> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.visitoai.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Handle escalations

> Review human handoffs, understand knowledge gaps and return a conversation to AI.

An **Escalation** means the conversation needs a person. It keeps the familiar handoff behavior and also appears as an item in Tickets.

AI pauses as soon as the escalation is accepted. The ticket can still be Pending: Pending means nobody has selected **Start work**, rather than that AI is still responding.

## Review and take ownership

1. Open **Tickets** and choose **Escalation** under Type.
2. Select an item and read its description and any saved knowledge-gap details.
3. Use **Open conversation** to inspect the guest's request and the exchange that led to the handoff.
4. Choose a human **Assignee** and select **Start work** when work begins.
5. Expand **Activity** to leave internal notes for the team.

Escalation ownership follows conversation ownership. Assigning it changes the owner of the conversation too. Starting an unassigned escalation claims it for you.

## Knowledge-gap details

A knowledge gap describes why the agent needed help. It is separate from the ticket's work status.

For example, the guest's confirmation may offer free cancellation while a FAQ says the reservation is non-refundable. The escalation can show **Contradictory evidence**, the number of recorded sources and their titles.

![Escalation showing contradictory evidence, two source titles and the accepted human handoff outcome](https://mintcdn.com/muhammadtest/KixMWuRVFEmJdBqS/images/tickets/escalation-en.jpg?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=KixMWuRVFEmJdBqS\&q=85\&s=fc861b8f8515e84eca3a364460af8c5a)

Saved knowledge-gap details explain the handoff; the status still tracks the team's work.

Other categories can indicate missing knowledge, weak evidence, outdated or unverifiable information, or the need for a live provider result. When available, details also show the detection time, configured behavior and recorded detection outcome.

Source titles identify the saved references; they do not show their full contents or prove which source caused the issue. Read the underlying conversation and check the relevant knowledge or provider evidence before answering.

Older escalations may have unavailable context. This does not mean there was no problem. A knowledge-gap report can also appear in conversation activity without creating a ticket, depending on the agent's configuration.

## Resolve the escalation

Resolve the escalation once the human takeover is complete. Resolving lets AI respond to new messages again, subject to other restrictions or conversation settings. It does not guarantee that every AI response is enabled.

Resolution does not send a customer message and does not clear a separate **Needs reply** obligation. Reply from the conversation when needed.

Other general tickets linked to the conversation stay open until their own work is completed. There is at most one open escalation for a conversation.

## Keep using Handoff in Conversations

The **Handoff** tab still filters conversations. It is useful when you want to work in the inbox. The **Tickets** destination gives you a queue with explicit progress, ownership and history across work items.

To change when the AI escalates, use [Handoff Rules](https://docs.visitoai.com/product-guides/ai-agent/ai-escalations.md).


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