United Airlines

I have what might be a unique complaint.  I guess if the flight is on time the crew and those crew being shuttled to their next flight have the right to be rude to customers and are not subject to the rules of everyone else.  Here is my story, which I will preface with the fact that I fly frequently and have been Platinum on Continental and Gold on AA, so I have realistic expectations of things within and outside the airlines control, but this was a first. 

I had paid for the extra legroom of an exit row seat when my flight was booked and had a proper boarding pass etc.

When I got to my seat, there was a United employee who was flying to IAH for his next assignment in my seat.  In fact six of the twelve exit row seats were non-rev passengers. 

After ignoring my first three attempts to get his attention, he was using the strategic look away and pretend you don’t see him mode,  I finally got his attention and advised him I thought he was in my seat. 

He told me to find another seat as he was there first and he wasn’t moving.  (This is on a full aircraft)   When I asked to see if we were double booked in the same seat he refused to show me his ticket saying he didn’t have to. 

After contacting a flight attendant, the flight attendant, went to the gate agent and had the gate agent sort out the seating.  Once The on-duty FA went to the gate agent the crew member being shuttled left my seat and went into the back galley area.  I figured my rude guy was was probably a supervisor because no one wanted to get involved, and they removed another shuttling employee from exit row across the Aisle and made a seat for my rude guy.  Upon being reseated he commented “There are you happy now.” 

During the flight I noticed all the employes kept their electronics on, ignored the fasten seatbelt sign, passed their cellphones around with the active crew members showing pictures and so forth.

It was quite a party.  The remainder of the flight was incident free.  I am used to passengers being rude, stressed out etc or in some cases ignorant of the correct seating etc. but I have never been treated rudely by a uniformed employee active duty or not.

I guess the quality of Continental service we had grown accustomed to is gone.

I received an E certificate and I am trying to book a flight on line with my certificate and it does not work. Help!

We had to pay a change of ticket fee, $150.00 per person when missed a flight due to mix up about 12 .30 AM instead of PM. As I am from Europe this mistake is easy to make and they should have had a warning ‘red eye’. AND most of all, rebook without paying a fee. Now we paid a fee, waited 6 hrs. in airport and had to hop on 3 planes to get home.

Chris, thanks again for your service to the travel community. This page on contacts is great. Never thought I’d have to use it. But like a lot of people, am not getting the responses I need from United so I am engaging with these email addresses.
Interestingly, I just filled out a form for the Beverly Hilton for my last stay and almost immediately got an email from a service manager there wanting to know why I gave them a six on one of the rating scales. Now that’s service!

The experience with United Airline at Madison is nothing but appalling. We (me, my
wife and our 11-month daughter) checked in at Madison
airport 50 minutes ahead of departure time (6:26 AM, 4/22/2012, UA5848 from Madison to Chicago).
We spent a long time waiting in line to go through security, when we arrived at
the gate, it was 6:13 AM, 13 minutes before airplane take-off. The worker at
the gate would not allow us to board, saying he has closed the door of
airplane.

What really appalled us was, this UA worker at Madison airport (tall, pale,
over-weighted, middle-aged, white male, first name started with “D”) was the
same person who checked our luggage in at the UA counter before security check
point. He knew we are a family with a baby, he knew we were making an
international flight connecting through Chicago
to China,
and he knew that we were checked in when he closed the airplane door. During
the whole course of our waiting for going through security, we heard no
reminder from airport broadcasting. This worker refused to explain to us why he
did not wait for us even he evidently knew we already checked in and he knew
our situation; this worker refused to explain to us why he did not call us
through airport broadcasting even he was aware of the situation had the full
capability to do so. His attitude stroke us as inconsiderate, indifferent, and
cold-blooded. This experience gives us a strong impression that United Airline
is a very inhuman cooperation that has no care about customer experience.
United Airline is definitely the WORST airline I have used. Avoid United
Airline whenever possible!
 

I could not agree more!

My husband works in Afghanistan and I have not seen him for almost 2 months. So we decided to meet in Dubai. Bought the ticket and the day was here for me to finally leave, boy was I in for a surprise. I go to Houston Intercontiental Airport around 2 my flight was leaving around 5:20 in the afternoon. This flight was leaving Houston and connecting in WAshinton to Dubai. First I get out of my car and the United guy on the curb wants to check my bags and he then tells me that there is a fee for my bags. Hold on I have a mileage plus membership so I should get one free bag. The guy then replies I don’t know about that we will have to go in to check at the counter. We go in and sure enough I was right. I get my boarding pass and proceed to check the boards to make sure my flight is on time. Well sure enough my plane is running an hour behind due to weather in Denver. So I immedately go to customer service and they send to a plane that I may or may not be able to catch in a completely different terminal. Needless to say I missed it. Then I go back to the customer service desk and tell them I need to get to my flight in Washington because I have a connecting flight. They tell me that there is nothing they can do except get me to Washington put me in a hotel and then send me on my way to Dubai the next day. I explain to them that my husband is waiting for me and I have hotel reservations I have to get to that plane. So they research some more and they put on an Emmirates direct flight (which was the best part of this whole ordeal). I ask the lady about my luggage and she says not to worry that my luggage will follow. I ask three times and even gave description of my luggage so that they could find it. I board my plane happy as can be finally on my way. I get to the airport in Dubai go to luggage carasel and waited and waited. No luggage. So then I proceed to the Emmirates baggage desk and explain to them. They have me fill out a form regarding my luggage and say they will call me as soon as they find something out. I meet my husband he suggest that we wait for my orginal flight to arrive and maybe my luggage is on there. Waited no luggage. We proceed to hotel. By this time I have been in the same clothes for about 24 hours. We get to the hotel and figure in the morning my luggage will be here no problems. Its Monday morning and I wake up and the lady from Emmirates calls me and tells me that my luggage won’t be here until Tuesday morning. I can’t go anywhere because my clothes is all dirty I am stuck in my room all day Monday. So one whole day of my vacation is ruined. Tuesday comes and I get a phone call at nine in the morning my luggage is downstairs. They bring it up and I am so excited I can finally leave the room and see Dubai. I through on some clean clothes and out we go. I get back to the hotel that night and start looking through my luggage and things are missing. 1 watch, 1 bracelet matching earrings and matching ring, 1 pair of red earrings, 1 pair of emarld earrings, 2 bottles of perfume, 1 bottle of red nail polish. I was so upset and disgusted I can’t believe someone could go through my luggage and steal all of this without someone seeing it. So I think that maybe I left it at home. So Wednesday we get up go out and eat lunch and then go back to the hotel to repack because we have to be at the airport for 8:30 to start checking in for our 12:10 am flight back to the states. My husband checks in and then I check in and what more could go wrong. They don’t have me listed as a passenger I am like are you getting me I have a ticket. So they take my passport and they start talking among themselves. They look at me look at my passport look at me. By this time I am like what the hell. Then I remember I have my confirmation in my bag. I get it out and bam they tell me I guess we will have to add you to the list, I GUESS SO! The flight was horrible the flight attendants were not very nice, they did what they had to and nothing beyond that. We get to Dulles and we hurry through customes throught passport and through check points because we only have 1 hour and 46 minutes to get to our flight. We are running only to find out there is a delay. You think that they could have annouced over the intercom that this flight was being delayed for those of us who were running to get to it. So the walkway that goes from the terminal to the plane is broke. So we have to mover terminals and they have to move the plane which takes about an hour. Finally boarded the plane and on my way back to Houston where it all started. United is telling me they are not to blame in all of this because Emmirates was the last one with my bag. I don’t understand none of these problems with my baggage would have happened if they would have transferred my bag like they promised they would.

I returned home from Las Vegas on United Airlines this week only to find a prized drum stick I caught at a concert of my favorite band had been stolen from my bag, most probably during my 3 hour layover at O’Hare airport in Chicago.  This truly disgusts me.  I am searched and x-rayed only to have the very people in charge of our security steal from me with literally no recourse for me.  I am so upset over this.  I will file a claim with United, but will most probably be told I’m just out of luck.. so disheartening..

My family and I are demanding a full refund of our airline tickets because United Airlines ruined our vacation. We only have such an opportunity once in a very long time and due to no fault of our own, the entire trip to Mexico was a mess. The problems started as soon as we arrived to check in for our flights in Helena, MT an hour and a half prior to our departure. The automated check-in machine was not working properly, so the United Airlines representative asked us to approach the desk so he could manually check our tickets. We booked online through Expedia.com and had our printed itineraries from United.com. The man was incompetent and unable to operate the computer. He accomplished nothing in 15 minutes of clicking and staring at the screen. Then the man called over another woman, whose name we remember to be Dora, for assistance. When Dora began checking us in, she noticed that my wife, Olga, has a Ukrainian passport in her maiden name and a permanent resident card with her married name. She also had other forms of picture identification with her. Dora was completely confused as to how a person can travel with a passport and green card with different names on them. She was on the phone and computer for half an hour before she figured out it was normal and everything was fine. 

We were traveling with our eleven month old daughter, Sofia, to Cancun, Mexico. We were clear that she was coming and that she would be riding on our lap. There was no charge for her ticket. Then my wife called United Airlines a week before the flight to make sure that Sofia was booked to go with us on the itinerary and if we needed to do anything besides have her passport ready. The United representative said that we were all set and nothing else needed to be done. We printed out the itinerary and it said in clear, bold type at the top of the first page;

“Note: All infants traveling internationally are required to have a ticket. Some itineraries can be eTicketed. If your itinerary is not eTicketable, the infant’s paper ticket will be mailed to your billing address before your travel date. There is no additional charge for this ticket. Other passengers will be issued eTickets.”

We bought our tickets two months in advance, and no paper tickets were ever mailed to us, telling us that our itinerary was eTicketable. Dora, at the United airlines desk, refused to allow us on the plane without a printed ticket for Sofia. She insisted that we pay $150 for her to print our daughter a ticket even though we had the printed confirmation that there would be no additional charge for her ticked. We agreed to pay because The plane was already boarding and we hadn’t even checked our bags. No other passengers were in line before us and no one was in line at security. The United representative in Helena forced us to miss our flight and would not allow the baggage person to take our bags when she asked for them even though it was clear we could have boarded in time. Instead, she told us we had 3 choices. First, to cancel our vacation that was already paid for with flights and and an all-inclusive hotel. Second, to return the following day and catch another flight at the same time, costing us a night and a day of our vacation. That would mean sacrificing about $1400 resort charges we already paid for. The third choice was to drive 2 hours to Bozeman airport to try to catch another flight leaving at 10:00 am. This option would get us to our hotel at around 1:00 am. We originally booked the flights TWO MONTHS IN ADVANCE just so we could find the shortest possible flight duration for the welfare of our baby. Our original trip would have been 7 hours long, putting us at our destination at 3:00 pm the same day. Instead, because of the incompetence of the United representatives in Helena, we were forced to accept a 18 hour trip with way more hassle and stress that originated 2 hours driving from our home town. Sofia’s was so exhausted that by the end of the trip she was vomiting and screaming with frustration. When we arrived in Cancun at such a late hour, we had to purchase a shuttle to the resort that would have been provided free if we hadn’t missed our first plane. There were no restaurants or stores open where we could get food because no food or snacks were provided on our flights. The worst part of it all was that our checked luggage did not make it to Cancun. It consisted of all of our clothes, baby food, diapers, sunscreen, swimsuits, toiletries, etc. We left a cold climate and arrived in a very hot, humid climate. We had no comfortable or clean clothes to change our baby or ourselves into for the entire next day. We couldn’t even use the beautiful pools outside our room that we paid dearly for. We only had a six day vacation and 2 of those days were completely ruined. We had reserved excursions for the next day that had to be cancelled and we lost our deposit. After receiving our luggage the following evening, we were stressed out and aggravated so much that it was impossible to relax and enjoy our surroundings. We fly internationally a couple of times each year and we have never had such a negative experience. We had to change our whole vacation plan on the spot and miss out on many of our planned activities. 

The trip back was even worse. With the layovers and all the additional costs involved with having to buy expensive food on the way home, we got back to Bozeman nearly broke and completely wiped out with exhaustion at midnight. We had to pay for a week’s worth of parking fees and get a hotel in Bozeman. And guess what else happened… United had somehow lost another piece of our luggage on the return trip. It happened to be $1000.00 of fishing gear (that I never got the chance to use because of United Airlines). I filed a missing luggage report immediately upon arrival but the airline couldn’t even find where the luggage could have been. No tracking information was ever given to me online and it took 3 days and the threat of filing a police report to get it back. 

We had a bad feeling before getting on the plane to Cancun in Bozeman that United was going to deny us a refund for our flight debacle so my wife called United during our 2 hour drive to Bozeman. The nice representative on the phone whose name was either Erin or Karen, told her that we were eligible for a refund. She said that we should first complete the flights and then call and file a complaint as soon as we arrived home. That’s exactly what we did. The United Airlines phone support is pitifully slow and aggravating. After multiple calls, hours of waiting and wasting time trying to speak to a live person, we were transferred by the ‘refunds’ department to other non-related departments over and over. We have suffered enormous amounts of stress, aggravation and loss of time and money due to United Airlines. We demand a full refund for all our tickets and the additional charge for the infant ticket. We also demand to be refunded for the additional expenses we had due to 4 hours of driving, fuel, parking, dining, hotel and necessities like diapers, sunscreen and personal items we were forced to buy. These expenses came to $1000 that we were not prepared to spend. We also expect that the combined 4 and a half days of missing luggage will be made up to us somehow by the airline. 

That comes to $2,250 in tickets, $1000 in expenses,  and credit for the missing luggage. We demand to be refunded and will not let this issue rest. We are prepared take further legal actions if need be because our vacation is worth much more than money. Please do the right thing and give us back our money immediately. 

Am in Geneva Switzerland, booked a flight weeks ago to the states, want to bring my cat was told upfront that United has an excellent program for pets and there would be no problem.  Problem, first No one seems to know what the exact rules are as I have received a variety of info on the phone by different people as to what was required and guess what, I leave in a week and am Just told, after 2 weeks of many trips to the airport and hours on the phone, that I am not allowed to bring an animal on this flight. have been given every excuse in the book…the computers have not been installed as promised so the info is not available, to simply giving me another bogus phone number to call.  I have wasted an enormous amount of time and have Nothing to show for.

What is this ridiculous money grubbing new policy United has invented where you cannot reserve a specific seat unless you fly first or business class?  I have been flying United 2 to 3 times a year with my family to visit relatives in another state for years, in fact we just went in March.  I’m trying to book our next trip and I’m being told they cannot “guarantee” we will sit together…my daughter is THREE!  I was told they will do their best at the airport on the day of my flight but I will have no choice in where my seats are.  THIS IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.  I’m now looking into Southwest, at least I know it’s just a land grab there.  We will also have to fly into a different airport and rent a car, but it will be totally worth it to avoid the all over the airplane nightmare.  I’m about done flying…

You’ll have to reply back and let us know if you got an answer.  It took me a few weeks to get an answer after post-merger changes (I booked a flight in January and had massive changes made and had to re-purchase my economy plus seats from Continental because they did not carry over).  I am due a refund still – I was given some of my refund, but they didn’t look at everything.  They also gave me a $100 electrontic gift certificate for a future flight, but not sure I want to fly them again.  So, I will be writing to them in a few days again now that my trip is over (as I’m having baggage issues right now too).

United lost my bag and when they founf it they returned it to me damaged and with missing items such as namebrand clothes, shoes and perfumes.

My friend and I returned from Norway via SAS on June 7 to Dulles WA. We were told to go to customer service and receive new boarding passes to our flight to Phoenix. The woman who was taking care of us was not nice and was interfering trying to help the customer next to us who had two customer service employees  already assisting him. We stood there while she was taking her time in helping us. When we asked a question to her she would reply “I know what you want” sarcastically. Upon our pleasant trip to Europe where we were treated respectfully we arrive home to our country and get treated poorly in our own country. Welcome to the USA – UNITED better screen their employees with a better attitude to people coming from abroad to our great land and give respect to your customers.

Hello – Last
Saturday, 6-2-12, we were scheduled to fly out of BWI to SFO on flight 1474 on
full-fare first class tickets. The flight was scheduled to leave at 6:02am. As
of 3:00am the flight was listed as on time. When we got to BWI at 5:30am we saw
it was delayed until 10:30am due to crew turnaround time requirements. We were
in-line to check our bags and I asked the “expediter” if we could go
home and come back. (We are only 25 minutes away in Annapolis so we were keen to go home and
come back.) She said we couldn’t because the crew could come in earlier and the
plane would leave early. So we checked our bags and entered through security.
Needless to say waiting 4.5 hours in the airport was extremely painful. We
later were told by another United employee that since it was a crew delay
situation there was no way the plane would leave early. We really wish we had known that as our total trip time ending up
being 20 hours. The employee expediting check-in should have been more informed
and let us know we could have gone home, and come back.

As a side note,
once on the plane, I had a TV screen in front of me which wouldn’t change its
channel. The attendant said they couldn’t service any of these in flight. But
the unit wouldn’t even turn off so I was stuck watching the same infomercials
over and over again on CNBC during the whole flight. Uggggg.

I fully realize
what every airline does every day is nothing short of amazing. We were also
very pleased with every aspect of United’s first-class experience. Our luggage
actually came out on a priority bases at both ends, which is rare for any
airline to actually do. I’m not sure we’re due any reimbursement or
compensation, but if nothing else I wanted to pass this customer experience
along for training of your employees.

The 800-700-4000 number has been disconnected.  There is no way to get to talk to a real human about any customer service issue.  I am a silver wide plus life time member who wants to make a complaint and possibly have a class action law suit against United Airlines and there action to climate the original program and not make any restitution for what we paid.  I can not get any phone number to talk to anyone.  Can you help?

 I had a similar experience, and I have been waiting for a response for several weeks.  Please advise if you get resolution. 

Thank you – after a frustrating time trying to get my late husband’s airmiles on MileagePlus transferred to me, I finally wrote an email to the United Airlines Customer Care Directors listed on your website. I received a phone call a few days later telling me the problem was solved. Now, if you could give me the contact details of the US Airways  people ………

HORRIBLE AIRLINE ” DO NOT FLY WITH THEM ”

Just removed from a flight because a “flight attendant” (aka: asshole with access to the captin), treated me like crap, talked to me like she was doing me a favor by paying her salary; then asking me if I had a problem with her.

Because I told her the truth when asked, that yes in fact I did have a problem with her and that it was not OK with me that I was being treated like shit,,,,,

I was escorted of the plane because she felt threatened! Wow, the fact that the “situation” was created by, and enhanced by this “flight attendant”, never came into play. I was immediately cast as the root and source.

This is a sad day for United, (who will never see one more red cent of my discretionary income), but moreover the state or lack of customer service in America.

Buyers beware! We can be treated any way we choose to be and at the end of the day, we have the power of “Right to choose”.

Spread the word.

My daughter and I had a flight going out of Houston (IAH) going to Dallas (DFW) just 2 days ago. Our flight got “bumped” twice and thinking by the last time to leave, it was CANCELLED! There were a group of us very upset and wanting answers. The Supervisor (if that’s what you want to call him) wouldn’t talk with any of us or try to direct us to another option. All he would say is you can be put on standby, for the next afternoon (this was at 10p when this happened), or we could get a flight out 2 days later!!! Then he left, and so did the agent!! No one to try and explain anything to us! My husband, in OKC, booked us a flight early morning the next morning with Amercian Airlines. This was the first time flying with United, and the last! No organization and no PR with their customers!! 

My son and another classmate were nominated by their school for the Jr Naional young leaders conference in Baltimore.  We had a flight scheduled for 5:39 am on Sat. 7/21.  My son is 12 and his classmate is 11 so they had to fly unaccompanied minor.  We live in Sacramento and due to the specific time requirements of the arrival, we had to drive to San Francisco to make the correct arrival time.  Since we had to leave at 2am to make sure to arrive
in plenty of time for the flight and we were so excited, none of us slept before leaving. We were told that we needed to stand in a special line for the unaccompanied minor and there was one person in front of us that was being helped.  After waiting for about 45 minutes because the people were still being helped ahead of me, I asked if another person could start helping the long line of customers that were piling up.  I was told there was no one since it was so early in the morning.  I asked to speak to a manager and was told that they were in a meeting and unavailable.  I asked if we could be helped at the same time as the other people since she was being put on hold and she said that someone else would be available soon.  One woman walked up behind the counter and didn’t say anything so I asked her if she could help me.  I said that my son was going to miss his flight if someone didn’t help me soon.  She completely ignored me as if I hadn’t spoken to her.  Then again I asked for a manager.  I was told again no one was available.  By this time several people started saying they were going to miss their flight if they were not helped soon and then the lady that ignored me helped another woman that just walked up to her out of nowhere.  The whole line got really mad and then said she would help me next.  I finally got up to her and she put in the information and said, sorry it is to late to check in.  I said my child has to be on the flight.  He is being picked up by someone on the other side with their organization.  She said there is not another flight until tomorrow.  I said what, my son and his school mate just paid $3000 each for tuition and airfare for this conference and they are going to miss the first day.  Then another guy walked up and I said can you help me.  He said, she is already helping you.  I said she does not know what she is doing and I need help now.  Then he looked at me and said NEXT to the next person in line.  She continued to look confused and did not help me at all.  I started getting mad and he said he would help her in a minute.  When he got done with his customer he started to help her and I said, Can you just help me and give her another customer.  He did. He said there only flight to Baltimore available was at 3:30 that afternoon.  I said, that is not possible.  He said, do you want the tickets, there is only two left.  I said yes.  He said, who is picking them up.   How would I know now?  I asked if I could get the boarding passes now and he said it was too early and we would have to come back. I asked to speak to a manager and he said I would have to go to the end of counter.  I asked someone at the end for a manager and she went to get one. By now it was about 7:30.  I told her my story and she said there was nothing she could do.  She did give me the boarding passes and took the one bag to check and then said, hold on, I will be right back.  Fifteen minutes later she came back and said, I did not forget about you, I just had to help someone else.  I told her who do I complain to and she said I could provide my feedback online.  We left the airport dead tired with 8 hours to kill before the next flight.  We came back to the airport at 1:30 and was then told my sons carry on was about 2″ too big.   I got upset and started telling the man about my day and then he let me go. When the plane arrived and people came out we were told that there was an emergency onboard and the flight would be delayed.  After that delay we were then told the was a slight mechanical problem and there would be another delay.  We were told we would be updated at 4:00. At 4 we were told we would be updated at 4:30.  At 4:30
we were told that it was almost fixed and we would be boarding soon.  By this point the kids were very tired, scared, and the excitement they were feeling at 4:00 that morning had turned into stress and frustration.  The plane left around 5:30 and did not arrive in Baltimore until about 2am.  My son said he could not sleep on the plane because he was too upset and stressed about the flight.  He had to get up again at 6am eastern time with hardly any sleep the night before.  His entire first day, which should have been his second, was very tired and still stressed from the day prior.  He called me tonight crying saying he was tired and wanted to come home.  To make matters worse I checked my checking account and was double charged for the unaccompanied minor fee.  I tried to get a reversal and was told I would have to go through corporate after the transaction was cleared and not pending.  WTF! Where is the customer service?  The biggest problem and thing that made me upset is that not one person said they were sorry, not one person was friendly or helpful and everyone treated me terribly and very rudely.  My sons trip, which could change his life, was altered due to he unhelpful rude people at United.

I am writing this on Monday, July 30th. I just returned home after a trip to Las Vegas with my mom. We should’ve been home Saturday morning via United Airlines….what a joke! We were booked/re-booked on no fewer than 5 different flights to get us from Newark to Providence, RI after being delayed 2 hours at McCarran in Las Vegas. Funny thing is, United Airways didn’t get us home–AMTRAK did!! I was told by the last United Airways rep I dealt with that Providence was an “unpopular destination” and why would she “entertain” a refund when she could put us on STAND BY for a TUESDAY flight?! I have a job to go to on Monday….I cannot hang around the Newark airport hoping to get on a Tuesday flight. Every United Airways agent I connected with was rude, unprofessional, and appeared to be poorly trained in servicing customers when difficult circumstances arise. I witnessed a 16 year girl, travelling solo, sobbing at the United Airways Customer Service desk in Newark. The agent wouldn’t speak with her parent on the phone; the child had no money and couldn’t rent a hotel room…..the United agent didn’t offer her any type of consolation/compensation….no food voucher, no lodging in the youth room—the agent actually said “your parents should’ve paid the $100 in case something like this happened”…while I gave the child tissue another passenger offered to pay the $100 but the agent said they couldn’t take it because they were unable to process that transaction. I have never been so disgusted with the complete lack of service overall that I experienced in that United Airways line. I had to tack on a hotel room ($105.25) plus 2 one way train tickets ($228) to get home to RI….what should have been a 1 hour flight turned into a nearly 2 day debacle. I will continue to provide as much negative feedback wherever and whenver I can regarding this experience. I will be writing physical letters in addition to the emails and telephone calls already made. I have also made this experience my “status” on Facebook and have made that “public”. In today’s economy, service such as this is beyond incomprehensible. United Airways should be ashamed of the way they treat their customers….every single one of those agents represents that company and I would be embarrassed to be associated with any of them. I am seeking a refund of my airline tickets from Newark to Providence, in addition to refunds for my hotel room and Amtrak tickets.
Good luck to anyone else who has had a poor experience and is also seeking compensation. It’s only through feedback such as ours that any real change will occur.
Safe travels to everyone, and please be both prepared and cautious when travelling….expect the best but prepare for the worst!

On July 18th, 2012 I had the most horrific experience with United. My family and I were traveling from DC to Alaska. A trip that was supposed to take 8 hours, took 24 (and with the time change in mind, 28). 2 delayed flights, an 10 hour lay over, damaged and lost baggage( my bag somehow ended up in CANADA) and a list of employees who just didn’t give a crap. Of course, my husband and I could have handled this, but asking a 5 year old to put up with it, is ridic. I was fuming. After a day, I calmed down,  and wrote out a long detailed my experience in an email and addressed it to all the individuals above. In my email I included flight numbers, United employees first names and ID numbers. In the first paragraph, I listed what I expected from United which was reimbursed bag fees ($50) in addition to being reimbursed for a minimum of one ticket ($680). I surprisingly received a phone call the day after I sent my email from Jeffery Smisek’s office. In addition, I received a very long, apologizing email, a reimbursement of my checked bag fees and 3, $250 credits all totaling $800. I was completely surprised, although not completely satisfied. I had stated in the email I did not want credits because I never want to fly on United again, so I am in the process of turning those credits into a full refund. But regardless, I was very impressed with how fast they got back to me. I was lucky to come across this blog because it helped me formulate a clam response in addition to knowing who to contact. Thanks a lot!

Hi, our flight from Las Vegas to Newark on friday the 27th of July at 10:14pm was delayed 2 hours which made us miss our next flight to Burlington, Vermont at 7:29am. We were eventually put on standby for a flight at 1pm that was finally canceled, then we were given 2 places for a flight at 3pm that was also delayed and finally canceled at about 8pm. We then went to the customer service and after almost 2 hours of waiting the rep told us we could be on standby for the next day 1pm on a flight to Philly and then Burlington. The rep also told me that United Airlines would not pay for an hotel or anything like this. At this point I had not been sleeping for 36 hours and was really tired and to be honest I could barely believe what was happening to us. Knowing that we had very low chances to be on the flight for the next day and the fact that my girlfriend was crying finally decided me to forget the idea of taking a flight to Burlington and we finally headed to Manhattan in the middle of the night to take a Greyhound bus to Burlington. We finally got to our car in Burlington after a 12 hours bus ride and eventually made it home in Sherbrooke, Quebec at 4pm sunday the 29th more than 24 hours later than what was supose. My wife and I both missed 1 day of work, we paid 32$ for the bus from Newark to Manhattan then 128$ for the bus from Manhattan to Burlington, then 14$ extra day of parking at the Burlington airport. I have to say I had to talk 4 times with an United Airlines customer rep; 1 was really great and comprehensive, 1 was ok and 2 of them were terrible and one even seemed to be laughing at us maybe because of our french canadian accent, I have no idea. I would appreciate to have a compensation or at minimum be refunded for the 2 tickets for the fly from Newark to Burlington that we didn’t take. Thanks for your time and consideration.
Vincent Fortin