I Broke My Cardinal Call Center Rule, And Accomplished Exactly Nothing

In many cases, the difference between being able to book an airline award ticket, or feeling like your miles are worthless comes down to call center agents.

While some programs have great websites, others leave you at the mercy of a front-line representative who often isn’t well trained, and almost certainly isn’t motivated to help. That’s why we always advocate being polite and friendly, no matter how frustrating it gets, and to not expect agents to know the rules of the program. Or geography.

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Truly, the biggest secret to award booking (and my number one rule) is to be super nice to call center agents, and know when to take a break.

I just broke both those rules, with the expected result, so figured I’d recap the situation as an example of why we say these things. 😉

A client needed a relatively simple change to a Singapore Airlines award booked through KrisFlyer. The return date was changing, and they wouldn’t be returning to the city of origin, so we couldn’t do the change online even though space was available. Singapore doesn’t have my favorite call center, but a change like this (one passenger, native program, multiple award seats available) should be very easy.

Narrator: It wasn’t.

Call #1

Roger [not his real name]: Thank you for calling Singapore Airlines, this is Roger, how may I help?
Me: Hi Roger, how are you doing today?
Roger (taken aback): Fine ma’am, how can I help?
Me: I’m trying to change an award ticket, can I give you the record locator please?
Roger: Okay, yes.
Me: It’s [   ], and I only need to change the return.
Roger: Okay, the flight now is Beijing to Sydney and return, yes?
So far so good!
Me: Yes, and I need to change the date of the return, and instead of Beijing the return will be to Shanghai.
Roger: Okay, so where do you want to go instead of Sydney?
Me: Oh, sorry, the outbound flights to Sydney are perfect, we just need to change the return.
Roger: Yes ma’am, so instead of Sydney, you want what?
Me: Roger, I’m so sorry, my dog is barking at something and I need to go check it out. I’ll call back later, but thank you for your help.
Roger: Thank you for calling Singapore.

I can generally tell within about 20 seconds if a phone agent is going to be helpful or not. Even if they’re not going to be proactive, in most cases I can guide an agent towards what I need, given enough time. But I’m also perfectly happy to call a few times until I get an agent who seems willing to help.

So, I called again.

Call #2

Roger: Thank you for calling Singapore Airlines, this is Roger, how may I help?
Me (not immediately realizing it’s the same rep): Hi Roger, how are you doing today?
Roger: Fine ma’am, how can I help?
Me: I’m trying to change an award ticket, can I give you the record locator please?
Roger: Okay, yes.
Me: It’s [   ], and I only need to change the return.
Roger: Okay, the flight now is Beijing to Sydney and return, yes?
Me: Yes, and I need to change the date of the return, and instead of Beijing the return will be to Shanghai. I have flight numbers if that’s helpful.
Roger: Okay, so the new date is?
Me: 15 March, ideally flight SQ212 from Sydney, connecting to SQ836 from Singapore
Roger: 15 March, Shanghai Pudong or Shanghai Hongqiao?
Narrator: SQ does not have service to SHA
Me: PVG please.
Roger: Okay, 15 March Sydney to Shanghai what flight?
Me: SQ212 from Sydney, connecting to SQ836 from Singapore please
Roger: Okay, SQ212 from Sydney to Singapore, SQ836 from Singapore to Shanghai Pudong for one passenger in business class?
Me: Yes please.
Roger: I have added you to the waitlist, and they will email you if something becomes available.
Me: Umm…there is a lot of saver availability showing on the website, can we please just make the change?
Roger: Singapore has different availability online than here in the offline call center.
Narrator: They do not, at least not where the website has more than the call center.
Me: Okay, can you change it to any of the flights on that date?
Roger: It is only waitlist ma’am.
Me: Huh. Are the segments individually available at the saver level?
Roger (responding too quickly to have actually checked): No, only waitlist.
Me: Okay, thanks for adding it to the waitlist, have a great day!
Roger: Thank you for calling Singapore.

I have no idea what was happening here, but the agent obviously had wrong information. It could be a system error, he might not have known how to look at award space properly — there’s a million possibilities, but since the airlines don’t pay me to investigate their training lapses, I try to just move on.

I unfortunately didn’t realize until the third call that I’d had the same agent multiple times (ProTip: always write down the name of the person you’re speaking with, so you can choose whether to speak with them again), otherwise I could probably have avoided the disaster of Call #3.

Call #3

Roger: Thank you for calling Singapore Airlines, this is Roger, how may I help?
Me (internally cursing all of existence): Hi Roger, sorry, I just wanted to check in again on the return for record [   ]. Would you mind looking again for me please?
Roger: There is only the waitlist ma’am.
Me: Okay, it seems we might be having some technical challenges here, could you please transfer me to your support desk or a supervisor?

Note: This is the wrong approach. Don’t do this. It’s not helpful. You’ll just end up mad.

Roger: I’m sorry, we have very high call volume today, so it is not possible.
Me: Oh, I’m happy to hold!
Roger: There is nothing they can do, it is only the waitlist.
Me: I understand that’s all your system will let you do, which is why I’m happy to hold for someone with different access.
Roger: We have very high call volume, so it is not possible.
Me (wondering if 7AM on a Sunday is too early for bourbon): I’m sorry Roger, I must be misunderstanding — is there no one at Singapore Airlines that I can hold for?
Roger: Let me place you on a brief hold.
Me: THANK YOU
Roger (after 90 seconds): Thank you for holding. Ma’am, you are on the waitlist, so they will email you if a seat opens up.
Me (flabbergasted): Umm. Yes, that was quite clear. I would prefer, however, to change to any one of the flights that are available online.
Roger: Singapore has different availability online than here in the offline call center.
Narrator: This is no more true now than it was an hour ago.
Me: Roger, I promise — I’m not asking for a supervisor because I’m upset with you, and I won’t say anything to get you in trouble, I just really need to talk to someone who can help me change this itinerary to any of the 12 combinations of flights that are showing at the saver level.
Roger: There is no supervisor.
Me (having lost my senses at this point): Well, that seems like it can’t possibly be true. I will hold for a supervisor.
Roger: We have very high call volumes.
Me (looking at my wireless headphones and 15 yards of freshly-installed baseboards that need to be painted): I understand. I am more than happy to hold for as long as necessary.
Roger: Let me place you on a brief hold.
Me: THANK YOU
Roger (after 90 seconds): Thank you for holding Ma’am. I can have someone call you back within two hours.
Me (resigned): I really am okay with holding for two hours if needed.
Roger: I will take your number, and they will call.
Me: Alright, it’s a US number: 123-456-7890
Roger: Okay, so 12-344-56-780
Me (looking like this guy): Unsurprisingly, no.
Narrator: She was not proud of losing her temper like that.
Me: 1-2-3
Me: 4-5-6
Me: 7-8-9-0
Roger: And your name is?
Me: Tiffany.
Roger: Stephanie.
Me: Sure.
Roger: Thank you for calling Singapore.

Ultimately, I wanted to share this story because I know better. I understand why people get frustrated with airlines and try and escalate their situation, but it is rarely, if ever, effective.

The horrible service culture in the US often inspires people to be awful to front line employees — eventually, the thinking goes, if you’re enough of a jerk to enough people, the cable company will waive whatever fee, or the store manager will put in whatever override code is needed to allow your return.

I hate that philosophy, and try really hard not to engage at that level. Getting people to want to help you is always more effective than threatening them, and if you can’t get someone who wants to help, the best play is often to regroup and try later.

After the second call it was obvious that I wasn’t going to get anywhere, and continuing to press with an unyielding phone representative was a stupid and rookie mistake. Now I’m cranky and have a headache, he’s probably annoyed at stupid customers who don’t understand basic limitations, and most importantly — the flights still haven’t been changed.

So I’m belatedly going to follow my own advice, take my puppy snowshoeing and generally regroup, and then try calling later. Like I should have done in the first place. 

Hopefully this serves as a good reminder/warning as to why we always suggest being nice and patient and calling kindly as many times as you need to — the alternative isn’t effective.