Whats wrong with AA India call centre?

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vt

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Mar 9, 2006
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Just tried to book 2 LONE4's for some friends through India.

Wen through routing...the operator will call back with RELOC once she has done the booking.

Apart from being a bit of careful with langauge, there was no issue.

They may not know very well the xONEx flight rules, but very helpful and not getting the usual LOTFAP arrogance and excuses such as "no AA flights".

I will report back on progress shortly, but I think the India call centre for AA may be viable.
 
Indian Call centres are similar to call centres everywhere in that you can get good people, completely dud people and some excellent people.

An additional complication with any overseas call centre is the language/accent barrier - no matter what country the call centre is in.

My dealings with the AA Indian call centre havn't been too pleasant. But the times I've called I could have got the "duds" rather than the good staff there.

I do also sometimes have issues with American call centres too based on accents etc, but feel that my calls with American/Australian call centres go better based on their willingness to think outside of the square/proactively assist with certain things. These are a couple of traits I tend to find lacking in some other overseas call centres.

I'm glad that you had a pleasant experience with their call centre. Gives me confidence that the next time I call that I may have a better experience.
 
A call centre is a call centre is a call centre I guess.

Called also to get my ticket authorisation for payment. Been 3 hours since and still waiting for the email.

You win some, you lose some.
 
vt said:
A call centre is a call centre is a call centre I guess.

Called also to get my ticket authorisation for payment. Been 3 hours since and still waiting for the email.

That was my issue last time with the call centre. Payment Authorisation email never turned up. Oh well. Some of the regulars here have the form, maybe they can zip it up and attach it to one of the threads here for future use (although, I do recall it being fairly large, and perhaps unable to be attached)
 
I am auctually more interested in the pricing (base fare plus taxes and charges) of the itinieries.


As I made a time change on my first flight, the AA ATW in the States needed it rerated. From 4300 for a LONE4 to 3600...AUD. I have been getting differing prices each time it gets rated. So looking forward to getting the email.

Calling them again soon.....
 
vt said:
I am auctually more interested in the pricing (base fare plus taxes and charges) of the itinieries.


As I made a time change on my first flight, the AA ATW in the States needed it rerated. From 4300 for a LONE4 to 3600...AUD. I have been getting differing prices each time it gets rated. So looking forward to getting the email.

Calling them again soon.....
Good luck.

At least the price changes are going in the right direction.
 
vt said:
A call centre is a call centre is a call centre I guess.

Called also to get my ticket authorisation for payment. Been 3 hours since and still waiting for the email.

You win some, you lose some.

Well almost true. There are some exceptional "call centres" - eg EXP line is almost without exception always excellent.
 
vt said:
A call centre is a call centre is a call centre I guess.

Called also to get my ticket authorisation for payment. Been 3 hours since and still waiting for the email.

You win some, you lose some.

I waited and waited for my credit card authorisation. Finally I called back next day. Got the form. Sent in the form. Checked online. Still hadn't been processed. Called again. Told to wait a little bit longer. Booking dropped out, and fare was now $1000 more.
 
I actually called them again last night. They had the wrong email (language issue) with the letters mixed up. Then I called again a couple of hours later...they thought they had sent it. Asked for it to be sent again...to another email address. The second request came through a full 5 hours late. Still waiting for the 3rd request for the auth form.

I assume the price drop is because I originally had a LONE5 and even though I changed routing to remove NAM, they still based the price off a LONE5. Another force rate and they realkise it is in fact a LONE4...so I get a great price for my itinery.

With regard to the pricing, they automatically held the booking for me for 21 days...so hopefully plenty of time.
 
vt said:
I actually called them again last night. They had the wrong email (language issue) with the letters mixed up. Then I called again a couple of hours later...they thought they had sent it. Asked for it to be sent again...to another email address. The second request came through a full 5 hours late. Still waiting for the 3rd request for the auth form.

I assume the price drop is because I originally had a LONE5 and even though I changed routing to remove NAM, they still based the price off a LONE5. Another force rate and they realkise it is in fact a LONE4...so I get a great price for my itinery.

With regard to the pricing, they automatically held the booking for me for 21 days...so hopefully plenty of time.

When they ticket this, how do they get the ticket it to you? Do they post it from overseas. Reason I ask, is I may need to organise a DONE4 later this week, for travel next week. Would rather do it on AA than QF (despite the call-centre difficulties), but am not sure they would be able to get it to me on time.
 
adrian said:
When they ticket this, how do they get the ticket it to you? Do they post it from overseas. Reason I ask, is I may need to organise a DONE4 later this week, for travel next week. Would rather do it on AA than QF (despite the call-centre difficulties), but am not sure they would be able to get it to me on time.

The tickets are issued in Australia and posted using Express Post so there should be no issue

Dave
 
the process is:

1. Call AA ATW in USA on 00 11 1800 247 3247 - They are open from 10PM Australian EST, or you can catch them up until 11 AM Australian EST.
2. Book Itiniery and get a RECORD LOCATOR
3. Allow for 24 Hours for rating or if you had called in the morning, you can try that evening...or vice versa.
4. Call AA Indian Call centre for Authority Form on 1800 673 486- hound them if you dont get the form in 1 to 2 hours.
5. Fax Authority form to Sydney Ticket office by 4PM
6. Arrange for pickup.

I guess you can arrnge for pickup or courier pickup if you are tight on time.

You can also call the AA Indian Call centre on 1800 673 486 to book the itinery but the process they follow seems to be:
1. Jot down routing.
2. Attempt to book.
3. Require AA ATW in the USA to verify.
4. Need 24 Hours to rate.

I am trying to all Indian approach now.
 
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Dave Noble said:
The tickets are issued in Australia and posted using Express Post so there should be no issue

Dave
They must be issued in Australia. Otherwise the purchaser has to pay the higher of the prices for Australia and the country in which the ticket is issued. I suppose that would not be a problem for India/Australia (assuming ex-Australia is more than ex-India) but could be for some combinations.
 
Ok...I take it all back. I would advise to call the AA ATW Desk in the USA if you want the booking to be done and done correctly. I still have not heard a reply from the Indian call centre regarding my booking.

I will call again to see but I dont hold much hope.

Now where did I leave that phonecard....
 
Overall, my experience with the ICC has been VERY positive. :D I found them to be much more customer service orientated. When I first booked my LHGLOB34 with the USA ATW desk in October last year, they stuck me with a 21 day ticket time limit and wouldn't budge. The booking finally lapsed, so I called the ICC and rebooked with a new record locator. The lady was VERY nice and actually had someone manually show the booking as ticketed so it wouldn't expire. They sent it to the UK for pricing back then. Last week, I was finally ready to pay for the tickets so I called up and requested the authorization form. Since the fare record was several months old, they had to refare it. This took several days during which the UK office messed it up because they thought I wanted a LONE fare and they squawked about the segments I had in South America. I pointed out that I was on a LHGLOB fare and she noted in the PNR and sent it back. It finally came back with the correct fare and $25 cheaper because the Aussie $ is higher now! :D

Tuesday, they emailed me the authorization form. This did take 2 tries, the first one didn't come through so I called back at lunch time and it came through 15 minutes after I went home. I don't have a printer at home so I had to wait until yesterday to fax them through. They sent one form per booking and they were very co-operative with me needing to charge one ticket at a time! Thankfully, they seemed to understand that not everyone has a $8000 + credit limit. They put one ticket through yesterday and the other one this morning. I arranged a courier pickup so hopefully I should have them tomorrow! I have been very pleased with the customer service on both the ICC end and the SYD end!

AMEX on the other hand is a pain in the butt! The charge for the first ticket still hasn't officially posted but when I called their Philippino call centre, they could see the charge pending so they said I could Bpay that ticket. I did and the Bpay posted overnight but the charge for the first ticket didn't. So at one point, I technically had about $9000 in credit! :shock: I faxed AA and asked them to try the second ticket this morning and it went through so all is well! It's just really annoying that it is taking so long for them to post on my online statement.
 
Having given up on booking through the ICC, I called the ATW Desk. Went through 3 itinieries and they were sent to be rated. This was on Tuesday night.

Called them last night to get the pricing. The first itinery came through with a price, but the other 2 had only been sent 20 minutes prior to my call last night.

Mistakes happen. An I believe in this case, 3 differing itineries causes alot of grief. The operator, Al, is an exceptional operator. He even found a MAD-LIM flight which saved my friend from doing MAD-SCL-LIM.
 
Tickets arrived this morning via DHL whick I prebooked and paid. Excellent service from AA ICC and SYD! :D

One ticket has been posted to my Amex statement, the other hasn't.
 
Tiki said:
Tickets arrived this morning via DHL whick I prebooked and paid. Excellent service from AA ICC and SYD! :D

Glad it worked out well for you. :)
I concur with your positive comments about AA ICC/SYD, especially as I now know which agent at the ICC to ask for. :D
 
Question....I have been faxing Sydney, but have not received any reply regarding receipt or credit card being charged.....

Is there anyway to check?
 
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