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On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

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Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#421

Post by isostatic »

monadgonad wrote: post #364
kalleboo wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> letting everyone check two bags for “free” is a cost drag on everyone Not necessarily. More checked bags -> fewer carry-ons -> faster boarding as people aren't trying to cram their bags into the overhead and giving up and gate-checking -> shorter turnaround time -> higher aircraft utilization, cheaper airport fees -> cheaper tickets

> faster boarding as people aren't trying to cram their bags Checking and loading baggage takes way longer, not to mention the unloading and waiting at the other end.

Not with containerised baggage

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#422

Post by isostatic »

daemin wrote: post #363
sho wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really need references to support that claim because it's also the complete opposite of everything I've ever heard. While it's true that simply multiplying seat numbers by advertised prices is not giving the whole picture, and running lounges isn't free, the extra costs are absolutely outweighed by the far higher cost of the ticket. Full service airlines would fill the whole plane with business if they have the d…

Isn't the latest Singapore to New York flight entirely business class?

Business and premium economy

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#423

Post by norswap »

kenneth wrote: post #57

The most obvious example of this in daily life is through airlines, where the difference is pretty transparent and you get night-and-day better service by being a loyal customer. With top status with AA and UA (EXP and 1K), you connected to U.S.-based very senior phone agents right away, who always make sure to take care of any issue that arises. 50min delay on your AA flight? No problem, sir, we are rebooking you on…

> frequent flyers bring the vast majority of profits to airlines

I wouldn't say that's true at all. But even if the majority of profits comes from infrequent flyers, the cost of losing one of them may be multiple orders of magnitude less expensive than losing a frequent flyer.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#424

Post by closeparen »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #359
lozaning wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any yet I've somehow been bombarded all week with spam sms from only the party who's candidates I do not intend to vote for. Anyone that could tie the website I visit to my phone number should be able to guess that easily enough.

Why would a party you do intend to vote for need to bombard you with advertising? Surely you're only going to get deluged with advertising of you're known not to vote for that party. Or is reverse psychology! Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line ...

Elections are won and lost on turnout, not changes in opinion.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#425

Post by Fomite »

kenneth wrote: post #415
Fomite wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's especially not cognitive-load building if you live at a hub (or a place with only one carrier). Live in Pullman, WA? You're flying Alaska anyway. Salt Lake City, UT? Get yourself a Delta number. The tricky places are where there are lots of competing carriers. San Francisco with it's...pseudo-hubness for a number of airlines, Washington DC, etc.

SF is definitely a hub with about 50% market share to United. It's also a hub for the smaller Alaska (mostly via their acquisition of SFO-based Virgin America). As a SFO-based frequent flyer, if you fly to numerous destination (instead of doing the same commute each trip), your choices are likely: fly United or take an extra connection.

SFO is weird, because it's a United hub, but there's just enough competition from Alaska nee Virgina America and Southwest that I could see being tempted off United.

Unlike say, Denver or Salt Lake for United and Delta respectively.

I'd also put SEA in this category, especially with Alaska and Delta no longer playing nice in the sandbox.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#426

Post by porlune »

fjsolwmv wrote: post #381
porlune wrote: post #345

One might argue that having such a list constitutes bad faith. 1) It's dishonest to not inform your customers that they are to be systematically treated differently based on a secretly kept score. 2) Such a score kept changes the relationship between parties after a contract has been established, thereby negating value of the contract. Given that good faith requires honesty, such a thing should be regarded as unethic…

There's no customer service contract.

In the case I was making there would be some form of contract. It's very unlikely that you've purchased anything recently that didn't have some kind of contract that went along with it (e.g. an implied warranty.)

Think of this as purchasing a season pass from Disneyland, and then being forced to wait in a longer line for every ride because someone didn't like the tone of your voice at some point during that process.

That would change the value of what you purchased, not disclosing that is dishonest, and, to me, a clear violation of good faith and fair dealing.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#427

Post by jmcqk6 »

Shivetya wrote: post #361
Vraxx wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems a ridiculous opinion to say privatize everything , but I've seen more and more politicians in the US who support that, or at least that's what I hear when they talk about privatizing education, healthcare, and even the FAA. I agree that, as you point out, some government services are terrible for certain groups of people (poor and minorities), but I don't think that's an argument for privatization because at…

Well the equivalent of the FAA has been privatized in many other countries to great success; Canada is a success story there. Education in this country has improved how since the origination of the DOE during Carter's term? Seriously? Look at the most expensive issues that affect America and you will find the government interfering at all stages of that industry, whether it is health care, higher education, lower edu…

>Do you think a privately run system would not have been fined to death over that?

Yes. We have a big problem with accountability in this country, especially when profits are involved. The issue is not private vs. public. The issue is we sacrifice everything in order to make a buck.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#428

Post by presto8 »

kenneth wrote: post #413
presto8 wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two RT trips to Asia might barely meet the minimum tier for miles, but most (all?) airlines now have a minimum in dollars spent, as well. For example, for the first status level, United requires 25,000 miles and $3000 spent with United (this means code-share partner airline flights don't count). One year, I flew RT SFO-Singapore (16,000 miles RT) and SFO-Tel-Aviv (10,200 miles RT). Due to getting a really good deal o…

Not all airlines have spend requirements. (Alaska doesn't, and neither do most foreign programs). You can waive United spend requirement by using their credit card, too. Also, Star Alliance partner flights do earn PQDs on United as long as you fly on a United ticket (# starting in 016). I have quite a few friends who fly primarily United but credit flights to other partner airlines where the requirements aren't as hi…

Yes, you're right on Alaska, although since they don't fly internationally, it's much harder to rack up the miles with 2 trips (as parent was suggesting). Incidentally, Alaska is my favorite carrier for many reasons, but only for domestic flights.

As for spending with the credit card, unfortunately that isn't an option for me since my company pays for many of my tickets. And they will purchase the cheapest ticket, which often means buying it on the partner airline (e.g. Lufthansa plane but cheaper if booked as an Air Canada).

Thanks for the tip on Aegean. I checked it out and looks like 24,000 miles on partner airlines without any other restrictions to get Star Alliance Silver! Looks like a winner!

Status programs are really in a sad state on airlines. They are supposed to be a reward to customers but many times end up feeling punitive. For the airlines like United that have the minimum dollars spent requirement, I wish they would just make that the sole criterion, which would at least simply things!

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#429

Post by clubm8 »

chrisseaton wrote: post #400
clubm8 wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I have family members who are super into frequent flyer programs, credit card points, etc, etc. But I don't like the cognitive load they introduce, and I don't like having to figure out how much I'm being manipulated in any given interaction. You can't handle the cognitive load of attaching a unique identifier to your account? You don't need to pick an airline or game credit cards - just sign up next time you book a…

Different flights and tickets give you a different number of miles. If you are serious about accumulating miles you can spend a great deal of time and effort attempting to optimising how many miles you earn. If you just 'attach a unique identifier to your account' you aren't going to get much out of a frequent flyer programme.

>If you just 'attach a unique identifier to your account' you aren't going to get much out of a frequent flyer programme.

If you're on a consistent route (ex: SF to NYC or London) picking an airline and sticking with it when you fly in every week/month will absolutely rack up points.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#430

Post by mszcz »

Scoundreller wrote: post #60
cortesoft wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But then when you ask for help they transfer you back to hold...

Sometimes “sales” can’t transfer calls internationally and routes you to the domestic support.

True, _sometimes_ they can't.
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