United Customer Service is Non-Existent
- On a recent trip flying from Salt Lake City, UT to San Antonio Texas, a layover took place in Denver, CO. The flight from SLC arrived at 12:05, and the scheduled departure time from Denver was 1:15. While waiting at the gate, an announcement came overhead that the plane was delayed in Colorado Springs for a mechanical failure and that once the part arrived for the plane and installed, the plane would be on its way to arrive in Denver at 1:50. At about 1:49pm, another announcement came on saying the plane had not taken off yet but that it would shortly leave Editor Comment - This post was cut short for some reason. I would love to read the rest of the story.
- —Guest Jon Davis
Flying the Family Unfriendly Skies
- Recently I had the displeasure to fly on United Airlines with my two year old daughter. According to the FAA young children are recommended to be in a 5 point harness while on board any aircraft if you have purchased them a seat (which I did, full price). http://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly_children/crs/ So, having read this I planned to take my child’s car seat, her diaper bag, and her stroller (which I gate checked). I didn’t take anything unnecessary, just the barest minimum of what was needed to travel with a two year old. As a mother traveling with a small child this was quite a bit to carry and was very cumbersome (two hands are needed to push a stroller, but I also had to carry the car seat). As I went through security I was informed by the TSA agent that her father could walk us to our gate to help carry this, but in order to do so I would have to get a pass from the airline I was traveling with. When I asked the man at United Airlines “Customer Care” about this he was very rude.
- —Guest melelani3688
Outsourcing Aircraft Maintenancee
- I stopped flying United Airlines in 2006 after hearing about sending Aircraft to foreign countries for overhaul repairs.. this is no bull it was on CNN.. check it for yourself linktv.org/outsourcing, Airline video is on lower right corner, many other airlines are doing this trying to save money and risking safety.. everyone should boycot the airlines that are doing this. How can the Federal Aviation Administration allow this? after watching video it's noted mechanics working on outsourced aircraft don't speak English, maintenance manuals are in English only, have NO License, no drug screening,no airport security. they just have a supervisor with a license and he's responsible for all the work.. enjoy the friendly skys..
- —jakexus
Not enough room
- My husband and I recently flew United from Miami to Chicago. United let so many passengers on with huge suitcases, by the time we boarded in group 4, the flight attendent told us we would have to check our under-sized carryon bags. We were furious so we slid them under the seats instead. To make matters even worse, the passenger next to me was so large, she flipped up the arm between us and her gerth promptly spilled on to my seat. What a nightmare! Last year United made us late for a connection in Denver because of some ground equipment. We missed our flight to Tahiti and it cost us $4,000 more to catch our cruise ship. Stay off United. This airline does not care about its passengers. Never again!!
- —Guest P. A. Kralik
Lobby Bag Check
- As a retired UAL employee, I was seeing my wife off on a red-eye to ORD a month ago, and she was trying to check a bag. With the fees for ckg a bag, I didn't expect to see many people ckg bags, but I was sure wrong on that! Anyways, her only complaint of the whole trip, which i was part of, was trying to communicate with one of the contract employees that UAL hires to work behind the counter ckg bags. I forget the question she was asking, but the contract employee could barely speak english. It was very frustrating to converse with someone in more-or-less, a customer service position, that had very little command of the english language.
- —Malibujim
The worst flights of my overseas trip
- We booked a round trip in the states with united. I don't know who to blame the most but some of our experiences were as follows. We booked 9 months in advance and paid for tickets 3 months in advance. We were early to the airport. Our names were "in the system" but no seats were allocated, so on our honeymoon from Hawaii to Denver we were made to wait until they decided they could fit us on after everyone else had boarded and given seats on either end of the plane. We were told to ask to swap seats ourselves. We were given full pat down searches at every airport. We were told by security staff that the airline chooses who gets to be patted down. (We have UA and alliance airport cards.) Our bags were lost by United in our final leg. They just sent them to the wrong place even though they had asked us pointedly where we would like them to go. The attendants in general were OK, but all the other experiences were enough to make me wonder about the airline service in general in US
- —Guest Leigh
Response to Comments So Far
- Again, thanks to all of you for your comments. I do apologize to those good United flight attendants. I know you're out there. It was actually more than one flight attendant I heard speak badly of United. If it were an isolated incident I would not have mentioned it. By far the most serious issue is the carry-on issue. The inside c/s rep who checks people on-board and the flight attendants at the plane door really need to enforce the rules even if only telling people individually that they need to place one of their 2 items under the seat in front of them. Folks with more than 2 items should be forced to check the excess ones AND pay for it. It seems a lot of folks take bags that are too large onto the plane in hope of either sneaking them on or getting them "gate checked" in which case they don't have to pay the baggage fee. It's an easy way to by-pass the checked baggage charge - just pretend it was a mistake.
- —gohawaii
Sad ... Contd.,
- Bad service in one McDonalds does not warrant the whole chain being bad. I find the comment from one contributor ' UA go under ' inconsiderate. Are they aware how many people work for UA?! I often see a comparison for foreign carriers - cool, most are national carriers propped up by their governments. The USA does not have a national flag carrier, the closest was PanAm, a true contender, Hmmm, yes, I remember how the U.S. government bailed them out after Lockerbie and confined them to the history books. As for the meals, you are quite right. Passengers should be offered the option of at least purchasing something more substantial than those snack boxes, but UA is not alone. On-board luggage should fit certain dimensions or not be allowed on, if we had more gate agents, perhaps this could be policed fairly for all passengers to avail of overhead bins. Personally, I think security should not let people through with over-sized cabin baggage. I hope you will give UA another chance.
- —Guest International UA employee
Sad .......
- Firstly, you had a number of aircraft changes, where, busy Metropolitan airports will have delays. As for the crew arriving late ' they did not have enough sleep ', someone put that into layman terms for you. There is actually a legal requirement in the number of hours a F/A can work. If their previous flight was delayed, it will impact others - all airlines experience the same. If a F/A vented their dissatisfaction with their work environment, that was unprofessional - however, in the current climate I can assure you job cuts are more visible behind the scenes with many people, myself included, where our skills only have value to another carrier. No need to speak further of the climate amongst ALL airlines. I can't ever over hearing a F/A ' bitch ' about the company, even to me as a fellow employee. I'm not calling you a liar - you heard what you heard, but I think reasoning would have it that it was an isolated incident.
- —Guest International UA Employee
How Do You Fix United Airlines?
- Get rid of it's Chairman, Glenn Tilton. All employee complaints can be tracked back to when Tilton took charge. Until he treats his employees with a better respect and fulfills lost promises, United will continue to have morale challenges.
- —Guest Global Serivces Passenger
It's time for United to go under
- Your experience seems quite typical. I switched away from flying United some years ago, switching primarily to Delta. United service seemed decided uninterested since their labor problems of years gone by. I've had Delta staff help me on many occasions and in a few cases even personally rush me around the airport when I was running late. Since switching, I have only flown United once, using my substantial banked frequent flier miles. I was scolded by their flight attendants because I was checking in for an international flight and there were only 45 minutes left until the flight when I arrived at the front of the line. This was because the line took 1 hour, 15 minutes. It took 3 employees at my transfer before I found one who could tell me if my bag had made the flight (2 claimed it was impossible to look up). Unfortunately, as I am SFO-based now, I'll likely be on United again, but I really wish they would go under and open the gates for Jetblue, Virgin and others.
- —Guest Michael
To the United Flight Attendants Below
- First of all thanks for replying. Just to let you know, neither my wife nor I ask anything of the flight attendants. We take our 1 complimentary soda and sit until the next time someone comes by - which is, quite frankly rare, on long flights. We did hear numerous instances of other passengers complaining and being told how much the flight attendant responding hated his or her job. Perhaps you two need to listen to how some of your co-workers talk with passengers. As for the food issue I have to laugh when you defend the hot food you get on the flights. I don't care if it's first class food or special flight food. If passengers have to go 4-5 hours or more (10 hours on a Hawaii flight from Chicago) without a hot meal, why should you folks get to parade one down the aisle in coach? I'm not saying that you don't deserve to eat. What I'm saying is that passengers deserve a hot meal too! or at least the offer to purchase one!
- —gohawaii
We Gotta Eat Too!
- United Flight attendants routinely work 12-hour days. Just because your trip vacation started two hours ago doesn't mean you're on board flight attendants hadn't been busy flying for the past eight hours to ten hours without a break. As UA employees, we receive crew meals on board flights instead of a monetary per diem. Also, those meals are not from first class, they are specially catered for the crew. Company rules prohibit us from eating passenger meals. In fact, it's considered stealing. There are times at my job, I haven't even had time to eat or use the lavatory. Before you recklessly write your blog, how about doing some homework first? Seems to me you don't understand the inner and economic workings of an airline. And to make it clear, there have been many times that I have given up my crew meal to a passenger because the on board caterer (not United) did not board enough passenger meals to serve. Shame on you! Editor - See my comment above.
- —Guest United Airlines Flight Attendant
To writers who use their pen as a sword
- I'm a United Airlines San Fran based flight attendant. I resent the fact that you seem to think all (but one flight attendant -- the Purser on your San Francisco/Chicago flight) needs an attitude adjustment. From my experience, there's always one passenger on board our flight that needs cajoling and babysitting. Nothing is EVER right and you're always looking for the IDENTICAL comforts of home. Also, passengers like you seem to lose your "home etiquette" once you've boarded an aircraft. You talk to us as if we're second class citizens and ignore our safety request. Your above blog just disrespected every great, hardworking United flight attendant who goes the extra mile. By the way, I'm a SUPERB flight attendant who has an immaculate work history to prove it. Next time: (1) Write a complaint letter to the company; and (2) take a moment to acknowledge hardworking flight attendants verbally or with a handwritten note. I suspect anything my coworkers did for you just wasn't enough.
- —Guest UA Flight Attendant
To overly opinionated people...
- Cut the flight attendants a break. Yes, United has cut back the staffing making "great service" even harder. Write the company about this instead of posting negative comments about the flight attendants. United listens to passenger complains more so than employee comments. If people are so unhappy with flying domestically then pack your bags and put them in a car and DRIVE. Then you can pack your own food and beverage. OR if your really unhappy then just stay home. Editor's reply - Thanks for your input. It's a little hard to drive to Hawaii, though.
- —Guest NA
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