"Press 2 for Spanish"

[marko]

Travel Tip: Not sure if this is news but....

Trying to change flight reservations during this week's storm.

Called the airlines, "pressed 1 for English" and was told that "due to abnormally high volume your wait is... Forty...Five...Minutes. You can stay on the line or try back later...".

Called back and "pressed 2 for Spanish" figuring 1) the line would be quite a bit shorter 2) a pretty good chance the person at the other end spoke English and 3) once they got me on the line they weren't about to send me away. I speak very little Spanish.

Sure enough! Within less than 5 minutes a nice lady came on the line, spoke perfect English (with a slight accent), took care of my change and I was on my way.

This may not work everywhere, but with long lines it might be worth a try.

Thought I'd pass it along.

 

[travelover]

Gracias!

 

[robnplunder]

What a cool trick (for lack of better words)! I will remember that next time. Si, hablo espanol ... not.

 

[RonBoyd]

Gracias!

+1

 

[braumeister]

Coolest way to beat the system I've seen in quite a while. Congratulations!

 

[Earl E Retyre]

That is hilarious. I would not have thought about trying that. Thanks for sharing.

 

[marko]

That is hilarious. I would not have thought about trying that. Thanks for sharing.

Coolest way to beat the system I've seen in quite a while. Congratulations!

No problemo amigos! I like to think of it as "Social Judo!"; using the weight of what some might see as a negative and turning it into a positive.

 

[ERD50]

Very clever. I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to navigate the next level of the menu though. Maybe brush up on enough Spanish to recognize the numbers (I think most of us can get that far), and "to speak to a representative, press...", or I suppose you could write them down from the English version, and go by that.

Google translate says: ' para hablar con un representante, pulse "tres" '.

-ERD50

 

[JoeWras]

Good call centers should do this automatically and balance available bi-lingual speakers when their queue is low.

Oh, I forgot, you were talking about an airline. Nevermind.

 

[HFWR]

I know enough Spanish to order my lunch at a Mexican restaurant...

 

[ERD50]

Good call centers should do this automatically and balance available bi-lingual speakers when their queue is low.

Oh, I forgot, you were talking about an airline. Nevermind.

I would think it would be balanced as well, but then again...

But hey, it's worth a try, might just be a fluke, but what the heck.

I know enough Spanish to order my lunch at a Mexican restaurant...

Heh, heh - a while back we went to the local Mexican restaurant that we frequent with a Hispanic friend. DW thought it would be 'fun' if our friend placed his order in Spanish. So he obliged... "Dos Tacos", OK, I could do that!

-ERD50

 

[JPatrick]

Gracias!

Si, +1

 

[Rick_Head]

Canadians who get a call centre in India can "press 2 for French" and usually get an agent in Canada. If your French is bad enough they will speak [-]perfect[/-] good English.

 

[Hermit]

A friend recently retired as a Spanish reservation agent for American Airlines. He worked the night shift and spent a lot of time reading magazines. He lives in the Dallas suburbs and his native language is English!

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I tried a similar tactic successfully with the cable TV company a couple of years ago when I called to downgrade my service. Pressed the correct key to downgrade/cancel service. Long wait. Called again and selected key to add service. A customer rep answered immediately. She was able to do what I wanted.

 

[ikubak]

Travel Tip: Not sure if this is news but....

Called back and "pressed 2 for Spanish" figuring 1) the line would be quite a bit shorter 2) a pretty good chance the person at the other end spoke English and 3) once they got me on the line they weren't about to send me away. I speak very little Spanish.

Sure enough! Within less than 5 minutes a nice lady came on the line, spoke perfect English (with a slight accent), took care of my change and I was on my way.

This may not work everywhere, but with long lines it might be worth a try.

Thought I'd pass it along.

marko....you are a freakin genius! That's awesome.

 

[marko]

marko....you are a freakin genius!

A lot of people (DW included) would strongly and vehemently disagree, but that's what my mom always said...after 60+ years, someone has finally seconded it!

 

[infoseeker]

Great idea, Marko!

My trick when asked to enter my card #/account #/etc is to enter four or five zeroes. If voice recognition is an option I immediately say "representative". Works well when needing to speak with a real live person at Verizon......and a few other other large organizations.