Travel agencies and the customer service gap.

As we’ve posted before, Airline customer service appears to be in a heavy decline. But The New York Times reports that online travel agencies are stepping in to fill the gap - giving customer service agents wide powers to solve customer problems and hiring airline industry experts like former air traffic controllers to anticipate schedule changes and alert passengers.

The Big Three online travel agencies, Orbitz, Expedia, and Travelocity have employed various new programs to this end. Here’s how they stack up:

Orbitz

Orbitz does not have a name for its customer-service initiatives, but the backbone of its plan is its “customer care” alert system. A delayed flight, for example, might generate e-mail and cellphone messages to a passenger who booked an Orbitz ticket. Or one of the former air traffic controllers working around the clock at its Chicago headquarters might spot a problem before the software does, and notify customers by e-mail or calls.

Expedia

Most of Expedia’s efforts have gone into making sure there is no reason to call in the first place - investing in new technologies that allow electronic reservations to be processed with fewer errors.

Travelocity

Travelocity’s new program encompasses, perhaps, the most far-reaching changes. Like Expedia and Orbitz, it has spiffed up its technology and empowered agents to solve problems. But it also offers a human touch, with more than 1,000 customer service representatives available by phone and e-mail 24 hours a day. Before the initiative, call center employees were rewarded by how quickly they processed a call. Under the new program, they are graded by the number of problems that are successfully resolved.

In my opinion, customers will respond well to any service that puts them in direct contact with a helpful human being that has the power to solve their problems. I’ve always been most frustrated by people at the end of the 1-800 number that say, “we apologize for the inconvenience, ma’am” but don’t have the authority to actually help me. For that reason - Travelocity’s customer care program appeals to me most, with Orbitz coming in second for its use of industry expertise to make judgment calls before the airlines do and Expedia’s coming in last because, while I respect investments in new technologies, I can see how the average traveler wouldn’t understand how it makes a difference.

We’ll have to wait and see how these new programs impact each online agency’s financial performance over the coming year.