Having realized I accidentally left a space between the seats I purchased for my family's trip to Orlando for Christmas, I needed help fast. Since I'm flying with young kids, the situation is by no means ideal, but it's what I get for multi-tasking I guess! However, I had to get it taken care of right away so I chose to call them to make sure that the issue was resolved quickly. Things are already going to be chaotic enough the week before Christmas without leaving anything to chance.
It's not quite holiday season yet, but it's very close, so I assumed I was going to have a long wait on the phone. In fact, I was kicking myself for this mistake because between lost baggage, tons of flights, rescheduling missed flights, and all the other things that are probably happening, I thought the wait would be a while. In reality, it took about 4 minutes to get to an agent, which wasn't too bad. It was quicker than talking to a flight representative at the airport anyhow, that's for sure.
When I called, the virtual assistant said, "Thanks for calling United Airlines. Please say in a few words why you're calling us today. You can say things like I’d like to change my seating or find my bags." After I said I needed to change my seating arrangements, it replied, "Great news, we now offer the option to chat with our agents via text message. Would you like me to send you a text message? Say yes or no." That was interesting to me, but I needed to talk to someone because I wasn't going to take any chances so I said no.
The virtual assistant then asked if I wanted to look up my flight by departure date or mileage plus number and I chose departure date. It then asked what date and what my flight number was, but I didn't know it. It said that was fine, and instead asked me what my departure and arrival city was. After we got through both, the system asked me to spell my last name, and once it located my reservation said it would transfer me to an agent. I was on hold for about 45 seconds, and after listening to a survey conversation and hanging on hold I was connected to a nice agent who was able to help me. Luckily, no-one had bought the widow seat and she rearranged our seating order. I was able to go back to the day's activities feeling a lot better.