No Ticket Agent - Only Kiosk

[JS]

I've never used a kiosk at Southwest or JetBlue nor did I ever face two hour agent check-in lines like I have at US, AA and DL. At WN and B6, you can choose to use a kiosk or you can choose to check in with an agent, sometimes with no line and sometimes with a short line. Same low fare, and a choice between two acceptable ways to check in.

...Notice that SWA is the ONLY profitable airline that does NOT share its RES system with Expedia and the others. Ever stop to ponder why that might be?? Even a Travel agent has to call SWA as they are on no ones system. Their true pricing is known but to them. Interesting that they also sell the highest percentage of full fare tickets. Cause & effect? I think so.

[post="243508"][/post]​

Not true. JetBlue and Independence Air also do not publish fares on the major CRS'. WN is available on travelocity.com but you don't get internet one-way fares. I'm not positive of this, but I think travel agents with SABRE access can book WN directly.

 

[deltawatch]

So before you spout of at the mouth, try having a basic knowledge of what you are talking about before you post.  To do other wise only makes you to appear ignorant.

And if you really want to know what I wish for..... it is that the owners of this board ban trolls like you.  Maybe I will get what I wish for.

Have a great weekend

[post="243502"][/post]​

I can't count the number of bussiness travelers that get offered a kiosk ... turn it down because they want an agent to waive a fee or something. Kiosk alway does its job. There are a lot of wheeler dealers out there that don't think anything about asking an agent to do something they could lose there job over.

Don't take that personally .... I do not think YOU are one of them.

 

[local 12 proud]

poor service is just the beginning, when you lay off half the work force, cut wages and benefits, go automated and outsource the rest you should expect the worst. people want $99.00 rountrip fares with premium service when this does'nt even cover the cost of jet-A. things are about to get very bad for the customer's just as they have for the employee's. IF YOU DONT LIKE IT TAKE "GREYHOUND" and see how far $99.00 gets you!

 

[usairways_vote_NO]

[/b]

[post="243516"][/post]​

Deltawatch did I tell you I love your avatar. Its a great way to show the direction the airline is headed. Wonder if it will ever point up again?

 

[longing4piedmont]

Don't take that personally .... I do not think YOU are one of them.

[post="243516"][/post]​

Why do I get the feeling we've met and you know me, but I don't you? BTW, I happen to think you work in the best station in the system. You guys are good!!!

 

[deltawatch]

I think we're getting close to flipping that plane around .... lol lol! Time will tell, we need to make it thru June.

 

[Headhunter]

Here's a suggestion.  Fiddle around the kiosk like you have no idea what your doing or your having all kinds of trouble trying to figure out how to work the thing.  You'll have an agent rushing to help you just to get you through the line to make way for the next user.

[post="243491"][/post]​

My concern is that it shouldn't come to that or for any other customer. As soon as the customer informed the Customer Service Representative that she or he doesn't "do kiosk," the CSR should've helped her or him. What if the customer was visually-impaired, something that may not have been readily apparent to the CSR, and that is why the customer said she or he doesn't "do kiosk"? Was she or he supposed to shout across the terminal, "I'm visually impaired and require assistance?"

US Airways risks violating its Customer Commitment - something for which it could be fined by the DOT - when they give short shrift to the customer and bark out knee-jerk responses like "You must use the kiosk" instead of taking the customer's word at face value.

 

[SKY HIGH]

And people on this board think this place is going to survive.

I talked with a F/A friend of mine today.. She told me her flight took a
3 hour delay in PHL the other day due to baggage not being loaded. They put
passengers on, closed the door and made them wait 3 hours before departure.


Sky high states: Interesting, I just came across a similiar post: (copy and paste)
Subject: USAirways problems are not quite over....
Date: 1/29/05 11:21 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
From: Traveler4D

Having seen the recent contract problems with USAir be settled, I was a bit relieved, I like these folks and enjoy flying them. That said, I have avoided them lately due to the work actions and other shennanigans of their employees which affect flights and scheduled. Assuming they were beyond this, I made the mistake of booking with them this week.

Apparently the work actions are still a functional part of play here, as we sat in Philly on a 5:30 departure waiting for baggage handlers to load luggage. We sat on this aircraft on what would have been a 30 minute flight, until 7:55, as three fully loaded aircraft arrived, were unloaded by uniformed personnel, and one loaded and departed, before we were able to rouse 2 feeble looking guys to limp bags into the aircraft. Suffice to say, it was disappointing to see this kind of job action still occuring. If not a job action, it would appear while the airline has gotten past some of its financial problems, its competency problems remain unsolved.

I sure hope they fix these niggling issues, unfortunately, it will be again some time before I can assume schedule adherence and will have to seek other airlines who demonstrate their interest in such matters.

 

[sfb]

I for one will no longer use the kiosk and one day when the timing is right and I can get someone from CCY on the phone I'll make a point to REFUSE to USE the kiosk. It's NOT in the contract of carriage that I must use a kiosk, so if I get into a real confrontation I probably have grounds for a lawsuit, neverminding the publicity if they refuse to check me in.

I doubt that there's a term in the contract of carriage that guarantees you the services of an agent, either. Clearly, the complete elimination of ticket agents as an option for check-in is poor customer service, just as it would be if your bank eliminated all tellers. And, of course, having the bare minimum complement of agents is a recipe for disaster in the event of irregular operations.

Last time I looked I paid for the ticket and if there is an agent there and I want to use his or her services then I don't want to hear one God Damned word to the contrary. And truth be told I LIKE the kiosks in many cases. But as a customer it is MY CHOICE as to what interface I CHOOSE when I check in, as long as there are options. When I'm pressed for time I print the BP from the office or home. When the lines are long at the airport I use the kiosk, When I've got time on my hands I'll use an actual person. I like the human contact but I'm not a slave about it.

Just as most airlines have moved to assess charges for paper tickets and ticketing at city ticket offices, airport counters, or through reservations, I imagine that you will see a charge in future for using the counter for transactions which the kiosk can handle. Perhaps these fees will be waived for elites or certain fare classes, but I don't doubt that the airlines have already considered it...

If US Airways thinks it can go back to the days of dictating to it's elite or any customer in any fashion then they will fail and deservedly so. One of the primary reasons (after 9/11 & Fuel) the legacy carriers are all in trouble is this non stop notion that the customer is the enemy, that we are sheep to be lead to slaughter at the feet of Yield Management and other price gouging and customer unfriendly policies. Some of us as you noticed are NOT sitting idly by anymore. Some have chosed to fly SWA, Jet Blue and others where the rules & fares are simplier and often though not always cheaper. Enough have made that choice that the legacy carriers no longer have the power to dictate fares. Same with their greedy decision to cut travel agents out of the picture. Now Ma & Pa Kettle just go on-line and price shop. Who is to blame for that? Legacy carrier management and their combined naked greed and disdain for the customer.

The essential problem is that the customers now have perfect pricing information. They can compare different days, airports, and airlines with just the click of a mouse. And for air-only transactions, travel agents have become superfluous for a lot of folks (and the airlines). Unless a travel agent has access to consolidator fares, I myself can often find less expensive flights on my own.

And the availability of perfect pricing information online, coupled with the expansion of the LCC's, has really exposed how grossly out of line legacy carrier pricing had gotten by the use of yield management to squeeze every last penny out of business travelers.

Notice that SWA is the ONLY profitable airline that does NOT share its RES system with Expedia and the others. Ever stop to ponder why that might be?? Even a Travel agent has to call SWA as they are on no ones system. Their true pricing is known but to them. Interesting that they also sell the highest percentage of full fare tickets. Cause & effect? I think so.

A little bit of history is in order here. Back in the early '90s, if memory serves correctly, the network carriers all attempted to make life difficult for Southwest by kicking them off the major CRS's (which they controlled at the time) more or less at the same time. Southwest mobilized to get most of the largest travel agents connected into their internal system quickly and really has never looked back since (aside from brief flirtations with SABRE as that particular company has attempted to win back some business from SWA).

Really, the prime reason that Southwest doesn't use the CRS's is cost. A booking on SABRE, Worldspan, Galileo, or Amadeus tends to run in the neighborhood of $10-15. When they sell a ticket on southwest.com, the cost is well under a dollar. Through reservations, it's probably closer to $3-5. And, to be honest, the way Southwest displays fares makes it ridiculously easy to find an inexpensive fare (if available) on the days you want to travel.

As JS mentioned, jetBlue also chooses not to use the major CRS's (though they do use BlueSkies as their reservations system). And they did post a profit last quarter to the surprise of most of the analyst community. Again, they avoid the CRS's largely to help keep their costs down. Independence started out with an intent to stay off the CRS's but now, in an about-face, is on most or all of them given the trouble they've been having filling seats.

The reason Southwest sells so many "full-fare" tickets is not that their customers are too stupid to compare fares on the competition. It is that Southwest prices its full-fare tickets reasonably. The refundable, full fare on Southwest from RDU to PVD is $142. The refundable, full fare on US from RDU to PVD is $527. Southwest's business customers appreciate not being gouged for having to travel on short notice, and they show their appreciation by purchasing full-fare tickets. Just as an aside, WN's least expensive RDU-PVD fare is $90 each way. A lot of folks are happy to pay an extra $50 each way for a fully refundable, changeable ticket. They are not as eager to plunk down $450 each way extra for that flexibility.

 

[justaumechanic]

Yeap, but the flip side is bussiness travelers rake us over the coals for pricing higher than WN. The only reason JetBlue can price with WN is cause they have all JR employees. The only way legecy carriers will be able to meet your pricing demand is to go with the no touch model. Buy your ticket online, check yourself in and take your seat.

[post="243497"][/post]​

I can tell you this.. JetBlue may have Jr employee's but they make more money than we do.. So what you are saying has no weight.. Southwest employee's make way more than we do.

And if you go to the counter at Southwest or JetBlue, you get a human..

No US Airways is just interested in boning the public and blaming the fares.

 

[SpinDoc]

I bought a $69 fare on LUV once, and there was an agent to help me if the kiosk failed.

[post="243501"][/post]​

There will always be an agent available to
process customers who cannot check in at
a kiosk. DOT regulations require that
customers with disabilities receive assistance
at check in, especially vision impaired
customers. Unaccompanied minors also
need to see an agent to ensure the proper
paperwork is completed and the fee
collected at check in. Customers who have
a similar name to those on the TSA no-fly
list can't use the kiosks either.

I'm willing to bet that the CMH Station Manager
misinterpreted the company directive, which
was to increase kiosk usage, but there is no
way the manager was told to cut off ticket counter
service.

 

[700UW]

Independance Air does use major CRS' for ticket sales.

 

[jimcfs]

What a splendid idea! The very idea that as a CP I would have to play that game is insulting to say the least, BUT your idea would be both effective AND non confrontational to a person who is in a no-win situation.

I had this happen when my wife and I were returning from ATL. She was trying to change her flight to be on mine... the agent (who I later had a very good FFOCUS discussion with) couldn't figure out how to do what we needed... and I took over and completed the transaction.

 

[ClueByFour]

Look, it's stupid to push people at the kiosks when they don't work (and, despite everything I've heard, my firsthand experience indicates that they don't work). To wit:

I'm US1, and half the time I try the kiosk with my CP card, it can't find the reservation (and I'm not one to memorize flight numbers, PNRs, etc all the time).

If you make the slightest change to your itinerary, particularly after the first flight, they become worthless.

If you have a full-fare ticket, use online check-in for an early flight, call the CP desk to change to a later flight, they don't work.

They still can't handle companion upgrades most of the time.

The list goes on.

It's stupid not to have a first class or preferred line with a person manning it. This is a stellar way to drive away the last of the people who are loyal and/or buy expensive tickets.

Case in point--I did change to a later flight at SFO some time back, and showed up about 50 minutes preflight (at SFO, particularly for the noon-ish flights, this is more than enough time to clear security). It took me, waiting in the "preferred" queue, 20 minutes to see an agent (because somebody was doing a crazy ticket re-issue, and the other agents were all tied up at the kiosks). I finally gave up on that, hit the kiosk, and pulled the "it won't check me in" routine. That's unacceptable, especially on a fullish-fare Y ticket.

If the kiosks worked, I could see reducing staff somewhat, but they don't work and staffing has been pared to the bone.

 

[savyinvestor]

When you get rid of 50% of the work force and screw over the remaining 50% this is what you get. Yes, all the numbers look great, but an unhappy workforce is a recipe for disaster. Savy