dsquared37

RSSRNotInIndia THank you for the time and your knowledge. It's always great to get an informed person to handle threads like these.

On a DBCFree ticket it's of no extra charge to change the flights/dates so long as the routing remains the same. But is it possible to flip the inbound and outbound flights? eg, switch SFO-JFK-SFO to JFK-SFO-JFK.

wcj1

That would be a routing change.

BillJ

westerndh

When I call in & am asked to enter my 1k number, followed by my name, do you get to hear my voice pronouncing my name?

Sometimes I try to remember to say it clearly, other times I feel the way I say my name makes me sounds like I'm in a bad mood (even though I'm not!).

I'm thinking that when you hear this & I don't sound happy, this would change how an agent responds to me?

Thanks

aisleorwindow

How often do people ask to do Ticket-By-Mail?

I often get agents who have never done it before and aren't really sure how it works. Also, ticket-by-mail is never offered as an option. The agents ALWAYS tell me I have to go to the airport to use a paper voucher. Only when I ask to do TBM do they say OK.

Are you asked not to promote TBM?

aisleorwindow

What is UA's policy on using foreign credit cards?
Another posted that it is discouraged due to the higher fees for the seller: here's the post.

This seems crazy to me if true - wanted to see what the official policy is.

danielonn

How do the calls get routed to India via the 1800 phone number? Does United use VOIP to transfer all inbound calls to the India Call center? How can one get an American Agent who may know the policies a bit better? I am sorry to be rude but I have found out that some of the Untied Agents abroad are not familiar with my request that had been done before they outsourced the jobs.

United needs to either have an American call center or a retraining of the overseas agents.

RSSRNotInIndia

We have to take the call... it's paid at OT, but don't think agents will milk that call -- very few are interested in staying beyond their shift's end, and more will seek ways to end the call more quickly than to milk the time.

Starnet actually enforces the blackouts... not something we really need to check.

You can hold an award in one-direction only, then call back before the hold expires and add your flights in the other direction... remember, we ticket one-way awards ; ) (you get charged the RT price, though). And the flight sequence isn't important... Apollo will tell us to verify the sequence, but we can override it. Remember, booking flights 330-days out gives you a longer hold to obtain your return...

LOL, no -- we just see your name come across the screen. Sometimes I don't bother to try to pronounce the name if I know I'll botch it. It asks for your name as part of the validation process.

All the time! Most people prefer going to the airport to exchange vouchers, though (who can blame them? My mail man loses my mail all the time...) -- and if it's a paper award ticket (b/c it came out of somebody else's account), they prefer electronic so they don't lose it/can easily make changes. Maybe some agents aren't familiar with the process -- especially in India. But no, we're not asked to not promote it.

Largely over fraud concerns. Foreign CC are virtually always declined, forcing us to call the vendor... sometimes they approve the transaction, sometimes they don't. And because we can't verify the address, there's been a lot of cases of fraud. So UA now asks us to refer the CC holder to do their transactions at the airport... although we still do them from time-to-time.

It's random & there's no way of getting a US-based agent. I'm not certain the technology they use to route calls... all calls to India always have a poor connection it seems, regardless of the company -- I've had calls transfered to me from India (from UA, Expedia, other travel agents, etc.) and have often lost the connection even after the transfer.

I know UA uses DSL technology (they tell us it's old & costly) for their computer systems, but the phones --at least in the US-- still use real phone connections. It's AT&T.

OPFlyer

What are the different shift hours?

RSSRNotInIndia

We have shifts every half-hour. Our call centers operate 24-hours/day (365-days/year).

bmvaughn

Hi RSSR, thanks again for your responses!

One question I saw earlier but didn't see a response -> What can we do to make your job easier? Both before the call and during?

dcsnowwake

this is a couple part question
I am flying in september. I used ITA to find a flight I wanted. I tried to book it online and it wouldnt allow me as theres a connection in SBA thats 24 minutes. I called reservations, they can make it. I go back and try to purchase it online, but it will not allow me. The agent held it for me, but it says to call reservations to purchase.

I call them and try to add an ecert to the reservation. They say I have to go online to use it, well cant purchase it online, so goes back and forth. Then get sent to web support and they say it cant be used first invalid routing, then incalid fare code, then cant use it for 2 people on the same reservation.
So you can see im getting very frustrated.

hers my questions.
1.will they still charge me for making the reservation over the phone, since I cant book it online and purchase it there?
2.I know the T+C's of the Ecert but everytime I question them, they make another excuse. what do you all think?

thanks!

Boraxo

This has to be the best thread I've seen all year. ^ I've can't think of one where I've learned useful info concerning a process that is largely hidden from the public.

If UA employed more CSRs like RSS and terminated the entire foreign outsource business would definitely pick up.

Thanks

lucky9876coins

A few questions:

1) Can an agent see in the computer when a customer called last?

2) How often do you get the same customer twice in the same day? I rarely call UA, but in the past week or so made maybe six calls over two days. On two occassions I got the same agent twice, both when calling within hours of each other. Found it to be a weird coincidence, in one case because the agent was really helpful and in the other case, well, not so much.

3) What do you talk about in the break room? Nutty callers? Rude people? Funny people? Politics? Bad UA management? Family? Totally unrelated stuff?

Thanks!

RSSRNotInIndia

Sorry but I didn't see your question dcsnowwake . If a reservation is held via an agent, you must call reservations to ticket it. I'm not sure why you couldn't book your reservation over the internet... perhaps it was an illegal connection (we can book these, but if we're caught we have to call you back and change it). Minimum connect times must be adhered to, even if odds are at SBA it'll be the same a/c. Nonetheless, we can't book e-certs over the phone. And yes, we'd still have to charge you the $25 fee.

No.

It's common among 1P/1K & global agents, not so common among agents who take calls from everyone else. I've had it happen a few times before -- including once when somebody hung up on me because they didn't like what I was telling them, and another time when somebody tried to insist "...but the last agent I spoke with [me!!] said she could do it."

All of the above : ). Usually not so much about work, though.

halls120

I'll add my thanks as well.

Every time I fill out one of the on line comments on UALsuevey.com, I give you and your colleagues a plug - I've had uniformly excellent experiences from the PE domestic desk. And the 1K baggage folks - they have saved more than one vacation through their excellent service.

I wish the idiots that run UA would realize the value of excellent customer service.