Posted on 06/30/2022 11:43:52 AM PDT by grundle
An American Airlines passenger who spent nearly four hours on hold with the airline's customer-service center grew so frustrated he drove 45 minutes to the airport to rebook his seats at the ticket counter.
Brain Driver, a radio station manager, needed to rebook his flight home after a business trip to Denver ended early, The Wall Street Journal reported. He said he initially tried to switch his flight using the airline's mobile service and website but was unable to do so.
He then called the airline's customer service center and was given a callback time of eight hours, according to The Journal. Eventually, he spoke to an agent via the airline's chat platform — but experienced further difficulty choosing his seats, according to the publication.
Driver tried calling the airline again the next day but was told to try later because the lines were busy, The Journal said. When he tried again the following morning he spent three hours and 45 minutes on hold, eventually growing so frustrated that he drove 45 minutes to rebook his seats at the ticket counter at Denver International Airport.
"This has been by far the worst airline call center experience I've ever had," Driver told The Journal.
A spokesperson for American Airlines told Insider that weather and air-traffic-control issues were behind long mid-June hold times, the highest the airline had seen over the past several weeks.
"These challenges, combined with an anomaly in this customer's booking, resulted in an experience that did not meet what we aim to deliver for our customers," the airline said.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
I think all of the conservatives left the industry. The left is in charge now and they really suck.
I did something almost similar with a certain bank. I know I reached the Philippine call center and didnt feel good giving away private info to a dude who had a rooster (Yeah I heard it loud and clear) at the background. Just drove to that bank and did my business..
“An American Airlines passenger who spent nearly four hours on hold with the airline’s customer-service center grew so frustrated he drove 45 minutes to the airport to rebook his seats at the ticket counter.”
...where he waited 4 hours in line to speak with a rep.
Correct. Verizon is the best at this kind of “customer service”. Put ‘em on hold until they give up.
Last year American canceled my flight the day before departure so I had to cancel the hotel, car rental too. 5 hours before the flight they sent an email saying my flight would now be on time after all.
They would not refund but said I could reschedule which 3 months later they denied.
I had also bought Aallianz flight insurance just in case. Allianz and American now point to each other for resolution. Neither will honor my ticket, refund or reschedule.
Wow. Four hours?
I used to fly twice every week for work. If this had happened to me, I might have went postal.
5.56mm
Especially when there are no other options, they have you by the...
trained my replacements for call center job, regularly had rooster for training as well.
Replacements were in India, in addition had snoring older folks and loud children
If you have Facebook and/or Twitter, trash them online.
Sometimes it works.
Back in the day I avoided American Airlines like the plague. United got me connected with the best Asian airlines as part of Star Alliance, so I put up with their foibles. But American offered rudeness and discomfort on a scale unmatched by any other major US carrier. Guess nothing’s changed.
“Your call is important to us. Please remain on hold until it is no longer important to you”
I’ve flown American once, due to it being a last minute trip and they had the most convenient time. This was in like 2018 so no Coof excuse. It was awful, my flight was delayed and already had a short connection window. Instead of holding the next leg of the trip, which was about 40 people, for no more than 5 minutes, they just left.
Told us because it was so many people, they couldn’t handle us all at the gate to re-book, so call the 800 number. Oh, have a $5 food voucher. I was stuck in the airport for over 5 hours. Another pax I talked to was stuck for 8 hours and then another 2 hour layover to get back home. Customer Service said a $5 food voucher was “industry standard.”
Don’t worry Mr. Driver. You have been put on the American Airlines do not fly list. You went public to expose our ongoing customer service problems so you will no longer be a part of any customer service issues with our company.
Enjoy taking greyhound. It’s definitely a great way to see the country.
“when there are no other options, they have you by the...”
The failure of the US government to enforce anti-trust law since the 1980’s has resulted in most industries being controlled by a few oligopolies allied with big government. Customer service and innovation thrives when there are many competitors chasing the consumer. When markets are dominated by huge corporations partnering with government to create barriers to competition, innovation and service suffers. Executives focus on cost cutting instead of creating new and better customer experiences. Costs, primarily headcount, are slashed resulting in a decline in quality and responsiveness. The savings flow into executive bonuses and the hands of Wall Street financiers.
Consider the great offshoring of manufacturing and customer service centers across many industries over the past 30 years. Did the quality of products and services increase? Were the lower costs passed to the consumer through lower prices? No. Millions of middle class experienced workers went job hunting, often taking lower pay and responsibility, even slipping out of the middle class into poverty. Corporations pocketed the savings and redistributed it increasing pay at the top and stock buybacks which also positively impacted their lucrative stock options. Wealth disparity in the nation today is at historically high levels. For the first time in our history, over the past decade new business creation is lagging bankruptcies.
Bust American, United, Southwest, and Delta into mulitple companies and turn them loose. Brutal competition will force them to find new ways to compete such as offering better products and better service. They might even discover there are plenty of very capable executives willing to work for much less than the ones they have who are failing.
Yeah, and if he did get someone on the phone, they probably don’t speak English very well.
Most corporations employ a bare minimum of customer support people (if they don't outsource it entirely). They also have very high turnover in this department as it's a most unpleasant job getting screamed at by irate customers all day long.
If there is a web app or phone app, or if it can be done over chat or email, I try to use those options.
As for the airlines, here's a tip if you must use the call center. The hold times on the international customer service lines are usually much shorter and even if you are flying domestic, they will still help you.
This is a handy site to check delays/cancelations. American Airlines is at the top for the US:
https://flightaware.com/live/cancelled/
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