This site exists only because of the airline's outright hostility toward its passengers and many of its employees.
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October 28, 1998
This posting on rec.travel.air was recently brought to my
attention. Ms. Kimbell's comments strike me as somewhat naive. The
people in UAL's Customer Relations department may well "work hard every
day and on weekends" but because UAL management doesn't provide them
with sufficient training or empower them to solve problems proactively,
the results of their hard work often amount to more frustrated
passengers. My own experience with United, which eventually prompted
the creation of the www.untied.com website, is but a minor example of
this trend.
I have no doubt that many UAL employees are well intentioned and, as
Ms. Kimbell asserts, do care about their customers. However, the
unfortunate reality is that UAL management does not share this view.
Beyond playing the public relations game in the media and company
mailings, UAL management has repeatedly demonstrated a very uncaring
attitude toward the airline's passengers and employees alike.
For example, see Denise
Harvill's (United's Director of Customer Relations) reply to a
letter concerning a UAL chief flight attendant who was abusive toward a
passenger traveling with a child suffering from cerebral palsy. Ms.
Harvill claims that "this incident is not representative of the service
[UAL does] offer" but a quick glance through some of the other
misfortunate passenger experiences reveals that this is far from the
truth. I have challenged UAL to make public the results of their
"investigation" and inform the public what action was taken against the
abusive purser. So far, no reply.
Also read some of the
employee comments my site has received and judge for yourself
whether management "cares." If any readers have the impression that
only UAL's passengers have reason to complain, consider the number of
employee lawsuits against the airline.
On several occasions, I have invited UAL to make public all of the
correspondence its customer relations department receives and sends in
reply. This way, the public can verify whether UAL embodies, as its
advertising slogans previously claimed, "the friendly skies." To date,
UAL has refused to establish such a forum.
Mr. Farmer's impression that "nobody at UA reads or cares about
passenger letters" may not be entirely accurate. But he is correct
about the
form response such letters are likely to receive in reply.
Ms. Kimbell is (almost) correct in that Untied.com can't solve your
problem itself. In a small number of cases, posting a story of an
egregious UAL mistake on my website has caught the attention of an
employee who rectified the situation. According to many UAL employees,
the site has also caught the attention of upper management far more
effectively than all the complaint letters they receive. As for
whether or not the site does anything for problem resolution, a good
many readers may ask the same of UAL's customer relations.
In its first year on-line, Untied.com published a handful of the most
interesting letters received each week. While it wasn't the most
direct route, those passengers who expressed their dissatisfaction with
the airline could at least be assured that someone at UAL was reading
them! Over the last 18 months, the site has collected approximately
2000 letters, which will soon be entered into a searchable database for
all readers to explore.
I must thank Ms. Kimbell for the excellent suggestion that passengers
should send their email to Denise Harvill, United's Director of
Customer Relations, or to Jim Goodwin, UAL President and Chief
Operating Officer. Through a
web form the Untied site now collects all of the information
suggested by Ms. Kimbell and forwards it directly by email to these
UAL officials. Once a few weeks have passed to give UAL an opportunity
to respond to these letters, I will be pleased to report the statistics
of their progress in resolving the complaints.
In the meantime, if you've sent the airline a documented complaint and
are expecting their "research [to] be thorough and the response more
than a form letter" don't hold your breath...
- Jeremy Cooperstock
Maintainer, Untied web site