From the article: United Airlines Makes the Skies Even More Unfriendly
What are your recent experiences with United Airlines? Give us the positive as well as the negative. Has air travel become the most miserable part of your vacation experience? What can be done to make it the pleasurable experience that it once was? Share Your Experiences
it was fair
- I was flying from Rome to D.C. on stand-by (you really need a better policy - the employees should be able to fly first class international). I was lucky to get in business class it was quite enjoyable, till i was sick because of the food. Other then that everything else was great.
- —Guest j music d
Flight#69 / Oct. 08, 2009
- Traveled to Kauai on 10/08/09,Flt#69.It was the trip from HELL!! I had the middle seat, the woman in the aisle seat STUNK BAD and had a screaming child. I could not read or sleep.- I just completed Chemo and was going to have relaxing time on Kauai, but instead I got there PISSED OFF! My husband is Retired from Continental Airlines, but because of my medical condition, we PAID for our trip FULL FARE because I could not tolerate S/B criteria.-This was a Full Flight so there was no chance of changing seats. I have had BETTER Seat assignments too while traveling non-rev, as this time we were in Row 29. Also, when making my reservations thru' Expedia, I requested a Fruit plate, but instead, the flight ran out of "choice" sandwiches and all that was left was their vegetarian sandwich.- Got to Kauai HUNGRY! I did not bring extra food because I counted on the Fruit Platter. My Itinerary #129098436430, you can VERIFY the info I have documented. My experience has not been a good one.
- —Guest Trudy & Lance Valdez
Will NEVER fly United again!!!!
- This airline has proven it is incapable of the simple task of seating 2 people together, who booked tickets 3 months in advance on Expedia. We are Fiances, therefore our last names are different and they eluded to that being what may have caused the problem. THEY WERE PUCHESED ON ONE ACCOUNT BY ONE PERSON...HELLO...PROBABLLY TRAVELING TOGETHER!!! Thier EXCUSE...well you should have booked them with us instead. What!!! Are you serious...expedia booked my ticket, but you sold it to me...didn't you sell me 2 seats...did they not have numbers? Please, this is just ridiculous. I have never had such an issue with either American, Delta, or any other airline I've booked with expedia. SAD...VERY SAD.
- —Guest Non-existant Service
Wanted helpful response
- I have booked a fight to New Zealaond on New Zealand Air in their Premium Ecconomy cabin which is comparable to business on United. The first leg of the flight, Washington to L.A. is on a United flight, a partner airline. United has me in their ecconomy cabin. I have tried repeatedly to find out how to upgrade to business without any success. Does anyone know how to contact someone at United who could be helpful? The question isn't on the call center's meneu and the email responses I've recieved tell me they deal with post travel issues = complaints.
- —Guest DHC
They Suck
- Will never fly United or an affiliated airline again no matter what the price.
- —Guest Jane
They Suck
- Will never fly United or an affiliated airline again no matter what the price.
- —Guest Jane
Appreciate Flying on UAL
- I've made many trips on UAL. I've been lucky. I've never experienced poor service. Occasional mechanical issues - but I understand that it is in everyone's best interest if it is necessary to cancel a flight because of it, or to have to wait for a replacement plane, or to have to be rebooked. I have observed the flight attendants to be all about safety and not very friendly. I can accept that because only they know why they must behave that way. As long as they behave professionally and I get to my destination safely, their lack of friendliness is not a characteristic that affects me too much. When I travel by plane, I am there for the awesome experience of flying to someplace many miles away in less time than what it would take by foot or car. I ask very little from the attendants. I respect them and know that their jobs can be difficult if people treat them without respect and courtesy. The public, in my opinion is getting more difficult to serve, impatient and lacking compassion.
- —Guest Frequent UAL passenger
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
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