I will be more productive when.......

[tadjr]

To anyone in rez in the know or who knows someone in the know.....how much longer are we going to have MNL REZ around?
I spent about 15 mins tonight after the counter closed (you can buy your ticket until midnight, but we arent open til midnight, ok?) trying to get a Manila frequent flyer rez taken care of. Someone was very polite (he said) and made the rez and then told him he had to come to the airport to pick up his paper ticket (codeshare on Big Sky).
1) TL1159PM/21JUL is not a time limit for an award ticket. It wasnt set up to go on queue, so of course its not there to "give him".
2) We no longer do FF ticketing at the airport (NO PAPER TICKETING AT THE AIRPORT) someone plz tell Manila this.
3) No FF number ANYWHERE....ANYWHERE in the rez. Kind of hard to do a FF award ticket with no FF number in the record, huh?

The poor guy came to the airport and got one of the new agents and (even she knows no paper FF ticketing at the airport), gave him rez number to get it taken care of. They send him back to the counter again. I finally get him. Spent 5 mins (!!!! ONLY 5 mins) waiting for someone at inhouse number to answer. She says hold, click, disconnect. I knew it was going to happen. Call back, another couple of minutes I get someone... please dont transfer me. Rez set up record wrong, all I need is for you to take the info needed to set it up, put it on queue correctly so the ticket can get ticketed and mailed to him please, please, pretty please. Finally someone who knew what she was doing, a couple mins, a credit card number, advised ticket would be sent, done. Only about 15 minutes for something that should have been handled from the start. The customer should NOT have been told or had to come to the airport at any time for this ticket.

Also, someone tell the outsourced NO UMNRS on connections! They actually book it with the UMNR header and all and tell them to go to the airport to pay and take care of the paperwork. NO UMNRS on conx!

Sometimes I think we'd be better off with a longer wait time for rez and no outsourced dealings. I know we are going to have a learning curve with our own new hires, but I feel there would be better control over the quality of work being done. I pass on the info to the manager and I'm sure it gets sent right to Manila for discussion with the agent.

Anyone else have any "productive" transactions recently? h34r:

 

[bookmdano]

Don't feel bad tadjr. I asked to speak to a supervisor and one of the MNL agents hung-up on me. Another one said "we don't have supervisors". Another one said that she wouldn't connect me through until I told her what the problem was. I won't be calling back.

 

[REACC1]

I have called res and got simular results. I've been documenting records with simular rez errors and saving them in a file to turn into the sta mgr. Encouraging other agents to do the same. In house can't happen fast enough. This is senseless abuse to either side of the counter. I wonder, who thought this outsourcing was a good idea?
Should be demoted to ticket agent. It would be just.

 

[BoeingBoy]

I wonder, who thought this outsourcing was a good idea?
Should be demoted to ticket agent. It would be just.

Unfortunately, they either pulled the ripcords on their golden parachutes and moved on to bigger and better things or stayed around to feed at the new trough.

As I recall, it was USA320Pilot who once reported that Lakefield told the ALPA MEC that senior management was making short-term decisions necessary to keep the doors open regardless of the long-term cost. This is one of those areas where we're still paying that long-term cost.....

Jim

 

[SegmentKing]

Tad,

I'm right there with you. When I was in EYW, I would spend probably a good 5 to 6 hours a week fixing overseas rez errors.

Like the time I got a customer going to Hunstville, Alabama but was booked to Huntington, West Virginia

... Charlotte booked to Charlottesville VA

... Newark booked to New Burn NC

... London UK booked to New York LaGuardia

... unticketed dividend miles tickets

... US1/2/3 upgrades booked in full "F"

... people booked during the completely WRONG month

 

[PhxMama]

I would love to say its a Manilla but its not. Rez on west is hiring as quick as they can and pushing agents thru initial training and sending them to depts they are in no way capable of handling. I believe from what I have heard about the hangups that its more of a fon system problem than anything else. Apparently, the fon trunks arent big enough to handle the calls and expecially on xfers calls are being dropped. I dont know all the technical jargon but thats the gist of it. CSD on east is another story. What exactly do they do? When asked to take calls due to system errors on west side and inability to process request, they REFUSE to take calls. We are told to xfer to Manilla. Now mind you the custtomer has been on hold calling in and then with agent contacting both CSD's for input and then agent is being told NO I wont help? How about in the name of customer service so agent is confident the problem will be resolved and no further calls by customer would be required? West CSD has NEVER refused a call and it is not allowed. CSD is a HELP DESK. We are starting to ask east CSD "Are you are refusing to give customer service to our passengers? " We are starting to take names and agent sins. If we could process request we would and we wouldnt need to call east CSD. In fact we wish we didnt have to!!! Both sides rez east and west are falling apart and no one cares, just blame Manilla for everything, yeah thats the tkt!

 

[NCYankee]

ICSD on east is another story. What exactly do they do? When asked to take calls due to system errors on west side and inability to process request, they REFUSE to take calls. We are told to xfer to Manilla. Now mind you the custtomer has been on hold calling in and then with agent contacting both CSD's for input and then agent is being told NO I wont help? How about in the name of customer service so agent is confident the problem will be resolved and no further calls by customer would be required? West CSD has NEVER refused a call and it is not allowed. CSD is a HELP DESK. We are starting to ask east CSD "Are you are refusing to give customer service to our passengers? " We are starting to take names and agent sins.

Take names, report situations to your supes, to your managers, heck...email Brad; but a public forum is NOT the place for this. Believe me, perception on the East side is exactly the opposite, and East has horror stories about dealing with West res, as well, , but this isn't the right forum for this discussion!
ps- you're welcome to come to INT and double-jack; I think you'd be surprised!

 

[tadjr]

I would love to say its a Manilla but its not.

I've seen some beauties from inhouse as well (hence a question I posed a couple weeks back), but can feel more confident that those problems will be addressed once the problem gets to the right person to counsel. This one was a Manila deal from the booking city. I am all too familiar with the M and the X.....

 

[REACC1]

Unfortunately, they either pulled the ripcords on their golden parachutes and moved on to bigger and better things or stayed around to feed at the new trough.

As I recall, it was USA320Pilot who once reported that Lakefield told the ALPA MEC that senior management was making short-term decisions necessary to keep the doors open regardless of the long-term cost. This is one of those areas where we're still paying that long-term cost.....

Jim

Seems to be that nothing has changed in respect to short
term decisions in desparation. We know it's been going on
for years and years.
A 'dumpathon', if you will.
Can you imagine the gigantic fireball erupting behind them as they run?
I can.
However, it is in front of me.

 

[noname]

Her name is Kerry Carstairs and she was politely booted to the curb shortly after the merger. So it looks like Christmas came early for you.

You beat me to the answer PB. Unfortunately, the outsourcing fiasco remains while Ms. Carstairs took her toys and moved on. She was a real piece of work. I've never worked with someone who YELLED like she did.

 

[gizmo_sc]

1) TL1159PM/21JUL is not a time limit for an award ticket. IS A VALID TIME LIMIT for any courtesy HOLD. DIVIDEND MILES award travel can be held for 72 HRS. True many MNL agents are on the ball but if you are a PEFERRED MEMBER you should be calling the NUMBER on the BACK OF YOUR CARD and you will not get Manila. We were told a month ago that INT was going to grow to about 1200 agents. We are currently at 600 and no where to sit. If passengers knew more information about their reservations when they called your phone calls to RES would be shorter. We get so many calls they dont know flight # confirmation # ( AKA RECORD LOCATOR) so we spend valuable time searching, only to find OUT the only purpose for the call was to check and see if the UPGRADE was processed. READ YOUR EMAIL !!!! If you are PREFERRED and flying on USAIRWAYS you are suppose to get an email so a call to RES is not needed, check the WEBSITE and pull up your RESERVATION via MY TRIP and check it out. ALSO CUSTOMER RELATIONS should never be called until after your trip has been completed.

 

[ALCARLOS]

If you are PREFERRED and flying on USAIRWAYS you are suppose to get an email so a call to RES is not needed, check the WEBSITE and pull up your RESERVATION via MY TRIP and check it out.

I expect you will be getting fewer calls as the computer systems improve.

 

[dukeman]

READ YOUR EMAIL !!!! If you are PREFERRED and flying on USAIRWAYS you are suppose to get an email so a call to RES is not needed, check the WEBSITE and pull up your RESERVATION via MY TRIP and check it out.

While this may be the way it is supposed to work, I can tell you it isn't! I have yet to receive an email about an upgrade. I have a trip this coming Wednesday that upgraded and I did not receive anything from US. And to further add to the problem... the new website shows the booking under "my account" but when I click on "view" it produces an error message. No choice but to call. And I think most of the customers that are reading this website know to have their PNR and flights handy when calling. That is one of the best parts of the CP desk in that by entering our DM # and PIN they should know who is on the phone and have our itins pop on the computer. Is this functionality going to be added for the lesser preferred ranks?

 

[PhxMama]

For some reason my computer will not let me respond directly to the response to my post from MR NCYANKEE. Thanks for your response but let met tell you that we have all spoken to our managment team about alot of these issues and no one cares. I know who Brad is but do you think he has taken the time to let west agents know who he is in person? Nope. Do you think since OCT no one has let them know what issues we have been dealing with???? Have they done anything???? West rez sups leave as soon as they are able, have you seen turnover in managment and agents?? Did I start this thread about US agents?? NO, but I did respond with the fact the BOTH sides have issues. Did I not say west agents are working in depts they should not be in?? These same complaints have been on this board since OCT and will be on this board until they fix ALL rez. The US website sucks causing everyone grief. Should I not say that on a public forum and email someone who will NOT do anything about it? This board not only shares info but allows those of us to vent who have gotten nowhere with our management. We know there are problems on your side too and has anyone done anything about it?? The bottom line is that we need to work together to help our customers however we can, east and west. By the way this is a freaking message board and if you dont want to read what we have to say then stay away. Its not like we're giving out double agent secrets and passing off highly classified info. But maybe if someone reads it who can do something than so much the better for everyone involved.

 

[ALCARLOS]

Is there any possibility they just don't have the Technology Skills or even know how to hire for them? Seems to me that they would really want the web site fixed if they were able. I assume since they are profitable they could invest here, it whould provide a nice rate of return.

I would really like to hear comments for those in the web business.