Who you deal with on the phone when you call an airline matters greatly, even when you have elite status. A recent pair of interactions with United Airlines demonstrates this vividly.
Two United Airlines 1K Phone Agents: Two Very Different Outcomes
1K is United’s top-tier published status, given to passengers who fly quite a bit and spend quite a bit on their United tickets. One of the perks of travel is dedicated reservation agents with minimal hold times to help with your travel needs.
A 1K Award Expert client encountered a massive schedule change on his award ticket from Croatia back to the United States. And when I say massive, his LOT Polish flight moved back three days! That hardly works when you are on a cruise ship…
In these situations, when no other “saver” award space exists, United will typically open up a saver seat on its own metal. So, for example, instead of flying LOT Polish from Dubrovnik to Warsaw to Chicago you might be rebooked on Lufthansa from Dubrovnik to Frankfurt (assuming award space is available) and then United from Frankfurt to Chicago. Even if the United flight shows no saver space, United’s support desk can open up a seat since the change you are making is actually involuntary.
I thought it would be a quick phone call to make this change. But when we called, the 1K agent who answered very politely but very firmly said there was nothing she could do. Our conversation went something like this after I suggested the itinerary:
Agent: “I’m so sorry. I’ve looked at space and see nothing at the saver level.”
Me: “Sure, but let’s look at opening a seat on a United flight.”
Agent: “No, they don’t allow that.”
Me: “Would you mind at least trying?”
Agent: “It’s just not possible. I’m sorry. The only thing I can do is refund the ticket.”
Me: “No, no. Let’s leave it alone and hope that saver space opens later.”
So helpful, so very helpful…what an intolerable level of apathy that evidences poor training and a lack of customer service.
We called again. This time, the interaction was very different. Once again, I specified which itinerary would be acceptable and asked if she could open up a saver seat on United due to the scheduled change. 20 minutes later (it apparently took some time to reach her support desk) it was done.
Such different outcomes are not uncommon: you really have to discern if your agent is willing to help or not. I was very kind with the first agent and did not argue at all, for fear she would leave a negative note in the record. Be careful not to argue, as negative notes can make your life much more difficult (agents seem to back-up the previous agent by default when it is documented).
CONCLUSION
Even with top tier status, the agent you speak to matters. Imagine if an unexperienced traveler just allowed the first agent to cancel the reservation. There was no other space – the traveler would be left with nothing and United would be off the hook. And of course this scenario is not unique to United Airlines (as we saw yesterday with American Airlines). So if you don’t get the answer you are looking for from your reservations agents, remain kind and calm, hang up, and try again.
This happens so often I wish they would just publish the policy. Sure, there’s the agency reference leaked here and there, but it doesn’t apply to awards…
I don’t believe there is an official policy and I think that is quite deliberate. That gray area gives agents wiggle room to help, but does not obligate United (or any airline) to do anything.
Calling the airline has been really hit or miss these days even having status. I bought a La Premiere ticket the other day to Paris and needed to change the days. LP fares are refundable and changeable, but this AF rep said that I had to pay a cancellation fee. Called them again and they apologized and offered a $200 voucher for the inconvenience and changed the dates of my flight.
You got an agent on the phone? I am impressed as even with the AA EXP phone number…I have to leave my number for a two to four hour wait for a call back.
“Be careful not to argue, as negative notes can make your life much more difficult (agents seem to back-up the previous agent by default when it is documented).”
So much for free market capitalism. The customer adraid of the business.
You’ll have to help me understand what this has to do with capitalism. Capitalism centers on private ownership rather than state ownership or control. It’s also a give and take with a company…both consumer and business have some autonomy to make choices they deem best for themselves. I’m not sure what being afraid, when all interests are weighed and considered, speaks to capitalism at all.
There is not enough competition for you to take your business elsewhere. Free market capitalism is founded on the belief that intense competition will make sure customer focused businesses rise and all others either change quickly or lose business.
We have entrenched oligopoly in many areas. Busineses are not afraid of providing bad customer service because customers have no other option. Both parties are corrupt and have allowed this to happen.
I get your point and don’t just dismiss it, but I do have other options – I just find that United works best for me, despite the shortcomings. I’m not sure capitalism has ever performed under that ideal model.
Something similar just happened to my partner on DL. He’s Diamond Medallion and has a 6+ hour layover in ATL connecting to a domestic let from a TATL leg (because DL still can’t get their scheduling shit together “because of Covid”). Partner calls to see if he can change his domestic connection to the earlier flight that incurs only a 1.5-hour layover because, let’s be honest, Delta SkyClubs are nice for about 2 hours, max, right now as they’re overcrowded and generally pretty crappy. Definitely not an experience anyone wants for 6+ hours.
First agent tells him there’s a fare difference of $800. He looks to book it directly to confirm open seats and sees that he could buy the flight itself for $800 *and* put himself into Premium Select. He knows something’s fishy and that Agent #1 just doesn’t know what she’s doing/talking about. He does a HUCA, and second agent not only changes the flight but confirms him immediately into Premium Select for free without using a GUC.
I don’t know if agents these days are just plain stupid, willfully angry/unhelpful, or both. But the difference between one agent to the next is enormous. And, sadly, more often than not they’re more and more just mean and stupid and want to choose laziness over actual customer service.
@DCAWABN Absolutely correct! These business travelers getting more mean and stupid by the hour.
Nice post overall, thank you. Re: “remain kind and clam[sic], hang up, and try again”, aside from the probable typo, excellent advice. HUCA, the 1st or 2nd rule of FFdom, should also be the 1st or 2nd rule almost everywhere. Re: “So much for free market capitalism. The customer adraid[sic] of the business.”, agreed. The customer is no longer “always right”, population is larger without a corresponding increase in the number of airlines (or many other businesses) so there’s much less competition and they no longer choose to cater to (potential) repeat customers, they’re confident there are enough first timers and others who accept poor service to fill their planes. I think of it as part of the end of “American exceptionalism” and the start of “American mediocrity”.
HUCA is the name of the game
Not if he call takes 2 hours to start with
Actually, Matthew, I owe you a drink for this article. I have a flight today beginning on another carrier (that shall remain AK) continuing on UA. I couldn’t check in with UA even after checking in for the first flight. I totally forgot about the 1K dedicated line. So I called it, spent only a minute on hold, and got everything settled in a couple of minutes. Guess I got lucky with the rep, no HUTA needed. So sometimes the system works.
It’s every airline. The real world training of actual needs beyond A to B is non existent. It’s the root of maybe half the issues at airlines today. Employees are handcuffed and poorly informed.
Passengers have also become extremely entitled in recent years. People have not experienced Karens on elephant dose steroids until they’ve worked the phones at an airline.
I have honestly been the MOST impressed with United 1k Customer Service this past year more than any other year. I’ve had to call a lot bc of my own schedule changes and plans, and had universally kind and helpful experiences with zero wait. Versus my business partner who is Delta Diamond and has had multiple horrible experiences with Delta’s special line and wait times of hours. Both of us having flown our respective preferred alliances for almost 20 years. I would normally say Delta charges the high prices bc of their better service and seats but now with almost universal Polaris and this experience this year, I gotta say- I might have converted him to the evil alliance.
Had a similar experience with BA where I’m lifetime emerald / gold. First agent said ,yes but rules allow for a charge (hugem.and this was for a paid ticket). Isaod several times the charge was a result of a BA schedule change and could he please look at it to avoid very, very high risk of a missed connection. I finally politely told the agent that I didn’t want to take up more of his time and could he please connect me with a supervisor. He said no he would not because his ‘supervisor cannot do anything more than he could. ‘ I politely asked him, what’s the point of having a supervisor if they habe no additional authority. Silence, followed by continued refusal to pass my call on. I just said goodbye and hung up. Waited about 10 minutes, tried again, got the fix needed and zero issues
Having to call is awful…I have been able to handle all of my changes for the last two years by sending a message on facebook or using the chat within the united app. It’s been amazing never having to sit on hold and generally getting better service because it’s all in writing. Especially when a flight changes I’ve been able to get the new flight I wanted 100% of the time. I am 1K, but I am not sure if that helps when I send a message or not, it doesn’t get me to the front of the line since they usually know nothing about me when I make the first contact.
Is this policy generally only for 1Ks? I had an award ticket booked with MileagePlus and Ethiopian cancelled the transoceanic segment. I called, and got a very helpful agent, who I believe talked to this desk, and was able to route me through LHR on UA metal, but would only give me the IAD-LHR segment in Y. I explained to him that this wasn’t really a very good substitute, and he seemed to think there was nothing he could do, so I just cancelled the whole thing and refunded the miles. Should I have kept trying?
This post X 1000000.
Spoke with AA a few days ago to get a voucher for a cancelled flight. First agent says it wasn’t eligible for a voucher (came up with some BS excuse), next agent issued it right away.
I’m 1k and once was quoted $16k to move up an Austin to Houston flight as I was worried weather delays would mean I’d miss my connection for London. Instead I went to the airport early and the awesome check-in agent (Stewart) changed it immediately for me at no cost. Agree always be polite but definitely don’t accept a daft first answer.
I had an experienced AA agent once open up lax to Sydney on AA metal for my wife and two kids. Was unbelievable. The week before Christmas too (2018). They had an award booked using aa miles on aa to Vancouver then Qantas on to Sydney. When the flight schedule changed it added a stopover in Dallas and a 5 hour wait.
She put me on hold and said “how about direct to lax then aa to Sydney with no change fee”. I asked if it was in economy but nope it was business. Unbelievable!!!! Is that even possible?! Of course there were zero award seats available online.
I sent a dm to United inquiring about changing to an earlier flight from FRA to IAD. A quick reminder a couple hours later. A phone call with an agent who could not have been less helpful. Finally, I just gave up and changed my plans to accommodate the later flight. united responds by DM 8 hours later with incorrect information.
I’m only a lowly lifetime * Gold.
Had a very similar situation with Delta the other day. Had 4 Delta One seats using Global upgrades from paid international premium select. We were flying MSP to AMS and on a separate ticket AMS to Milan. For personal reasons at the last minute we thought it would be better for us to fly from the US directly to Italy so I called the Diamond line to see what my options were. That was 1 day before our trip. The fantastic agent found MSP-JFK-MXP which would get us in Italy way faster. I then mentioned to her that would probably cost me an arm and a leg and she probably did not have Delta One available for using Global upgrades. She stopped me and said: “You are a million miller and one of very important customers so don’t even worry about anything. It won’t cost you anything in money or miles and I will make sure you all fly in Delta One”. I had to double check one final thing before making the change and she basically booked a new reservation for all of us on the new itinerary and kept the original intact. She told me I could call back within a couple hours and decide which one I wanted. Now, that is what I call customer service.
Interesting. Where was the first agent located and where was the second?
I hope they’re not from Chicago. It’s a place United should provide flights but not locate their corporate identity. The time for Chicago is past.
This was a situation where alternatives did not exist within a drop dead time frame, intentionally I guess.
I can’t say it doesn’t matter who you chance to talk to because it does matter. Even when a high paying customer is involved, some people want to help and some do not.
On the airplane the crew gets a list of who is paying great revenue to the airline. Those passengers knew they were royal and expected appropriate treatment. They usually get it.
I kind of think it was Chicago based upon the Midwest accent…which is so typical. You either get really good ones or ones like this who are generally polite, but unwilling to lift a finger for you.
This is so true. It’s important to know when to retreat and call back. I recently tried to change the outbound city on an award ticket. Instead of departing DEN, I wanted to switch to SEA flight to DEN to connect with same itinerary on award. Agent said she couldn’t do it unless she booked each ticket leg separately at almost 500K award miles claiming the issue was award space on a partner airline (although separate ticket award was ok). I ended up paying to fly to DEN and leaving ticket as is because this agent changed the return portion successfully.
Love your blog Matthew but can you rein in the ads a bit please? On my phone the text continually jumps around (mostly down, sometimes up as ads change sizes) and it makes it difficult to read as I keep having to re-find my place.
I know you need to make your daily nut but darn it’s frustrating. Any chance you can find me a seat on a blog version with less ads please?
Just before Covid I was in Shanghai and Air China lost some luggage. I called UA since I was on their ticket. I am a Million Miler and was on a BC ticket. First phone call got me nowhere. Second phone call got me transferred to a UA baggage specialist in Houston who was able to tell me where Air China lost the luggage, what container it was in, and when, exactly the luggage would arrive at SEA. He was spot on. Knowing the system and some luck helped!!
A few years ago when I was GS on UA, my wife and I had an award ticket from SYD-MUC booked with Air China connecting to Lufthansa. Air China canceled the flight to Shanghai around 3 months before departure. A call to the GS desk and the rep opened space from SYD-LAX-IAH-MUC. Yes, it was the long was home, but we still got home when there were “no other saver” options available.
A smart agent writes a summary of your call in your reservation, to which other agents can add.
So if you’re a Karen, the next agent will know before you even open your mouth. You typically don’t start “fresh” with every new agent.
Right, but the lazy ones don’t. Key is not to agitate them…
Sometimes, its OK to grovel while in a conversation with an agent as follows:
Had a large cash credit with AA. Requested that credit be spread among two tickets (me and travel partner). While in pursuit of double ticket, I cried, I moaned, I groaned, and I whined like a 3rd grader. Just to get my ass off the phone, the agent gave me the two tickets. However, the agent had the last word by returning the remaining credit in the name of my travel partner who sucked it up in a subsequent trip…
Moral of Story: Be careful of what you ask for, you just might get it!!
Thanks for covering this Matthew. I am trying to book a complicated award ticket as a United 1K and there’s a ton of phantom inventory. Some agents are helpful and others are dismissive. But I’m super nice to all of them.
I’ve had 1K phone agents who quote 500k or million miles and then aren’t even willing to look at the website where it’s priced far less. Apparently, the website belongs to some other United Airlines and is some else’s problem. Best to politely hang up and call again.