12172003

First off, thanks to RSSRNotInIndia for the info. ^ All my respect having to do phone support (and then spend more time online answering these quetions) as there is no way I could possibly do it myself.

Now having thanked you, do the reservations agents get graded on how many "thank you" the agent says? If I provide a RL to the agent, the conversation goes like this:

me: The record locator is R
agent: thank you
me: L
agent: thank you
me: 1
agent: thank you
me: 2
agent: thank you
me: R
agent: thank you
me: L
agent: thank you

This isn't only United as I think most US companies are trying to be overly "friendly." It's actually annoying after a while but I realize it isn't the agents fault.

'Thanks' for your answer.

cheepneezy

More or less answered here:

PCTraveler

Can you expand a little more on what are the key metrics for you? e.g. sales, time/call, total calls, transfers to Hertz, etc.

I often will call to set up a reservation and hold, but never get the sense that the agent is disappointed that I didn't buy at that time.

Also, when you make a reservation or a change/note on a PNR, does it record the agent's ID? Thus, if I had spoken with a previous agent, is there any way to get back to that person?

BTW, love your signature. And, yes, I do sometimes say yes to being transferred.

RSSRNotInIndia

They keep track of every stat you can think of (revenue generated, lost revenue - e.g. waivers, etc.) but we're measured exclusively on call quality (at least right now... in the past we've had to field X calls per hour, generate X revenue, etc.) It really isn't fair to judge an agent by sales -- we're not empowered to employ high-pressured tactics (if you buy this $14K D-class fare now I'll throw in 10,000 bonus miles) obviously, and some agents get sales call after sales call while others will spend hours on the phone searching for award seats, or sitting on hold with Air Canada trying to fix a messy situation up. And some of those calls can last two-three hours EASILY. Part of our call quality measurement is to pursue the sale (achieved by 'what a great fare - give me your CC now to secure it... if declined, then 'let's make sure to hold it,' etc.)


UA does offer incentives to the highest-revenue generators (dinners, positive space/BP3 travel) as well as quirks for Hertz transfers (free week-rental, etc.). Note that the people who work 80+hours/week at DTW's global desk usually get these....

Yes. But it's not easy to get the agent back... you'd have to call the new agent, have that person contact a SD, have the SD look-up the person, have the SD call the operators department of the call center, have the operators department contact that person...what if they're on a call, on break/lunch, scheduled day off, vacation, etc.? And we're inbound call centers---we only return calls in unique situations.

12172003
A little extreme, lol, but yes, we're trained to say "thank you" after everything (thank you for your credit card...thank you for holding....thank you for calling) and will get marked down if we don't.

iluv2fly

Do you get some non-status callers who will actually book a $10,000+ ticket on the phone and if so, do you really charge them the phone fee on such a $$$ ticket?

When - if ever - do you waive the fee?

Downunder girl

Thanks for answering my questions ^ :-:. I can understand it must be difficult to keep up/be trained on all the ins and outs of the UA system. It would not be an easy job!

The most surprising thing I was told when calling a UA offshore CC was by the supervisor . I was about to purchase an H class fare, and wanted to know about the complimentary upgrades if I decided to purchase the more expensive B fare which was going to cost at least $1200 more x 2 tix. The agent didnt know for sure, so she asked her supervisor for advice ^. The supervisor told me I would indeed be eligible for the comp upgrade if I took the B fare. Turns out, (thanks to FT who set me straight before I got out my credit card :-, that this is not the case for INTL itins, which I was purchasing and the supervisor had been made aware of my planned res ex SYD .

Is there an international "desk" with agents more experienced in those itins in the offshore CCs? It would certainly make life easier for all concerned, I would think . Perhaps this is something UA could consider if they are going to stay with the offshore CC strategy.

GoingAway

I'm wondering if you're helped by someone saying yes to the Hertz question but disconnecting before you connect them - do you just need the yes or is the transaction on the Hertz side actually tracked back to you? Just curious if I have a really good agent if I can do something for them by giving up a couple of minutes

bk3day

Too right

I recently got a call from a Ticket by Mail agent who noticed my rezzie booked on .bomb had a too short illegal connection. She provided me with some other flight options but none were optimal so I asked for some time to review my options.

She kindly offered to call me back the next morning at 8:30AM EST.

Turned out she wasn't able to return my call until very late that afternoon. She was quite apologetic and explained that she was at the mercy of the inbound calls.

I understood and in the end, I actually kept my original illegal connection. Better yet, to thank me for my patience, she actually did me a favor and expedited 2 new ticket (w/ vouchers) sales that saved me half a day trip to go ticket them at the airport. ^

Thanks RSSRNotInIndia for your contributions. They are much appreciated. ^

RSSRNotInIndia

Pretty frequently, actually. I once had a gentleman purchase F-class tickets to Australia, during the Holidays, for his family; the $100,000 purchase didn't faze him... and yes, he was charged the ticketing fee. People purchasing "premium" fares generally don't worry about the ticketing fee (either money's not much of an object or somebody else is paying for it) -- it's people wanting the lowest-fares that protest it. And it's only waived when somebody attempts to book a reservation via the VRU and gets kicked to an agent... as well as 1K/GS... and when corporate lets us know the website's down.

Working JETAWAY can be interesting because these people think a $1,000 ticket to Europe (during the summer) is expensive but will still initially request Business/First Class.

Domestic agents eventually train to be international... it can take awhile to adjust to, probably just ran into a clueless agent ; ) - they exist at the domestic offices as well.

It really wouldn't help the agent... incentives aren't that much - if you want to help an agent, ask them for their supervisor's e-mail and shoot off your thoughts. : )

John26

How do you maintain your work schedule if you get a 2-hour problem fixing call as the last call of your shift? Is it mandatory overtime at that point or can you hand it off to another agent?

ryan182

Wow, I think many could agree UAs pulled some pretty dumb business maneuvers in its day but that is a doozie. First off the prospect of sitting on hold for, what could be a LONG time as a GM and most likely getting ICC to give a company $100K is worthy of a really uncomfy whit jacket and soft walls. To compound that by still insisting on getting a $25 phone fee on a $25,000 ticket is beyond belief.

This practice is the definition of penny wise, pound foolish.

whistler814

About two months ago I booked an award on NH for 12/26 without any problems. Today, my brother calls for an award also on NH for 12/26 and was told that 12/26-1/4 are blackout dates for NH.

How often/strict are blackout dates enforced?

Thank you for your insights!

deant

Thank you very much for the information you have given. It gives us all a great amount of insight into the trials and tribulations that you go through.

Thinking that international F awards will become harder to get in the future, I was wondering if you could do the following:

1. Hold a reservation, for 72 hours, with what will be the return flight booked earlier than the real outbound flight. This would allow you to hold the outbound at the 330 day mark.
2. Within the 72 hours, call back and change the first flight to after the outbound.

Would you take a risk in the seats going back to inventory and not being available for an award?

Basically, I am looking for any way to book all the flights at the 330 day mark.

Thanks for your help.

goalie

RSSRNotInIndia looks like your day might get a bit busier in terms of call volume with pax concerned about their rezzy's as posted here......

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080730/aqw538.html?.v=15

brain615

Nothing new in 3 days? I need more interesting info!! Come on people!