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Interview with UA VP of Customer Service Barbara Higgins

Interview with UA VP of Customer Service Barbara Higgins

 
Old Sep 4, 2007, 5:23 am
  #76  
 
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Originally Posted by rch4u
Can you share any more details of that conversation? What was Barbara willing to acknowledge as problems at IAD?
I recounted to her my problems with IAD, which pale in comparison to some of the problems discussed here. I specifically complained about the new immigration/customs processing for connecting passengers, which have been made much worse with the recent "improvements". She said she understands them and they are working on them, including the customs/immigration problem.

Basically, it is known in United that service at IAD is a problem. She told me that the top management at IAD has been changed.

Time will tell as to whether this helps or not. The situation at IAD is so bad now, any improvement will be noticeable.
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Old Sep 4, 2007, 11:55 am
  #77  
 
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Originally Posted by jackal
(On a related note, does UA have private jets for their execs, or do their execs fly in F?)
Back in the 70s, Richard Ferris did fly on a private jet. It was the first thing to follow him out the door.
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Old Jan 28, 2009, 11:15 pm
  #78  
 
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It's been a couple of years...what good/bad can you attribute to this now?

So this thread is now about 16 months old, and 2 full years since Ms. Higgins has been at the point.

What changes have you seen positive?

What positive changes have not developed that you would have expected?
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Old Jan 29, 2009, 1:11 am
  #79  
 
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Originally Posted by fastair
So this thread is now about 16 months old, and 2 full years since Ms. Higgins has been at the point.
Actually, she's now the "Vice President - Customer Contact Centers". Not sure when that change of job description took place.

I just re-read the interview and I have to say that IMO nothing much has changed. Point in case, I recently had back to back baggage issues so I took the time to write 1K Voice. I didn't get a reply to the first email so I politely wrote a second one with a slightly firmer tone. No dice there either.

I wasn't looking for nor asking for compensation. I would've been happy with a simply apology, but I didn't even get that.

I think that UA still has a very long way to go to noticeably improve their customer relations.
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Old Jan 29, 2009, 5:46 am
  #80  
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My best guess: Barbara Higgins came from Disney believing she could apply her vision and philosophies to FAs and GAs; she ran into the union brick wall; she got frustrated; she decided to go try to apply her ideas to an area where there isn't as monolithic a brick wall - the overseas call centers.

Another in a long line of failed attempts to improve the friendliness/empathy aspects of customer service in a union environment.
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Old May 12, 2009, 2:13 pm
  #81  
 
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Did she send out the email that www.untied.com claims she sent?
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Old May 12, 2009, 2:29 pm
  #82  
 
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Originally Posted by Spent_All_My_Miles
Did she send out the email that www.untied.com claims she sent?
You might want to see this thread for opinions/thoughts on that email: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...tsourcing.html

A few well-placed people have posted in the thread that it is an authentic email. I think many of us were shocked that a C-level executive would have written it.
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Old May 12, 2009, 4:56 pm
  #83  
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Originally Posted by youreadyfreddie
I think many of us were shocked that a C-level executive would have written it.
I know I was.
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Old May 14, 2009, 7:11 am
  #84  
 
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Originally Posted by fastair
So this thread is now about 16 months old, and 2 full years since Ms. Higgins has been at the point.

What changes have you seen positive?

What positive changes have not developed that you would have expected?
Since you are a regular reader and poster on this forum, I am suprised that you think there has been change. There are thousands of great employees at UA, but the large number of bad employees who have been given no incentives to improve make the customer service at UA inconsistent at best.
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Old May 14, 2009, 7:28 am
  #85  
 
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LOL...I didn't say I have seen change. In fact, my digging up of this old thread was to see if anyone else saw the change that many people posted they expected due to UA hiring 1 person from Orlando.

I have seen many changes, but none that I would attribute as "UA is applying a Disneyesque philosophy" in the way it markets itself. The changes I see are more along the line of "2 steps forward 1 step back" or "1 step forward, 2 steps back." Neither of these are systematic shifts to putting a CSP at the forefront of the business model.
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Old May 14, 2009, 11:27 am
  #86  
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Originally Posted by youreadyfreddie
You might want to see this thread for opinions/thoughts on that email: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...tsourcing.html

A few well-placed people have posted in the thread that it is an authentic email. I think many of us were shocked that a C-level executive would have written it.
Originally Posted by g_leyser
I know I was.
I don't know if the letter is authentic, but I work with C-level employees on a daily basis and I would not be shocked in the slightest it the letter is, indeed, authentic. It is exactly the way many (certainly not all) think.

Mike
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Old May 14, 2009, 1:13 pm
  #87  
 
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[quote of now-deleted post deleted by moderator.]
Actually some of us were employees at United and like me choose to support United mainly because we have so many good friends who still work hard at United to make it a world class airline. Unfortunately we do have very little tolerance for poor management or poor staff work which is perhaps even more apparent to us than others.

While it is true that some fliers whether GS, 1K or others do provide unjustified self-focused commentary, the fact remains that the customer pays for the tickets that pay employees salaries. Some employees like Captain Flanagan and Joanne Calabrese make the extra effort to address the issues as they arise in hopes that their examples will encourage other employees to take the upside course of customer service by actively addressing customer concerns in a way that brings customers back.

Last edited by Ocn Vw 1K; May 14, 2009 at 5:15 pm Reason: See first par. above.
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Old May 14, 2009, 1:16 pm
  #88  
 
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Originally Posted by fastair
So this thread is now about 16 months old, and 2 full years since Ms. Higgins has been at the point.

What changes have you seen positive?

What positive changes have not developed that you would have expected?
Postive changes:

-Positively increased fees for service. Disney charges for everything now, while the guest experience remains about the same. The one that gets me is for the same flight, UA keeps jacking up the change fees.
-Positively increased the number of CSR's, phone and otherwise, that say 'no, we can't do that for you'. Whether it's query how many on the UG waitlist, ask to be put on the standby list, or see if my bags can be transferred to the earlier flight. In the days of the old-fashioned 1K rooms, you actually didn't even have to ask, it was done with a page to pick up your worked-out ahead resolutions. Now it's a nearly universal 'No'.
-Positively increased the number of 'No, I can't check you in, you have to use the chicken'.
-Positively increased the number of 'That flight is sold out so I'm not going to put you on standby', even though they don't key in the flight and i know there's seats available.
-Postively increased the number of times I've said to myself 'Now why do I pay for the RCC?'
-Positive that TED is dying and the number of F seats out of FL will be going up exponentially.
-Positive that I miss my ice cream on the transcon.
-Positive that Ch9 is on less
-the new C seats are amazing. But I doubt that was up to Ms. Higgins.


What hasn't happened?
-Meal service improving
-Increase in helpful CSR's, particularly during irrops.
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Old May 14, 2009, 3:41 pm
  #89  
 
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Originally Posted by fastair
So this thread is now about 16 months old, and 2 full years since Ms. Higgins has been at the point.

What changes have you seen positive?

What positive changes have not developed that you would have expected?
As previously pointed out Ms. Higgins is not in the same position as when the thread started but one thing that developed that I did not expect was to insource some of the customer relations functions from India back inhouse.
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Old May 14, 2009, 4:59 pm
  #90  
 
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Barbara is a tremendous asset to UA. Yes, she manages the call centers but also takes care of many of the GS passangers. Without question she is one of the things that UA has going for it. She knows, understands and lives customer service.
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