American Airlines rolled out a new automated phone system this summer. There was an AI-sounding voice that forced you to listen to a minute-long greeting about how, for instance, you can add a pet to your reservation online before you’re allowed to do anything else. The system no longer recognized “agent” or similar requests until it had finished burning a minute of your life you’d never get back.
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Hi Gary, I’ve matched your phone number to your AAdvantage account. Please hold and I”ll get someone on the line to help you.
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I estimated this new greeting – which really spend time thanking customers twice – was costing American’s customers $31 million per year in wasted time. The airline said they would take the feedback. Usually I assume that is a blowoff.
American fixed it.
Thank you for calling American Airlines AAdvantage Executive Platinum reservations. Your call may be recorded and monitored to ensure high quality service. Para Español, oprima numero nueve.
We’re retrieving your account details. Thank you for waiting and for being among our most valued members. Please hold and I’ll get someone on the line to help you.
Your feedback is important to us. Please remain on the line after your call to complete a brief two question survey regarding your experience with our travel professional today.
The system is fast enough that I don’t think they need to say they’re retrieving account details. And the computer voice is a little creepy. It sounds like maybe you Googled the wrong phone number and wound up calling a scammer.
But American Airlines listened. They cut 21 seconds out of the message (they could also cut down the pause before mentioning the post-call survey). That’s real progress, and as someone who calls airlines a lot it’s really appreciated.
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