United Airlines lets now les you interact with its agents virtually, by video, phone or chat, even when you’re at the airport. The airline says this lets customers work with an agent while maintaining social distance, and it lets gate agents focus on getting planes out on time.
Called “Agent on Demand” the program is available now at Chicago O’Hare and Houston Intercontinental. It will be rolled out to the rest of United’s hubs by the end of the year. They emphasize that customers won’t have to wait in line for an agent – if there’s demand that outstrips agent availability, waiting in line will be virtual on your mobile device.
- Scan a QR code at the gate (or use a kiosk at certain gates in Chicago and Denver)
- Connect by choice of phone, test or video
- Language assistance is available via Google translate
- Agents can assist with “seat assignments, upgrades, standby list, flight status, rebooking and more.”
What this also allows United to do over time is have fewer agents, or at least fewer agents per passenger. Instead of having agents deployed at airports across the terminal in case customers need them, and having down time throughout the day, they can locate agents centrally and optimize staffing based on predicted needs. And the agents eventually don’t even need to be at the airport.
That makes this the perfect ‘United under Scott Kirby’s leadership’ initiative: it fosters on-time performance while reducing cost. You can also stay seated at an OTG iPad and order food instead of standing in line, so more revenue at the airport too.
Something is off – Live and Let’s Fly says that these agents are based at the airport, directly contradicting your title saying they aren’t. While United’s release doesn’t explicitly say it either way, they do mention “quickly receive personalized support directly from a live agent at the airport” and the photo in the release shows an agent with a United plane in the background.
Maybe they are based out of the airport they serve, at least to start? Not sure how easily their systems could allow agents to have up to 8 different ‘airport control’ permissions (one for each airport) set up at once, and explains why it is only at hubs for now.
@Ben – I’ve clarified, my original was imprecise
This is innovative. Innovation is good. I hope this is successful