I am writing this blog entry while on hold. You see, I am trying to book award travel to Dallas in a few weeks. I want to fly Midwest Airlines because they have a nonstop flight from Milwaukee with their nice comfy 2x2 seating.
I started off by calling Midwest Airlines to see what flights were available. I only have enough miles with Midwest for two of the four tickets I need, so I wanted to check for seat availability and flight times. Here’s how that call went:
1. Call toll free number.
2. Press award travel option.
3. Talk to an agent who helped me with flight availability, and booked my two tickets using my Midwest miles.
Total time – about 10 minutes.
Next I had to call Northwest to use Northwest miles for the other two tickets on the Midwest flight (they are partner airlines). Here’s how that call went:
Call toll free number.
Say “Award Travel†to automated attendant.
Enter my Mileage plus number on my phone keypad and press #.
Say “September 22†when the auto attendant asks for departure date.
Say “Milwaukee†when the auto attendant asks departure city.
Say “Dallas†when the auto attendant asks arrival city.
Say “October 2†when auto attendant asks return date.
Say “Two†when the auto attendant asks for how many travelers.
Yell “NO†when the auto attendant confirms that I want to go from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Krakow, Poland on September 22 returning on October 2.
Say “arrival city†when auto attendant asks what part was incorrect.
Say “Dallas, Texas†when auto attendant asks for correct arrival city.
Say “yes†when auto attendant confirms that I want to go from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Dallas, Texas departing on September 22 and returning on October 2.
Yell out loud when a recorded voice says something like “Due to a high level of calls, we cannot complete your call at this time. Please try again.â€
Total time so far, 15 minutes – and they hung up on me!
Call toll free number again.
Repeat steps 2 through 8.
Say “yes†to confirm I want to go to Dallas etc…
Hear about the high level of calls and that I will be put on hold. Approximate time to talk to agent: more than 15 minutes. At least they didn't hang up on me!
I have written all of this blog up until this point while on hold. After 30 minutes of holding, a NWA agent by the name of Chris answered the phone. The rest was written after I got off the phone with Chris.
Confirm to Chris that two of us will be flying to Dallas, etc…
Tell Chris exactly what Midwest flights numbers I want to be on (thanks to the friendly help from Holly at Midwest earlier).
Have him book my flights. Total time on phone with Chris – about 5 minutes. Total time trying to book award flight with Northwest – around 50 minutes.
OK, now they wanted me to hang on for an automated survey on my experience. Now I could let them know how I felt about this whole fiasco!
First question: “Without influence on how you feel about Northwest Airlines in general, how do you feel about the service you received from the Northwest reservations agent? Press “1†if you are extremely satisfied.â€
Well, I had to press “1.†After all, when I was finally able to talk to a live person, he was extremely helpful and courteous.
Next question: Well, there wasn’t any other question. That was it! No “How do you feel about the time you had to wait to speak to an agent?†or “How do you feel about the automated attendant we are using?†or “How satisfied are you with your overall experience?â€
There you have it. A tale of two different customer service experiences. You be the judge.
Thanks for letting me vent.
Joe Escobar