Whereas minor within the scheme of issues, I discover this to be extremely annoying…
American has a brand new automated telephone system
Yesterday I known as American Airways for the primary time in weeks, and heard a telephone immediate I hadn’t heard earlier than. I didn’t suppose a lot of it on the time, and figured possibly my name simply wasn’t routed accurately, or one thing. However nope, that is apparently one thing new, as reported by View from the Wing.
Lengthy story quick, whenever you name American, you now should hearken to a roughly 60-second automated message earlier than you may discuss to any agent. There’s no choice to say “agent” or “consultant” to get previous the immediate, so it’s important to hearken to this each time you name American, even if you happen to’re a frequent flyer (I’ve AAdvantage Govt Platinum standing).
Right here’s the brand new immediate, which everybody has to hearken to:
Thanks for calling American Airways AAdvantage Govt Platinum reservations. Your name could also be recorded and monitored to make sure top quality service. Para español, oprima numero nueve. For quicker service, particularly when making or altering journey plans, attempt the American Airways cell app or our web site at aa.com. In case you’re calling about journey booked via an company, please contact the company immediately.
Thanks once more for calling American Airways. Do you know now you can do issues like add a carry-on pet for flights inside the US, request wheelchair service, and tell us about different particular wants on-line? Go to aa.com to handle your journey and request further providers. It’s also possible to make adjustments or cancel your journey for journey credit score if eligible.
Hello Benjamin, I’ve matched your telephone quantity to your AAdvantage account. Please maintain and I’ll get somebody on the road that will help you. Your suggestions is necessary to us. Please stay on the road after your name to finish a quick two query survey concerning your expertise with our journey skilled at this time.
Please repair this, American!
I can in fact respect American desirous to make clients conscious of the choices to self-service a reservation, and to direct clients on-line, with the intention to decrease maintain instances. That’s completely honest.
Nevertheless, what’s annoying right here is that there’s no choice to skip this immediate. So now you want to waste a minute listening to this immediate each single time you name, even if you happen to’ve heard it 100 instances earlier than.
Moreover, it’s one factor to have this on the final reservations telephone quantity, however to have it on the elite traces is irritating, when you think about that many elite members continuously name. The entire thing can also be unnecessarily wordy. Like, is there a should be thanked for calling twice?
An American spokesperson at the least says that the corporate is “intently listening” to suggestions:
We not too long ago up to date the prompts our clients hear once they name our Reservations group. These updates embody a brand new message to make clients conscious of our self service choices on-line, which might save them time as a substitute of ready to talk with a journey skilled, and updates to our know-how to assist route buyer calls the place they should go to get them solutions shortly. We’re listening intently to our clients’ suggestions about this replace and can proceed to evolve to finest help our clients.
So possibly American will rethink this?
Backside line
American has not too long ago launched a brand new minute-long automated telephone immediate. Whereas I can respect American’s need to make passengers conscious of the opposite reservation servicing choices, it ought to at the least be attainable to skip this.
I do know that is minor within the scheme of issues, however when you think about what number of calls American will get, this interprets to plenty of wasted time.
Within the meantime, if you happen to’re a frequent flyer and name American, you may simply put your telephone down for 60 seconds, after which choose up, so that you simply don’t hassle listening to all of this.
What do you make of American’s new automated telephone immediate?