samsp99

I read the post on the long lines for CSR reps in IND, and it got me thinking about managing that type of situation.

It seems that for checkin and other customer service operations some are quick and some take forever. And when there are complications, it needs a CSR with the magic touch to be able to resolve the situation.

If you watch just about any episode of MASH, you'll see them doing triage of the patients, assessing the criticality of the problem.

Could United do something similar for customer service lines. Have somebody take a quick look, and determine if it can be resolved quickly, or move the customer onto a second stage with the magic CSRs who could solve the problem.

I also always wonder if the problems are usually isolated to a perticular airport or if they hit the whole network. I suppose that if it is weather related at a hub airport, that due to the hub/spoke pattern, it would affect the network. If not how much could be done over the phone - load balanacing. I suspect that most passengers have cell phones now - and could call a service number.

In the past when travelling on business, I've found that I could call Amex who manage our travel and they get on different flights, or tell us what has already been worked out by united's system or them. You can then walk to the right gate and get the new boarding pass there. How much does united coordinate with them for those cases - but then you have to talk to united for changes to other carriers, hotel stays etc.

keithguy

I was in PIT recently and the lines of about a dozen deep were cleared by five agents working in less than five minutes. I was very impressed.

Early mornings at SEA, UA usually has a couple of counters set up for flight clearing and take those that are close to missing their flight.

Rudi

I am still waiting until airlines realize a solution that many other costumer oriented companies introduced already some time ago (at lest here in Switzerland: railways, post offices, banks):

* a 'ticket-booth' machine (different ones for each class-of-travel/status) where you get a number on arrival
* a waiting area with comfortable seating
* when it's your turn, your number (and the check-in-counter) will show on a large board electronically

zvezda

Hear! Hear! In the airline case, one could optionally swipe one's card through a reader to get the printed number. From this, the computer controlling which number come up when are where could know the FF status of the passenger, the time of the flight, and the fare basis of the reservation.

Punki

The longest lines I have waited in since 911 were in Europe.

The first was in Paris for security and the second in Dusseldorf for check-in.

The one in DUS was maddening because there were *Alliance Gold lines for our flight that were very short, but since we had a UA ticket, we had to wait in the long, long UA line which had no special accomodations for 1K or 1st Class. The only good thing about this line was that we were returning from an industry conference and we knew almost everybody in the line. As a result, we had a pleasant time chatting about the show we had all just attended.

Here in the States, we have always found that there were security express lines in larger cities where there were big crowds or no lines at all in cities that were too small to have crowds of people.

Jana

Approx. 6 mos. ago, UA did address this very situation by creating the position of "Lobby Coordinator". For years, the hubs have had SD's perform this task- which has always been essential for 20+ check-in windows.
IND has a total of 7 check-in windows.

For about 5 days, IND assigned the position of Lobby Coordinator from the existing shift csr staff. It became more of a problem than a solution, unfortunately.
Due to layoffs, sick calls, retirements, etc., we're lucky to have 7 csr's working the ticket counter. On a day with light bookings, it wasn't necessary. During IrrOps, it was better to have all available csr's working the lines.

During a recent day of awful IrrOps, our Station Manager did "work" the lobby lines. I made a point of telling her that there were people actually flying on US Airway's metal on a UA tkt that waited in line for over an hour and she immediately went out and "triaged" the lobby. Thankfully!
Typically, utilizing mgmt. personnel for non-exempt (contract) work is in violation of the union contract. However, I know for a fact that all available union personnel were contacted and offered the work prior to mgmt. stepping in to fill the void.

The majority of check-ins are quick and hassle-free. Even the people in line with an E-TKT receipt and no baggage. The problem occurs at check-in when the E-TKT comes up as "used", "printed" or "void". What looked hassle-free on paper to the lobby-coordinator just became a problem at check-in. Not to mention the fact that many Premier/FC customers check-in from the premier line, only to have ticketing issues for future flights. I absolutely do NOT fault our Premier customers from expecting service- especially with the demise of CTO's and 1K rooms- but this is only a Premier "check-in" line. The ticketing line is another queue. (I also ticket, rather easily, too- but get bumped by more senior agents from that line often. OT joke: Where is the dinosaur located at O'Hare? "M-F, day shift at the FC check-in counter." )

Your suggestion is a good one. It's unfortuante that what looked good in theory doesn't work as well in practice.

martin33

No. if they promise to do so in advance, what does that do to your incentive to show up early and stand in line? you end up in a degenerate equilibrium where *everybody* shows up late and lands in the "urgent" line.