jackal

sbrennan007, there was a question earlier about the technical methods used to route the calls to the ICCs. I (as the earlier poster did) assume some method of VOIP is used. Can you shed light on this--what sort of standard is used, is it a dedicated (or virtual) circuit or routed over the public Internet, is QoS employed (it would have to be, I suppose), etc.?

And a few questions for RSSR:

1. When transferring callers (or calling another department for yourself for information, if that ever happens) to other departments, do you have priority (internal) numbers that place callers to the head of the queue? I've had to call various call centers at the company I work for, and I have yet to find any way for me to get to the head of the line--not good when I'm trying to help someone standing in front of me and am forced to wait for 45 minutes...I would hope UA employees don't have to do the same thing! My favorite was when I called the main sales desk, which was recently outsourced, and was then transferred by them back to the U.S.--the connection quality was absolutely abysmal, as my call was being routed to Manila and back...)

2. During times they are slow, do SDs take regular calls, or do they deal exclusively with "playing supervisor"?

3. What are the rough staffing numbers for a typical UA call center (if you can give them out)? How many people are on the floor at any given time, and how many people are employed in total? (I remember calling AT&T once and asking the SD-equivalent there, whom I had been transferred to, about some of these details, and there were no fewer than 2,000 people in the call center I was speaking to, which was one of five call centers!)

4. You may not know, since you're based here, but I'm curious if some bilingual customers ever call the ICCs and realize they're speaking to someone who speaks the same language they do. Do these customers ever try to speak to the ICC agents (say, in Tagalog if they reach the PI), and does UA frown on this (maybe it would prevent UA from understanding the call if UA wanted to monitor or record it)?

I had a couple others pop into my mind while I was typing but they've evaporated, so I might post again if I remember them. Thanks so much for volunteering for this thread--as others have stated, we nerdy FTers seem to have a fascination with the dark inner workings of these behind-the-scenes positions!

UAX_Brasilia

I know their are no benefits to Star Golds when it comes to res agents (ie E+), but should they still be able to see it?

WineCountryUA

Believe no.

Been some discussion of this. Also relates to the need for the *G card at lounges for your non-home program.

UAX_Brasilia

I searched, but no dice. Reason I ask, is I wanted to see if my brothers status was in the system as Star Gold.

blort

Even a Turkish Airlines reservations agent noted that I was *G when I called to put my Mileage Plus number in an itinerary. I wouldn't automatically assume that UA agents wouldn't be able to see *G status from non-UA airlines.

Why not call UA and ask?

UAX_Brasilia

I did. They said they couldn't, thus why I asked if they should.

epcuster

Not sure if I can find the answer to this elsewhere - but I have looked around so I'll ask away.

Seems USAirways and United don't play well together even though they codeshare through Star Alliance. I use my USAir number for all USAir and United flights. When I have the rare opportunity to fly United (I fly out of PIT), I plug in my USAir number on-line but don't seem to get any kind of preferential treatment (better seat selection, earlier seat selection, etc.). Why is that? Any help is appreciated.

UAX_Brasilia

You don't get better seat selection, but you should be able to get a seat at any time.

GoingAway

The alliance perks do not include improved seating within the cabin, e.g. access to exit rows, E+, etc. You need status within the airlines FF program that you're flying to get that. UA flyers on US do not get pref treatment either if it makes you feel any better.

evanroberts

I hate to disagree with a team member but my experience has been different. My father's *G status on NZ was visible to UA phone agents, and it would print out on his boarding pass NZ *G. So I suspect it is visible in the record, but perhaps some agents can't be bothered looking it up.

My guess based on a little experience is that the sharing of status levels between the * members is done periodically (weekly?), which would make sense given that it's a database update. Early this year I had problems getting a good seat on NZ when UA appeared not to have provided updated information that I was *S, but NZ could see my MP number on the res. A week later--sometime in March--they could see it was *S. Then when I reached *G same story. It took about a week before the NZ res agents could see that, and let me select exit rows.

Kremmen

I was just reading through this thread and I'm so glad you mentioned this. I've had three 1K agents give me the impression that a 72-hour hold was the best I could get on an all-UA award booking. Having been able to get a much longer hold put on my recent itinerary makes things so much easier, because having to ring back every couple of days to get a hold extended sucks for everyone.

anc-ord772

SkyTeam777, you will find the agents in ORD unable to help. They have no idea how to be empowered to handle this kind of thing. While it may not be every agent at ORD, there are enough of them that it's pathetic for a hub.

In LHR agents will bend over backwards to put you on a nonstop. They are either too far away from HQ to be scared, or they just know how to cover their arse.

solenita

thanks in advance for your time

I have a question about military fares. I recently went to book a flight and had been talking with a travel agent and she told me whenever I booked to always call and see what military excursion fares were available. It seems that anytime I have ever asked this question prior, the military "discounted" rates are always quite a bit more $$$ than regular economy. It actually makes me quite mad that they even offer these so called disounts for military, since they have always been more expensive. This last time I called and told them the fare I was getting online and what was available for military and was told, "great for you, I have found you a fare of x.xx" on the exact same flight I told him I got online rates for and it was $200 more for the military "discount", not refundable. Am I missing something?? Is there something magical about the military discounted fares that I am missing?

A second question is for a flight I booked in Oct. 08 for Nov. 08 there was all these issues in pulling up a held itenerary, and I was on hold over an hour. The agent told me that he would waive my baggage fees as compensation. I got to check in for my flight and they were not waived. I have called about it and have never gotten it cleared up, they told me at check in if they agent had noted that they could waive the fee, but he had not noted it. I made a another flight with United and called again, hoping they would understand what I was asking and telling them about the prior flight and waive the fees for this flight, and all he did was look at that flight and again say the person had not noted the account so they could not do anything.

thegrailer

Did I miss something scanning through this thread - are answers still being provided?

Question: Can the web support call center book and ticket flights? For example, I try to book on .bomb - no luck, error, error, and error. I call reservations and get forwarded to the web support center (I've complained about these folks elsewhere). I am told to forward a screen shot of the fare and the session ID #. The items are emailed and I am then told that even with this information, no flight will be ticketed. I called back to UA reservations - with the web support folks still on a separate line. The UA reservations rep. stated that yes, the web support folks could and should ticket the flight. The web support folks said no and I lost the flight and the fare. So, who was/is correct? Can the web support folks ticket flights or not and can they be ticketed based on what .bomb provides prior to a series of errors that don't allow me to book online?

Thanks

Cheer

SEA1K4EVR

Seeing as how RSSRNotInIndia has not posted on FT since Feb 16, 2009 I am guessing they are either no longer with UA or they've been muzzled by their employer. Either way...