On our recent trip to the Big Island and Kauai my wife and I flew on six separate flights on United Airlines It was a mixed bag of experiences which ranged from bad to terrible.
Constantly Changing Flight Schedules and Seat Assignments
My problems began when United eliminated their early afternoon flight from San Francisco to Kona on Hawaii's Big Island. They re-booked us on a three-leg flight that took us 22 hours door to door instead of the 18 hours originally scheduled. We were left with extended layovers in both Chicago and San Francisco. As the flight schedules continued to change over the next few months, our seats continually were changed. At one point we were not seated together on any leg.It took me quite a bit of effort to rework the seating each time our itinerary changed. Finally, just days from our trip I had to pay to upgrade us to Economy Plus on one leg just to be able to sit together.
Our travel day irritation began when we arrived at Philly International Airport for our scheduled 7:00 a.m. flight to Chicago - only to be advised that the flight was being delayed until 8:00 a.m. because the crew arrived late the previous evening and needed more time to sleep.
United's New Boarding Policy and the Carry-on War
We were then faced with United's insane new boarding policy which boards in the following order: first class, premier fliers, those with window seats, those with middle seats and finally those with aisle seats. My wife and I could not even board the plane together!With United (and almost all airlines) now charging for checked baggage, we noticed that most passengers were boarding with two large carry-on bags. Boarding in Group 4, space in the overheads was very limited by the time I got on the plane. I carried one small personal item and a small backpack which contained my laptop and camera equipment. With no space available in the overhead, the flight attendant, at first, wanted to check my backpack. Only when I strongly rejected that idea, did she agreed to stow it under a seat in first class.
I was more infuriated when I saw that many passengers crammed both of their carry-on's into the overhead compartments instead of placing one under the seat in front of them as required.
As we prepared to board our flight from Chicago to San Francisco, an extremely rude United Airlines customer service representative announced to those of us with Group 4 boarding passes that it was likely no space would be available in the overhead compartments by the time we boarded. We were told that we would likely have to check our carry-on's.
She even had the nerve to tell us that it was just our bad luck of being in Group 4. Not willing to face this problem, I had my wife, who had a Group 3 boarding pass, take both her carry-on and mine while I took both personal items. Luckily she found space for both carry-on's in the overhead compartment.
It galls me that we paid to check our second bags while many passengers were allowed to bring two full carry-on's onto the plane and cram both into the overhead compartments.
United's Flight Attendants
On both our flight from Chicago to San Francisco and then San Francisco to Kona, we noticed that service on United has declined significantly. One flight attendant was eager to explain that "the company" had eliminated one flight attendant from the crew to save money, so we couldn't expect the same level of service. Hmmm. We pay more to fly and yet we can't expect even the same level of service.To add insult to injury, on both of these final two legs of our trip, the flight attendants all decided that, while those of us in coach (or should I say steerage) were not entitled to a hot meal, they surely were. We were tantalized by the smell of warm food wafting throughout coach as one after another the flight attendants carried their first class hot entree to the rear of the plane.
Speaking of flight attendants, those on United are a really bitter bunch. They're almost all much too eager to discuss how much they dislike the company. It's as if they feel that their setbacks entitle them to be less polite and less helpful. I don't have a lot of sympathy for them. At least they have jobs, unlike millions of others who have lost theirs in the last ten years. They really don't have a lot to do anymore.
With the elimination of meal service in coach and only one drink service, you really only see the flight attendants sporadically even on a 4-5 hour flight. Most of the time they just stand around in their galleys with little to do but complain. Heck, they don't even have to demonstrate the safety measures anymore since that's done by video.
Suggestions for Improvement
So, what's to be done? I do have a few suggestions for the executives at United:- Get rid of the new boarding procedure and go back to loading from the rear of the plane. It really is faster. Why make couples and families board the plane separately?
- Allow families with children to board first. Why ever did you stop this?
- Enforce the rule of one carry-on and one personal item.
- Enforce the rule that one of the two items must be placed under the seat in front of you.
- Consider offering a hot meal for sale on longer flights. The junk you sell right now is just that, junk.
- Give you flight attendants and customer service representatives an attitude adjustment. Well, I know that you can't do this, but they definitely need one.
- Give the fellow who was the purser on Flight 0158 from San Francisco to Chicago on November 21, 2008 a raise. He actually seems to enjoy his job and he tries to make flying an enjoyable experience. When we were delayed in taking off, he started a movie. We got two movies on the flight instead of the normal one.
