ThoseAreAnts

Shortly after becoming a 1P this year, and then again following my ascent to 1Kdom, I noticed how much nicer UA desk agents, FAs and GAs were treating me - More smiles, less huffing and puffing and condescension when I needed help or had questions, etc.

I put this down to status, and assumed that there is some policy in place for UA personnel to make an extra effort to be especially pleasant to elite passengers. (As absurd as that sounds.)

Can anyone confirm whether this policy officially exists? I would be especially interested to know how it's worded in the UA employee handbook, or whatever.

I ask now, as during my RNO-SFO-PHX this week I ran into one less-than-smiley desk agent and one much-less-than-smiley FA, which, after my 2007 track record of being treated like I'm worth a crap, was somewhat deflating.

TIA,

Ants

bhatnasx

I'm pretty sure all airlines treat customers with status better than those without status. With UA in particular, if you're a 1K or UGS, you're treated like a god - if you're Premier or PremEx, you're treated well, but not as well as you could & should be treated, IMHO...

UNITED959

It certainly would be a disgrace if there were such a policy -- IMHO, ALL customers should be treated with courtesy and professionalism.

IME as a 1K, I promise you...if there is such a policy, several employees do not follow it.

Mike Jacoubowsky

I think it largely depends upon the route you're flying. Some routes are flooded with elites, and the GAs are probably spending a fair amount of time placating elites whose upgrades won't clear. In such places you might find favorable treatment less-likely than an airport where elites aren't found in such large numbers.

I'm basically treated like the low-class underserving lowly 2P I am, unless I'm at a place like MKE or sometimes even BWI, where something goes wrong and they're all over me, trying to figure out an alternative way to get me home or whatever. "Since you're an elite, you might try..." said with a very sincere smile. I would never, ever be spoken to like that at SFO. There, my responsibilities are to hold back the surge of GMs trying to crash the red carpet boarding, and if I do that, they'll smile as they take my boarding pass.

But I am all-powerful once away from a major hub! I feel like being a 2P really means something! I can only imagine what it must be for a 1P or 1K. A UGS at MKE probably gets personally driven out to the plane on the tarmac, direct from the passenger drop-off!

ThoseAreAnts

Thanks, all.

I would guess that during induction / training, someone must have communicated a policy to UA employees. I can't imagine that the reasonably consistent improved treatment of MP elites is down to the personal work ethic of the individuals, or their understanding of the value of a customer.

ralphwiggum

As a newly minted 1K, I have already seen a marked difference in the "extra effort" one gets from service counter. Case in point, the computer system "shutdown" in SFO on 11/30/07 - the gate agent went into the back offices to print out my boarding pass and receipt so i can move along with my day. Most other counters were just at a standstill with no one moving. Could be that she is a superstar service counter agent or that 1K had something to do with it.

mre5765

Perhaps 1P-ness and 1K-ness indicate to the UA employee that the pax has experience, hence will be easier to deal with.

ursiform

Hmm...back when I was ORDCS (before UGS), we were obviously supposed to be nice to all customers, but we would take extra special care of the premiers, especially 1k's. IIRC, the "1k rock star treatment" was actual policy back then, you did whatever you had to do to make sure they were happy.

MikeBOS

In the past 4 years I have had all levels of status on UA except UGS (no status, 2P, 1P, 1K, now back to 1P again), and I never observed any difference in treatment either on the ground or in the air regardless of status, with one exception: I once had a flight attendant on a flight LAX-BOS thank me for being a 1K. That's it. No friendlier greetings, no exceptions to rules, nothing different I could see at all. My observation is exactly the opposite of yours; one would think the airline would treat regular customers particularly well (aside from conforming to programs like MP designed explicitly to do so), but I have seen no evidence of it at UA. I get more recognition at Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks as an occasional but regular customer than I ever have at UA (or any other airline, for that matter -- AA, where I am EXP, is the same).

Married2UA

On my first flight as a 1K, the FA brought me a personal note from the captain thanking me for being 1K. It has never happened again so it probably isn't policy, but it was nice. A few months ago, the gate agents offloaded an already seated PAX on a full flight so that I could get on on standby. I'm not sure they do that for anyone but 1K or UGS.

ThoseAreAnts

Was the "1K rock star treatment" policy in writing?

Can anyone confirm if it is still in place? What it might be called now?

With this information I can baseline my expectations everywhere I go.

Ants

ursiform

In writing? I don't know, it was so many years ago...I think I still have some of my training paperwork, when I get back to Chicago, I'll take a look.

I think 1ks still get very deferential treatment, but it seems that UGS are the top o'the heap these days.

NH_Clark

Now that is amazing.

I've been 1K before (2001) and got good treatment but nothing I would consider exemplary. As a 1P, since June, I have seen no marked difference in how I'm treated compared to non status.

braslvr

That is amazing. I have found the difference staggering.

Markie

The longer you have been a 1K the less impressed with service you become in my experience. This of course, wasn't helped when UGS came along, and 1K's became less important to the company.