mbflyflyaway

Hello everyone!

I am a long time flyertalk lurker who hasn't been on the boards much in the past year because I stopped travelling late last year. Was laid off from my chosen profession, and after several months of collecting unemployment, decided to get off my duff and start working. I am, and have been for a while, a Premier Executive with UA so I decided to go get "temporary" work with Air Wisconsin so I could see how the other side lives. I started as a baggage handler, then I moved up to the gate. My temporary job lasted longer than I expected (6 months) until just last week when I got a "real" job back in my chosen profession. I realize there are other employees out there from UA and other UAX carriers, but I do know that AWAC uses the same training program as UA (I think UA actually uses AWAC developed courses) so I have pretty good insight. As a gate agent, I learned all sorts of things that I didn't know - much of which has been discussed here, but not always with 100% accuracy. I wasn't there long enough to learn everything, but I think I came up to speed pretty quick with the system UA/UAX has in place. So I open it up to you now....fire questions about anything my way and I'll try to answer whatever I know...of course AWAC knowledge will come first, but like I said, much is similarly run between all the carriers...

It's nice to be back in the (paying)travelling world (3 trips already scheduled this month) as standing by for free flights is fine and all, but more painful than you may think (especially being UAX always wanting to fly UA). Oh yeah, and I worked in DEN.

-Mike

fparker1

welcome back to the real world.

i dont have any q's. i fly coach last week for the first time without requesting a ug. i slept for most of the flight. not too bad. the passengers around me were quite pleasant considering the lax-mco vacation crowd. since i dont eat the food any more, f is nothing more than a larger seat for my ever growing seat.

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f

aisleorwindow

Ok, mbflyflyaway, I'll bite:
We've all had the experience of getting the upgrade for no reason or at least seen it happen to others. What is the best way to get upgraded for free. Do you have to whisper sweet nothings into the gate agents ear? Do you just have to be at the right place at the right time? Do you have to know UA code? I would be very interested to hear your insider experiences.

By the way, as someone who lived in the Denver area for 4 years, I can sympathize, especially in winter!!

Warrenlm

Do you have information to help clarify the real rules on UA and UX regarding compensation for volunteering to be bumped?

Gaucho100K

Thank you for your kind offer to share information. I would have 2 questions:

1) Does it help (for upgrade purposes) to volunteer yourself to move seats when seated in C?

2) Why has the authority to grant discretionary/complimentary upgrades at the gate? Can gate agents just do it if they please or do they have to go higher up in the chain of command. If so, how high?

BoulderHyattHopper

This is SUCH a great thread, I am just drooling... I would love to learn more of the "code" that could help us.

1. Definitely about upgrades. If there are seats up front and coach has not checked in full, is there any possible way to upgrade?

2. If you are on a non-upgradeable fare, is there any possible way to upgrade?

3. If you would like travel vouchers versus a free bump coupon for volunteering, any suggestions? (i.e. do you wait to mention it until the plane is off the ground???)

4. Any other code that can help us!!!

BoulderHyattHopper

As my husband and I race to get to 1K, does status really help?

We all know the fun story about the guy who says to the gate agent, "Do you know who I am?" To which she jumps on the intercom and tells the waiting gate passengers, "This man does not know who he is!"

mbflyflyaway

Okay, guess I should have made a note in my post about the fact that AWAC does not have first class and therefore they didn't train us on Upgrade rules and regs very much....

With that said, I do know that ultimately, it is up to the gate agent. From what I heard, during the SFH (when I earned my elite status), gate agents were given the capability to hand out CPR's (Customer Problem Resoultions - I think) at will and they did just that...not only to disserviced pax but also to friends and families. Of course this didn't last too long before UA/UAX limited what could be handed out. At this point at least at AWAC, we were supposed to check with a manager first (similar to a Service Director at UA) before handing out any major freebees (upgrade certs, free miles in mp accounts, money vouchers, etc). This usually means we wait for them to come over and say "no" although I had a few experiences trying to hand out freebees (for valid reasons) where the manager actually agreed w/me and let me do it...I am guessing it's a similar situation at UA as far as immediate upgrades but I am pretty sure it's still ultimately up to the gate agent in charge. That may be confusing, but basically, you are at the will of the gate agent. What they hate the most is premiers who demand anything. Being nice and discreet is the best way to get anything...they (almost) always know you are a premier so it doesn't usually help to mention it. I think that answers a couple of the questions.

Gaucho100K, I don't understand your first question....do you mean you are trying to get upgraded to F from C and you are offering to do that to accomodate an oversold flight? In my experience, the gate agent will/should be monitoring their premiers and if need be, start at the top if needing to upgrade any...it won't help to volunteer.

As far as Warrenlm's question about DBC....I've been following the other thread about requesting travel credit over the free ticket (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum50/HTML/013006.html) and what we were taught, which is the same thing UA agents are supposed to be taught, is that we offer a free ticket but that the customer can always request travel credits instead. That's what we were taught....what actually happens a lot is that many agents just don't care and issue the free ticket even though it is just as easy to issue the travel credits. Remember though, that travel credits are in increments based on your delayed departure time, not arrival time...IMHO it's not worth the credits unless you can get the full $600 (6+ hrs). Also, they are not supposed to give free meals unless asked and the delay is over 2 hours...so always ask. Also, fyi, on our new YEG flights we always offered either a free ticket or travel credits because of course you can't use the free ticket from/to Canada and lots of the customers are of course Canadian. Hope this helps.

-Mike

mbflyflyaway

Most likely only operationally (i.e. if the agent feels like it). Read my earlier post (posted at the same time you posted your questions) as I am not the best source for upgrade info....sorry

Again, only operationally...see below.

See earlier post - you should be able to request vouchers at any time - if you get any guff, ask for a service director, but definately be nice about it....you don't want an angry gate agent in control of your PNR.

And to answer your other question:

Yes, yes, yes!!!!! As much as gate agents may not like premiers, the computer system does everything by status...the higher your status the better chance you have for anything....upgrades, standby, volunteering to be bumped, etc. Unfortunately for us, the computer does not force the gate agent to go by those lists, but they are supposed to....with a few exceptions.

-Mike

Edited to fix bold issues...

[This message has been edited by mbflyflyaway (edited 07-09-2002).]

BoulderHyattHopper

Thanks again Mike! Great answers, incredible thread. I am sure others will think of more interesting questions for you!

BoulderHyattHopper

Mike, prepare to be very busy typing answers!

aisleorwindow

Thanks again for the info. Here's an interesting question: Have you ever seen or heard of people trying to bribe an agent to get on a flight: "here's a twenty, make sure my standby clears" that type of situation?
Don't get me wrong, I would NEVER do this, just interested as I've heard of people doing this in Mexico City and other airports.

mbflyflyaway

I have never heard of that, but it doesn't surprise me. Personally, I wouldn't accept it...but that's not to say another agent couldn't be swayed....

JohnnyP

Which brings up a good question! What exactly can an angry gate agent do or mark up in your PNR? What kind of examples have you seen in PNRs that you have pulled up?

mbflyflyaway

That is a great question. Gate agents can put anything in your PNR that they want. Generally, the kind of comments that I've seen in PNR's or put in myself included info about the pax that would be useful to any other station that may have to deal with that pax...good or bad...for instance, once we had a pax who was demanding (in a nice way) compensation for being disserviced by UA. Of course UAX and UA are different companies, so we weren't authorized to give compensation if it's not our fault (silly rule, I know). Looking in her PNR however, I discovered that according to an agent at an upline station, she was verbally abusive, cursing at everyone and everything and was what we call an FTC...Failure To Comply, meaning she probably showed up late for her flight...which of course means the airline doesn't have to do anything for her....of course the upline agent could have made it all up, but it's kind of a pain to add a lot of stuff to a PNR so I doubt s/he was lying. Now if something happened beyond a pax's control, and it could affect the rest of his/her flights, that's another reason to put a note in the PNR....remember, this is also where special comments like meal choices and wheelchair requests go. So it's not for all bad stuff....

-Mike