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One Rude Agent

Agents, for whatever reason, sometimes just list everyone as an S3. There is nothing in the system that prevents it from being done. Using the kiosk is the best way to ensure that you are listed correctly.

It happens in all categories especially since family members traveling alone are now S4 (or lower, if affiliate). We have had buddy passes on the list as S3, etc. It goes on and on. The information is only as accurate as the person entering it. A lot of agents will review their PALL for accuracy since they know errors occur.
You have to lookup the G*0/PALL then look at each reservation then pull up there data base or do what the rude agent did, try to look at the employees travel card and enter it in the computer and go from there. Agents don't know if the passengers are employees or unaccompanied family members or guess. If I asked a non-rev passenger are you an employee or an unaccompanied family member or a guess pass and they said employee and I ask for a travel card to list or check your listing and the respond was I don't need one to travel non-rev. A lot of agents would question that.
 
A lot of people like to make the job more difficult than it really needs to be. If someone doesnt have their travel card, just pull it up manually, thats why you have that as an option. If you have a problem with the numbers after the payroll number, then I can see it being a problem, but many agents are quite lazy when it comes to typing in a couple of numbers.
If the agent is rude, management needs to know. I hate the "I dont want to get anyone in trouble" speech. If not even a fellow employee is going to take the time to advise management about a rude employee, they're going to keep being a "rude employee" to everyone. I am not talking about a minor incident with an unfriendly agent who doesnt smile and might be having a bad day, but if someone is truely rude, then someone should be advised.
I just returned from Paris and had a "minor" incident. The agent didnt want to do an upgrade and I got the "in the future you need to take care of your upgrades before you come here". Well, duh. I picked up the wrong envelope with my FREE upgrades while packing and left my international upgrades at home by mistake, thats why I need to BUY some now. If you are working a "TICKET COUNTER" at the airport, its your job to ticket someone who needs it. And by the way, just who tickets you guys in Paris when you travel? :ph34r:
And as far as parent ticketing, I think it would be beneficial to go back to a yearly charge and be done with it. It is taking a lot of "unproductive" agent time to take care of ticketing parents that could better be spent on taking care of our regular revenue customers. No option to service charge or pass travel so there wouldnt be confusion at checkin. Either on the pass with a yearly charge unlimited travel or they arent on the pass.
 
many agents are quite lazy when it comes to typing in a couple of numbers.
"unproductive" agent time to take care of ticketing parents that could better be spent on taking care of our regular revenue customers.
A lot of times it turns into a guessing game with 9 express carriers and retirees furloughs and the number of times the travel care has been issue

"in the future you need to take care of your upgrades before you come here".
Did you report them you did say it was a minor incidence to YOU
 
Did you report them you did say it was a minor incidence to YOU

No I didnt. He mentioned it when he got off his stool to go look for an SST, but he didnt push it. If he had pushed the issue or had something else to say I might have had a bigger problem with it. I just thought it was interesting and a little humorous that he was telling me to get someone else to do it on this side of the pond. I understand that they dont want tons of nonrevs tying up the line (there was 1 other person behind me and they didnt even need to be there) and I normally am prepared (I just picked up the wrong envelope). I've had this response from another European city before ( I think it was MAN but its been so long ago I cant say for sure). Some of my friends didnt have the right upgrades and it was a big ordeal for them to do them. Again, when THEY travel who do they get to do the upgrades for them? Do they wait until they come over here to get all of their upgrades and tickets done?
 
A lot of times it turns into a guessing game with 9 express carriers and retirees furloughs and the number of times the travel care has been issue

You edited out the part where I said "if you have a problem with the numbers after the payroll number, then I can see it being a problem."
A couple of questions (Mainline or Express, what Express, etc) can take care of the 9 carrier problem.
I usually do the normal entry, then change 1 or 2 numbers and then if it still doesnt work, advise them they need to get the correct sequence in order to check in. This is also the employees fault for not giving their term pass people a copy of the number they need.
I've also seen agents at the counter tell people to go to the phone and call rez to list. It took longer to explain to them why he was telling them to do it than to just book it, check them in and be done with it. :down:
 
A couple of questions (Mainline or Express, what Express, etc) can take care of the 9 carrier problem.
Let’s kept it interesting can you tell be the identifier for all of US express carriers? I sure can’t
 
I'll try. Of course I believe N*Land has the 2 letter codes for each carrier and I'm sure F*QRM/EXPRESS or some other similar entry can get them.
Air Midwest - YV Air Wisconsin - ZW Chautauqua- CJ
Colgan- CL Mesa- ZV Piedmont- EN
PSA- JS Republic- RP Transstates- TS
I have to admit there are a couple I dont see very often and am guessing at, but if I had a work computer here I could tell you the correct codes.
Again, its going to take a couple minutes of looking for them, but they are available for an agent who is doing their job.
 
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I'll try. Of course I believe N*Land has the 2 letter codes for each carrier and I'm sure F*QRM/EXPRESS or some other similar entry can get them.
Air Midwest - YV Air Wisconsin - ZW Chautauqua- CJ
Colgan- CL Mesa- ZV Piedmont- EN
PSA- JS Republic- RP Transstates- TS
I have to admit there are a couple I dont see very often and am guessing at, but if I had a work computer here I could tell you the correct codes.
Again, its going to take a couple minutes of looking for them, but they are available for an agent who is doing their job.
Good post. I tell the agent my 2 letter code (i.e. "US") after the end of my payroll number so they don't have to look it up.
 
Sorry to take this a little O/T but my friend recently took a flt from PHL-FCO to visit me and he said the FA's were very rude. He asked what kind of chicken was in the dinner, and they responded by saying "cooked chicken." Now the question does seem somewhat stupid but it is still unacceptable to receive an answer like that. He also asked where they were with regards to the flt, and the FA responded "Somewhere between Philadelphia and Rome"

I mean i have heard stories of rude gate agents and understaffed baggage handlers but never anything about the FA's which i assume there were PHL based.
 
with qik sabre you will be able to sign in at any city and check your self in since there will be no 6 sign in..
qik sabre defaults to 5 sign in....just make sure you atac out when you check in for a flight.

Of course this is only helpful if you know the functions of ticket and gate
 
SA1's are just another way to prtect the west side senority is the only way to board.
You should always carry you employee ID. I would question you to if you didn't have it. It is not that big of a deal to carry it.

We have a lot of nasty employee's out there you just have to deal with them............
 
Help a customer understand why you would treat a fellow employee poorly?

I soooo don't get it.

Piney,

I will Never figure out why some not most agents behave poorly towards fellow workers. Below are a few of my guesses:
1.) They can get away with it and get a power trip
2.) Way to vent frustration
3.) Some employees deserve correction and they feel they have the authority
4.) Jealousy of other employee groups working agreement
5.) Little if no chance of payback from other groups when they use the contractually earned right to travel

FA
 
As I've been reading this forum, it seems that a lot has been said about "East" agents in PHX. I feel it my duty to discuss the "West". My worst experience was this past August. We were flying home (PHL) from Australia and the non-stops from LAX were oversold. The back-up plan was a connection in PHX. Since we had just completed a 14-hour SYD-LAX, we were tired and just wanted to go home. Since we were going to be in the air and unable to "check-in" for the "West" flights, we had arranged for a family member at home to do the on-line check-in 12 hours before the LAX departure.

Upon arrival at LAX, the "East" agents (people I have known for years) confirmed that since things were so heavy (lots of rev standby), non-revs had almost no chance on any of the flights. Therefore, we went to the HP gate to check in for the PHX flight. Since, as a retiree, I have no access to either SABRE or HP's system, I am left with the need to ask questions. Since I worked at the gates for many years and have non-revved for more than 20 years, I know the questions that will quickly give me the best info as to which flights to try for and/or avoid.

There were two PHX flights, 15 minutes apart, at adjoining gates. Havng checked "theHub" before leaving Australia, the later one looked best so I listed us on that one. I was happily willing to "wait my turn" for a seat. Since there was more than an hour till departure, I approached a not-busy male agent at the gate and asked my two questions:

1) How does the PHX-PHL flight look? (It makes no sense to go to PHX if the connection flight is full....)

2) Am I on the list for your flight? (I had gone thru security on an "East" boarding pass and had not checked in at the "West" counter)

He looked at me as if I had insulted him and replied that he had no time for "non-rev problems". I asked for a supervisor and it turns out....he WAS the supervisor! He yelled at me for being in the gate area without having checked in at the counter. I showed him the "East" pass and said that the "West" flights were the back-up. Without answering my two questions, he pointed across the hall and barked, "Take it up with THEM!". Of course, this made no sense as the "East" agents currently have no access to "West" flight loads or lists. Thankfully, I found another "West" agent at another gate who gladly answered my questions. It took her.....maybe a minute or two?

The flights and crews were beautiful but trouble came once again in PHX. Checking-in at the gate for the PHL departure, I was accosted by the gate agent. In front of a long line and a full boarding area, she yelled at me, accusing me of being a retiree. She was apparently upset because I handed her my retiree travel card. It seems that as mentioned above, "East" agents manually list your status whereas I had checked-in for HP using the internet. Nowhere does it ask for status. It seems that the computer had me listed as an employee. Not MY fault! She snatched back the boarding passes and said she would report me for falsifying my status. She also said that she would have to re-list us which would throw us to the bottom of the category, ignoring our FCFS time. She made us sit and wait till the last second (after even the "buddy passes") before angrily calling us and telling us to get on and sit down fast.

Why was I yelled at and treated so poorly twice in one day? In two cities?

From 20+ years of working in the airport, I can only guess. From what I understand, "West" CSAs got a nice pay raise because of the "East". As a retiree (Jan 2006), I know the job as well as the agents I dealt with. I know there is great frustration with heavy flights and too few agents per gate. Since the PHL flight was not oversold and the non-rev list did not fill all of the empty seats, she could have mentioned the issue and asked me to contact the travel office from home.....but there was no excuse for either agent to be rude, angry, or indignant. Non-rev or not, I am still their customer! I can only think that this is another in the continuing "East/West" issues.

To all of you reading here......CUT THE CRAP! Like it or not, we're ONE airline and when we have this "us/them" attitude at someone, non-rev OR rev, it is bad business. Neither CEO asked us if we wanted to become one airline and the decisions of the future are being made without much of our input. As Doug Parker made perfectly clear recently (and is a topic in another message board), for many of you, this is no longer a career.....simply a job.

I was in ORD a few weeks ago and they swapped the gate for the PHL and PHX flights from their usual terminals. ("East" uses F-Terminal and "West" uses E-terminal.) Since, like a few other "frequent fliers" I was used to F. I had not paid attention to the boarding pass that clearly said "E" and went to F-8. At 15 minutes to departure a few of us thought it odd that there were no agents at the gate, there was no plane, and the flight was not posted. A few went to the next gate where the "West" agents were boarding the PHX flight. As a man asked if they knew anything about the PHL flight, a male agent yelled at the man (a revenue passenger!) that that was one of "THEIR" flights and "Just check the monitors......we don't know anything about THEM" As we sheepishly looked toward the monitor (and ran to find E-8), another revenue passenger pointed to the agent's ID and said, "You know that your badge says USAirways....just like THEM!" When we got to E-8, not only had the "East" agents posted the gate change for PHX, but were making regular announcements for PHX passengers to go to F-8. The "West" agents couldn't have cared less....

In all of my years, with all of the "treat the customer nice" courses, the emphasis has always been on the "paying customer"....and screw the non-revs. Although this posting has been about my issues with a few "West" agents, I have had my issues with many of my fellow "East" folk over the years.....but that is for another posting.

Any and all of the agents I trained in my years were given the "golden rule" of "Always remember that the non-rev you mistreat today might just be the agent/crew member that can either make or destroy YOUR next trip".

We must always remember that unlike our revenue passengers, who are protected by the contract of carriage, we non-revs are those most vulnerable......because in our travel, we are guaranteed and protected by NOTHING!
 
Any and all of the agents I trained in my years were given the "golden rule" of "Always remember that the non-rev you mistreat today might just be the agent/crew member that can either make or destroy YOUR next trip".

Never heard of a crew member getting his/her revenge of a rude agent. Only a FA has such possibility. Slim I would guess.
Had an agent neighbor once that never failed in getting family of 4 non-rev PIT-PHX during 90's. Rumor had it the agents would " take care of each other ". Any truth to rumor?

WELCOME to the board!

FA
 
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