Ed note: This is the letter that started it all. We spent several hours writing it and felt that at the very least, it deserved a serious reply. Evidently, UAL didn't think so.

June 13, 1996

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

Dear Sir:

We are writing you this letter to express our dissatisfaction and disappointment with the way your airline handled our recent trip from Toronto to Tokyo with a stop in Honolulu. While the unprofessional treatment we experienced from your agents cannot be undone, we believe that a large airline such as United, with the motto, "Come fly the friendly skies," should live up to its reputation.

By way of background, we are both frequent fliers with several airlines. In addition, one of us has been responsible for arranging group flights to academic conferences over the past two years. While we had the choice of several airlines for our most recent trip to Tokyo and Honolulu, we chose United in order to accrue air miles for our Air Canada plan, with which United is affiliated. Since we will be spending the coming year in Japan, we are planning at least two more such trips in the near future and will be arranging similar travel for family members and friends who are expected to visit us during this time.

Our troubles began at check-in at United's counter in Terminal 3 of the Toronto airport. After waiting in line for 45 minutes, there was an announcement made in Chinese concerning a flight delay. We did not understand the announcement until ten minutes later, when we reached the check-in desk. There, we were informed that our flight to San Francisco (United 1105) was delayed three hours. At this point, we were told to take an Air Canada flight in order to catch our connection to Tokyo (United 837). Although this flight was scheduled to depart from Terminal 2 in a mere 15 minutes, the United counter agent instructed us to wait for the shuttle bus to this terminal, but did nothing to inform the Air Canada agents that we were on our way. The shuttle bus arrived 10 minutes later and by the time we arrived at the Air Canada counter in Terminal 2, it was too late to board the flight. The situation seemed absurd. No announcement of our flight delay was made in English. Had one been made, we would certainly have come forward earlier to ask what special arrangements were necessary, and would have had no trouble reaching Terminal 2 in time for the Air Canada flight.

At the instruction of the Air Canada counter agent, we proceeded to the service desk, where we were told to return to Terminal 3 and speak with United. Somewhat wary of returning to the United counter, we asked if Air Canada could contact United by telephone to determine what we should do before making another unnecessary trip between terminals. While the Air Canada agent told us that she did not have the authorization to modify our ticket, she somehow managed to re-route us via an Air Canada flight that was departing shortly for Los Angeles. Ultimately, we arrived in Tokyo at the same time originally anticipated. As the action by this agent quickly solved a problem for which neither she nor Air Canada had any responsibility, we were quite thankful. Had United Airlines initially asked those passengers with connections that would be affected by the delayed San Francisco flight to come forward (as it turned out, we were two of four such cases), the problem could have been addressed immediately. Alternately, the United agent might have instructed us to take a taxi to Terminal 2 rather than wait for the shuttle bus, or informed the Air Canada gate attendants that we were on our way, or routed us on another connecting flight that we could feasibly have caught.

This incident, however, pales in comparison to our return trip from Honolulu to Toronto via San Francisco (United 130) and Chicago (United 1214). When we arrived at the check-in counter in Honolulu, an hour in advance of the scheduled departure, we were told to proceed to the gate for our boarding passes and wait for our names to be called. At the gate, the boarding passes handed to us were for seats 26H and 49H. We immediately complained, showing our reservation itinerary that clearly indicated our reserved seats as being 34A and 34B. Rather than correct the error, the gate agent told us that the plane was full and that we would have to negotiate with other passengers if we wanted to sit together.

After further protests, another agent brought us to the aircraft doorway and attempted to arrange adjacent seats for us. While he was doing so, I explained the situation to one of the flight attendants. She suggested that since there were plenty of vacant seats available in Connoisseur Class, including two adjacent pairs, we should be able to sit there. As the flight was already ten minutes past the scheduled departure time, it was unlikely that other passengers would be boarding to claim those seats. However, while we waited for the gate agent to return, a flurry of other passengers, including some late arrivals and others from the standby list, were given all of the remaining Connoisseur seats. Finally, the gate agent returned and indicated that he could not persuade the passenger in 49J to move. We were told, "There's nothing that I can do. If you want to get on this plane, you'll have to take the seats we gave you." The handwritten seat number on Ms. D'Souza's boarding pass indicates the rearrangement attempted by the gate agent, while our final seat placements ended up being 32H and 49H. Obviously, these two seats were not adjacent, as we had intended when making the reservation several weeks earlier.

Since we were rushed to take these seats, one of the flight attendants took our garment bag to hang it in the closet. However, rather than hanging the bag properly, she left it on the closet floor, and stood a baby stroller on top of it. This resulted in a large crease mark to a wool dress suit that has not faded. Unfortunately, we did not observe the manner in which the garment bag was placed in the closet until leaving the plane and thus, were unable to prevent the damage.

As you might imagine, the flight was rather unpleasant for us. We must, however, commend one of the flight attendants who made several efforts to improve the situation by offering us complementary headsets and champagne. While the gesture was appreciated, we had little interest in watching the movie or drinking.

The stress of this incident prevented either of us from sleeping on both the flight from Honolulu, as well as its continuation to Chicago. At the O'Hare airport, we arrived at the gate well in advance of our next flight, and so decided to request exit row seats, in the hopes that the extra leg room would make the remainder of the journey a little more pleasant. The gate agent gave us our revised boarding passes for seats 23F and 23G, saying, "Here you go. These are exit rows." When we boarded the aircraft, we found that these seats were actually behind the exit row and we were unable to switch to our initially reserved seats (12A and 12B, which would have been far more comfortable). The exit rows had been given to other passengers. Copies of our travel itinerary and boarding passes from all flights are enclosed for your reference.

When we arrived at the Toronto airport, it was with tremendous relief that the ordeal was finally over. Instead of ending our long-planned trip on a positive note, we were agitated and upset. We had spent a good deal of money, reserved our seats well in advance, only to find that our seats had been given to other people. We arrived at the check-in desk an hour before the flight, yet were forced to sit separately in discomfort, while late arrivals were upgraded to the Connoisseur seats. Adding insult to injury, our garment bag had been carelessly left on the closet floor while a heavy stroller was placed on top, thereby causing damage to our clothing.

We are well familiar with the occasional flight delay, lack of meal selection, and temporary misplacement of checked luggage that plagues the entire airline industry. However, the problems we faced on this trip went well beyond minor inconvenience and hence, we felt that these incidents should be brought to your attention.

We await your reply.

Sincerely,

Jeremy R. Cooperstock and Vinita N. D'Souza

Cc: Director of Customer Relations, United Airlines
Director of Customer Relations, Air Canada
Jackie Friedman, The Traveltrade International Ltd.