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…
In this post:
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?
Surely the agent is just needing a tip? We all know how tipping makes CS so much better
My guess is this is the move to AI customer support. I've had a similar experience with a different company (rental car) in which the responses were NOTHING like an actual CS agent rather a computer generating responses with ZERO empathy toward the affected consumer, me.
If this is NOT AI, then customer support training, across the spectrum has changed to curt, non-helpful, and more demanding of the customer then helpful TO the customer.
@Omarsidd,
You are so right; there seems to be no one (or very few) of newer generations that do not display any compassion or desire to stick to a problem or troubleshoot etc. They are basically anonymous and want to rush off a call if they don't know the answer. Ridiculous and how is this any different than an AI robotic response. Disgusting how in such situations that help is almost non-existent and people...
@Omarsidd,
You are so right; there seems to be no one (or very few) of newer generations that do not display any compassion or desire to stick to a problem or troubleshoot etc. They are basically anonymous and want to rush off a call if they don't know the answer. Ridiculous and how is this any different than an AI robotic response. Disgusting how in such situations that help is almost non-existent and people have to somehow figure out the problem, navigate and advocate for themselves.
Maybe they use all US-based agents- the "tiktok generation" is barely literate and that might explain the complete lack of nuance, context, and follow-up in the chat. At least foreign call centers give their staff some training...
When I worked for Amex Black Card...... every key stroke was recorded (to make certain that we did what we said...) and needless to say, every word was recorded. Given the nature of our "special" Card Members, our team leads reviewed our calls weekly. Mistakes and use of the words " No " and "Can't" were highly discussed.
This (the UA reps) lack of service is sadly common. I see no effort to help her customer whatsoever .
Paula did a terrible job and should be talked to. The customer has options in this situation other than a United flight today or tomorrow. There's other days, standby, other airlines, compensation etc. Then again, some people on Twitter are also trying to get Paula fired, which seems equally unacceptable.
You’re all singing my tune today.
I'm not necessarily excusing Paula, but if flights are all booked for the same day and next day, when Sierra says "what now...", I'm not sure what he/she is expecting at that point.
Not sure how a person on a travel/aviation website could respond this way. It's United's responsibility to get her on a flight, period. That could mean standby tomorrow, a flight the day after with a hotel, booking her on another airline at United's expense, etc. Or as an alternative, proper compensation. There are always options and those options need to be described to the customer, who may not have the experience to know.
Tell her which day there isn't a full flight
If you still believe that you can get friendly, competent help in an acceptable timeframe by calling the hotline of a big US based company….
good news is I have bridge on sale
bad news is, sorry, the story with the easter bunny…..
One time, I called into United and my call was escalated a couple times. Eventually, the last person I spoke to said that I should call United for my issue. When I asked what he meant since I had called United I didn't get an answer and he just hung up.
I work on the corporate side at United. The agents who staff Agent on Demand are actually the same United employees you’d normally find at airport help centers handling rebookings and customer assistance.
Instead of working directly at the counter, they’re typically stationed in a back-office area at the airport with a computer while covering the AOD role. The whole idea behind the system is that when one hub is dealing with major delays or...
I work on the corporate side at United. The agents who staff Agent on Demand are actually the same United employees you’d normally find at airport help centers handling rebookings and customer assistance.
Instead of working directly at the counter, they’re typically stationed in a back-office area at the airport with a computer while covering the AOD role. The whole idea behind the system is that when one hub is dealing with major delays or cancellations, agents at other hubs with downtime can remotely assist those customers.
So yes — the AOD agents are direct United employees working from airport back offices, not outsourced contractors.
So they appear pretty useless and unhelpful then. Rather than solve a problem, they made it worse. I thought it was a bot given the poor level of assistance.
Yeah it's surprising to see this kind of interaction via AOD. I've separately used the in-app messaging service which is more professional (likely more quality controls) but they usually are not helpful and doing basic things can take way too long. Those support reps usually don't have the same access as more senior call center folks or in-airport agents though.
Oh, lookie… bigotry!
@1990 Funny, I was going to call it racism.
I’d’ve also settled on xenophobia. Prejudice could also suffice. Bias seems too neutral.
why is the truth racist tho?
No, frrp, just because it’s your hateful opinion, doesn’t make it ‘true’
It is @1990. Many stereotypes are there for a reason. Truth isn’t bigotry or racism. Sorry. As Jack Nicholson stated “you can’t handle the truth”
One awaits the arrival of Walter Mitty, he will tell us all how customer service should really be handled …. :-)
You're dealing with AI and AI sucks when it comes to multi dimensional tasks. I live with AI every day. It's being jammed down our throats because a chat bot while inferior to a human being will always be cheaper than a human being. Even a human in India or China.
My advice? As far as airlines YOU CAN do your own research. Find an open seat on a flight that meets your needs and...
You're dealing with AI and AI sucks when it comes to multi dimensional tasks. I live with AI every day. It's being jammed down our throats because a chat bot while inferior to a human being will always be cheaper than a human being. Even a human in India or China.
My advice? As far as airlines YOU CAN do your own research. Find an open seat on a flight that meets your needs and request it. Likely your request will be granted. If you are like this clown and think there's someone out there that's going to research all the options for you, you are in fact a clown.
@ George N Romey -- Don't you think AI would be a little more composed than to have such an attitude, type in all caps, etc.?
Ahh, so close, George. See, you know this is a problem, because you, too, are experiencing it first-hand, but, instead of acknowledging that this is a bigger problem that sensible regulation could improve, you double-down on the personal responsibility myth. No, you cannot ‘do your own research’ out of this. These for-profit corporations are not playing by any rules other than to separate you from your money. Individuals cannot ‘win’ against this. We should, in...
Ahh, so close, George. See, you know this is a problem, because you, too, are experiencing it first-hand, but, instead of acknowledging that this is a bigger problem that sensible regulation could improve, you double-down on the personal responsibility myth. No, you cannot ‘do your own research’ out of this. These for-profit corporations are not playing by any rules other than to separate you from your money. Individuals cannot ‘win’ against this. We should, in the aggregate, fight it, but ultimately, we need effective government to ensure consumers are actually protected here.
Do you think humans in China or India are understandable ?
Alert, hate and ignorance help no one.
What exactly was hateful or ignorant about said statement? Be specific without generic platitudes or safe spaces.
Jim, facetiously questioning whether nearly 3 billion people are ‘understandable’ isn’t even thinly-veiled xenophobia… c’mon man. Don’t encourage Alert or anyone else.
Got it, so no answer. I never said I agreed or disagreed but there are serious issues with Indian call centres (for example) due to understanding to the target market and the industry is moving g away from them. That is not phobic, just the situation that over 250 Fortune 1000 companies have noted on public record. Alert might very well be prejudiced, but random outrage with no specifics is not addressing that.
Jim, sane-washing Alert’s prejudice isn’t helping anyone or anything. The reality is that call centers, whether in the US (for the few that still exist), or in Ireland, Mexico, Africa, Asia or elsewhere are disappearing/downsizing because of these new technologies, which do not necessarily make things better, in fact, often they make things far worse ovefall (less jobs, globally; software designed not to solve problems for customers, but merely designed to save costs, increase profits.)...
Jim, sane-washing Alert’s prejudice isn’t helping anyone or anything. The reality is that call centers, whether in the US (for the few that still exist), or in Ireland, Mexico, Africa, Asia or elsewhere are disappearing/downsizing because of these new technologies, which do not necessarily make things better, in fact, often they make things far worse ovefall (less jobs, globally; software designed not to solve problems for customers, but merely designed to save costs, increase profits.) So, celebrate if you’re an oligarch; but, for everyone else, no bueno.
Great non-sequitur but you still have not specifically said what is hateful or ignorant about his comments, then some feckless non-sense about 'sane-washing' (who comes up with this stuff? lol). I asked you a simple, specific question, to back up your post and words, which you cannot answer. Fair enough, I have to fire 100s a year that screw-up like that so I am no surprised. As for call centres, I run companies with many...
Great non-sequitur but you still have not specifically said what is hateful or ignorant about his comments, then some feckless non-sense about 'sane-washing' (who comes up with this stuff? lol). I asked you a simple, specific question, to back up your post and words, which you cannot answer. Fair enough, I have to fire 100s a year that screw-up like that so I am no surprised. As for call centres, I run companies with many of them, and the points I noted are factually accurate. The fact AI sucks, or the lady needing help was a munter is irrelevant.
It is not ignorant to point out call centres with non-native, first language English speakers normally get low marks, and scores are being moved out of India daily. So much so they are back-filling by scamming in some cases; but I digress.
Just wanted a simple, cogent answer to what example backed up your initial, off-colour post.
Folks, customer service, especially AI, is no longer designed to actually help; it’s designed to save the company money, increase profit.
We need air passenger rights legislation like EU/UK 261, Canada’s APPR, so that we get compensated when airlines fail us; also, we should bring back Rule 240, where the airline has to get you on the next available flight on any carrier, if you want to proceed with travel.
There are better ways...
Folks, customer service, especially AI, is no longer designed to actually help; it’s designed to save the company money, increase profit.
We need air passenger rights legislation like EU/UK 261, Canada’s APPR, so that we get compensated when airlines fail us; also, we should bring back Rule 240, where the airline has to get you on the next available flight on any carrier, if you want to proceed with travel.
There are better ways to do this. Stop cucking and shilling for big businesses who don’t care.
Seriously. How often do we call in for help seeking a live agent only to have the phone menu gas light us and tell us most questions can be answered on their website. It's like.... we would not have spent extra time trying to find their 800 number on a Reddit page hoping to get a live agent if their site actually solved our issue.
Sierra seems like a b word