anthro

I don't know what to do... yesterday I called US Airways to use up some orphan Dividend Miles in my husbands account. I spent more than half an hour on the phone and managed to reserve SFO-NYC Nov 21st the NCY via Philly to UVF in St. Lucia Nov 26th, returning UVF via Charlotte to SFO Dec 3rd. I was very pleased with the reservation.

When I called back today the agent couldn't find my record locator but I was sure he's be able to find our reservation when I gave him the flight times etc. That proved to be too optomistic...the entire reservation was gone...in fact I think it was probably fictive to begin with. The supervisor told me there are idiots working there and that there was really nothing he could do as there is no availability in economy on these flights. He tried to put me through to the customer service line...of course they were closed.

I called back and spoke to another supervisor who assured me he would put in a complaint and that I should call the customer service number tomorrow. The supervisors were pleasant but ineffective. They didn't seem at all surprised that I has had this problem and were certain it was agent error...how often is this happening over at US Air...no body seemed a bit surprised?

I'm Premier at United and should make Prem Exec this year..I've never had this type of problem with United or AA and I've redeemed lots of complex ff itineraries. What's up with US Air and what would you recommend? I've already wasted over an hour on this today and I'm very irritated.

Many thanks.

PHL

What kind of routing/award ticket is that? You're going from point A-B, layover 5 days, then point B-C, layover a week, then point C back to A. I didn't think you could do that kind of a routing on a basic award ticket unless you were doing some kind of Star Award?

anthro

As you suggest you can do a stopover or an open jaw on a * Alliance award...the agent told me it was an all US AIR itinerary but it was 70,000 miles for two people. I presummed this meant it was ticketed as a * Alliance itinerary to allow for the stopover.

anthro

Just looked at your post more carefully and would like to point out there is only one stopover...sfo...stopover in NYC and then St Lucia (UVF)- SFO. Charlottle does not count as a stopover as it is less than 24 hours and the only possible routing. getting from the west coast to the Caribbean is tortuous!

NeoOfTheCRS

Did you get a record locator? I have had similar situations before. Two rules:

1.) Always get a record locator BEFORE you hang up

2.) Again, before you hang up, plug the record locator into www.virtuallythere.com and review the reservation BEFORE you hang up

Your post reminds me of the time a US agent booked me to Portland, ME when I asked for Portland, Oregon.

If you had no record--you never had a ticket or anything!!!

anthro

Thanks for the advice...I did of course have a record locator number before I hung up...the presumption that I made was that it meant something!

I have faxed USAirways customer service and emailed them...I'll see what they have to say when they open on Monday.

anthro

I've just got off the phone with USAirways and I'm impressed with the effort they made. They too were baffled that I was given a record locator that didnn't exisit. In addition it's an invalid routing!

The agent worked with me and although there were no available award seats he asked to have seats opened up bringing us in and out of Philly. We'll drive to NY with family or fly from Philly to NYC return.

All in all I was impressed with the effort they made...though I would have loved the flights through NYC.

PineyBob

This to me is further indication that the percieved panecea of outsourcing critical customer contact positions is just that. PERCIEVED and not reality.

The single largest waste of money both in cash out and in opportunity cost is rework. Simply put you do the work twice and get paid once. Plus the time spent in doing the work a second time is time that could have been used to generate new revenue.

Yet another fine example of the wit and wisdom of CCY. No doubt more of the vaunted management teams "Business Acumen" at work

KevAZ

Actually have been in the outsourcing business for years. The problem usually is a poorly managed company that outsourced that doesn't provide process documentation (because they have no formal processes or procedures!) and the outsourcer is left to figure it out. Yes, sometimes the customer will go with the very cheapest outsourcer who cuts costs to the point of hurting service. Most of the time it's the company outsourcing that's the problem, and it wouldn't be any better if they kept customer service in house.

Prior to working in outsourcing I was in consulting and as a third party I saw this as an issue and decided I could make a difference by educating companies before they outsourced.

I managed call centers before consulting and we didn't outsource because we had a competitive advantage in customer service and knew exactly what the cost/benefit ratio was. We were named the top call center in the world by several organizations and periodicals across all industries. I don't see airlines doing this due to cost. Self service on the web and IVR is where they can create a competitive difference.

PineyBob

From 1985 to 1992 I sold outsourcing services as well. It was a narrow niche to be sure but outsourcing none the less and I couldn't agree more with your above comments as they support my point.

Done right outsourcing can and is often a real time/money saver and even a value add in some instances. But remember we're talking US Airways here not a well managed company. So I think the part of your post that I quoted sums things up rather well don't you?

KevAZ

Yep!