There’s a post about a United Airlines customer service interaction that’s going viral on X, as it has been viewed millions of times in just 12 hours. More than anything, people are just confused, so let’s analyze this a little bit…
Very awkward United Airlines “Agent on Demand” interaction
United Airlines has its “Agent on Demand” feature. The idea is that if you face travel disruptions on your day of travel, this feature lets you get in touch with an agent, with the option to communicate using audio or text. That brings us to this interaction, which seemingly went as follows, based on the screenshots (“Paula” is the customer service representative, and “Sierra” is the customer):
Paula: “Sorry there are no more flights for tonight”
Paula: “TOMORROW IS BOOKED UP”
Sierra: “Okay can I be rebooked for tomorrow same time? And I assume I will”
Sierra: “There’s no flights for tomorrow?”
Paula: “All full”
Sierra: “Okay so… what now? Waiting for a solution or help here. Thank you”
Paula: “Nothing”
Sierra: “What?”
There’s then a five minute gap, and then the following is shared:
Paula: “Is that all on UNITED/”
Sierra: “I have no idea”
Sierra: “I’m coming to you guys for help”
Paula: “call 18008648331”
Sierra: “I can hear everything you’re saying right now”
Sierra: “How am I not being nice? I am asking for help lol”
Paula: “I DO NOT HAVE A HEADSET”
Paula: “There is no one in my room”
Sierra: “I am recording the entire call and I am hearing everything”
Paula: “That is okay”
Paula: “You need to call 18008648331 for further help”
Sierra: “Okay so I am aware you can offer me a solution but you just told your coworker I’m not being nice so you’re going to give me a 1-800 number instead”
As you can see based on the screenshots, while the communication is taking place by text, you’ll see the “Audio in Progress” bar at the top. So clearly the conversation includes both text and voice, though the customer is muted.
What happened with this United customer service interaction?
As I see it, there are two main questions here:
- Is the level of written communication really what United strives for?
- How is it possible that the customer was hearing what the customer service representative was saying?
I’m trying to figure out who exactly staffs these “Agent on Demand” centers. It would appear that it’s Cisco technology powering this, according to the below promotional video. But that doesn’t tell us who is actually working in these call centers. Are they directly United employees, or are these offshored contract employees with limited training?
So first there’s the question of written communication. Seriously, is this really how employees are supposed to communicate? “All full” and “nothing,” with no additional context? That’s it?
Regarding the concept of the employee writing one thing but then saying another thing in the background, it sounds like United’s chat feature allows both audio and video conversations at the same time. As you can see, the customer has herself muted, so it almost seems like the customer service agent might not be aware that she’s being heard as well.
I’m not sure if there’s simply a lack of warning to employees when they’re being recorded, or what. I mean, I imagine that most of us expect that customer service representatives may sometimes be saying negative things about customers when they’re not being recorded, but don’t expect to actually be able to hear those things.
Of course in this era, one also can’t rule out the fact that this could be fake. However, this seems like a rather random thing to make up or alter, so I’m inclined to believe it’s mostly true. But still, given the amount of attention this is getting, and the confusion this is creating, I figure it’s at least worth going over the basics of what we do understand.
If there’s anything I’m missing, or anyone has more insights into who is staffing these “Agent on Demand” centers, please do chime in!
Bottom line
A United Airlines customer service interaction is getting quite a bit of attention online. This is in reference to United’s “Agent on Demand” feature, where you can chat with an employee by text or voice. In this case, it seems the customer was communicating by text, but also had the voice option enabled.
The employee’s messages are rather short and rude to begin with, but then the customer also reportedly heard her saying that she won’t be helping, and will instead give the carrier’s phone number.
There’s a lot here to be confused about, but either way, this isn’t the first odd “Agent on Demand” interaction I’ve seen, so I wonder what exactly is going on here.
Does anyone have any insights here, or know who staffs these special customer service channels?
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