JohnnyGlobal

After spending the last couple of weeks in Asia and dealing with more accommodating and helpful United Airlines reservations agents, I was slapped back to reality this evening when I called back to the U.S. to speak with the Int'l 1K Desk.

I was attempting to switch my Monday morning flight to Sunday morning. I am confirmed in NF on Monday, so I was calling to inquire as to whether there were any routes to ORD with NF space available for Sunday.

Two pieces of erroneous information that came out of the conversation:

1) the agent tells me that the number of first class seats available is CONFIDENTIAL information and that he can only tell if a flight is very full, moderately full, or lightly loaded for the First Class cabin. I asked him what he could tell me if I wanted to purchase several First Class seats on any flights tomorrow back to the U.S. and he just sort of chuckled and said, "well, I already know that you don't want to do that, so in this case I really couldn't tell you that information."

WHAT!?!?

I'm glad he apparently found my question humorous. I wasn't trying to be funny, but I guess that's how it came across.

Obviously recognizing what I was dealing with here, I dropped that point and simply asked him if he could tell me whether or not the loads to SFO or LAX were "very full, moderately full, or lightly loaded." He told me that LAX would give me a chance of getting my upgrade, but that I "should not get my hopes up because anyone who flew over (to Asia) on that flight has priority over me on the return flight for an upgrade."

Who in the h*ll trained this guy?!?!

When I told him that this was the first time any agent had ever explained upgrade rules and regulations to me in this way, he had no response. Just silence.

I thanked him, hung up, and called back (overseas long-distance again...because as good as the Asian reservations line are, they aren't open real late at night) and got an agent who would gladly tell me the number of seats available, and who was willing to call Revenue Management to see if they could clear the first segement (which didn't have NF available for tomorrow, but still had 7 unsold F seats).

Pretty tired of getting such unhelpful reservationists. Sometimes I half think UA puts their worst reservations agents on the Premier lines because we're the only UA flyers that really know all of the rules and who can correct agents who are in error. You Asia-based 1Ks are lucky to have more customer-friendly and knowledgeable reservations staff.

greg99

I'm not the first person to say this on these boards, but I firmly believe that the average PremEx agent is *much* better than the average 1K agent. Plus I frequently wait less time on hold to get through to them.

The experiences with the EXP desk recounted on the AA board make me *very* jealous.

Greg

Punki

I guess I must just be lucky. Almost all of my experiences with UAL reservations agents have been stellar, whether they were domestic or international.

Always try to be consistently lucky.

UAL Traveler

Punki, I firmly believe that people make their own luck. How do you consistently make yours?

JohnnyGlobal, most people who fly extensively overseas with some frequency, and call back to tweak reservations, will invariably encounter situations similar to yours. I used to simply hang up when when I encountered less-than-helpful 1K agents whose name or voice I recognized, and then redialed. However, I've gravitated to calling the CSR people on direct lines, who have proven to be more than helpful. The calls are short and efficient: they take the info/request, and then will call back, leave voicemail, or email me based on the situation.

drbala

United I understand has a Russian Roulette system. Your calls are ditributed at random to various locations One day I talked to seven different agents at the 1P number. Have you tried the "friendly" counter staff in MSY (my home air port ) I usually buy a ticket to ORD just to circumvent using them for purchase.

zrs70

I think we should define what constitutes an "unhelpful" agent.

If the agent doesn't know the rules, the answer is obvious.

If the agent knows the rules, and is not wanting to bend them, does that make him/ her an "unhelpful" agent?

If we often get agents who waive change fees, and then get one who will not, is that agent "wrong" or "bad"?

I think what makes a great agent is not whether he/ she can recite rules ect. A great agent will help us to think outside of the box. A great agent will help us search for alternatives. A great agent allow (As JohnnyGlobal suggests) us to ask a theoretical question regarding amount of seats in F.

In my experience, most agents at UA are great.

deech

I also concur that 1k reservation agents seem on the whole to be less helpful than the PremEx agents I was used to calling for a number of years. I guess I expected an extra level of helpfulness etc. when I called he 1K line but I must say I am somewhat disappointed as well.

seawolf

Not sure if this is erroneous. I've met more than a handful of agents who does not give out actual information. Sure, you can find out other ways but I actually believe that the agents who do give out actual inventory are the erroneous ones.

The bit on the upgrade is totally erroneous alright.

gabrielz

Seawolf:

I think you mean for Upgrade availability right? I don't think they're supposed to tell us that, but they are able to tell you the number of Rev seats available (and I always use that as good guidance). Besides, upgradeability is a pretty binary thing: there will either be seats or there won't. So, if the inventory isn't available when you call, use united.com to figure out how many rev seats are still left, and ask the agent (this usually works for me):

"How bad is the waitlist"

Those 2 data points should help you figure out what your odds are.

<G>

seawolf

I'm referring to all inventory. Sure you can go online. But that often doesn't give you accurate info either since it is capped at 9.

TravelManKen

I've never had anything but great experiences with the int'l 1K desk (I believe the US center is in Detroit, MI). As a matter of fact I'm sending a letter to UA about the great service that I received two days ago. They've always gone out their way to take care of me - much better than CO's platinum desk.

------------------
Ken in Sacramento

beaubo

Just went through this 'hunt and peck' experience trying to figure out which waitlist would have best chance of clearing.

Like UAL Traveler says about funky CSRs- Hanging Up and Calling Back (the airline equivalent of Duck And Cover!!)definitely does the trick.

Asking about available rev seats makes sense, because the greater number of unsold rev seats within 2 weeks of travel, the better your chances.

All CSRs I spoke with providing all of the following info:

* how many rev seats available on the flight routing options I wanted
* their opinions about historical trends for clearing upgrade lists on the routing options I wanted
* allowing me to waitlist multiple flights to better hedge my bets of clearing something
* happily contacting supervisrs and/or inventory mngt/yield mngt/whatever the heck its called to beg and plead on my behalf for an early release of a seat!
* suggesting alternate dates, routings that might have better chances of clearing or were already clear

Like any big company, quality control (or lack thereof) of CSRs are a necessary evil, but easily foiled with the click of a phone button.

UA all the way!!!!!!

LHR Tim

I must admit, the Dublin call centre has really come along in leaps and bounds over the years. I, too, will call overseas when I am in the US to sort things out, rather than call the toll free US Int'l desk, whose training manual seems to consist of one page on which the answer NO is printed.

Last month, I had a problem with too many miles being pulled for an upgrade. I called the 2P desk, who while very polite, couldn't do anything and suggested I send a fax to the MP desk. When I got home, I called the MP desk here in the UK, and they were able to fix the problem before my eyes!

I think when you call any of the 'premier' international numbers in the US, you are just sent to the pool of plain old int'l agents, whom I have found in the past to be not very helpful. The Dublin agents are much better.

1P

I disagree with LHR Tim.

The DUB agents, Premier and otherwise, seem to be mostly people from mainland European countries - Netherlands, Germany, etc, - presumably hired because of their language skills, but nevertheless there is a language barrier problem when you are talking to them in English (and I am English, despite the LAX location). They don't always understand what you say, and you don't always understand what they say either. This leads to misinterpretations and even errors, even with the few native Irish agents you encounter.

Next up, their training seems to have been pretty elementary. Most of the time, I'm telling them what to do, how to do it, where to look, what fare codes, what other routes they might try, and so on. Often they give you inaccurate or incomplete information until you press them on a point or a procedure or ask to speak to a supervisor.

I would agree that things have improved marginally over the past year, but that's not saying very much. The standard of service has not been the same since they moved the CS base from England to Ireland, which is to say that it's very much inferior to what it used to be. For many inquiries it's often easier to dial the US from the UK and pay the extra cost of the call, rather than have to deal with the DUB people.

ORD - HKG FF

My experiences have been of 2 types. If I call the desk from the US I have always found them to be generally helpful. If I call from overseas (like I did last week) they are extremely unhelpful...to the point where I have considered them borderline rude (certainly snide, not understanding why I would be "bothering" them).

UA should take lessons from AA (EXP with them) - I never have problems with the EXP desk.