Rudeness

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	Rudeness at United

	Archive Contents What does it take to get a juice around here? How long can we make you wait? No lunch for you! Honeymoon delayed No apologies Form letter replies What does it take to get a juice around here? Sat, 24 May 1997 21:36:53 -0400 (EDT) Passenger's original letter To Mr. Gerald Greenwald and Ms. Denise Harvill I am writing this letter/e-mail to voice my complaint with regard to a business flight I had the misfortune to be booked on for your flight 1495 yesterday from Denver to San Jose. I am an engineer who frequently must fly this route and up until this time, allowed my company's (a $400 million corporation) travel agency to choose the airline for me. That is all going to change after my most unpleasant experience with your airline on yesterday's flight. Let me get to the details. After helping my fellow passengers load their luggage into the overhead compartments around us, no flight attendant in sight, I assumed my position in the aisle seat assigned me. Well after we had taken off and while the flight attendants were still in the act of dispensing beverages, I asked the flight attendant, M. Gosling, for a coke due to the fact that the orange juice I had just ordered was not enough to clear my blocked ear passages. She simply ignored my request and gave no acknowledgment of my even being there. The pain was growing worse and I could not clear my ears no matter how hard I tried to use all the other standard procedures, so when she next passed me, I asked once more and again, was simply ignored. I thought perhaps I was speaking too low so the third time she passed, I increased my volume enough to draw the clear attention of my fellow passengers, who were bug-eyed in disbelief as she simply ignored me for a third and final time. I know that such requests from passengers seem like a massive pain to your flight attendants, but I request that you emphasize to them that beverages may at times serve as more than simple thirst quenchers for the many of us who have this problem with our ears. I hope this was the case and not the fact that I am a minority. I will be sending a hard copy of this letter to you and also the U.S. Dept. of Transportation. If I do not receive an adequate response to this letter in one month I will inform my company's travel agency to look into other complaints being received with regard to disqualifying U.A. as a carrier for my company. Fri, 14 Feb 1997 04:17:52 -0800 Passenger's follow-up letter I am pleased to report that as a result of my letter of complaint to United Airlines, I have received an apology from them along with a United Airlines credit of $50. I don't think I will ever use this credit. The apology is what I was looking for. You are doing good work. Keep it up! How long can we make you wait? Tue, 20 May 1997 22:30:02 +0000 by: Marc Sather (US) This is a letter intended to vent my frustrations from the terrible service your company [United] has given me in the last few months. I am a frequent flier and this is the first time I have ever complained about service of any type including flying. This letter is also being copied to the AT&T Wireless travel office with a recommendation to exclude using your services until service gets better. I have taken three flights in the last three months with your airline and each time I have been frustrated, delayed, treated poorly and denied service. My last flight was the peak of frustrations so I will go into detail about that one and not bore you with the other two flights. They were generally the same type of service. Me and my wife were going to Atlanta with a connecting flight in Chicago. The flight was delayed getting out of Seattle due to a radar outage at the Chicago airport. The two hour delay, of course, caused us to miss our connecting flight. We proceeded to the Service Center in Chicago to get the next flight. The line was long and not moving. After about a half an hour I decided to go to the ticket counter to see if I could get better service while my wife stayed in the Service Center line. The line was shorter but it moved much slower. It took two hours to get to an agent. In that time more frustrated customers came in line while most agents began going home. As the hours passed, people became irritated, began yelling and customers began going to other places like the first class line to get served before customers who were in the line much longer. Once I got to the front of the line I was told to call the United toll free number to get a reservation for the next day and was thanked for my patience. THANKS!! My wife, on the other hand, was not so lucky. After standing in line for over two hours and not getting very far, the service center decided to close and told the patrons "good luck". This was the worst experience of travel I have ever had and the worst treatment of customers I have ever seen. To top things off, United would not give free vouchers for Motels because they said the problem was weather related (this excuse is very weak, all delays could be stretched to become weather related). What's even worse, this is a major hub for United, you would think service would be the best there. Are all United customers treated this way??? I have considered your airline first when I make reservations, but these incidents have turned me against using your service. No lunch for you! Wed, 5 Feb 1997 14:36:08 -0500 I have also had several bad experiences with United. These have not involved holding flights, etc., which I can understand, but simple rudeness by agents. I was flying to a meeting in Boston in December, when two successive flight cancellations resulted in my returning home. Because I had travelled first on a shuttle, and then on a flight that cancelled an hour out before food service, I had been about 8 hours without anything to eat. United had announced on the plane that we would be given lunch back in San Francisco. When after a long wait in line I reached the gate agent for my lunch chit, she tore it up in front of me with the comment that I didn't deserve one because I wasn't going on to Boston. Granted, she had been dealing with a lot of irate passengers, but that is what she is paid to do. I wrote, and although my letter did not require a reply, a simple acknowledgement would have been nice, but United did not reply. I have had as bad, or worse experiences with the United Express desks in SFO. It isn't just a zoo out there. It is a jungle. It isn't just rudeness, it is that they just son't seem to care what they say, so long as you will go away and not bother them for another half hour. Honeymoon delayed Passenger's initial letter Wed, 08 Jan 1997 16:30:34 -0800 Mr. Jerry Greenwald C.E.O., United Airlines P.O. Box 66100 Chicago, Il 60666 Dear Mr. Greenwald, First let me introduce myself. My name is Dr. ___ ___ and I reside in ___, __. I am a frequent flyer with your airline and use your airline service for both business and pleasure. The reason for this letter is to detail a recent and very unpleasant experience my wife and I had with your airline as we were traveling on our honeymoon. On December 22, 1996 my new bride and I were to depart at 400PM from Omaha on United Airlines (UA #1197) for Denver. When we checked in with the United representative we were assisted in a very uncivil and abrupt manner. We first were told that our "flight was delayed". We were told that the amount of delay was unknown. We explained that we had an international flight to catch in LA at 1100PM PCT and inquired whether we would still make that connection. In a very discourteous way we were told "no problem". After waiting for approximately 30 min., and with no clarification concerning departure time, we went back to the UA desk to inquire further. A representative who was assisting in line customers asked if she could help, we detailed the issue and she approached several UA agents who were talking. One person (and that being the same who checked us in initially) remarked, "I'm not going to help them, I'm going on break." Well, one of the others consented to help us. This person was quite courteous. She informed us that our flight was scheduled to leave at 545PM. The reason for the delay was that the equipment wasn't present in Omaha. No weather related problems involved. We boarded the plane at approximately 545PM. All passengers were seated and we were ready for pull back when the flight attendant informed us that we were being delayed further because they neglected to fuel the plane! Another 1/2 hr delay. We arrived in Denver to find that our 820PM connection to LA on UA#1567 was delayed until 930PM. No explanation given. We immediately went to UA Customer Service. The line was quite long. Apparently UA was experiencing wide-spread difficulties. After waiting in line for ~30 min., we were assisted by an agent. She informed us that we would miss our connection in LA for continuation to Papeete, Tahiti. We explained it was our honeymoon and that according to our itinerary we had >5 hrs lay over time during transit, that even with some unforeseen problems we should have been able to make our AOM Airlines Tahiti departure and that UA had successfully abused that lengthy layover time. "Sorry", she said. She scanned available opportunities to expedite our travel to LA. and found a UA flight leaving at 820PM arriving in Burbank. We were told that if all went well we should be able to arrive at LAX, after a cab ride from Burbank, at approximately 1045 and we might make our AOM flight. We said "book it". We arrived in Burbank to find that our luggage did not arrive with us! We then took a cab, drove across town at 80 MPH, arriving LAX at 1035. I immediately went to the AOM desk in the international terminal and my bride went to UA baggage claim. I watched our flight for Tahiti depart. I went to UA baggage claim only to find my bride waiting for our luggage from our originally scheduled flight. It took 1 hr. for the luggage to be deplaned! On we went to LAX UA Customer Service. We were told, "UA never promises to get passengers to any destination on time...didn't we read the fine print on the back of our tickets? Sorry." I asked, "who is responsible?" The representatives exclaimed, "not UA". We find out from them that the next flight on any airline to Tahiti isn't for two days! I state that because of UA we are missing two days of prepaid lodging and meals on the island of Rangiroa, and that it is our honeymoon! We are told, "Sorry, it's not our responsibility. We will put you up in a hotel for one night as a demonstration of good faith. The next night will be at a reduced rate. And as a matter of fact, we don't even have to do anything for you." I am incredulous! It is further stated that, "we don't even have to put you up in a hotel, but because we feel bad, we will." Well, this rather long story details our recent experience with your company. What I have presented has been done without embellishment and recollects as best as possible the unbiased scenario. As we returned to the States, I noticed a pin on one of your employees and it said, "We go the extra mile." An addendum should be added stating: "at a snail's pace!" Do you know that the only show of good faith by your company was one nights lodging, one additional reduced rate night and meal vouchers totaling $60/person. Our loss in terms of dollars is minimally 10X what we received in return from your company as compensation, and even with monetary parity does not address the emotional cost and/or loss. In my business, which involves making "test tube babies", we can't make mistakes. We can't simply shrug our shoulders and say, "sorry". Imagine the wrong embryos in the wrong patient..."sorry"! I am a firm believer in the concept and philosophy of total quality management and continuous quality improvement, concepts put forth by Mr. Deming and others. I am curious, where is the "customer service" and where is the "quality" in your organization? Who ultimately assumes responsibility? Do you? Because clearly none of the UA employees we encountered do. Sir, the ball is in your court. I anticipate a prompt response. With regards, --- Note added in proof: My father chose to fly UA from Chicago to Omaha return for our wedding (dep Chi. 12/20, dep Oma. 12/22). On both legs his flights were delayed. Total delay time for my 82 year old father 3.5 hrs! Passenger's follow-up letter Thu, 30 Jan 1997 08:40:40 CST I received a reply from UAL. They apologized, gave me two $150 coupons, and indicated that they do stipulate that their flights and schedules are subject to change. I am still compelled to send a copy of the letter I wrote to the CEO to the Tribune. In reply to a reader's comment: Thu, 06 Feb 1997 07:51:21 CST Given that I arrived at the AOM desk at 1040 and the flight departed at 1100 it is questionable whether we could have been processed quickly enough to reach the plane on time. Unlike UAL, AOM was quite punctual. He/she does have a point yet with the luggage who would have ensured processing of it to eventually find us on a remote island near Tahiti? UAL? The amount of phone call, cost of them, cost of clothes etc. time to purhcase those clothes, more hassle than LAX. Further, what if the luggage never made it? I would agree with he/she if it were a national flight, but not international! No apologies from United Passenger's initial letter Mon, 18 Nov 1996 22:22:09 -0500 I am trying to figure out how United can be so callous to people. My experience was as follows; I received a call two weeks before our departure date and told our flight that we had planned and booked over two months ago was cancelled. They offered us the option of leaving 4 hours earlier the same day, which was impossible due to our work schedules, or to leave at 6:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving day, two days after our originally planned flight. NEVER once was the word "sorry" or "what can we do to help" ever uttered. I am in total shock that these people can destroy plans that were made over two months ago, and to be executed during a holiday time that they felt it was no big deal. Follow-up letter Tue, 18 Mar 1997 19:18:01 +0000 After re-booking another flight to visit relatives in the off season, after our problems with United during the previous try, I have to drive over 1 hour to fix a screw up that is the sole cause of this poor excuse for an airline. Upon receiving my tickets today I discovered that they "forgot" to apply my 200.00 discount coupons to the fare. Now i have to go to one of their authorized ticket agencies so they can re-issue our tickets. After staying on the phone with "Carlos" for 45 minutes he tells me "Have a good one sir". What a F/U'ed way to run any business let alone one that should be concerned with customer loyalty. Good grief, they just keep getting worse......Thanks for providing an outlet for these frustrating experiences.... Don't expect United to read your letter Sun, 13 Oct 1996 09:41:43 -0400 While looking for flight information for United on the Web, I came across your web page. I have been treated the same insulting way. After a bad flight experience I took the time to write a letter to United. The reply I got was very similar; a bunch of general statements about delayed flights in a letter that was probably written long before they received my letter. My specific problem however was never mentioned. It gives me great pleasure to see people like you adressing this issue in this unique way.
	Last update Monday, August 16, 1999. Copyright © 1999 Jeremy Cooperstock. All Rights Reserved.