Last week, I was in the SYD NZ Lounge and met Annie. Be careful, there are two Annie's that work there!!!!! Annie is amazing. It was pretty cool watching her and even greeting some customers she know with a hug, etc.

As has been previously stated, Annie is not the only United employee that provides exemplary customer service.

As a matter of fact, I would like to recognize that lately I have seen a major improvement in the overall United Airlines customer service experience. From the Ticket Counter, to the Gate Agents, and to the Cabin Crew.

Actually both "ANNIES" are awesome! I had the pleasure of meeting them both. I would like to say also that the other NZ agent, who does UA check-in before ANNIE gets in is awesome too.

this is partly why I am looking forward to my MR this evening to SYD. I just met Capt. Flanagan and now Annie is next :D^

ditto!! My first MR and being in Annie's hands here in the lounge gives me a great peace of mind. She is truly a star in the UA lineup!!

Annie came in today a little before 11am (local time) and was "setting up" her area. One of the other ANZ lounge staff mentioned I was asking for her and she paged me to the counter. Her heart-felt commitment and focus on customer service just shines from her every action. In some other lounges (cough IAD cough) you almost have to beg to get service and then it's as if you're imposing.

With Annie, I mentioned I was hoping to "buy up" due to my fare class and she said "let me handle that before anything to make sure you've got the best seat choice available". She told me to go have a seat and she would handle everything. 5 min. later she finds me by the TV (watching Aussie footbal which is totally awesome by the way) and has my passport and boarding pass all ready. She gives me the breakdown for when the "best food" will be out and mentions to grab a bowl of the homemade soup when it comes out as it is always top notch. With a smile she's off back to the counter and helping the next UA pax. What a wonderful lady!!

UA PR, and whomever else from WHQ may be monitoring this thread, I would encourage you to get Annie out on the road for a couple of weeks and have her hit your major UA international hubs and give a speech/seminar on customer service. Also, please make sure she goes in either C or F, because she definitely deserves it! If you had more Annies in the system your soft product and customer sat would be immensely improved!!

I'll be doing a MR to SYD in a couple of weeks and would like to meet the famous Annie myself. Now that there seem to be two Annies, how do I make sure I'm dealing with Rock-Star Annie? Are they on different schedules? Suggestions?

I thought I would say while the UA board has lots of good things to say about annie, which are all true. I have the oppertunity to see the NZ lounge in action for 6 hours per two of my mrs and would like to say. This is the best non first (dedicated) lounge in all of the S* network, yes this is a broad statement as I haven't been to every lounge, but the staff are excellent, every last one of them. If UA ever wanted to see how a club should be run they need look no further then the nz club at syd.

The red carpet club management should take a trip to see these staff people in action. Then they wouldn't have a problem with me when they ask for all that coinage to join a subpar club!

You'll know the real Annie when you see/speak with her.

Unless she is only about 5'3" or so tall, solid, late 50s or so, with short dark curly hair and glasses - you probably have the wrong staffer. @:-)

Glen
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+1 ^.

You will KNOW!!!!

Looking forward to seeing her again soon.

Is anyone on a upcoming trip to SYD able to print out the latest posts on this thread for Annie? Apparently she doesnt have access to internet so only gets to read it when someone brings the pages to her :).

If not, I will do on May 21.

Just wanted to let you all know that Sam is still working with us, just in a different role of supporting our corporate and agency customers. I shared these comments with our SYD station, which was very much appreciative.

Thanks for all of your positive comments about Annie. Sounds like we have a gem in her, and all of your comments make me want to take a trip there just to see her.

Cheers,
United PR

Thank you for sharing that with us, United PR. Come on down.... its great here :D.

Sam was absolutely wonderful on the phones! I loathe the day all our calls got shipped off to Manila (or worse, India :eek:). Glad to hear Sam is still around in some capacity for UA, as she is just as nice and customer focussed as Annie is ^.

My wife and I just met her. She said she was so encouraged by the FT praise so keep it up all of you FTers. She really understands customer service.

Has anyone seen the article / new story that UA did on Annie?