[AustinTexasTraveler]

If NOTHING else - train your employees so that when somethign goes wrong they all have the right information and deliver the same message. 75% of my frustration is that one employee tells me one thing will happen and the next says somethign 180 opposite. It can't be that hard to train these people on basic airline policies.

[AAhaternow]

I fly out of Austin as well and certainly feel your pain. With one or two exceptions, most of the agents at this counter are rude, angry little people and need to find another livelihood. Unfortunately they're powerless to do anything that resembles true customer service, more like a seating hostess than an agent, and when you protest one of the riduculous AA "rules" they become belligerent. That's why I'm now by-passing them for either Southwest or Continental.

[airhead]

It would be nice if airline polices were "basic" and it would be very nice if the employees had proper training. The extent of training an AA employee gets is the bare minimum federal requirements of safety. It is not the employee's fault. They are pretty much thrown into the pool and told to swim. I strongly encourage you to write the department of transportation about this issue. If good people like yourself only complain to this site or an airline, then nothing gets done. Here is a link. http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/problems.htm

good luck.

[AAhaternow]

I hear you and thank you for the feedback. I have several friends that currently work for AA and I still appreciate who they are and what they have to deal with everyday. God bless them.

While I agree that most of the problems with AA are because of horrible management and poor company policies, this particular ticket agent could have handled my situation much better. Much, much better in fact. She had absolutely no concept of customer service and would not last two seconds working for a more professional, none union company. She was rude, angry and lacked knowledge of how the upgrade policy worked. You can beat me up but when my family is involved I get angry. Shame on AA but shame on her as well.

I understand that online complaints are limited but they also have a major impact in the technological world we live in. I currently work for a large computer company and after several years of negative blogs regarding poor customer service they now understand the power of negative customer feedback via the web. We get it now and are addressing our faults. Shame on us for not doing it sooner but we're doing all we can to fix the issues now.

I understand what you're saying and have already submitted my complaint to the FAA. As much as I hate to get the government involved they seem to be the only entity that has a chance of correcting the problems.

Let's cross our fingers and hope for the best. Bless you my friend, your advice is heard and appreciated.

[AAhaternow]

Amen fellow Austin brother!

[Butch Cassidy Slept Here]

Two changes which could improve domestic air travel, by least, 50%:

ONE--

If a customer is questioning, or even arguing, about something, AND, the customer is NOT

• Being physically assaultive, or making threats
• Drunk
• Using four-letter words
• Otherwise using language which a REASONABLE PERSON would find demeaning

Then--that employee should be disciplined if they call the police.


TWO--

Call centers taking calls for English-language customers should be located in the USA. At a minimum, call centers located outside the USA should be located only in countries where English is either the only language, or the dominant language--ie: Canada, Ireland, U.K.

[Eagleguy]

Shame on you Airhead for saying that we are not given proper training. I completely resent that. I don't know how you work, but I keep up to date on all the policies and procedures and if I don't know the specific answer I know where to find it. Maybe you should read N*SYSHOT more often or make your own star of references.

I have some coworkers who just come in and do their 8 and skate but I don't and I don't want to be grouped in with employees who do the bare minimum.

If you can't handle the computer technical side of it go to the bag room or stand out in front of the kiosks.

Why don't you give the people on here some real advice about how to handle situations rather than just referring them to complain complain complain.

Oh and butch cassidy....yeah let's oursource our call centres to nations that have even HIGHER wages! ESPECIALLY THE UK!