I fail to understand why airline reservations agents cannot do simple things like search for award availability.
Today I called American Airlines about an award reservation on Cathay Pacific. I had already verified first class inventory on British Airway’s (horrible) mileage redemption page and simply desired to quickly put a reservation on hold using AA miles.
By the tone of her voice and lack of a simple “hello,” the lady who answered the call was not in a pleasant mood—that should have been a signal for me to hang up and try again. But I asked her to search for the award space I wanted and she tapped away on her keyboard for a few moments then came back and told me there was no availability.
I asked her to take a look again because the award space was definitely there (unless AA has suddenly started blocking partner space). Nope. No space available according to her.
Fine. I hung up and called back, reaching a woman who pleasantly greeted me. I told her the dates I wanted to travel and the flights I wanted and sure enough, she quickly found the space and reserved the ticket.
The same thing happens from time to time on Delta, US Airways, and United. But I cannot explain why. Can anyone explain why? Poor training? Just laziness? Searching for award space on a specific airline on a specific date at a specific time is a rather elementary task. It should not have taken two calls today to book my flight.
Inevitably it is a combination of disinterest, annoyance with their job, lack of tact & “the American way.” I know I have said this in the past, but I’ll say it again… there is something to be said (and praised) about consistency. When I lived in Australia, I had a totally consistent experience with not only airlines, but hotels, car rental agencies, grocery stores, banks, and more. Initially I was upset. I was accustomed to the “flexibility” we Americans have experienced, demanded & expected of every company we encounter. Fortunately, non-U.S. companies are more realistic as I’m sure you’ve experienced in Germany. I got such a wake up call in Australia with my encounters that I’m now living in a such a unusual state of being that I KNOW depending where I am in the world what I can or cannot expect when I call a company. I hate it (and love it).
So, you’ve found yourself in the same situation. I know you’re incredibly sharp and knew to hang up and call again, and I’m glad you did. It’s sad, really, that we have to do that and I’m sorry for all the people who don’t know any better and take that first phone call as gospel. I’ve gone on a soapbox tonight and that’s fine. I just hate to read about another ridiculous experience anyone has had in this country based on our “customs.” Congrats on getting your award space and I hope everyone takes a lesson from your post & hangs up to call another agent if they aren’t satisfied with the first call.
I think it was more someone who was too lazy to even verify that they typed the correct thing in. With these systems, it is easy to mistype something, and it still be a valid query. Thus she entered a valid query with no results, just forgetting the (minor) detail that the query entered was not the query you wanted.