1. UA Won't Change Until Planes Fly Empty
2. Triple infraction and no more United
3. Overflowing toilets for Connoisseur class
4. United's attitude towards its customers
5. Give up your reserved seats
6. United getting worse
7. We don't have to be nice
8. We don't do that, sir
9. Decline in service

UA Won't Change Until Planes Fly Empty
from: Tom Farmer, Seattle
Tue, 22 Jul 1997 14:22:07 -0400 (EDT)

For some years I have been telling colleagues there IS a marked difference in service and attitude between UA and the other majors in the USA. (The difference compared to European or Asian carriers is immeasurable.)

I see some UA employees on this site blame new hires for the horrific customer-service incidents. But in my experience the worst, cruelest, angriest UA employees are senior flight attendants.

I have seen them ignore repeated simple requests for water; berate a disabled passenger for sitting in exit-row seats assigned to them at the gate; turn and walk away in silence rather than respond to polite, direct questions; stand and glare while parents struggle alone to stow toddlers' seats, paraphernalia, etc.; shout at passengers across the cabin; stolidly refuse to make eye contact, but stare off into space as you address them; and so on. Business travelers can certainly behave like jerks but the incidents I'm recalling mostly involved polite, well-behaved innocents.

Stepping onto a UA plane is like showing up for a dinner party at a home where your host and hostess have just had a terrific fight. They wish they didn't have to invite you in, and you wish you didn't have to stay, but you're both stuck. I don't think age and seniority alone create this behavior; you meet senior FAs on DL, for example, who are hard-working and friendly.

There is an embedded "UA mindset" which equates passengers with enemies, buffoons or hostages. The FAs' goal seems to be to get the planes completely empty so nobody can divert them from their main jobs: reading paperbacks, complaining about trip hours and bitching about Greenwald. (If these people hate their jobs so much, I don't detect any guns being held to their heads.) They don't seem to have deduced that no passengers mean no revenue and eventually no jobs.

I fly NW now and enjoy Preferred status. UA loyalists should know that numerous minor courtesies forgotten or forbidden on UA are standard practice elsewhere. Stuck at the gate on a weather delay? Want to get off and phone your wife? On UA: "No, SIR" (with that distant sneer which makes it plain that "sir" is UA-speak for "you pig"). On NW: Sure, we'll get a ramp guy to walk you back to the gate.

A few weeks ago a colleague and I arrived at LGA to fly back west, him to PHX, me to SEA; him on UA, me on NW. Numerous incoming flights were delayed by typical late-afternoon NY-area weather, among them the aircraft intended to serve as our outbound flights. My NW agent saw immediately that the late turnaround would make me miss my connection in DTW and, without being asked, rebooked me through MSP. My colleague's UA agent refused to rebook him or help in any way. He got stuck at ORD overnight. Typical.

UA might also care to know that not a few travel agents in the Seattle area regard the Shuttle to SFO as utterly unreliable for those making connections. If you're flying down there to catch a Europe or Asia trip, for example, it's not thought worth the risk of delay to book UA.

UA can have the last stray 15k or so miles in my Mileage Plus account. I generally use my awards to fly my family around, and I have to bring my frail 73-year-old mom across the country this fall, but I'd put her on the Greyhound before I'd book her on UA. I fear she'd be traumatized and terrified on UA. I won't risk it.

I wouldn't recommend UA to anybody, but especially not to elderly or occasional/"amateur" travelers, or anyone who doesn't relish being treated as an irritant and fending for themselves.

The new ad campaign is a hollow joke because they're exactly right about the status quo, but they can't do anything about it. The marketing guys can't staff the gates and board the flights themselves. They're dependent on UA's hateful platoon of abuseniks, who aren't about to change a thing. What would UA have to do to get my business back (as they're fond of asking)? Stop sending out meaningless form letters and $100 travel vouchers (I've got a stack of those gathering dust somewhere) and start FIRING PEOPLE. Lots of them. It doesn't take so many hateful customer-despising employees on the front lines to poison the whole enterprise.

Not that every UA employee is uncaring. But enough are that it ruins the airline's rep for everybody, and the good ones should realize that. Neither am I saying that NW or any other line is perfect. But my judgment, formed over years, is that UA is in a class of its own devising.

This website is an important tool because it can send the message that all of us HAVE A CHOICE. I can't believe how many of the horror stories here come from Premier or 1K fliers who for some reason keep coming back. As long as you do, UA isn't compelled to change a thing. The only thing UA managers will understand is EMPTY SEATS. Fly with someone, anyone else, consistently, and maybe by realizing United FAs' fondest wish -- no customers -- change can be effected. I hope so. It is certainly shameful to see such a storied name in American aviation in such a terrible state.

Triple infraction and no more United
from: Kevin Mercuri, Washington, DC
Thu, 17 Jul 1997 15:20:06 -0400 (EDT)

United used to be my organization's airline of choice until I came along. I flew three times for business with United and three times I experienced sub-par customer service.

Infraction One: A cross country flight on a narrow airplane, fully booked. When I mentioned the uncomfortable conditions to the flight attendant, she responded, "I agree, I don't know WHY they put all you people on this little plane. It's inhuman." When I wrote a letter explaining my dissatisfaction, I got a form letter apologizing for the lack of leg room in coach.

Infraction Two: A cross country flight with my organization's chief officer. We upgraded to first class, took our seats, and then were abruptly told to take a seat back in coach becuase "someone showed up at the last minute." A letter complaining about the embarrasment and lack of proper explanation went unanswered. We still haven't been full reimbursed for the miles we spent to sit in first class for ten minutes.

Infraction Three: Late to the airport, I attempted to check my baggage at the gate only to be told that the gate crew could not take my suitcase and that I'd have to walk through the airport again and check my bags with the skycap outside. The gate attendand would not guarantee that I would make my flight if I reported bakc to the sky cap. After losing the argument with the gate attendant I schlepped across the airport and outside to the sky cap. The sky cap informed me that "I was taken.... the gate attendant could have taken my bags (big surprise there!) but didn't want to be responsible for them." A third letter of complaint was answered with a real letter of apology and a certificate for a thousand airmiles -- about as much as I earn on my US Airways Visa each month.

United is no longer our airline of choice here at the office. We recently sent a large contingent of staff to a conference via Delta. I cannot comprehend the widespread ineptitude of United employees and their substandard protocols for serving customers. I'll fly ValuJet before I step on another United airplane.

Overflowing toilets for Connoisseur class
from: Mileage Plus number 00131-899-696, Palo Alto
Wed, 16 Jul 1997 10:41:35 -0700

I love your site. I'm sure that this letter I sent to David Coltman, UA's SVP of Marketing, went straight into the UA trash can. Please use it if you can. I'd prefer that you not post my name, but you can identify me by Mileage Plus number (00131-899-696) and city (Palo Alto).

June 17th, 1997
Mr. David Coltman
Senior Vice-President, Marketing
United Airlines

Dear Mr. Coltman:

In January you kindly renewed my United Airlines Premier Executive status, though I'd not flown the requisite miles in 1996. Thank you. I appreciate your convenient scheduling out of SFO, your frequent flyer program and the Starbucks coffee.

Nevertheless I find myself looking for alternatives to your Connoisseur class service. The memories of sleepless nights in those dreadful seats, leading to cranky and irritable arrival days, make it hard to stay loyal. I now fly most of my 100,000 annual trans-Pacific business class miles with your competitors.

But your recent commercials gave me renewed hope. That new ad agency is dead right. There's an absurd disparity between the images of smiling faces and "friendly skies" and the realities of today's business travel. Your old ads didn't connect with experienced business travelers. The new ones do.

So I felt cheated as I sunk into seat 5C on UA862 from Sydney to SFO last Saturday, June 14th. There was the same inadequate recline and pitch, three-across seating, no lumbar support, hard plastic/steel armrests that transmit aircraft vibrations, a footrest that reaches only mid-calf, one sad, flat pillow and that sadistic headrest that forces my chin forward into my chest while providing no lateral support.

I knew that the passenger in the middle would be clambering over me all night, and the guys close behind would need to pull themselves out of their seats by grabbing my headrest. No sleep in store that night. Then I found I couldn't stretch my legs without hitting the bulkhead in front. (I am only five feet eight.) The footrest was consequently useless. Here I was traveling on a paid business class ticket, but United was delivering less legroom than coach. It got worse.

Shortly after takeoff two of the five Connoisseur class toilets went out of operation. The crew cordoned off a third one for their exclusive use, leaving two toilets for 100 mere passengers. We formed long lines all night and held our noses. Each toilet floor was an unsanitary swamp by the time we arrived in San Francisco. I've thrown out the socks I wore that day.

Mr. Coltman, as I see it, I paid business fare and your airline delivered a coach product (at best). I think that United Airlines owes me the difference between those two fares. I will fly United again, when your airline can deliver the product your ads promise.

Passenger's follow-up letter
Sat, 2 Aug 1997 21:22:05 -0700

I received a response, dated July 28, to my letter, from Debra Stritzke of UA Customer Relations. She sent me a letter apologizing for the poor Connoisseur experience, and enclosed a discount travel certificate for $200.

United's attitude towards its customers
from: Daniel J. Custer, San Francisco
Wed, 25 Jun 1997 23:39:47 -0400

I have been a 100,000 mile flyer with United for six years. Since January 1 of this year, the general attitude of the company (despite Mr. Greenwald's comments in the most recent issue of the inflight magazine, seems to be one of resentment towards its most frequent customers. Various courtesies that have been commonplace in the past have been eliminated, and in fact new policies have been implemented which seem designed to irritate and offend. Two examples: as of the first of the year, we are no longer allowed to upgrade to first class on a three cabin aircraft, even if there is an empty seat and we are willing to pay for the coupons (which are becoming prohibitively expensive) to do so. The reason given is that "the integrity of first class must be maintained." Not only is this an offensive answer, given how much money I spend on the airline every year and how much time I spend in the air, it is also a ludicrous answer, since often the first class seats are occupied by airline employees.

The second example is United's plan to significantly reduce the award structure for its frequent flyer program starting next year. This program has been very generous to those of us who fly over 100,000 miles each year. (I flew over 140,000 in 1996, and have already flown 70,000 this year.) However, under the new system, there is very little incentive to fly on United beyond the 50,000 mile executive premier level, as the mileage bonuses beyond that are being emasculated. I have written several letters to United about these and other complaints recently, and have received completely inadequate replies.

For years I have extolled United as a company which took very good care of its best customers. I am not the only one who now feels that this is no longer so.

Give up your reserved seats
Wed, 18 Jun 1997 02:27:20 -0400

With my hard earned miles I made a reservation to travel on December 19 1996 with my wife and 3 sons on United airlines Business Class to Bangkok.Upon arrival at Narita Airport we were informed that "the flight was very busy that day" and one of us had to fly ecomomy class on their seven hour flight.Due to this seat assignments were not to be made until we reached the boarding gate. When we arrived at the gate United's agent indicated that my three sons had to travel in economy class, although we had reserved seats on that flight. My wife and I were assigned Business Class Seats.

It was to our surprise to find the Business Class Cabin almost empty. Just before takeoff the Chinese Minister of defense boarded the plane with his security and personal assistants. United Airlines decided it was a better deal to upgrade the chinese than honoring the reservations for a loyal customer.

After take off I went to check on my sons to find them sitting in the smoking section and inside a thick smoke cloud.After complaining to the flight attendant, with the kind understanding of some fellow passengers, my children were relocated. The Chinese Defense Officers took over the Business Class Cabin, during landing, the minister of defense and his wife maintained their seats fully reclined and since we were seating right behind them, blocking our way out in case of an emergency evacuation. While the plane was taxing to the terminal, the personnal asistants were walking through the cabin putting the Minister shoes on and fixing his necktie. When the door finally opened, we were asked by the security personnel to wait for the Minister to leave the plane; of course we refused. Have I heard from United airlines?...of course not, although the chief purser promised to file a claim.

Now when we Fly, we are more careful in evaluating other travel options.

United is getting worse
Sun, 23 Mar 1997 19:39:55 -0500

I have run into similar problems with United. I am also a frequent flyer and have found them to be progressively getting worse..I believe they have been going downhill since they became a "Employee Owned Company" .I haven't flown them for awhile, until recently, where I still encounter BAD Attitudes from Employees...Hopefully some day they will wake up before it's too late..HINT:: Continental has really come a long way and i was very pleased with them 2 weeks ago.

We don't have to be nice
Wed, 19 Mar 1997 21:50:48 -0700

I've been a United Premier Executive for over 10 years now, have put up with mediocre experience for all that time. Surly flight attendants, employees who don't know how to do their jobs. Deliberate abuse of passengers to make an extra buck. My flights delayed so connecting passengers could get on board, yet my connections not held so that I can make them. Last December I even had the Tug pushing the plane back from the jetway ram into the plane's front end, thereby making the plane unflyable. Last week we hit an all-time low--we weren't allowed to carry garment bags on board our flight because someone was afraid their wouldn't be enough overhead space. All the bags were checked at the gate. Of course, when everyone was on board, there was so much unused overhead space that virtually no one put anything under the seats in front of them. Then upon arrival at our destination, we all had to wait in line to get our bags, wasting even more time. United's employees are apparently now fully empowered to make passengers' lives miserable if it makes it easier for the UAL employees to carry out their jobs.

United's new motto should be, "We don't have to be nice any more, we own the airline now."

We don't do that, sir
Fri, 24 Jan 1997 17:08:17 -0500

Rooting around Alta Visa I came to your wonderful pages of banter and rage concerning good 'ol United. I live in Denver, a United hub, so I'm stuck with 'em. In fact, I'm a business traveller in the Premier program (me and a million others). I managed to rack up almost 40k in 1996 on United and I just want to say how right you are about the callous, inconsiderate treatment you get from this arrogant bunch of creeps.

I have a problem with the idiots who take issue with your putting this information on the web. What's the matter, don't they believe in free speech?

Believe me, everything that you and your pen pals write about has happened to me on United at one time or another. I remember one time at Dullas main terminal when I got stuck in a long line of passengers and when I got to the agent, she said, "Go right to the gate or you'll miss your flight, I'll call them and tell them that you are on your way." Man, I hauled ass to the shuttle to get me to the concourse and ran at full speed to the gate. When I got there, the jet ramp was still in position, but the flight attendant had closed the door to the plane. Out of breath and wheezing, I ask the gate agent, "Didn't they call you from the main terminal?" She said, "We don't do that, sir." (By the way, when someone from United calls you "sir," that's code for "fuck you!") I stood helplessly looking out the window at the plane parked there loaded and ready with the jet ramp still attached. After five minutes, it was still there! I went to the gate agent and asked, "Since the plane isn't leaving and the jet ramp is still there, why not ask the stews to open the door and let me on?" She said, "That's up to the captain." I said, "Well can you contact the captain?" She said, "Only in an emergency and this isn't an emergency, you were simply late for your plane, sir." Finally, another gate agent arrived and booked me on a flight late that evening. Some progress at last. Maybe I was lucky. I went for a sandwich and a half hour later when I walked past the gate, the plane was still sitting there.

If there is a hell, it's going to have a special section for United employees. It will be a 737 with them all crammed inside with no air conditioning. And there they will all stay, rotting for eternity with their seat backs in the upright position, their tray tables locked and their carry on bags stowed neatly under the seat in front of them.

Reasons for United's decline of service
Mon, 06 Jan 1997 23:18:54 -0800

I very much enjoyed your UAL horror stories. I am a frequent flier with them myself - over the last four or five years I have accumulated over 120,000 miles; most of it during the last three. I am also a frequent flier with Southwest, Delta and American where I typically accumulate about 20,000 miles annually.

I've noticed that UAL's decline in customer service can be traced to two events: (1) employee takeover and (2) initiation of the Shuttle service on the West Coast (I live in LA). I believe that (1) took the so called "fear of god" out of their workplace but also removed the clear chain of command. Consequently, when there is a screw up or a quirk in service (and in service out of Ontario, CA this happens on nearly every flight, or so it seems) there is no one to take responsibility or to delineate a clear course of action. Here is an example - on a badly delayed flight to SFO (due to weather, of course - they are ALWAYS delyed due to weather, even though one finds perfectly sunny skies in San Francisco upon arrival) the counter crew instructed to BOARD THE SHUTTLE BY ROWS clearly stating LET'S FORGET THE ZONE BOARDING FOR THIS FLIGHT whereas the gate crew subsequently yelled (yes, yelled!) at confused passengers because THIS IS A SHUTTLE FLIGHT, YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BOARD BY ZONE! When passengers who were now irate told the gate agent of these confusing instructions she replied "I didn't tell you to board by row, she (the counter agent) did". Obviously, left hand does not know what the right hand is doing and what's worse does not care!

In regard to (2), UAL is trying to compete with an excellently organized Southwest who have got their ship under tight control. When UAL reports "weather problems" at SFO it is darn frustrating to hear Southwest flights take off for Oakland right on schedule. Southwest does an excellent job of boarding, sometimes even policing "overly eager" passengers - all with a smile yet with affirmation of orderly procedures. Even when weather does interfere, Southwest quickly reschedules passngers or brings up additional planes. I was once at SFO where a virutal domino effect of one or two morning cancellations brought the entire UAL organization to a virtual standstill - I waited NINE hours to be booked onto another flight. When I asked to be rebooked to Orange County after about five hours, well that was "not a shuttle flight" so I was asked to fork out additional $72 to pay for it. I declined only to watch a 757 about half full (judging by the number of people at the gate) leave for John Wayne. UAL in my opinion selects (they must!) simply the most callous, pigheaded and impolite people for their SFO agents! While I can offer praise for JFK and even Ontario with few but very notable exceptions, SFO is hell everytime I land there. Here is an example - on a flight from Heathrow which was already two hours late leaving, we arrive over SFO to get stuck in a holding pattern for an additional hour. At the end of this hour, we find out that they could not make room for us so we are being rerouted to Oakland to REFUEL! About 60% of people want to get off because SFO is their final destination or they just want out. No one is allowed off; they refuel us for an hour and we fly to SFO. By this time, EVERYONE is late - we are met by a simply irate agent at the Customer Service counter where as usual they have three agents servicing about 300 people. The agent yells at us that "I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WEATHER!" way before she asks what she can do to help, what we want to do, etc. One more story and then my steam will be blown off :-). On a LAX-JFK flight towards the end, a snack is being distributed. Some passengers (myself included) daare to ask "what is the snack?". A stewardess (pardon, Flight Attendant) responds "it's a snack! don't you know what a snack is?!". I then over heard her talking to the rest of the crew by the tray area - "the passengers are acquiring a New York attitude as we get closer to JFK" - hello?! I hope some New Yorkers out there will see humor in this because I did not.