United Airlines

Not much more to say about United that has not been expressed in other posts. Milwaukee to Newark cancelled. Rebooked 2 days later thankyou. Get to Newark. Friday return trip cancelled rebooked for Sunday. Have to be home so go via another airline. Nonrefundable tickets and unhelpful service agents. They took our baggage fee before the cancellation and they sent us to claim office but they sent us back to the ticket agents where I was not going to stand in line for another hour for $25. They have a nice scam going here. It was drizzling out so the cancelation was weather related so no compensation. If you fly United, be prepared for a lot of out of pocket expenses along the way. The ticket is good for a year, but what the hell do I need with a Newark to Milwaukee ticket. If you fly United you are a sucker. The nice thing about this is that I work in a very large corporation and I have told everyone and travel on United will soon be a no-no. Screw the customers all you want, but soon you have no customers to screw.

the customer service email address listed above was discontinued on April 7. If you want to speak to customer service, you should go to http://www.united.com and use the “Ask Alex” feature.

INHUMANE
AND UNEVEN: WE’LL NEVER FLY WITH UNITED AIRLINES AGAIN

I bet you already know what my point is after reading my
title above. But, let me repeat that one more time. We are not going to make
any transactions again, ever, with United Airlines. We just not had a terrible
experience with their service, but also received a heartless treatment from
their employees too. Here goes the story.

My
Worst Airline Experience in My Entire Life

I, together with my daughter, booked a flight (#3411) from
St. Louis, MO (STI) to Baltimore, MD (BWI) with a connecting flight from STI to
Chicago then to MD last July 1st of this year with United Airlines. It
was Sunday then, and I never imagined how the airlines could ruin our “family
day” mode as we travel together.

We arrived an hour before our scheduled flight in STI. But,
they ran late for 20-30 minutes. We were informed via an e-mail message by UA
that the plane where we are going to board at would arrive at 8:32 in the
evening. That’s the start of how they messed up everything.

When we arrived in Chicago, our connection flight took off
without us and other 20 passengers that are all pissed-off which made us wait
for another 15 minutes. And what makes it even worse? We ended up waiting on
the tarmac of the airport. And guess what! We were informed again by that VERY
GOOD airline that we will catch the next flight about a day later. Yes, 24
hours later. Now, tell me if I am not in the right place to discuss these
situations and demean them for their neglects.

We are missing a day of work and we have to pay for another
whole day of parking and other stuff. We stood in line and the airline offered
us a voucher to spend the night at a Hilton hotel just across the airport. The
voucher is worth $99. We don’t know how we could still contain our emotions and
anger and react to the situation out of all those mishaps and neglects by them.
When we arrived at the hotel, the $99 rooms are all sold out and the cheapest
rate was already at $259. Amazingly terrible and we had no choice but to turn
them down and look for another. I feel pity for them, till now, because they
don’t know exactly what they are doing. They are a BIG mess in the industry of
airline transportation and a big failure when it comes to excellent customer service.

We ended up at Marriot hotel and got a room for $69. Upon
check out, we waited for the hotel shuttle service to the airport. We met white
couples and we learned that they were able to get their complimentary rooms.
That’s it. What’s wrong with that picture? Is it just because we don’t have the
same color with them? No wonder why.

On July 2nd, that was Monday, my daughter and I
were supposed to be already at work in the DC Metro area. All the hassles don’t
stop there yet. At the airport to finally take our flight, HOPEFULLY, we
arrived again about an hour and 20 minutes earlier just to make sure everything
is going to be okay. We value our time very well because, I really don’t want
to say this, but, we are PROFESSIONALS here too. We were scheduled then to take
the flight UA 287Y with departure time of 7:20pm. We were assigned at gate C26,
but when we got there, we were informed that C26 is already C19 now and C19
will depart at 8:24pm. But then after a few minutes, it became C21. What are
they doing with all of us, especially to me and my daughter? Are they really
trying to screw up everything and not give us at all our privilege of paying
them just to take us down to where we are supposed to be going? United Airlines
is nothing but a piece of junk when it comes to reliable and quality service. We
are very, very much disappointed with how they do their tasks. Where is
hospitality in your hearts? Where are your hearts? I must say.

I am not sure what “Planes change, values don’t. Your
priorities will always be ours,” means to the employees of United Airlines.
Their customer service agents lack empathy and concern regarding our
situation. Even the ticket agents have this kind of “WHO CARES” attitude which
is just not acceptable.

Those events would never make us fly with them again, ever.
For the third time, I am saying that again. They must treat all of us fairly
and must provide us with all the things that we need. They lack support and I
bet all they just need from us is our passenger fees. That’s not how it’s
supposed to be. You are an airline company, a big airline company, operating
every minute of every day and you still don’t know the right thing to do when
mishaps happen? Or you just really don’t care at all?

I decided to send them an e-mail message about all those
unwanted events that we experienced when we finally arrived in Baltimore. Then,
I got this reply from them:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting United Airlines.

I am sorry we were unable to respond to your request sooner. The merger

of United and Continental Airlines has been a successful one, but there

have certainly been challenges.

An airline merger of this size has never been accomplished before now.

Some facets of our airline may be different, but our fundamental

commitment to our valued customers has never wavered. Please be assured

we do understand your concerns, and they have been documented for review

and appropriate internal action.

Please visit us online at http://www.united.com as additional travel needs

arise.

While my reply is brief and not as detailed as I would like, I want you

to know I very much appreciate your business. To thank you for your

patience and loyalty, we are sending an electronic travel certificate to

you under separate cover. You will receive the travel certificate

within the next three business days.

We are building an airline that will earn your confidence and approval,

and we look forward to welcoming you on board your next United Airlines

flight.

Sincerely,

Senior Manager

A
certificate would never change my mind. I just want the United Airlines to know
that they have to and they immensely need to value our time and treat us all fairly.
A free ticket would not relieve me from that nightmare.

To all
the passengers out there, do not let them do the same thing with you. It’s
enough.

jeff.smisek@united.com Sept 2012.

To whom this concerns,

I am writing to you to speak about my experiences flying Untied with myself and my partner.

We had planned our trip from Australia to South America then to the US and home again for our honeymoon. We booked flights though a travel agent back home in Australia. We were to fly from Melbourne Sydney on the 17th October, Sydney to LA then LA Houston and Houston to Bogota Colombia, then Bogota back to Houston, Houston to Vegas then LA to Australia. We had saved for this trip and we very excited to be travelling together for the first time. Sadly nothing so far has gone as expected.

It all started with a 6-7 hour delay leaving Melbourne, Australia (our home town)

This was due to maintenance works, as a pipe was damaged during landing and as it was repaired in Melbourne without the ‘approved’ materials you had to contact Chicago to get contracts and manuals re written before we were able to fly. While i understand the need for these things to be done, we had a connecting flight to LA from Sydney. We said we could go home and start the trip all over again the next day, we were told the plane in Sydney to LA was waiting for us and it would be OK we would make our connection. So we flew to Sydney. At our check in, in Melbourne we purchased economy plus seating and were to sit in the 4 rows at the bulkhead of economy plus, we had these seats from Melbourne to LA. we didn’t mind the waiting around as you had assured us that we would make our connecting flight.

I would just like to say that the flight crew on this flight were absolutely AMAZING! even though they had to wait just as long as us and don’t even get paid for time on the ground they were FANTASTIC. very accommodating, friendly, and kept a smile on their face and ours. they made the fact we had to wait for so long in Melbourne OK. A very special thanks to Tony Holguin! i don’t like flying and usually suffer massive anxiety before flying. Tony made me feel comfortable and at ease making it such a pleasant journey. Unfortunately i can not say the same for anything else about our experience. We were told on this flight while in the air, that we had missed our LA flight and would be flying to San Fran instead.

We arrived in Sydney to be greeted with grumpy staff and other passengers who had been waiting for our flight to arrive. I understand that it is a massive organisation issue when something like this happens but i was not prepared for what i was about to have to endure. My Partner waited patiently in line for our tickets to be re-issued for the next flight. we were told we had missed the LA flight and were instead to go to San Fran. this was disappointing as we were meeting a friend in LA during our 7 hr stop over. but we said ok we will just go, after offering to stay the night in sydney and fly the next day on the flight to LA ( we offered to pay for our own accommodation) this was declined by the United Staff. So we took our re-issued tickets only to find we were not sitting together, and we no longer in economy plus that we had purchased in Melbourne airport. after talking with my partner we went to talk to one of you staff as we did not want to sit separately due to my anxiety of flying, and the long length of the flight. We were met with a very grumpy and angry lady who informed us she had been working since 4:30am and couldn’t be bothered dealing with us. this finally brought me to tears and another staff member helped us and we were seated together, although not in our bulk head economy plus seats that we had requested and gotten in Melbourne Airport. Things only got worse from here much to my horror! i mean how much worse can it get!! We got onto the plane, the same one which had repair works on in it Melbourne ( this really is an uncomfortable feeling for someone who is anxious flying) for our new journey from Sydney to San Fran. We were greeted with VERY grumpy, unhelpful staff. Very disinterested in their job, acted like it was OUR fault their flight was delayed. we took our seats and waited for take off, as i was not feeling well due to the long nature of the waiting times travelling from Melbourne to Sydney i did ask if was able to get a glass of water, i was not able to get any at Sydney airport because we were put into a holding area. I was met with a disgruntled old man staff member who looked at me when i spoke then shrugged and walked off!! after take off i was very ill vomiting and had to get up to go to the bathroom, i didn’t make it to the bathroom and was ill into my hands when i asked this same flight attendant for a vomit bag he actually told me to look around myself for one!! I was standing in the middle of the isle with vomit on my hands still needing to vomit being told to look for my own bag. I have never been more humiliated, and disgusted in another human being. thankfully the other passengers helped me, not your staff. After moving back to my seat, one of your flight attendants from business/first class had seen i was unwell and came to ask if i needed anything and got me some water. He was also the ONLY flight attendant during the rest of the 14hr flight to see how i was going. as i was ill for most of the flight. I was also given my food whilst being ill, only to make matters worse then when i was hungry with only 5hrs to go on the flight i was told there was absolutely no food. not even a single piece of fruit, a packet of nuts or pretzels NOTHING at all on the entire aircraft for me to try and nibble on. This service was an absolute disgrace. and my anxiety about having to fly back to Australia from LA with your airline has caused much anxiety and stress though out my holiday as i don’t ever want to have to experience anything like that ever again. i surely hope you take note of this and none of your other passengers have to experience this either. it was inhumane treatment.

after this disgusting flight we were told just before landing that we had missed our flight to Houston. The female flight attendant said ” oh your not going to make that flight, you’ve already missed it”. Honestly my mouth hit the floor she was beyond rude and my partner and i had asked many times if we would make the flight, she always said “oh yes of course”. None of the flight attendants told us where to go or what to do in regards to getting new tickets issued so we had to just walk around San Fran airport asking staff until we found the right spot. at this point we were told to ‘RUN’ to make a flight that was leaving in 10Mins otherwise we would have to stay in San Fran for the night, or be re directed though Miami adding an additions 8+ hrs on our horrifically long delayed journey. at this point we ran to our gate and JUST made the flight with the doors closing as soon as we arrived. We arrived in Houston and got our flight to Bogota with no issues (the first time during our whole horrible experience)

We decided to leave Bogota early and fly back to Houston. We went to the United Airlines office Calle113th we organised our flights to be changed and paid the difference, we also cancelled one of our United Airlines flights from Houston to Vegas as we decided to drive. But we still paid an extra $500+ to change the dates of our flights. while there we were informed that due to the issues in Melbourne before we left my returning flight home had been cancelled just wonderful. Even though our travel agent had ALREADY looked into this and called United and been assured that my ticket had already been reinstated! which clearly is was not as we waited at that office for over 3+ hrs while this was trying to be fixed, after it was supposedly fixed we were then told we have to travel to the OTHER united airlines office in Bogota to get the tickets printed as the printer was not working at the first office we went to. At this United office we waited another 2 hrs as the lady said it was still not all fixed!!!!!! finally we were able to be on our way. To make it worse, we actually paid for economy plus seats for our new flight from Bogota to Houston, much to our disappointment when we arrived at Bogota airport we were told they had not intact been issued and we were not even sitting next to each other. again! once on the plane we were told to negotiate with other passages so that we could sit together, the staff member said it was not his concern.

This whole experience could have ruined what is supposed to be one of the most memorable times in a newly married couples lives. I am sad that this horrible experience is attached to that. I am disappointed, shocked and humiliated by the treatment we received and while I understand certain things don’t go to plan while travelling this amount of mistakes should not happen to anyone in a single journey. It is a disgrace. I have not enjoyed the terrible feeling that wouldn’t go away though out our holiday that we will have to fly back home with United. i have been dreading the return flight ever since our arrival as I have no desire to experience such inhumane treatment ever again in my life. The feeling you get as a passenger from United staff is that they are not competent with their customer service skills and clearly struggle with the simplicities of manners and a smile.

Hi Linda, sorry to bother you.
I am looking for my dear friend’s family…your name matches his daughter’s name…is name Tom Hartnup familiar to you? Do you have sister called Rosemary? Thank you…please let me know if relevant: tjakovicka@yahoo.com

Dear CEO of United Airlines,

I am writing to
inform you of my experience with your company.
I proudly serve in the U.S. Navy over in San Diego, California. Due to
my enlistment; I only get to see my family from Texas and my family from Maine
once a year, if I am lucky. This year I chose to visit both my Maine and my Texas
families by splitting up my ten days off and spending five days with each
family. My first destination was Texas. While
flying on the Connector Flight 6251, from San Francisco to San Antonio, Texas I encountered my first delay. The flight
before mine had someone vomit and the attendants were taking a decent amount of
time to clean it up. When I finally boarded my flight, it was already 20
minutes past when we were supposed to depart. After finally boarding the plane,
the pilot came across the MC to inform us we needed to return to the gate because
a temperature gauge was not working and needed to be replaced. My arrival time
was pushed back again, this time by an hour and a half. Little did I know this
was just foreshadowing for what I was to endure during my flight to Manchester,
N.H.

My
biggest problem with your company arouse when I was catching my connector
flight in Newark, N.J. up to Manchester, N.H. on Jan. 2nd. At 10:14 I arrived in Newark and made my way
over to Terminal A, where I had a three hour layover before my flight, 4434 was
to take off. At 1:30 pm, when we should
have been fully loaded onto the plane, I went to check out what was going on. The
board showed a new time of 3:41 as take off. I politely asked the clerk if this was our new
take off time. Without even looking up at me, she continued her work at the
desk. I stepped forward and asked again, thinking maybe she didn’t hear
me. She turned her head toward the board
and then back down, mumbling that “yes, that’s when the flight will be leaving.”
At this point, I called my family whom had already arrived at the airport in
Manchester, N.H., awaiting my arrival, since I was due to be there in one hour.
My family’s house is two hours away from the airport in Manchester, meaning
they have to leave for the airport long before my flight was supposed to arrive.
To my family, I explained my new estimated time of arrival was now at 5:45 pm. I
apologized for making them wait so long for me, as I knew they had arranged their
work schedule to pick me up. Around 3:30
pm, I realized, again, that we should be boarding and I had not heard any
announcements for my flight. Across the board it now showed that my flight had
been canceled. I went to speak to the woman at the desk, who once again without
looking up, told me I needed to go to the customer service desk right next to
her. At customer service, I waited in an hour long line to find a new flight.

The
gentleman helping me with my new flight was quite polite and helpful. He was able to get me on a flight to Portland,
Maine, Flight 4623 that evening, since all the flights to MHT wouldn’t fly out until
tomorrow. He showed me that he switched my bag over to my newly assigned plane
and assured me I didn’t need to do anything more with it. When asked, he
explained it was all mechanical problems causing the plane delays and cancellations.
I thanked him and called my family to
let them know of the changes and that I would be missing the hockey game they
had bought tickets for at 7 pm that evening. My new flight left at 6:20 pm and
would arrive at 7:10 pm.

A few minutes
before 6 pm, I went to look at the screen and saw that my new flight had been
delayed until 7:15 pm. At this point, I had sat in the Newark, N.J. airport for
seven hours. In frustration, I asked the lady at the customer service desk if
this flight was expected to get fucking canceled as well. She looked at me and said “Are you speaking
to me because I can’t hear you if you are cussing at me. You’re coming up to
the desk cussing and I don’t know what’s wrong with you, so, no, I don’t think
you are speaking to me.” I changed my
tone and, while pointing at the board, politely asked, “Do you know if this
flight will be delayed or canceled anymore than it has?” She said, “I don’t
know which flight you’re talking about, so no I don’t know if it will get
canceled.” By this time, I’m on the
verge of tears. The precious time that I could have been spending with my
family was being wasted at an airport. To the same woman at customer service, I
asked if the flight to Portland, Maine would be taking off this evening? She looked at me and said with a whole lot of attitude,
“No, no it’s not going to get delayed.” Her
rude tone indicated that she had no idea about the flight, but just wanted me
to go away. In tears, I finally asked to
speak to a manager. The manager whom I spoke with while in tears in the middle
of the airport said “I am sorry you feel this way “ and turned around to the
employee he was talking to. I then called
customer service on the phone. After being put on hold for 45 minutes, I
explained to the lady what was going on. She looked for another flight for me
and told me that there was nothing she could do until the next day. I thanked
her and she transferred me to her manager, to whom I relayed the whole experience
to again. She apologized for my experience and told me I should speak with a
manager at the airport, in an attempt to be compensated. She was also going to
make a note in the system. Since I had
already dealt with too many of the United employees, I thanked her and said goodbye.
At this point I recognized defeat and sat there in turmoil waiting to see if my
flight would leave.

At 7:10 pm, five
min before my flight was due to depart, I asked the lady at the podium when
they expected to be boarding the plane. The gentlemen standing in the back spoke
up and said, “Whenever she makes the announcement, you can board.” I called my family again. After 9 hours in the
terminal, three delays and one cancelation I finally boarded the plane at 7:30
pm. After a smooth 53 min flight I landed in Portland, Maine. I thought my
travel day from hell was over, only to discover my suitcase went to Manchester,
N.H. on my supposedly canceled flight.

The very nice lady
at Portland airport gave me a phone number to call and told me to see what they
could do for me. I called baggage claim’s customer services number and was put
on hold. I spoke to a lady who did not understand why my bag was in a different
airport and kept asking me how I was going to get my bag. I had to explain that
that was why I was calling her. Once again, she asked how I was going to pick
up my bag. I asked her if she could have it delivered or transferred to
Portland and she still did not understand. At this point, I asked to speak to
her manager and she hung up on me. I called back and spoke with a much kinder
gentleman. He didn’t understand how I ended up in Portland, Maine; when I was
due to go to Manchester. When I explained my bag and I were sent in two
different directions, he asked if I purchased a separate ticket on my own. I explained that, “no your company sent me
here.” He helped me with my bag and I asked him if there was anyone I could
speak with about refunding my next ticket. Due to the appalling unreliability
of United, I could not trust the airline to have me back in San Diego in time
for work. His reply was that when I received my bag I could call the same
number. I no longer wanted to fight that
evening and decided I would write this letter instead.

Much to my surprise, my suitcase was delivered
to my house in Maine that evening. My suitcase was in great shape, despite the
juggle of my flights. I was very pleased by this and was not expecting this,
because the customer service agent told me it would go to Portland. I have no
complaints about the flight attendants or my time in up in the air on your
flights. My dealings with the agents in Maine and the people that delivered my
bag from Manchester were very pleasant. I will say with honest truth that I
will never fly on your airline again. I am in fact bought a new ticket to get myself
back to San Diego on Jet Blue. Now I’m not usually so frivolous with money
because I certainly don’t make enough to jump around flights whenever I have a
bad experience but this one trip was so bad I was willing to pay an extra $400
to get home on time with my sanity. You should also be aware that when I tell
my friends about my debacle, they all have had the exact same thing to say
about your airline and it always ends with a never again.

Sincerely,

Tarren Windham

Dear Mr. Smisek,

I got 4 1/2 hours of sleep last night because I had to get up at 2:30 am to make a 5:45 am flight from Eugene, Oregon to Portland to connect to a flight to Washington DC where I have business meetings. I got up that early because the Eugene airport is a 45 minute drive from my house. It was only AFTER I arrived at the airport and had already gone through security that I found out that the Portland flight had been CANCELLED and I had already been rebooked on a 10:30 am flight to San Francisco. This meant that I could not drive to Portland to get on the flight I was originally scheduled on and had to wait around for the 10:30 flight or return home and then drive back to the airport again.

NO ONE from your airline called me to tell me of the change. It was only AFTER I arrived at the airport and got on email did I see a notice sent to me at 11:15 pm telling me of a change.

This is not unusual for your airline, which I consistently find to have the least concern for its customers of any airline I fly. The focus always seems to be on making money for the airline and–like my experience today—customers always seem to be jerked around without regard for their personal lives, schedules, or needs in order to maximize your profits. I can’t understand how you expect to survive over the long run with a huge number of customers that resent you and use your services only because of limited availability of other options.

I decided to drive all the way home where I am now writing this at 6 am, and then will drive all the way back to the airport. Even then, it’s a crap shoot that I will be able to make the SF to DC flight because the Eugene to SF flight is often late and the regional airline terminal is now on the complete opposite side of the main united terminal in SF and it often takes 20 minutes to get over there. So if we are late by even 15 minutes it is often impossible to make a connecting flight with 1 hr in between.

Bottom line: I lost a good deal of sleep and a good deal of time, and will miss the meeting I had scheduled in Washington this evening. I can’t even be assured of getting to DC tonight.

I don’t want airline vouchers from you. Instead, I want $2,500 in compensation for the blatant disregard for my rights as a human and my rights as a customer for the physical and emotional stress your airline has caused me, and to compensate me for missing an important meeting.

Sincerely,

Bob Doppelt

hi