Ask a United Reservation Agent - Q & A thread
 

Sandy, a United agent who has already provided a great deal of information on this forum in the short time since she signed up as RSSRNotInIndia, has kindly agreed to field questions as she has time.

She won't always be able to get to your questions immediately and she is doing this on her own time, so please welcome her and respect her time and privacy.

Perhaps eventually we can hope to see more agents posting here.

And with that ...feel free to post your questions ...

What percentage of a domestic agents calls are elite vs non elite?

How long is a typical call?

About how many agents to a supervisor?

Aside from the above 3 questions.... what was the dumbest thing you have been asked?

This sounds like a lot of fun, thanks for volunteering!^ I have a feeling you'll get a TON of questions.

Just a couple:
-- What can you see on your screen when someone calls and gives you their MP number?
-- How long is your average shift?

What is the process when someone asks for a supervisor? Sometimes I get the pushback, other times I feel like the wait time can be excessive, and others the supervisor is available quickly. Is there any "delay" on the part of the csr or what is the process to get some support?

Thanks for volunteering and participating on FT.

Thanks for the welcome, everyone : ).

Tough question :). All calls to 1-800-UNITED-1 are routed overseas (split between India/Philippines). Many of the calls to 1-800-JETAWAY are handled by our CHI and HNL offices, although occasionally DTW will pick them up as well. Our call volumes have dropped lately so the domestic offices have picked up a larger number of these calls but I don't know precisely. 2P/3P are placed at the front of the queue for these lines, but don't seem to get preference toward a domestic office.

1K/1P calls are largely handled by our DTW & HNL offices - very few make it offshore. Global calls are routed almost exclusively to DTW. And most specialty calls - like groups, Washington, Olympic, etc. - are handled in DTW. Baggage calls are routed to CHI and websuppot is largely offshore.

Really no definite answer to this question : ). Some calls last a minute or two, while others -- like Star Awards, Round-The-World and unique IRROPS -- can last for two or three hours. And no, we're not penalized for the time we spend on a call - I doubt many agents even know their averages.

Do you mean supervisors (managerial employees who are responsible for agent performance, among other things, and who never take calls) or service directors (unionized hourly employees who receive a $1 or so per hour premium to play "supervisor" on the phone) ; ).

I once had a consumer from Santa Monica who wanted to know if UA had electrical outlets for her curling iron in its lavs (she was flying LAX-HKG)... when told no, she became irrate and wanted a refund. This was circa. 2000.

Thanks for the responses ... I was asking about SD's

Actually, not much : ). Just name/address/status -- displaying data will yield only a few more things, like miles/segments flown, miles banked, date signed up, upgrades available/used and the last four flights posted.

CTI Data (information kicked back from the phone) will display in a small black bar on the top of the screen indicating name / MP# / PNR given / verified (routed to right number... if a 1K calls the general number, he'll still get the 1K desk if he provides his #) / reason why transferred. If we hit F1, the data filters in (e.g. anything you provided to the computer).

8-hours.... as with many call centers, we can freely trade all or parts of our shift so some agents barely work while others put in 16-hours (the limit) per day.

Great answers, thanks!

Have another one:
How many notes do agents really put into PNR's? Do they leave a note everytime the passenger called asking a certain question about the itin? Do they often leave comments about the attitude of the passenger (not that I'd have a problem with that:D:p)?

When I need to speak with a service director, for whatever reason, I press CTRL+L on the keyboard (which brings up my transfer list... SD, websupport, the infamous Hertz) and press ALT+C, which will randomly contact an SD (and it will be the next available qualified SD... for example, an employee in HNL may get an SD in HNL, CHI or DTW). Sometimes SD are available immediately, usually there's a few minute way... and sometimes there's a really, really long way (20-40 minutes). It depends on SD staffing, call volumes, call volumes to the SD and the nature of the calls (IRROPS involving OA can take an hour or so to fix).

If a consumer asks me to speak with an SD, I'm required to transfer them -- and the SD are required to take the call (some are lazy and will instruct me to go back and say....). Sometimes an SD will ask for a delay so they can do some research, but not often and usually for a minute or two.

If you ask me for a waiver, and I contact an SD and wait 20-minutes to be told no, then you ask to speak with that SD... if the original SD hung up, I'll be waiting another 20-minutes and you likely won't get the original SD (and perhaps one from another local!).

Hope this helps.

There's A LOT of notes. Not all agents leave notes, and certainly not all the time, but I think it's generally a good idea... e.g. 'PSGR ADVD $100 CLOSE-IN FEE' on an award ticket so they don't call back and claim they weren't informed.

Rarely anything about attitude though, just requests & responses usually. Sometimes 'TKT REVOKED DUE TO CC FRAUD' - stuff like that ;).

RSSRNotInIndia, no question here, just another vote of thanks for your participation in this thread. It certainly has the potential to be one of the best in the UA forum.

a big thanks!
 

thanks for stepping forward and answering questions. I have a some...

1) is there really an "international" desk or are those calls just ID'd differently?
2) can you really see the upgrade list for a flight?
3) I've noticed many of the female agents introduce themselves as Ms or Mrs. so-and-so - is that policy or personal preference.
4) I'm a 1K so speak with what I presume are DTW and HNL. what would you or your colleagues like us callers to do differently that would make your jobs easier?

thanks again - I've had some wonderful professional interactions with the 1K line.^^^

:D

First of all, I wanted to add my thanks to everyone else's - we sincerely appreciate your willingness to donate your time and knowledge to us. ^^

With regard to lucky's question about PNR notes...are these notes that you're referring to specific to each PNR? How about general notes in the pax's MP account? Haha as lucky said, not that I'm specifically worried, but just curious! It's one of those mysterious unknowns to us common folk, how much is really known about us :cool:

RSSRNotInIndia

You are a gem!! ^^

Thanks so much for volunteering here. When I read you had offered to do this, I found myself simultaneously hoping that you have a thick skin and that you won't need it!!:(

Please let some of the inevitably nasty comments roll off and know that the majority of us here truly appreciate your help and the help of your fellow Res Agents not here on FT.

Kind regards

Lurker :)

RSSRNotInIndia, let me thank you also for volunteering.

When there is a schedule change, is there a rule about how much time is involved before one can request a different flight?