There's a typical pattern for most poor customer service experiences. You are dropped, passed on three times and are hung up. This one's not like the others and it's making a lot of folks ask some awkward questions about United Airlines.

The following exchange of screenshots from the United "Agent on Demand" feature has been making the rounds and the more you read it the more confusing and frustrating it gets. There's the written conversation, which is bad enough. There's also the audio part, the part that gets really weird.

What agent on demand is supposed to be, is an agent that is set to assist in making many things possible in the world

It's important to first know what the Agent on Demand feature in United is supposed to do, before diving into the details of the incident. In theory, the idea is a good one: If a client is facing a disruption to their travels on the day of their flights, they can chat with a live agent either via the United app's text-based chat or by calling their agent by phone. It should be a quicker and easier way of standing at the customer service desk or waiting in line for an hour.

Having an agent at your fingertips who can rebook and solve your problem is truly a valuable asset for stranded travelers such as missed connections, cancelled flights, overbooked aircraft etc. But the fulfillment of that promise depends on those on the other side of the conversation. But this is where this story begins to unravel.

The talk that everyone gets to speak in

The exchange is between a customer, Sierra, and a representative from United, Paula. The Agent on Demand seems to be making an effort to get Sierra rebooked, but it looks like the effort has so far failed, and Sierra is requesting information about next steps and possible rebookings. By any measure one can use, what follows is a textbook example of the foibles of an upset traveller.

The written responses from the agent are scant and lacking in enthusiasm. When Sierra asks about available flights, the only answers she gets are, "no flights tonight," "full tomorrow," and perhaps the most jaw-dropping customer service answer in recent memory simply: "Nothing.

Of course, Sierra replies, "What?

There is a pause of five minutes in the conversation, then it becomes even stranger. Paula questions if Sierra is "on United" (which, quite literally, the agent should know), and when Sierra tells the agent she's calling for help, Paula asks her to call a 1-800 number.

Sierra then shows a different facet of the conversation, in real time, out loud; she can hear everything that Paula is saying. Apparently, Paula has been vocalizing to Sierra about the customer's unkindness which is why she is referring her to a phone number, instead of addressing the matter directly.

What did Paula do when she was caught? "That is okay."

‍The Audio Mystery: How Was Sierra Hearing Any of This?

The image of the screenshots reveals the “Audio in Progress” status at the top of the chat interface, which indicates that the conversation was not entirely text-based. It sounds like there might have been both text and voice communications during the session, and Sierra's voice was muted on her end. It would be assumed that Paula was not aware that the audio channel was on and that her input in speech would be passed to the customer live.

It does raise a pertinent question though; is United's Agent on Demand system a good indicator to agents when they are being heard and when they are not? If the answer is no or if the warning is hard to see then this, though unpleasant, may not be as much a reflection of intentional bad behavior as a failure of the technology interface to convey its own condition to the users.

The Bigger Question: Who is really operating these centres?

There is naturally a question that has yet to be addressed publicly, in any detail, by United: who are these Agent on Demand centres? It's unclear whether the technology platform is deployed by Cisco directly, or by the United's own agents or by contractors or outsourced agents in the country or elsewhere.

What this incident is all about when considering airline customer service systems:

• Customer service agents must be trained to use a chat platform, as tone, clarity and empathy are not just automatically transferred from voice-trained agents to those who are used to written communications.
• Clear, unambiguous signals for agents need to be given when they are being listened to by the customer, to hybrid audio and text interfaces.
• The responsibility for Agent on Demand exchanges needs to be recorded and there needs to be a quality review system that detects and rectifies exchanges such as this one.

Is This Authentic And Does It Matter?

The obvious proviso here with any viral screenshot story is that you can never be sure, when watching from the sidelines, that it's authentic. Or they can be fake, and there have been occasions of fake outrage in the social media world. However, all of that is about the details of this; the “Audio in Progress” bar, the technical feasibility of a live chat and audio session, the banality of the underlying grievance it feels more like a real interaction than a fake one. It's not particularly dramatic or cinematically interesting; it's just a traveler on the telephone who is receiving a growing series of befuddled replies from a guy who clearly doesn't want to be on the phone.

What united should do next?

In theory, the right answer should not be that hard for United to achieve, though it will be a challenge. A transparent and straightforward response to the situation, not a form expression of apology but a true explanation of how the audio was created, how the situation arose technically, and what steps are being taken to ensure that it doesn't happen again, would go a long way towards restoring confidence in the feature.

In addition to the PR response, the more salient work is going inwards, away from the public eye: Reviewing the Agent on Demand interface design so that agents are always aware of their audio status; setting clear expectations and training requirements for customer communications by written text; and developing a quality monitoring process that will identify and stop communications such as this before they go viral.

The Bottom Line

What makes this incident so memorable is not only the rudeness (which is found in every airline), but also that it was if it had been accidentally revealed. A passenger in a high-stress scenario did not only get answers back that were not helpful, she heard the agent's private opinion about her. That's an uncommon and uncomfortable glimpse of something that most passengers just take for granted.

Actually, United has created a customer service tool that has real potential. If it just falls into the 'oh well' file of the airline's customer service complaints, or if it brings about real change, from better agent training to clearer interface design, to increased accountability, will tell a lot about the airline's commitment to addressing the rift between its Agent on Demand promise and the reality some passengers are experiencing. If this is an issue important to travelers whose lives fall apart at the airport, an apology statement doesn't even come close to answering that question.