Have you ever had a phone call with an airline that left you smiling? I just did with American Airlines.
I know most calls to airlines, including American, are painless at best and excruciatingly annoying at worst. It is quite rare to exchange anything more than pleasantries with the agent on the other end, especially noting how bad call center hold times can be.
For example, I called British Airways yesterday as well and had to wait 48 minutes to reach an agent. By the time we began speaking, I was in absolutely no mood for small talk. Just book the ticket. Please…
Anyway, I called American Airlines about a schedule change to an Award Expert client’s ticket. He’s flying to Barcelona, then taking a Mediterranean cruise to Rome before flying home. The agent asked if this was a cruise and when I said yes, she began speaking…a mile a minute…about how she and her husband did the same cruise last summer.
She told me about the excursions, the food, the cities she visited, and warned me about the intense June heat. She begged me to bring a sun umbrella. Honestly, even though I did not learn anything new, I loved the conversation. I wasn’t going to tell her that I already knew to eat where the locals eat or avoid taxi touts…that would have popped her balloon. There was so much joy and passion that I was happy to pause my day for about four minutes and listen to her.
Now maybe American Airlines would far prefer she cut the small talk and move on to the next passenger. Perhaps most passengers do not want to waste even four minutes with small talk. But I truly appreciated her passion and came away with better thoughts about American Airlines.
CONCLUSION
When you have an agent who cares; an agent is not merely going through the motion, you can sense it. And that engenders loyalty. This was a $5,000 business class ticket I was calling about. Maybe she noticed it, maybe she did not. I think she was just interested in the cruise.
Not wanting to risk offending her, I did not have the temerity to ask if she was from the US Airways side…oh how I miss those days.
> Read More: US Airways Call Center Humor
Have you ever had a great conversation with an airline reservations agent over the phone?
image: American Airlines
“I wasn’t going to tell her that I’ve flown to Europe 100+ times and lived there twice in the past…that would have popped her balloon.” what a humble person. u want a cookie or nah?
Didn’t mean that to come across as arrogant, so I removed it. Just wanted to convey that her very basic tips like “eat at local restaurants” or “be careful of taxi touts” were hardly new information.
I’m a bit of an introvert when it comes to travel plans so I HATE to call. But I will say that the Exec Plat desk is usually very good: fast – while also engaging. They and the Admirals Club staff seem to be the best in the AA system for being actually sincere. With that, I would much rather see AA do better in fixing certain aspects of their site to alleviate having to call….like changing your flight on the same day to another day (only allows you to change to another flight on the SAME day now.)
Had some of those with Delta. A lady shared her vacation with her husband to the same location I was booking my trip. She was very efficient since she was working on my reservation while she was talking to me.
Blah blah blah, cool story bro!
But come on, you got lucky..
Surely it’s not a river cruise from Barcelona to Rome? Unless you’re somehow mocking the Med… 🙂
I absolutely love the Alaska Airlines call center staff. They’re pleasant, empathetic and such a joy to speak with. I also love that they have a system to call you back when wait times are particularly high during severe weather events or other factors.
I just had one with an American Airlines agent. I called with a couple of questions regarding booking a frequent flyer award trip online. I knew I would have to pay $30 per ticket for the agent to book it on the phone for me. After asking a couple of questions and expressing some apprehension about booking online he offered to do it for me at no charge. We had a nice conversation and I can’t tell you how much my opinion of airline service changed in one phone call. Kudos to that agent.
As a retired 23 year US Airways passenger service agent (8 yrs in Res), you just made my day. My husband (deceased)worked for the company for 29 years. We lived for the company and our passengers. The front line workers kept the airline running often in difficult times. It was a good ride for a long time!
I really hated American airlines, and the worst of it, is that sometimes you need to stick with the enemy!,
I have been so lucky with about 75% of my United 1k calls answered by incredibly nice and pleasant people who make a joke or appreciate a little chat while they wait for the computer to catch up. I’ve had a couple that were awful/didn’t know what they were doing, but really so much better than when I’ve had to call Delta or worse, the one time I called Iberia. Maybe its a status thing though since I don’t have status with Delta or Iberia.