[lisa11]

I am a hotel concierge in Hawaii. My guest came to me and told me she left her ID in an Alaska Airlines flight. So I called the main line of the Alaska Airlines. The agent I spoke to was reallly rude. She goes, "i can"t help you because I am in Pheonix. I also aske her if she can give me their local number so I can contact for Lost & Found. She still keeps saying," i can't help you because I am in Pheonix.". Are you stupid? I am in service industry for a long time and have never encountered this kind of service. She is something else. Asked her for her manager. She gave me their local number and gave me an excuse for her staff's rude attitude. "She thought you want the guest's local number. We can give passenger's contact number for privacy rules." I know that since I am in hotel industry. I had never said that and also told her I need Alaska Airline's local number for Lost & Found". I will never recommend Alska Airlines to anybody!

[tlgilbert2325]

ALL of the airlines treat people like dirt these days. Part of the problem is that greed has taken hold and they outsource their call centers to India or Manila. You were actually lucky you got someone in the USA!

[Suga00]

I wouldn't say ALL of them treat people like dirt, there are always bad apples in the industry, I've come across both rude and helpful customer service agents just in the airport and from India, It's hard to understand them but they sometimes don't have all the tools/knowledge and are poorly trained. If airlines and other companies brought back call centers to the US there would still be bad attitudes, just ones we can understand better.
Airlines hire these people with their bad attitudes, I've seen people come and go very quickly because of customer complaints, but if you don't get their names and report them nothing happens.

[tlgilbert2325]

You are right, not ALL airlines treat their passengers like dirt....mostly it is the US based carriers. Unless you are one of their frequent flyer members in an upper tier you have no clout.
While I understand that loyalty to the brand being rewarded is the backbone of the frequent flyer programs I disagree that a disserviced passenger should be passed over for a 1K flyer. If the airlines do not take responsibility for the actions of their employers they deserve to have the bad word of mouth advertising.
As for the outsourcing. I have had very few outsource agents that A. really knew what they were talking about without turning the pages of their scripted responses or B. could exercise any kind of common sense in listening to the problem presented and providing a complimentary course of action.
We, in the travel agency industry, refer to the outsourced call centers as the 'helpless desk' since we usually have to tell 'them' either what the solution is and how to bring it about.
My frustration with the vast majority of the airlines is based on being an agent for over 25 years and watching the decline of service levels and employee attitudes.
As for getting names and reporting poor performers....it has never resulted in any action, perhaps because the airlines do not care what travel agents have to say.
I agree that there are good employees and only wish that they were the norm rather than the exception.

[Suga00]

Well I can only tell you what I've seen happen where I worked and I've seen the bad letters come in and the letter was read during the Shift Briefing, if agent's name was given they would read it and they worked until the end of their work week and we'd never see them again. I'm sure every airline is different but it doesn't hurt to send that letter.

[Silent Bob]

Just trying to get back on point here, but why wasn't it suggested the person go back to the airport to get there ID? I would think that that's an important item to handle with just a phone call. True if the person is in Phoenix, and you're in Hawaii.... well we need not discuss the distance here. I know you wanna be helpful, but as a hotel concierge, true you wanna help the customer as best you can, but if it's something of importance, they should take the initiative and head back to the airport, and either retrieve the lost item (as it may be there in Hawaii) or fill out a claim to get that ID as soon as possible.