US Airways looking to bring call center back to US

[PhxMama]

Mama

I'm not sure how you took my post, but it was a friendly jab at another poster with whom had we some spirited conversations over this subject.

Just for the record I was a VERY vocal opponent to the outsourcing and when CCY quit listening to me and many other posters on this board, several of us when public in the press expressing our views. That, lipstick and a couple of other stunts pretty much shut the door to my access to CCY.

In the end, I left with a commitment that I would not fly them again until the "brain trust" had left the company. Took almost ten months, but their gone and I'm still here throwing rocks and flying cockroach air from time to time .

It is going to take a lot more than Doug bringing back RES to the employees of US to get back to 150+ segments a year on them, but it would be great start.

longing4piedmont

Mama

I'm not sure how you took my post, but it was a friendly jab at another poster with whom had we some spirited conversations over this subject.

Just for the record I was a VERY vocal opponent to the outsourcing and when CCY quit listening to me and many other posters on this board, several of us when public in the press expressing our views. That, lipstick and a couple of other stunts pretty much shut the door to my access to CCY.

In the end, I left with a commitment that I would not fly them again until the "brain trust" had left the company. Took almost ten months, but their gone and I'm still here throwing rocks and flying cockroach air from time to time .

It is going to take a lot more than Doug bringing back RES to the employees of US to get back to 150+ segments a year on them, but it would be great start.

longing4piedmont, I am so sorry that post was not meantto be posted there but after 12 hrs working and being uterly computer challenged it did! I guess I should only lurk after a long day and not try to think! Ive spent the rest of the evening trying to reassure pax I am in US and am willing and capable of helping them or trying to get sup with ability to resolve issue without xfering to US res. So on that note I will go hve my coffee and hope I dont mess this up again.

 

[PQAKnow-It-All]

AWV used to have agts that worked from home, however because of abuse, this will never be an option again. I am very confident that WAH (work at home) will never resume at the new usairways.

 

[longing4piedmont]

Mama

Not to fear. I was afraid you had taken my post wrong.

Everyone comes here to vent. I can not imagine what it has been like in the past three years working for any airline. Keep the chin up.

So please don't lurk. Come back often and enjoy the crazy world of usaviation

 

[singh4us]

Some common outsourced reservation errors.

1. Pax asked to go to Huntsville, Alabama (HSV). ON day of check-in, pax are ticketed to go to Huntington WV (HTS).

2. ... Charleston, West Virginia (CRW)... ticketed to Charlie South (CHS).

3. ... any NY/DC area airport... ticketed to WRONG airport.

4. .. pax paid change fee to fly on a UA codeshare operated flight NOT operated by United, travel is in next couple of days and paper tickets required. Paper tickets issued then mailed to customer, who will then have to purchase LTA because Res did not catch this. (this NEVER happened in PIT or Winston).

5. Pax using RTFC booked in Full F... and NOT ticketed

RTFC = Round Trip First Class !!!! Sorry, but I just couldn't resist that one!!!!

 

[delldude]

wonderful news....but......isn't there language to bring affected back after some period in time at a much lower rate???

 

[Furloughedagain]

Maybe they learned from the Continental experiment:

Outsource Crew Scheduling to India: http://www.indeq.com/Crew_scheduling.mp3

 

[cari]

US Airways looking to bring call center back to US

04:36 PM EST on Wednesday, December 7, 2005

By JEFF SONIER / 6NEWS
The new boss at US Airways has responded to a 6NEWS Investigation about overseas operators, who sometimes give out wrong information to customers on the airline's 1-800 number.

US Airways CEO Doug Parker talked to 6NEWS just as new government numbers show his airline is worst for customer service.

US Airways tops the list of all airlines in customer complaints this year. It is not exactly something to brag about for Parker.

"We won't accept unacceptable service," Parker said.

6NEWS caught up with Parker at the airport after flyers and workers complained to 6NEWS about who is answering the phone on the US Airways 1-800 line.

Union leaders said the airline laid off hundreds of experienced phone agents at the Winston Salem call center and replaced them with overseas operators who don't have a clue.

6NEWS also received a lot of e-mails after our story last month. One US Airways customer called the Philippine operators "a nightmare" and another wrote, “So long US Airways" after she was left on hold for an hour and 20 minutes.

"We've heard some complaints from customers as well, so we're working to get those individuals ramped up and trained," Parker said.

But the agents in Winston Salem told 6NEWS even after a year of training, the overseas operators hired to save money, still don't get it.

“You can't put a dollar amount on your passengers. Because without them, you don't have anything else," said union leader Becky Gerald.

And even the airlines new CEO now seems to suggest that US Airways' experiment with overseas call centers simply isn't working.

“We're doing our best to provide a level of service that our customers desire. If we can't get that done...we have to have people who will communicate with our customers and we'll make sure that happens,â€￾ Parker said.

Parker said US Airways is now looking at bringing those call center jobs back to the US and that the airline has no plans for more outsourcing in the future.

 

[cari]

I couldn't agree more with bringing all us airways employees back to the United States. I also get a lot of complaints about agents who don't speak clearly or have too strong of an accent for our passengers to understand. The biggest complaint of all is that those folks don't have a clue about what is going on or how to use the system.

 

[PhxMama]

Mama

Not to fear. I was afraid you had taken my post wrong.

Everyone comes here to vent. I can not imagine what it has been like in the past three years working for any airline. Keep the chin up.

So please don't lurk. Come back often and enjoy the crazy world of usaviation

longing4piedmont, Thanx for your kind words. I fear I am hooked on the aviation world but am still trying to learn about the many workgroups and their issues.
There is so much history at US that many former HPers are pretty ignorant so forgive us if we keep asking the obvious. By the way, I am beginning to get jealous of dea, I think Ill have to find a way to turn your head in this direction!! LOL

 

[reznc]

Delldude, you are correct about the money. With the new contract in place will they stay, or will we have a revolving door which will be as frustrating as dealing with a vendor office without the accent?

 

[Bambi]

Delldude, you are correct about the money. With the new contract in place will they stay, or will we have a revolving door which will be as frustrating as dealing with a vendor office without the accent?

"Revolving door" is correct. That's what we've seemed to have at HP for years. The attrition rate is astonising, but then again, for the pay they've received it also isn't surprising. Many of us have stuck it out despite pay because #1 we LOVE what we do! #2 We believe in the company in the long term. WE've just seen how training in the past couple years hasn't been what it once was. Problem is what used to be basic reservation training for domestic calls, has now involved agents having to learn international and the training time being cut back by 2 weeks. More to learn. Less time.

I used to say we need to be more selective in our hiring practices. It used to be brushed aside because of the "lack of pay" that HP has offered. Well, now with the new payscale, I don't believe we can utilize that excuse any longer. Problem is: team leaders that interview, that never worked in rez themselves and were hired "off the street" and never had airline experience themselves. They treat the rez center as a "typical call center" which we all know, it is NOT. The airline industry is much more complex and requires much more knowledge in reservations than anyone (incl higher ups) give the agents credit for.

Those agents who care enough to learn, are successful. Those who don't, make the same mistakes over and over again, and ask the same questions over and over again, and in turn, their cust serv skills are lacking immensely.

I also believe, that we need to take the time to have a "confrontation training" class. Many agents absolutely cannot handle even the most minute "irate" caller. They immediately ask RA to just take the call, when in fact, a little simple research on their end would've solved the problem.

Either way...despite all of the above, the customer service from a rez agent in the US is still much, much, MUCH better than what you get from the outsourced centers! Most agents, ultimately still CARE about the company and the pax. As stated prior, the outsourced agents DO NOT! Cultural differences are primary. Learning proper communication. Listening skills. Train all you want...but I believe the outsourced centers will NEVER come up to speed to the American public that DEMANDS excellence in customer service.

I wholly believe, as HP/US brings the call center back to the states, that #1 we need to be willing to rehire prior rez agents laid off thru bankrupcy at US. #2 train agents more thoroughly to handle ALL types of calls. #3 request good communication skills vocally as well as office skills (such as none of this 1 finger typing stuff). You can't do your job with any proficiency if you only type with one or two fingers and have to search the keys for what you want. (AHT has to be high). More stringent hiring requirements must be put into place in order to assure a more astute customer service call center, that satisfies the flying public with their skills.

REZ IS THE BOTTOM LINE. The WEB can't empathize with pax. The outsourced centers don't understand our culture. We will ALWAYS need rez. But we also MUST HAVE a caring, customer service attitude. I could go on, but my book is long enuf. Have a great week all.

 

[EightySix]

I was always amazed that USAirways never gave any type of skills (like spelling or typing or grammar) test while interviewing new hires in res. Basically if you could make it through 5 or 6 target select questions ( ie you knew how to make up a good story) and passed a drug test you were in.
They also never checked references. Maybe that will change with a new HR department on board.

 

[PhxMama]

In business a "Revolving Door" is not always a bad thing! It just depends how fast it revolves.

In order to keep costs down you need a relatively high percentage of entry to intermediate level staff and just enough "Subject Matter Experts" to impart their knowledge to the others and develop the young ones quickly.

If the door revolves to slowly you get top heavy seniority wise and costs get out of line.

If the door revolves to fast then recruitment/training expenses drive your costs out of line.

So in either case you're screwed. This is where an enlightened & progressive management team comes into play. In order to get people to work for alot less you need to provide a pleasant work environment as free as possible from company generated stress. The pay/benefits need to be just high enough and the working conditions superior that enough workers will be willing to work for less.

This is the dilema facing Doug Parker. How to achieve that balance with 2 workforces with different expectations & experiences.

PineyBob, I guess you've never been to HP rez because the agents have a turnover between 60 - 80 percent depending on who you're are talking to. The door never stops revolving but the question that I have yet to be answered is "Are training costs subsidized by the gov(Fed, local, KGB or CHAOS) as sone type of job training?" IMHO there is no way any management team would've allowed this kind of turnover if there was not a financial windfall. Thankfully, with a new managment philosophy(yes, our management turnover is pretty high too-can't wait to get out of rez and move on) the atmosphere is less nazi like but far from a stress free fun, place to work. Some of us really like helping pax and many work for health benefits or like myself work p/t for flight benefits and flexibility in meeting the needs of our families(trades). The money has always been lousy and from my point of view this job is great only if it is a second income and not a primary source of income. We do "mailbox" training because our training dept if always full of new hires and there is never any classroom space. Most of the time we receive changes in policy THE DAY OF and are given no co time to read and understand the changes. Its on our own time. Your must like this job and be able to seperate the job from the company. I can't imagine with our new and improved payscale(CWA contact) this will have any effect and therefore I can't imagine how they could remove outsourcing. The pay is just not there to not have continuous turnover. Things in rez agents must deal with, how high your talk time is, did you take your breaks on time(even if you are selling thousands of dollars of tkts in one call,you will be considered out of compliance and absenteeism, along with lates and now agents must know HP and US rez jobs. Along with constant change, not only with co policy for pax but non revs etc. The many that have put their time in are dedicated. Not too much respect from fellow employees either. Unfortunately.

 

[Bambi]

The "revolving door" concept has it's roots at the TOP. Until they realize the true importance of the rez center and the agents manning the phones, it will always have this policy. Bottom line is this...the rez center overall, incl RNO, needs revamped from top to bottom. We need to make sure that those who are in the managerial areas are truly qualified to be there. Not just because the ran a "call center" in the past, but because they have worked in and know the ins and outs of the airline industry overall. Next is scheduling. We have gone through I don't know how many schedulers just in the past 5 years or more. That is ridiculous. Next is team leaders. Again, major requirement of product knowledge should be number one! You can't "lead" unless you've been there and done that! Finally, hiring practices. Hiring qualified individuals, and giving a skills test to those interviewing for the position. Until corporate takes rez seriously, things won't change. They will be concentrating, as they are now, on areas that truly aren't as important as the bottom line...customer service. AHT/compliance, TSIT's are important as well, but not when they override excellence in the service area of a reservation center. When you give agents the proper tools and training to perform their jobs, then guess what, all the other stuff that is of such concern will normally fall into place. This is what's needed at rez. This is what corp needs to see and recognize. They also need to stop denying qualified individuals from Team Leader positions, who have been thru the ropes, have worked in RA more than 3 years, and who truly understand the agents needs and what the general rez agent goes thru. I will never understand some of the managerial decision making that goes on. But, again, those of us who do care...we press on, to perform to the best of our ability and to try to keep and win customers based on OUR customer service that we try to give on each and every call.

 

[john john]

All I can think about is those very talent and experience res agents in PITTSBURGH that management said we don’t need you.