HUCA

I’ve talked about it before, but really cannot stress the importance of the principle: hang up, call again. I’m not sure if it is lack of training, lack of customer service or system issues, but every couple of months I find myself frustrated because I’m told there isn’t a flight/room available or that the flight simply doesn’t exist (often when booking on partner airlines). This occurs after I’ve already done the research and am looking at available flights/rooms.

For example. A couple months ago I called up United to book an international business class trip after two seats popped up on their metal, followed by another segment on Brussels Airlines. At the time, United did not allow bookings on Brussels from their web site – go figure. So I had to call. The first agent I spoke to, when given the date and flight number, claimed there was no availability on the flight. Of course, I’ve already talked about how you should always be extremely nice on the phone – so I probably don’t need to state that I was always friendly. After multiple attempts to have the agent try to “reload” the page or look for other options, I simply thanked the agent, hung up and called right back.

The second agent told me the same thing. I was beginning to think I was crazy. So I went as far I as could with just a one-way booking online, and the seats were clearly there! Frustrated, I hung up and called again.

15 minutes later, all flights were booked!