Is There Any Ato In The Us System That Has A Truly

Dec 21, 2002
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www.usaviation.com
If so, please fess up and tell me/us how some semblance of a decent checking in process is accomplished cuz it ain't happening in my 'hood'. Seriously tho, I don't expect any one to say their station works efficently, but thought I'd try. Share your horror stories here if you like.
:D

The setup at this station is absolutely beyond the scope of horrid every single freeking day. Too many passengers require agent assistance for non-reissued tickets, umnrs, intl pax, paper tks issued by OA, looking up or enter FTP/partner nbrs, gate passes, excess weight bags, you name it,.. kiosks failing left and right for good or no good reason despite PNR/tkt being in order, or every 3rd pax not knowing how to use them or claim they have never seen one in their life, even people who look/act like regular travelers(AND DID NOT OR WERE NOT ENCOURAGED TO USE THEM ON OUTBOUND SO WHY SHOULD THEY USE THEM ON RETURN, they wonder?), requiring the need to go in a 2nd or 3rd cycle and run the process thru for their entire family instead of just one person, or rearranging seats that are spread out all over creation. Then getting pax who need cust svc agent assistance into some semblance of order, as pax in queue for such assistance get furious(rightfully so) when witnessing several cycles of kiosk pax being helped (out of turn) by cust svc agts instead of kiosk agts, all the while up to 3 to 4 thousand people daily(70-95 pct loads) are crisscrossing each other's paths with millions of bags,(many that are excess weight and that got a "free overweight ride" outbound because no one weighed the bag so they're peeved at now having to pay), while there are hardly any cust svc agents behind the counter to handle the loads and early outs growing by the month(sometimes staffed with only 2, and rarely more than 5-6). And while most other airlines agents are dressed more 'casually', we are dressed in neck crunching sweltering uniforms with poor air conditioning as we drip perspiration all over the boarding passes and bag tags(yeh that looks professional). Add in pax who try to circumvent the discobobolated(sp?) roped queues w/poor and inefficient signage and jump onto a temporarily vacant kiosk in front of 50 people waiting in line and not understanding why they have to indeed wait in line for kiosk or agent like everyone else.
Just another day in the slave-borhood I guess.

Please tell me AMERICA WEST has a brain in the ticket counter management dept. :shock:

PS..local mgmt will not even take or make the slightest effort with suggestions to improve, as they claim their hands are tied by CC.
Bah!
:down:
 
Are you not "severed and happy" any more?

Pretty much on the spot. No one said it would be easy. On the other hand, check in should be alot easier than popular perception. Upper dictates, local abides. Have a pleasant flight.
 
In my city we have a total of six.We call them "the girls" for the people who were furoughed for them. Out of the six , three work fine. One never gives you the connecting boarding pass and two of them,which are our newest usually turn on 2 hrs after the others. It seem them must be on MTN time.They constantly jam also.
We will have a major line and then a passenger who gets booted off the kiosk for any godforsaken wants to jump to the front of the line.We tem them sorry but you have to go to the back of the line please. The problems are not the kiosk, but how they are used. They were made to assist the agent, but too many airlines are using them to replace the agent. It's the same BS like when you call any number and get"your call is important to us" please wait 30 mins for an agent.Yeah Right.
What all these companies should understand is, given a more personal approch might get more customers and make more profits. Out sourcing to some TWC(third world country) may look good on the books.But the potential for lost revenue is enormous. As I said before, the kiosks should be there to assist us. We should not be there to corral the passenger to use the darn things. :rolleyes:
 
thepoohbear said:
In my city we have a total of six.We call them "the girls" for the people who were furoughed for them. Out of the six , three work fine. One never gives you the connecting boarding pass and two of them,which are our newest usually turn on 2 hrs after the others. It seem them must be on MTN time.They constantly jam also.

SpinDoc Replies:

I've only had a problem with a kiosk once, and that
was in CLT. One of the "hidden" kiosks near the ticket
counter had a problem with the touch screen. The
letters for PNR entry were slightly off, and it took
6 tries to enter my PNR and get the boarding pass
issued. Other than that, kiosks are an excellent way
to avoid waiting in long lines at the ticket counter,
and as long as the customer has a credit card, any
card with their last/first name in the mag strip, and
their PNR, there is no way to screw up the process.

There is a learning curve for customers, no doubt.
Some have never used one before, and others are
just plain technologically challenged. (That's a nice
way of saying STUPID) But, alas, there was a 3 to 5
year learning curve for people to get used to using
ATM's, and now they are the preferred method for
financial transactions.
 
I refuse to use a kiosk, I will not support the outsourcing of more jobs to technology or any other source.
 
700UW said:
I refuse to use a kiosk, I will not support the outsourcing of more jobs to technology or any other source.
[post="277798"][/post]​

Typical response. People like you must really enjoy
waiting in line. I personally don't have time.
 
SpinDoc said:
Typical response. People like you must really enjoy
waiting in line. I personally don't have time.
[post="277801"][/post]​
It is called social responsibility, something you would have no idea about.
 
The lines are for the kiosk since that is the primary check in. How fast the line moves depends on the individual passengers and either how adept they are at using the things or how often the kiosks fail at check in.
 
REACC1 said:
The lines are for the kiosk since that is the primary check in. How fast the line moves depends on the individual passengers and either how adept they are at using the things or how often the kiosks fail at check in.
[post="277809"][/post]​

A kiosk is still faster than an agent if the customer
is not technologically challenged. There will always
be a need for agents at the ticket counter to issue
gate passes, handle complex ticketing issues, and
to assist disabled customers. Other than that, the
kiosks can handle about 75% of all transactions
which reduces the amount of time a customer has
to wait in line.
 
Right before I left UA, our station manager decided that each and every passenger must use the easy check in first. My complaint, what about the elite FFmembers? Don't they deserve the best service, and if they want from a human being? JMO
 
Sounds like the same arguement the banks had when atm machines first came out. As long as the kioske is working, I could care less if I ever talk to a person. Anyway, they have enough to do between those that really HAVE problems and those that feel they are entitled to hear an overworked agent snap at them so they can prove their theories correct. :shock:
 
Hey Spin,
When the heck was the last time you saw people at banks going YOU MUST USE THE ATM. That is the main problem. I also brought up to the company that they should have at least one kiosk for the tech challenged which would walk you through it. :)
 
thepoohbear said:
Hey Spin,
When the heck was the last time you saw people at banks going YOU MUST USE THE ATM. That is the main problem.
[post="277892"][/post]​

You obviously don't bank at Wachovia in northern Florida. :)
 
700UW said:
I refuse to use a kiosk, I will not support the outsourcing of more jobs to technology or any other source.
[post="277798"][/post]​
Do you pump your own gasoline or use an ATM?