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Ask a United Reservation Agent - Q & A thread

Ask a United Reservation Agent - Q & A thread

 
Old Sep 24, 2008, 6:59 pm
  #121  
 
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Many thanks for the background information

I'm adding my voice of thanks for sharing what you can about Reservation and related operations and policies.

I had reason to call Reservations today, I'm a General Member. It sounded as though I reached the Philippine office (based on accent, both the agent and the service director). I'll say that they were good-natured and kind in their responses, and the service director explained things clearly. By the way--the agent did nothing wrong, my question resulted in an action that required the next level of approval.

It helped to have that background information; there's an office in the PI (I'm accustomed to India), and that the next level is not necessarily termed "supervisor". I've long grown accustomed to the names of agents being fictitious, I am learning to say "how can I identify you?" if I want to mention the agent in other correspondence.

So again, a word of thanks and appreciation for your efforts here at Flyertalk.
mbpasadena is offline  
Old Sep 25, 2008, 9:26 am
  #122  
 
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Is it possible & appropriate to give a GTEM certificate to a phone agent?
sosafan is offline  
Old Sep 25, 2008, 9:51 am
  #123  
 
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Originally Posted by sosafan
Is it possible & appropriate to give a GTEM certificate to a phone agent?
I don't know why it wouldn't be appropriate. I just don't know how you would do it. First, you would have to get the agent's real name!
6rugrats is offline  
Old Sep 25, 2008, 10:20 am
  #124  
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Originally Posted by sosafan
Is it possible & appropriate to give a GTEM certificate to a phone agent?
don't about that but i did send an entire bag of tootsie-pops to an agent in hnl (she truly truly rocked!)
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Old Sep 25, 2008, 1:16 pm
  #125  
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Wirelessly posted (goingaway's phone: SAMSUNG-SGH-I607/UCHA1 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 6.12))

Originally Posted by 6rugrats
Originally Posted by sosafan
Is it possible & appropriate to give a GTEM certificate to a phone agent?
I don't know why it wouldn't be appropriate. I just don't know how you would do it. First, you would have to get the agent's real name!
agents that use fake names get them approved first, so only having a 'csr' name should not be a deterrent
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Old Sep 26, 2008, 2:37 pm
  #126  
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
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On star awards...

First of all, I just want to say how grateful I am for the help I got from an agent on a call to the 1K desk this morning. I came out of it really feeling that she had a grasp of the problem, and was going to bat for me. I plan to write in to customer service to communicate just how valuable an agent like that can be when problems come up. On that note...

I just have a question related to my ongoing saga with a Star award where SA is being a huge pain...

Generally speaking, in the event of a schedule change or flight cancellation on an interline ticket where the airline making the change is different from the issuing airline, whose obligation is it to accommodate the passenger?

I've had a couple of experiences with this, and it seems coming out of it that LH is generally cooperative about fixing the problem, but other airlines (SA and gosh knows who else) take the position that all protection is the responsibility of the issuing carrier. This seems a bit unreasonable in the event of a flight cancellation, and even more in the event cancellation of an entire route.

Nonetheless, route cancellations do happen, so how does this normally shake out?
glex50 is offline  
Old Sep 27, 2008, 4:41 am
  #127  
 
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How closely related does the caller need to be to the passenger. I probably handle all the airline stuff for 20 different family members and friends. I have all their passwords and information and they just trust me to do what's best.

I normally pretend to be the passenger or their husband. Do I need to pretned or can I just be honest about who I am.

For instance if my uncle ask me to use his wife's miles for an award ticket for his daughter. I normally will claim to be my uncle and say that I would like to use my wife's miles for my daughter. Can I just be honest and say that I'm booking a ticket for my cousin with my aunt's miles.

I recently had to book an award to Bali for my brother's wife's sister's fiancee. It probably would have seemed rather odd if I admitted who I actually was.
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Old Sep 27, 2008, 7:14 am
  #128  
 
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Originally Posted by hindukid
How closely related does the caller need to be to the passenger. I probably handle all the airline stuff for 20 different family members and friends. I have all their passwords and information and they just trust me to do what's best.

I normally pretend to be the passenger or their husband. Do I need to pretned or can I just be honest about who I am.

For instance if my uncle ask me to use his wife's miles for an award ticket for his daughter. I normally will claim to be my uncle and say that I would like to use my wife's miles for my daughter. Can I just be honest and say that I'm booking a ticket for my cousin with my aunt's miles.

I recently had to book an award to Bali for my brother's wife's sister's fiancee. It probably would have seemed rather odd if I admitted who I actually was.
Actually, I've always just told them who I am and that I'm making travel arrangements for others that aren't as comfortable about it.

I know in this day and age it's become allot easier, but there are still some that are intimidated by it.

I know your probably like me in the respect that I'm happy when I can help someone out, then tell them, go to the airport, tell them this, go to this gate, board plane.

In short, I personally don't see anything wrong with trying to help others out. ^
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Old Sep 27, 2008, 7:25 am
  #129  
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
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Impressed

Ya know, I just finished reading through this entire thread and am really impressed by RSSRNotInIndia and their comments.

I don't work for UA, but I have been in the Telecommunications Engineering / Call Center Management world for the past 15 years now and all I can say is all great feedback and advice.

If ever needed, I could probably assist with answering some more of the technical questions regarding inbound call center call traffic and how it's routed. I've actually got colleagues of mine that work for UA and we use similar equipment to what they do at their call centers.

In short, always happy to help out if I can.
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Old Sep 28, 2008, 2:19 am
  #130  
 
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Originally Posted by glex50
Generally speaking, in the event of a schedule change or flight cancellation on an interline ticket where the airline making the change is different from the issuing airline, whose obligation is it to accommodate the passenger?
The carrier that made the change. Award tickets are extremely difficult to deal with... some airlines, like SQ, aren't helpful at all and UA's not going to spend thousands of dollars to fix their problem (e.g. 'creating' an award seat on SQ = SQ will ultimately change UA full-fare for that seat; protecting the passenger on UA = UA potentially losing money for a seat they didn't intend to give away). Revenue tickets are easier to deal with since, well, there's $$$ involved .

Nonetheless, route cancellations do happen, so how does this normally shake out?
Well, again, revenue tickets are easier to deal with because $$$'s being exchanged. Awards are VERY difficult and often the sole recourse is to offer a refund. That was the case earlier this year when we canceled one market (GDL?) and our partners didn't have available award space for protection.

How closely related does the caller need to be to the passenger.
We have a procedure to follow... if you can verify certain information (e.g. you have the PNR record locater/you know all the info pertinent to the MP account), we can assist you. That said... some agents are way to liberal in handling these types of calls.
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Old Sep 28, 2008, 2:31 am
  #131  
 
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Originally Posted by 6rugrats
I don't know why it wouldn't be appropriate. I just don't know how you would do it.
I wasn't asking if it was appropriate in a social sense. Flight attendants and gate agents seem to know what to do with them. I was asking if phone agents have any use for them.

And if it was, how to do it?
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Old Oct 4, 2008, 2:44 pm
  #132  
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This is such a great feature to have a thread where people will answer direct questions. I was encouraged in another thread to post my question here:

I am on a bmi reservation that has a UA segment starting in the US. Can I standby for an earlier flight on the domestic portion of the ticket? It gives me more time for the connection, and the current flight Im on is oversold (cant take the bump this time or I would miss the connection). Flight I want to get on is at 8am and current flight I have is at noon. Dont want to head to the airport so early if theyre going to turn me away. No luggage to check either. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
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Old Oct 4, 2008, 7:41 pm
  #133  
 
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SkyTeam777,

The official answer is 'no,' as standby is not permitted on international itineraries. However, I imagine you'll find plenty of FlyerTalkers who've had success in standing by for domestic legs of international itineraries. But I guarantee you there are agents who stick to the rules, so it's a 'YMMV' type situation ; ).
RSSRNotInIndia is offline  
Old Oct 4, 2008, 8:49 pm
  #134  
 
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Originally Posted by sosafan
I wasn't asking if it was appropriate in a social sense. Flight attendants and gate agents seem to know what to do with them. I was asking if phone agents have any use for them.

And if it was, how to do it?
I have asked the phone agent for all their information to fill in on the GTEM cert, then email the info to 1k/1p/2p/gm voice. I have received email acknowledments back, but whether it actually makes it to the agents supervisor, I don't know.
Lightman7 is offline  
Old Oct 5, 2008, 12:14 am
  #135  
 
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Originally Posted by RSSRNotInIndia
The carrier that made the change. Award tickets are extremely difficult to deal with...
Okay, so SA's position that UA issued the ticket, therefore UA must solve the problem was not really legitimate (ugh). I suppose I'll be more careful on them!

In the end, it worked out pretty well. I sent a nice long compliment to 1KVoice about how valuable the svcs of the 1K desk are, and a nasty complaint to SA customer service.
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