1. United's version of "heavy rain"
2. Yet another UAL customer disservice
3. Paid for first class? Sorry, you fly coach.
4. Booked in advance? Too bad!
5. No bulkhead
6. Chronic overbooking
7. Bumped on Thanksgiving
8. Reservation policy

United's version of "heavy rain"
from: Ruth Hansen, Petaluma, CA
Sat, 13 Jul 1996 00:04:17 -0700

I have not flown Shuttle by United since last spring and I do not plan to do so ever again! I generally fly Southwest but my agent booked me on a Shuttle by United flight from Oakland to LAX. Upon my return from LAX my "shuttle" flight was delayed three and a half hours. No announcement regarding the delay was ever made. The ticketing agents disappeared and the counter was closed during most of the delay. No estimates were given regarding departure time. Finally the flight arrived and the ticket agents returned (magically with the plane arrival). Upon boarding I asked the reason for the delay and was told that Oakland Airport had been rained out.

After arriving (well almost) at Oakland we were forced to circle the airport for over an hour. Of course no announcement or reason was given for this either. Upon landing I noticed the tarmac was completely dry. I asked a porter in Oakland about the "heavy rains" and he replied there had been no rain at all that day! I arrived at Oakland four and a half hours later than I was originally scheduled. So much for Shuttle service!

Yet another UAL customer disservice
Mon, 23 Jun 1997 11:46:03 -0400

I found your site while looking for the address to the unfriendly skies, so I'll share my experience with you as well as sending UAL a CC.

On June 6, 1997 I was returning to Richmond, VA from San Diego, CA. Flights originating on the West Coast were held up for approximately 20-30 minutes due to weather (around *Chicago*, we were told). I was concerned about making my connecting flight in Chicago, but the check-in agent assured me that the weather delays would hold up both arrivals in *and* departures from O'Hare.

My connecting flight was scheduled to leave at 8:15 PM Central. We arrived in Chcago at about 8:05 PM Central. Immediately upon debarking I spoke to a check-in agent and asked her to call ahead to my departing gate (on a different concourse) to hold the plane for a few minutes.

I did the "OJ Simpson run-through-the-airport-thing" and arrived at my gate at about 8:14 PM, just in time to watch the plane pull away from the gate. United did nothing to help the passengers who had been held up. All the employees would say is "We can't cause any more delays. We can't do that." There was another man who had been at the gate for (he said) about ten minutes prior to that, and United would not even re-open the boarding gate so *he* could get on the plane. In all, they stranded about a dozen people in Chicago with no option for getting to Richmond until 7:00 the next morning. And for this extreme inconvenience, how did United compensate? A pitiful $10 discount coupon for a hotel room at the airport! (I suspect this is a racket run by United and the O'Hare hotels.)

Here is my problem with this scenario: Well in advance of our arrival in Chicago, UAL had this information available to them:

1. flights from the West Coast had been delayed
2. there were passengers who had connecting flights in Chicago
3. some of those passengers were booked on the last flight of the day to their destination (not only on United, but on *any* airline)
4. estimated time of arrival in Chicago for the flights which had been delayed
5. departure times of the connecting flights

Paid for first class? Sorry, you fly coach.
Mon, 2 Jun 1997 12:31:24 -0400 (EDT)
by: Larry Bond
Springfield, VA

Mr. Gerald Greenwald
President
United Airlines
PO Box 66100
Chicago, IL
60666

Dear Mr. Greenwald;

I just saw two of your new ads on CNN Headline News. One cited the Wright Brothers, the other was a manager showing his employees what it's like to make people wait. Too bad they're nothing more than advertising hype.

On Tuesday, May 20, I found out that I needed to fly from Washington, DC to San Francisco for a business meeting. I immediately called to make a reservation on United's Flight 53 from Dulles Airport. The flight would be for the following Tuesday, the 27th.

The ticket agent was courteous, even apologetic when she had to quote me the price. Since it was short notice and without a Saturday stay (both ridiculous rules in this age of computers, I might add), the price would be $1710 round trip. I was expecting that, and said fine, but what was business class. She replied $1785. "Well, shoot, I asked, what's first class?" She replied that first class was $1805. We chatted for a moment about what a bargain that was, since the extra space would make the five-hour flight much more comfortable.

Imagine my surprise when I show up at the airport and find out that my tickets are for a coach seat! I of course immediately objected to the agent, who double-checked. She confirmed my coach seat, and even let me come around so I could see the figure for coach fare displayed on her screen, which of course read $1805. I asked what first-class was and it came up as over $2600!

This is completely unsatisfactory. To be quoted one level of service at time of sale and receive another when I arrive for the flight is unacceptable. Of course first class was full, and I had absolutely no documentation to show that I had been offered first class over the phone, so there was no point in asking for an upgrade or anything else then.

Instead, I'm asking for one now. I want the level of service I was promised at the price I was quoted. Whatever error the ticket agent made, it had to be a big one, because we discussed the different fares at length. The gate agent was also unable to determine where the $1710 fare for coach came from.

I will say that the service on the plane met expectations. All the employees I met were courteous and helpful, but if you can't get the basics right the rest is irrelevant. I expect to need to fly to San Francisco several more times as my business there expands. I will have to consider my choice of airline much more carefully next time.

cc: Ms. Denise Harvill
Director of Customer Relations

A United Airlines representative comments:
My guess is that the res agent priced the RT coach and then looked at the tariff for the Business and First class fares. When you look at those on the tariff, they only show the OW fares. Obviously the UA agent's mistake, and I think that an upgrade, space available, would be an equitable settlement. The passenger did get what he paid for, a coach seat.

Ed note: Obviously, the passenger did not get what he paid for, since the agent gave him the impression he would be flying first class. Perhaps a lawyer out there could give us an opinion.

You booked in advance? Too bad!
Passenger's original letter
Tue, 29 Apr 1997 15:28:42 -0700

This was a letter I wrote to United. I was very angry with them and their service. I have flown all around the world on many different airlines and never experienced what United sent my family through. I was hoping this incident was a rare occasion but after stumbling across your website I was shocked and had to respond. Now I am even more angry to know that United is known to conduct business in this way all the time. It took them over two months to respond and the response was not one that made me feel better or for that matter ever want to fly with them again.

Thanks for listening.

Denise Harvill
United Airlines
Customer Affairs - WHQPW
PO Box 66100
Chicago, IL 60666

Dear Ms. Harvill:

I am writing this letter in hopes that no one will ever have to experience what my husband, myself and my 22 month old baby went through. What was meant to be a nice flight to Vail Colorado turned out to be a living nightmare.

First of all I planned this trip and made reservations months in advance just so their wouldn't be any problems and if there were we had enough time in advance to correct the problem. Months ago I called United Airlines and booked passage to Vail, Colorado for a party of ten. The trip was for a ski convention and I wanted to get a jump start on my trip by making early reservations and hopefully savings as well.

My flight was scheduled to depart at 11:10am on Saturday February 22, 1987 out of Oakland. Arrive in Denver at 2:24P. Leave Denver on United Express Flight 5673 at 3:35P and arrive in Vail/Eagle at 4:15P. My transportation to the Oakland Airport had been all arranged. I got a phone call from one of the agents from United at around 8:00 that morning telling us that our flight out of Oakland had been canceled but, we could fly out of SFO on Flight 940 departing at 11:20am and still make our connecting flight into Vail.

I arranged the new flight with the agent over the phone giving her every persons name to be on that flight including my father and god-father who were not included in our group of ten. That made our group a total of twelve people. The agent confirmed our reservations for leaving at this time and every name in our party including my husband and myself . Meanwhile, I find out that the person who is to drive us to the Oakland Airport doesn't drive over the bridge. We had to call around to find someone else to take us to the airport since my entire family was already flying with us on the plane it didn't leave us many options to find someone else to drive us. Our neighbor volunteered. Finally arriving at the airport, we go to the ticket counter to get our boarding passes, anxious to meet the rest of our family at the gate we find out that United had no record of my husband and myself in the computer for that flight.

The agent that was helping us at the ticket counter informed us that we were booked for the afternoon flight leaving at 2:20pm into Denver and we would have to take the shuttle from Denver to Vail. We would arrive into Vail until 9:30 that evening. Immediately, I asked for a supervisor. Meanwhile everyone including my whole family had boarded the plane. Donna Sagan was the Supervisor I dealt with. She searched the computer trying to find myself and my husbands name and it couldn't be found. She also called the group reservation desk to find out who actually called me that morning to change our reservations and leave us out. She had no luck. By the time this was all talked about and investigated the plane was totally booked and ready for take off leaving us behind and my entire family on board. The plane ride we had all been planning for months. An arrangement I made and ended up being the one left off. A reservation I made in far enough advance just so I wouldn't have to catch a bus especially traveling with a 22 month old baby. How could something like this happen?

This was only the beginning of what turned out to be the worst trip of our lives and we have been flying for a long time. Ms. Sagan tried to be as understanding and accommodating as possible but nothing could have made up for the disappointment and failure of us not getting on that plane with the rest of my family not to mention all the emotional stress that we endured. Ms. Sagan offered us first class which we soon found out was all booked on the flight we were on. She gave us some travel vouchers which I understand can only be used one at a time. That was about all she could offer us besides an apology and promised us that all are arrangements for our shuttle from Denver to Vail would be taken care of.

After waiting in the airport for two hours before our plane took off for Denver we finally get there to find out that no arrangements were made for us to connect to our shuttle into Vail and on top of everything else they wanted to charge us an additional $54 for our baby. After a three hour drive (which was suppose to be only a forty-five minute flight) the driver was unable to locate the house we were staying in so we drove around for another thirty minutes and finally found it with the help of his supervisor. We made it to our house at around 11:00 that evening.

Meanwhile my mom and sister and niece (who were on that morning flight) had to wait around at the airport for an additional two hours after their landing trying to get the rent-a-car straightened out because the reservation was in my husbands name. By the time we got to the house in Vail my husband was so ill from stress (he has an ulcer) that it took him almost two days to recover from his flare up. I am also a diabetic and it is very important that I don't raise my stress level. I was so stressed out I was in tears at the airport and very fatigue and depressed when I finally reached my destination. Not to speak of trying to keep a 22 month old busy and happy.

We finally calmed down and relaxed knowing that our flight home wouldn't be so bad . We could get on with our vacation. Well , we were wrong, the nightmare started all over again going home. After arriving at Vail/Eagle airport going back into Denver we ended up sitting around that for almost two hours waiting for that flight to come in. After about an hour and a half the agent finally made an announcement telling us that the plane was just leaving Denver and should be there shortly.

The plane was scheduled to leave Vail/Eagle at 3:55p and arrive in Denver at 4:15p. The plane didn't arrive in Vail until almost 6:00p. Our flight for Oakland at 5:56p. The next flight out was at 8:35p that evening. Here we were at another airport waiting around for another two hours to get home. By then I had made up my mind that United is not the carrier I will choose to the next time we travel . This is such a disappointment to me because we have flown with United so many other times for so many years and never had these kind of problems occur. I feel United is loosing it's quality of travel. I understand flights are canceled all the time but I also feel that what we had to go through and endure was not necessary at all. There were a lot of things that could have been prevented. In fact I think the whole situation could have been prevented. If the agents would have done their job right and followed through it would have eliminated a lot of our problems.

Reply from United Airlines
The reply from United (reproduced below), received two months later, appears to be yet another form letter. For comparison, see the form letter that I received in reply to my letter.

Dear ___:

Thank you for writing to us about your recent experience with our operation. We are sympathetic to the incovenience and dissatisfaction our flight problems caused you. Please accept our sincere apology for the poor service you've described.

We fully recognize the importance of on-time departures and arrivals to you, and we don't question your unhappiness with flight irregularities. Regrettably, a number of factors sometimes result in our having to delay or cancel a flight. Please be assured our senior management closely monitors our daily flight performance and demands prompt attention to those problems which are avoidable.

Flights and schedules are always subject to change, so we do not compensate customers based solely on their involvement in a flight delay, cancellation, or missed connection. The enclosed travel certificate is offered as a sincere expression of our apology. Your business is important to us, and we look forard to serving you better in the future.

Sincerely,

Barbara A. Bartz
Customer Relations

You can't book the bulkhead
Wed, 5 Mar 1997 16:53:55 -0500 (EST)

My family and I are going to be travelling in another week or so to the Middle East and we are flying via London on United for the first leg of the journey. My family consists of my husband who is 6' feet tall , our four year old and 8 month old daughters.

Anyway to make a long story short the tickets were booked by Jan 8 and when I called to confirm the seating arrangements to hopefully book the bulkhead the agent tells me that first of all you cannot book the bulkhead and the bassinet that we requested for does not hook on the bulkhead but is placed on the floor. I just wondered what would be the logical place for us to be seated other than the bulkhead especially if we are going to be placing the bassinet on the floor.(Maybe we can just block the crew from doing the needed rounds)

Anyway to make a long story short the tickets were booked by Jan 8 and when So I called again to find out whether I could reserve the bulkhead(my dad used to work for the airlines and suggested that I keep calling every day), the agent that I spoke to said that the bulkhead was SOLD OUT. I was flabberghasted at this outrage.

I tried to find out why I was told that the bulkhead could not be booked and in this case a few days later sold out. The agent tells me that if we go to the airport ahead of time the ticketing agent might give us the bulkhead and ask the other person to switch with us. But after reading the letter that was posted I am very skeptical. I am worried that our first leg of the journey that will probably consist of ten hours of travel time will be very very uncomfortable.

Granted we are travelling with two small children but now the slogan "Come fly our friendly skies" makes me feel like I could be on an episode of the Twilight Zone.

Brian Kester of London responds:
Sat Mar 27 23:42:55 PST 1999

Premier Executive and 100K members of Mileage Plus can book the bulkheads. That's why your correspondent could be told the bulkhead couldn't be booked, only to find later that someone else had indeed booked it.

Concerns about chronic overbooking
Mon, 23 Dec 96 22:11:06 -0800

Yesterday, my family and I flew on United from Ontario to Kansas City, with a connection in Denver. I am concerned that the crew of the Ontario flight (#1546) may have been influenced by United ground staff to intentionally delay its landing due to overbooking on connecting flights (specifically including #1004).

Even before we boarded in Ontario, I began hearing rumors among passengers that United was guilty of severe overbooking this season. In fact, it is my understanding that this was widely reported accross the country. Although I understand the need for reasonable overbooking, the Christmas season doesn't seem the time to take advantage of the flying public in order guarantee with full certainty full loads.

Flight 1004 was late leaving Ontario by about 20-30 minutes. However, we began the approach to Denver well within time to make the connection. During the approach, the captain announced that "for everyone's safety we're going to do a go-around" for a second approach. No other explanation was given, and although I care about safety, both mine and others, I can't help questioning whether there were other factors present which may have influenced the crew's actions.

We landed in Denver at approximately 6:50, only fifteen minutes after the scheduled departure of our connecting flight, #1004. Along with many other passengers with the same connection, I fully expected to make the flight. In fact, when the flight attendant announced the gate number for Kansas City during disembarkment, none of us could have guessed that the gate number she announced was for a flight three hours later, our scheduled connection having left without us. Since the attendant had to have known our fate, her misleading announcement was inexcusable.

Imagine our surprise when our flight did not show on the board, since it had already departed. In fact, I was personally embarrassed, having just reassured a few concerned passengers "not to worry, they'll hold the flight for us."

In over thirty years of commercial flying, I have never had a connecting flight leave with its inbound counterpart so close to landing. Considering the overbooking rumors, and especially considering the "go-around," I cannot help wondering whether there were motives other than "safety" involved.

Please investigate this, and reassure me, if you honestly can, that these events were entirely circumstantial and that no influence or pressure of any kind was used to delay the landing of that airplane. Was 1004 full when it left Denver? If so, the events look mighty suspicious.

Then, please consider the flight attendant's misleading announcement, and our inconvenience at arriving in Kansas City three hours late, after midnight when our car rental agency had already closed. Most important, our plans to spend time with our family were affected, since we missed the entire evening.

An offer of free travel for our party would go a long way in restoring our faith in "the friendly skies." But more importantly, I am interested in knowing what your investigation reveals. I look forward to hearing from you.

United passenger bumped on Thanksgiving
Passenger's original letter
Sun, 1 Dec 1996 00:00:20 -0500

Here is my sad story. I purchased tickets to fly from Boston to Wash. DC in August by phone using my credit card. On Thanksgiving morning (our day 11/28) was the day my wife and I were supposed to fly out. When I purchased the tickets I was assured that I would need no paper ticket in hand and that the E-ticket they would send me was even better. Just check in at the curb and go directly to the gate, show your picture ID and the credit card you purchased the ticket with. I showed up with my wife on Thanksgiving morning an hour and 10 minutes before departure -- followed procedure. When we got to the point of collecting our boarding passes we were told to sit and wait and they would call us. Guess what these dirty shitbags did to us. After purchasing the tickets three and a half months ago they bumped us saying that our E-ticket gave us only standby status. I cannot relate to you how devastated we were. We are 53 three years old and were so looking forward to seeing our son and his new wife. I am having back surgery Tuesday at noon and this would have been such a pickup for me. How shameless the bastards are. I will pursue them legally to the ends of the earth. No amount of mone could repay us for what they did to us.

Passenger's follow-up letter
Thu, 10 Apr 1997 15:23:38 -0400

As I had mentioned one of the radio stations here--WBZ has a consumer hotline--WBZ Call For Action--I had called them and sent them the documentation dealing with my UAL problem. Well, lo and behold there is a customer relations person right here in Boston. Except--you can't talk to her! Anyway, this customer relations person calls me and I talk to her for about 40 mins. She says ``How can we get you back as a customer''? I say ``I will take four first class tickets to Tokyo (As I mentioned in the past my youngest son is working there.) The poor woman nearly choked. She offered me two $300 travel vouchers. This same offer was made to us on Thanksgiving Day by a telephone ticket vendor we called after we were bumped and went home. I turned it down then and I did the same thing today. I cannot take the vouchers and in good conscience continue to spread the honest story of what UAL did to us which I will continue to do. This woman even agreed that UAL uses the people who don't get seating assignments and/or purchase a lower priced ticket as potential bumpees. I explained that this constitutes witholding of contractual information and is in violation of Massachusetts (and probably every other state's) General Laws. She even had the audacity to suggest that on Aug. 19 when we ordered our tickets the plane might have been completely booked. How stupid, vular and arrogant. The important thing is that what United did to me is known by people at a three major news outlets in Boston and as this customer relations person said word of mouth is something that they consider dangerous to them. Word of mouth is nothing compared to word spread electronically which as I mentioned I am and will continue to do with gusto!

Another follow-up letter
Sun, 07 Sep 97 00:07:35 0500

I received from Mass. Att. Gens. Office copies of two complaints made against UAL. One of them involved a person whose legitimately purchased ticket somehow materialized into a "stand-by" ticket when they called seeking a seating assignment sometime after purchasing the ticket and within the 31 days prior to departure as requested by UAL. UAL told this person that she had no seat and to fly standby. This case sounds exactly like mine in that the tickets were purchased in July of 1995 for flight on Nov. 26, 1995 (Thanksgiving?). It sound as though UAL uses this word "standby" pretty loosely.

United won't give straight answer to question about seat reservation policy
Passenger's original letter
Sun, 17 Nov 1996 16:37:19 -0500

You may be interested in my minor problems with UAL and their handling my complaint. The first letter was written to Consumer Reports Travel Letter with a copy to United Customer Relations:

Mr. Ed Perkins
Consumer Reports Travel Letter
101 Truman Avenue
Yonkers, NY 10703

Dear Mr. Perkins:

This is to advise you of a United Airlines seat reservation policy for those of us who use Senior Coupons.

The enclosure is a copy of the itinerary for a trip my wife I took from Nashville, TN, to Boise, ID, and return. These tickets were issued August 14, 1996. My practice is to ask for opposite aisle seats at the time our trip is booked.

When we checked in at Nashville, we found we had window and middle seats. There was not much we could do then, but when we arrived at Boise I checked for the return flight. Then I was told we had window and aisle seats for the Denver to Nashville leg. From Boise to Denver seats could be assigned only at airport checkin. We arrived at the airport one and one half hours before flight time. The only seats available were separated middle seats. We could not even sit together.

From the above set of facts, it is clear those of us traveling on this class of ticket ARE NOT ALLOWED, AT ANY TIME to reserve a seat of our choice. If all seats were assigned at checkin at the Boise airport, it is unreasonable to believe only middle seats were available one and one half hours before flight time. The clerk was evasive when questioned. My interpretation of his answer was: I am allowed to assign you only certain seats on this flight.

I can appreciate, for competitive reasons, certain concessions are made to frequent fliers on heavily traveled routes. However, not to inform certain class ticket holders of this practice is deceptive and a breach of contract.

If your investigation confirms this United Airlines practice, you should warn your readers. By copy of this letter I am asking United Airlines to refund the proportionate cost of two remaining senior coupons in two books. This unstated policy makes travel on United too inconvenient.

United says something to the effect: We know you have a choice and we thank you for flying United. You bet I do! Southwest has lower fares and I can compete for a seat of choice. United doesn't give me that option.

Reply from United Airlines
United's reply was a computer generated form letter that really didn't answer my concern. I replied to it and asked for a person generated letter. The following is their reply as I scanned it.

UNITED AIRLINES World Headquarters

November 8, 1996

Dear ----

Thank you for writing again. I'm sorry you are dissatisfied with my previous response to you. You stated you did not like computer generated letters, however, it is not our policy to handwrite our letters to customers.

You asked us to re-examine your request, and we have done so. At the same time, I must again state that being on a Silver TravelPaC ticket has absolutely nothing to do with your seat assignment. When customers make reservations, they can request a seat assignment, no matter if they paid for first class, coach or anything in between. It is simply a matter of timing --the earlier you make your reservation, the better seat assignment you may request. However, seat requests are simply a courtesy and not a guarantee, as I explained in my earlier letter.

At the same time, you must keep in mind that at a certain point in time, we will not take seat requests, and will put a flight into the status "check in at gate only." This can be due to a number of variables such as schedule changes, equipment changes, etc. That is not to say that customers have not requested seating assignments months prior to this cut off time. And, customers can check in downline, upline, etc.; not necessarily at the gate.

We appreciate this opportunity to be of assistance and look forward to serving you again.

Sincerely,

Patricia Spilotro
Customer Relations

REF #: 0281984B
JPS/cl

Passenger's follow-up
Ms. Patricia Spilotro,
Customer Relations
United Airlines
P.O. Box 66100
Chicago, IL 60666

Dear Ms. Spilotro:
Ref: # 0281984B

Thank you for sending me a reply which was not computer generated. Of course, I did not expect it to be handwritten, as you well know.

Your letter, of course, does not directly answer my question. I am not surprised because there is ample evidence that United's policy regarding seat assignments is precisely what I surmised. The following may not be precisely what United does, but it will be close.

United uses yield analysis to control the number of seats sold in various fare categories. As the flight date approaches there are full fare seats which have not been sold. The passengers who would buy these seats do not want to sit in the middle. So you in effect freeze seats assignments by saying it will be done only at gate check-in. Meanwhile, you continue to assign window and aisle seats to those passengers who pay full fare. Even at the gate I was not allowed one of these because they had been assigned as described above, or were being held for assignment to full fare passengers. Simple logic says this must be true. Otherwise, why bother with the gate checkin policy?

Contrary to what you may think, I would do the same thing if I were United. My complaint is with the double talk and airline speak: "check in upline, downline, cutoff, etc. Seat requests are a courtesy, not a guarantee, etc." While you may say, or even believe, there is no discrimination by fair category, it just isn't so. United and other airlines will continue to hold preferred seats for full fare passengers.