AA Indian Call Centre

[Maca44]

Well, I don't know if there is some type of prize for the longest it has taken to pay for flights with the AA Indian call centre, but 2 hours and 40 minutes would be up there if there was such an award. I had to book five KUP fares on the AA website all on the one booking number for August 2008, and that went fine with no problems. As August is the month when Amercian schools return at various times I thought it prudent to book the flights now.

I then contacted the Australian AA number which diverts to India and so the problems started. I might indicate that the 2hr 40min time it took to pay for the flights involved 4 calls that either dropped out or was disconnected. The first went through to a female and she was great, but just when getting to the payment part the line went dead. I rang the 1800 number again, and waited to get connected and spoke with a male (Vinod) and I don't think this guy had the intelligence to change a printer cartridge let alone attend to a flight booking. Needless to say, the line dropped out again half way through the payment section. The line dropped out again so fast forward to the 4th call and the girl with whom I spoke on the first occasion answered and things went smoothly from there and all was ticketed okay.

I read the various threads about the call centre, and recommendations that you should put your country of residence as UK etc when booking the flights so I guess this is the penalty I pay for not taking advice from those with more experience. Others people had indicated in previous threads that they had no problems with the call centre which is why I chose that method, but I really don't think I will do that again. If you don't write about these things nobody knows the problems you can face.

 

[Mal]

The "UK" method could come unstuck, so I really don't like using it, although for me it's often the quickest and most reliable way of paying. It also adds less complications when refunding tickets, but UK tickets are unable to be changed online at the moment whereas the US ones ares. Australian tickets of course can't be changed online. By using the UK method, you also pay more in Credit Card fees etc and are more vulnerable to changes in currency.

I find that knowing the Nato Phonetic Alphabet NATO phonetic alphabet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and having your address/email address/booking ref etc spelt out in front of you so you can quickly refer to it is quite handy when dealing with the ICC.

The solution may be for people to write letters to AA/provide Feedback that we should be able to be trusted to use our Credit Cards on the AA site.

They recently increased the number of countries covered, but sadly Australia wasn't included.

Another option is to try the AA Japan site American Airlines Japan They use Amadeus for the bookings I believe, and I believe will allow foreign addresses/credit cards, and allow the insertion of a Qantas/ Other FF number. Note that the booking engine is nowhere near as flexible and you may not be able to find the routing you want. You also have to deal with the AA Japan office for refunds/changes etc which should be ok, but could also be problematic at times. I havn't made a booking through this method as the particular routings I've been after havn't been available.

 

[serfty]

There is also the method mentioned here on FT: AA from Australia / India call centre outsourcing - FlyerTalk Forums (posts #19 & #20)

Note that I have not used it to make payments; only to make adjustments/verify FF details etc.

(You may still need to be prepared to use the NATO alphabet as OZ English can be an issue for some USA residents - or at least mine ).

 

[Dave Noble]

I find that the Australian call centre is ok for simple tasks such as taking payment for a pre-booked ticket

If booking an AA ticket and wanting to avoid the use UK as country of residence on credit card, I would go online and hold the booking;

If the booking cost is < AUD1000
phone the reservations desk and give them the record locator and just get it issued over the phone

If booking >= AUD1000 then I would phone the UK office and take the telephone booking fee hit rather than go through the hassle of sending authorisation faxes to AA Sydney


Dave

 

[Maca44]

The cost of my flights was just over US$1700, and the girl I eventually spoke with did everything over the phone..no authorisation faxes for amex etc.