It’s one of the unavoidable realities of airline customer service that three agents will often give you three different answers to the same question. But I recently discovered a more rare phenomenon: Dozens of agents consistently doing something the wrong way. Was it lack of knowledge or deliberately ignoring the rules?
Before I continue, let me say that there are numerous superb airline agents to whom I’m grateful for unknowingly teaching me the ropes of the complex air travel system for years by satisfying my insatiable curiosity. I’ve also praised U.S. agents for handling rebooking during irregular operations better than their colleagues at foreign airlines.
As with any profession or company, all agents undergo various levels of training and professional development. It’s only human that they don’t remember everything they are taught, as long as they know where to find the answer when they need it. It’s also natural that different agents remember certain parts of the material better than others.
However, the examples of agents convinced they have the right answer when they don’t — and not bothering to check it — are more than I care to count. One of the most common is not knowing the rules of airport business lounge access, and turning away customers who have every right to be there. That happened to me last month in Phoenix, where an agent called a supervisor who agreed with her. Of course, I asked to speak with the supervisor, and when he arrived, all he had to do was read the rules taped on the agent’s desk — then he told me I was right.
Now that I know the system inside out and teach seminars about it — I’ve been told by reservations supervisors that I know much more than most of their agents — I’ve learned how to straighten out an ignorant agent politely and as patiently as time allows. Sometimes, if they are stubborn and I know they are wrong, I resort to one of my cardinal rules: Hang up and call again.
But it turns out there was something even I wasn’t aware of — because no agent I’ve dealt with has ever done it correctly.
In April, I wrote about the numerous airline schedule changes that significantly affect customers’ travel plans and waste them — as well as airline employees — considerable amount of time. One of the issues when a flight is taken off the schedule or you misconnect is what happens to your upgrade.
As regular readers of this column know, I mostly fly on United Airlines, because I’ve had top elite status (1K) for a decade. This year alone, I’ve had dozens of serious schedule changes that have necessitated rebooking and rerouting. If an upgrade has been previously confirmed, the United system automatically rebooks you in the upgraded class — the codes are NF for First Class and NC for Business — even if there is no upgrade space on your new flight.
This is all done by a computer, without human intervention. Very often, however, I don’t like the new routing the system has suggested, so I call reservations to get booked on more sensible flights. For years, agents have said, “We can put you on that flight, but you’d be waitlisted for the upgrade.” Not one, including supervisors, has ever offered to open up an upgrade seat, even when the cabin was completely empty.
Last week, I happened to look at the so-called Rule 260, which governs schedule changes, for a different purpose. I was surprised to read the following under “Protection guidelines” (SD refers to service director, the first supervisory level):
UPGRADED PSGRS AFFECTED BY A SCHEDULE CHANGE SHOULD BE PROTECTED IN THE UPGRADED CLASS IF AVAILABLE.
IF NF/NC IS NOT AVAILABLE — PROTECT CUSTOMER IN F/C IF AVAILABLE AND CONTACT SD FOR CONVERSION.
So as long as the airline is still selling revenue seats in the premium cabin, you are entitled to your upgrade, even if upgrade space is currently not available. In essence, a seat should be opened up for you, provided you had a confirmed upgrade on your original flight that was affected by the schedule change.
When I saw this rule, I called United to clear a waitlist I’d been put on after a schedule change a week earlier. The agent sounded unaware of the rule, but he found it on his computer, booked an F seat and called a service director to convert it to NF, as instructed in Rule 260.
Is it possible that no agent knew about this? Could it be that their training doesn’t cover this particular detail? If it does, are they told not to offer such protection to customers proactively?
When I asked those questions, I was told that agents should know the rule — and that a message was sent to the service director who had waitlisted me the week before to make sure she knows the right procedure.
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Continue reading about The peculiarities of airline agent training
It has been more than seven months since the new U.S. Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) has been mandatory for airlines that fly citizens of visa-waiver countries to the United States. Yet some carriers’ computer systems are reportedly experiencing serious problems, resulting in denied boarding for travelers with valid ESTAs.
Last week, I received a disturbing e-mail message from an Austrian citizen who had read my previous coverage of ESTA issues. On July 5, she wasn’t allowed on a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight from Stockholm to Chicago, for which the carrier blamed problems with the passenger’s ESTA.
In fact, the customer, who asked that her name not be used because she hasn’t yet resolved the matter with SAS, had a valid ESTA on which she had previously traveled to the United States. The validity was confirmed by my sources at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the federal agency in Washington that administers ESTA.
There were no signs of any problems when the passenger checked in at the SAS counter in Stockholm, according to her account. Her boarding pass, a copy of which she sent me, clearly shows “API OK,” which means that all necessary documentation was in order. However, when the boarding pass was scanned at the gate, it produced a sound indicating that not everything was actually in order.
She was then sent to a customer-service counter, where only one agent was equipped to handle ESTA issues, and she had to wait in line — with her flight already boarding. A German citizen in front of her in the queue had the same problem, but the agent was able to request a new ESTA for him that was instantly approved, and the SAS system was able to establish a link with the ESTA system and issue a boarding pass.
But the Austrian traveler had no such luck. No fewer than six new ESTA requests were approved as soon as the agent submitted them, but the SAS computer was never able to link them to the airline’s boarding system.
The passenger missed her flight and was told that no seats were available to the United States for the next two weeks. Her “dream vacation,” as she called it, which had taken weeks to plan, never happened. SAS refunded the miles she had used for the award ticket, as well as the money paid for taxes, but she claims she lost about $2,500 in non-refundable domestic U.S. airline tickets, and hotel, rental car and tour reservations.
SAS has yet to respond to her letters, but that’s not what she’s most worried about.
“What makes me angry is that they are obviously having problems with passengers traveling on [non-Scandinavian] passports and have not bothered to do anything about it — not even a simple measure, such as asking these people to show up at the boarding gate a little earlier to settle things,” the Austrian passenger said.
I e-mailed SAS spokeswoman Elisabeth Manzi in Stockholm asking whether the carrier was aware of the problem and if it’s doing anything to fix it. Instead of responding, Manzi forwarded my message to Martina Vercellini, a customer-relations representative in Frankfurt, who wrote me that she would contact the Austrian traveler directly. It’s not clear why SAS hasn’t done so seven weeks after the incident.
Still, as the passenger suggested, the problem is bigger than her. “Now I’m wondering how to avoid similar problems in the future,” she said. “For my next trip to the U.S., I’m very much leaning towards getting a visa beforehand, whether it is necessary or not” — and despite the $140 visa application fee.
On Sept. 8, DHS will start charging ESTA applicants $14 — $10 for the new Congress-mandated U.S. “travel promotion” initiative, and $4 to “recover the costs incurred [for] providing and administering the ESTA system.” Perhaps DHS could make sure that airlines are capable of verifying the validity and authenticity of an ESTA, so fee-paying travelers aren’t denied boarding for no good reason.
It’s important for passengers to know that each ESTA is linked to the passport for which the ESTA was originally requested, so if you get a new passport, you also need to apply for a new ESTA. That wasn’t the case with the Austrian citizen — she has had the same and only passport since 2002.
My DHS sources also told me that tens of thousands of people are applying for an ESTA every day. If you want to beat the $14 fee, make sure you apply before Sept. 8 — an ESTA is valid for two years, so it makes sense to do it if you plan at least one U.S. visit in that period.
Many travelers consider ESTA a de facto visa — except that it’s much cheaper and faster to get than a regular visa, for which you have to be interviewed by a U.S. consular officer, wait in long lines and sometimes travel long distances from your hometown.
Currently, 36 countries participate in the visa-waiver program, but that number can change at any time, as their qualification is reviewed periodically. To be eligible for an ESTA, you must stay in the U.S. no longer than 90 days and possess a machine-readable passport. Other passport security features also apply, depending on the issuing country.
Just like with a visa stamped in your passport, holding a valid ESTA doesn’t guarantee you admission to the United States, which is at the discretion of the immigration officers at the point of entry.
However, if you have a valid ESTA linked to the passport you are traveling on, and no warning has been issued by the U.S. authorities against you, airlines should be able to verify that and let you on the flight you’ve paid for.
Related stories:
Airline agents make up U.S. entry rules
U.S. visa-free travel comes with strings
The observation that everybody is a TV critic was made a long time ago, but in the last few years I’ve also noticed that most people think they know how to travel — both how to book a trip and how to handle all aspects of the journey.
At the same time, we keep hearing and reading horror stories about mistreated and overcharged passengers, ruined vacations, missed weddings or funerals. Those tales often end with the affected travelers’ solemn pledge never to fly the airline that wronged them again. But are the airlines the only ones to blame or should travelers share at least part of the responsibility?
Having flown almost 2 million miles and visited more than 80 countries, I’ve seen it all –- airline agents who offer completely different answers to the same questions, and others who simply make up rules to avoid dealing with an issue; flight attendants whose dislike for their job is evident in everything they do on board; rude and demanding passengers who fail to recognize when an airline employee actually does them a favor… MORE
Continue reading about Time for travel school — you are invited
Have you been surprised to discover that your flight itinerary has little to do with your originally booked routing or departure and arrival times? Did you accept the changes, even though you didn’t like them? Next time, you could probably do better.
Schedule changes — those made by airline planning departments in advance, not those resulting from irregular operations — have always existed in the industry, but they used to be relatively rare and caused few major disruptions.
In recent years, however, they have become so common that I’m actually surprised when a week passes without changes in any of my future trips — I usually have about a half-dozen booked at a time…
Continue reading about Flight schedule changes overwhelm agents, travelers
Have you been accused by airline agents of trying to “game the system” by asking if they could open up for mileage redemption seats they obviously won’t sell for cash? Now a top airline executive is encouraging fliers to alert agents when the system fails in its predictability, so it can be “tweaked.”
Before you do that, however, make sure you know what you are talking about — learn all booking codes used by the respective carrier, if you haven’t already, and be able to access and understand its inventory data. Just because there are dozens of open business-class seats months before a flight doesn’t mean you are entitled to an upgrade or an “award” ticket.
Still, many frequent fliers have enough knowledge and experience to sense when the yield-management system — the computer software airlines use to predict how a flight will sell — is not working properly. The problem is that most agents are unreceptive when a customer points that out, saying they don’t tell inventory management what to do, because it knows best.
Continue reading about ‘Tweaking’ airlines’ yield management
