GogglesPisano
Pawn, in game of life
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
- Posts
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But as long as there are gate agents like this one ...
By CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT
Published: June 7, 2005
As a million-mile frequent flier on United Airlines, David Fink is used to being treated with deference when he travels. So when he arrived five hours early for a recent flight from White Plains to Washington and asked a ticket agent if he could to go standby on the next plane out, he was taken aback by the curt reply.
"The agent told me, 'There's nothing I can do, and your frequent-flier status is irrelevant,' " recalled Mr. Fink, a corporate strategy consultant from Washington. "Then he said that if I wanted to leave early, I should just buy a ticket on the next Independence Air flight."
Why would a United Airlines employee send one of its top customers to the competition? He wouldn't. The agent worked for a subcontractor, Ground Handling Inc., which provides ground services to many of the airport's tenants, including Independence Air.
A growing number of business travelers are bumping into the downside of outsourcing these days. Not so long ago, most subcontractors worked behind the scenes, handling baggage or cleaning rooms. But to cut expenses, many travel companies have started steering them to jobs like stamping tickets and fielding calls that put them into direct contact with customers. It can make for an uncomfortable mix.
Robin Urbanski, a spokeswoman for United, maintains that the airline makes sure its subcontractors are properly trained. "We firmly expect all of our employees and partners to act professionally and deliver a superior service to our customers," she said. "We certainly apologize to Mr. Fink. He should have been put on the standby list."
How far has outsourcing gone? Although there are no authoritative numbers, specialists agree that the trend is more pronounced than most people think and that outsourcing is expanding at a rapid clip. Outsourcing customer-service jobs, like phone agents, is a $3-billion-a-year business in the travel industry, according to PRC Inc., a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., company that provides outsourcing services to Expedia, US Airways and British Airways, among other clients. Mark Frei, a senior vice president at the West Corporation, an outsourcing company in Omaha, estimates that the travel industry saves about $1 billion a year by outsourcing customer-care services.
"It's to the point now where everything except the flight attendants and pilots are fair game for outsourcing," said Mo Garfinkle, an aviation consultant with GCW Consulting in Washington.
There is more to come. Outsourcing in the travel and tourism industry will increase 12 percent to 15 percent every year through 2008, predicts Jack Freker, president of the customer management group at the Convergys Corporation, a Cincinnati outsourcing company.
If the work is done correctly, Mr. Freker and other specialists say, customers will not be able to tell the employee from the contractor. But in practice, many companies "are fixated on finding the lowest-cost provider and look at contact center costs exclusively," he said, with the result that the difference is only too obvious. "The maxim that you get what you pay for is certainly true in this case," he said.
By far the biggest annoyance for travelers is the language barrier between them and heavily accented employees of call centers in India and elsewhere. Andrea Austin, a corporate service representative in Stone Mountain, Ga., has become increasingly frustrated with Delta Air Lines, which transfers some of her calls to India. Hold times are routinely 10 minutes or longer, she says. But that is not the worst of it.
"When the agents come on the line, they have trouble understanding my English," she said. Usually, a supervisor must intervene to help. After one too many failed attempts to get the answers she was looking for, Ms. Austin said, "I finally resolved to just go into a Delta office here in Atlanta and ask my question."
Her ordeal spells potential trouble for travel companies, which have been farming out work to trim expenses, not to lose customers. Eric Bolesh, a senior analyst at Cutting Edge Information, a business research firm in Research Triangle Park, N.C., says Delta is aware of the problem. Even though outsourcing probably saves it millions of dollars a year, he says, it recently closed a call center in response to customer complaints.
Perhaps no travel company has been more publicly associated with the successes and failures of outsourcing than Travelocity, the online travel agency owned by Sabre Holdings, based in Southlake, Tex. In March 2004, it began shunting customer service calls to India, a move that played a big part in its swing from a loss of $55 million in 2003 to a projected profit of $15 million last year.
While the transition looked good on paper, it did not do as well in practice. "We had some logistical challenges in the beginning," said Lesley Harris, Travelocity's vice president for sales and customer care. That is an understatement. Travelers flooded online forums with complaints about phone agents who either could not understand them or could not be understood.
Travelocity developed a two-pronged solution, redoubling its agent training and giving them leeway to waive some fees and resolve callers' problems. "Customer satisfaction has rebounded," Ms. Harris said.
Still, some travel companies wonder if they have become too addicted to cheap foreign labor. Amit Shankardass, the senior vice president for solution planning at ClientLogic, a call-center outsourcing company in Nashville, says the company's big fear is alienating business travelers.
To keep them happy, he recommends a policy he calls "right-shoring," which in some cases might lead to the creation of a two-tier system that would give frequent fliers special treatment. "When it comes to outsourcing," he said, "one size doesn't fit all."
Mr. Fink, the consultant who was told to fly on Independence Air, complained to United about the one-size-fits-all ticket agent and received two form letters back. "It was obvious that they hadn't read my letter," he said.
As for the tip to fly on United's competitor? Mr. Fink decided to take the advice. "It was a new plane; it was clean; and I liked it," he said. "I've flown them twice since. I'm flying them again today."
By CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT
Published: June 7, 2005
As a million-mile frequent flier on United Airlines, David Fink is used to being treated with deference when he travels. So when he arrived five hours early for a recent flight from White Plains to Washington and asked a ticket agent if he could to go standby on the next plane out, he was taken aback by the curt reply.
"The agent told me, 'There's nothing I can do, and your frequent-flier status is irrelevant,' " recalled Mr. Fink, a corporate strategy consultant from Washington. "Then he said that if I wanted to leave early, I should just buy a ticket on the next Independence Air flight."
Why would a United Airlines employee send one of its top customers to the competition? He wouldn't. The agent worked for a subcontractor, Ground Handling Inc., which provides ground services to many of the airport's tenants, including Independence Air.
A growing number of business travelers are bumping into the downside of outsourcing these days. Not so long ago, most subcontractors worked behind the scenes, handling baggage or cleaning rooms. But to cut expenses, many travel companies have started steering them to jobs like stamping tickets and fielding calls that put them into direct contact with customers. It can make for an uncomfortable mix.
Robin Urbanski, a spokeswoman for United, maintains that the airline makes sure its subcontractors are properly trained. "We firmly expect all of our employees and partners to act professionally and deliver a superior service to our customers," she said. "We certainly apologize to Mr. Fink. He should have been put on the standby list."
How far has outsourcing gone? Although there are no authoritative numbers, specialists agree that the trend is more pronounced than most people think and that outsourcing is expanding at a rapid clip. Outsourcing customer-service jobs, like phone agents, is a $3-billion-a-year business in the travel industry, according to PRC Inc., a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., company that provides outsourcing services to Expedia, US Airways and British Airways, among other clients. Mark Frei, a senior vice president at the West Corporation, an outsourcing company in Omaha, estimates that the travel industry saves about $1 billion a year by outsourcing customer-care services.
"It's to the point now where everything except the flight attendants and pilots are fair game for outsourcing," said Mo Garfinkle, an aviation consultant with GCW Consulting in Washington.
There is more to come. Outsourcing in the travel and tourism industry will increase 12 percent to 15 percent every year through 2008, predicts Jack Freker, president of the customer management group at the Convergys Corporation, a Cincinnati outsourcing company.
If the work is done correctly, Mr. Freker and other specialists say, customers will not be able to tell the employee from the contractor. But in practice, many companies "are fixated on finding the lowest-cost provider and look at contact center costs exclusively," he said, with the result that the difference is only too obvious. "The maxim that you get what you pay for is certainly true in this case," he said.
By far the biggest annoyance for travelers is the language barrier between them and heavily accented employees of call centers in India and elsewhere. Andrea Austin, a corporate service representative in Stone Mountain, Ga., has become increasingly frustrated with Delta Air Lines, which transfers some of her calls to India. Hold times are routinely 10 minutes or longer, she says. But that is not the worst of it.
"When the agents come on the line, they have trouble understanding my English," she said. Usually, a supervisor must intervene to help. After one too many failed attempts to get the answers she was looking for, Ms. Austin said, "I finally resolved to just go into a Delta office here in Atlanta and ask my question."
Her ordeal spells potential trouble for travel companies, which have been farming out work to trim expenses, not to lose customers. Eric Bolesh, a senior analyst at Cutting Edge Information, a business research firm in Research Triangle Park, N.C., says Delta is aware of the problem. Even though outsourcing probably saves it millions of dollars a year, he says, it recently closed a call center in response to customer complaints.
Perhaps no travel company has been more publicly associated with the successes and failures of outsourcing than Travelocity, the online travel agency owned by Sabre Holdings, based in Southlake, Tex. In March 2004, it began shunting customer service calls to India, a move that played a big part in its swing from a loss of $55 million in 2003 to a projected profit of $15 million last year.
While the transition looked good on paper, it did not do as well in practice. "We had some logistical challenges in the beginning," said Lesley Harris, Travelocity's vice president for sales and customer care. That is an understatement. Travelers flooded online forums with complaints about phone agents who either could not understand them or could not be understood.
Travelocity developed a two-pronged solution, redoubling its agent training and giving them leeway to waive some fees and resolve callers' problems. "Customer satisfaction has rebounded," Ms. Harris said.
Still, some travel companies wonder if they have become too addicted to cheap foreign labor. Amit Shankardass, the senior vice president for solution planning at ClientLogic, a call-center outsourcing company in Nashville, says the company's big fear is alienating business travelers.
To keep them happy, he recommends a policy he calls "right-shoring," which in some cases might lead to the creation of a two-tier system that would give frequent fliers special treatment. "When it comes to outsourcing," he said, "one size doesn't fit all."
Mr. Fink, the consultant who was told to fly on Independence Air, complained to United about the one-size-fits-all ticket agent and received two form letters back. "It was obvious that they hadn't read my letter," he said.
As for the tip to fly on United's competitor? Mr. Fink decided to take the advice. "It was a new plane; it was clean; and I liked it," he said. "I've flown them twice since. I'm flying them again today."
