Also, passengers beware too, because if you get stranded by United they will not be there to help you. It is not the employee that is against you it is what the company will do to them if they are not against you. Employees are being forced to be evil and mean and uncaring to passengers because the company will punish them if they don't do what they want. It is a double edged sword. They tell us that the passenger is the most important part of our business but if you have a problem or are in trouble they don't want us to do anything for you. If you are not a 1k or better, they really don't want to deal with you and sometimes then you get screwed. United is now threatening bankruptcy and the only real reason that they would need to file is because of poor management decisions and ones that upper management made and they want to blame labor costs for it. They only want or will file bankruptcy to break the unions and then the skies will really be unfriendly.

Thu Aug 08, 2002

I was laid off from United airlines in Los Angeles after the events of September 11th. All I can say is..Thank God! Leaving there was the best thing that ever happened to me - I am currently in a job where I am respected and well paid - A far cry for how non union, non management employees are treated at United - Let me tell you my story...

I began my employment in 1999 in "Stores" as an Administrative Assistant. I was so excited to be working for UAL, I took great pride in my work, a lot more pride than management did. Neither the manager or the supervisor ever bothered to come into the office - instead, they were constantly filing false "paycerts" and getting paid bonuses and 40 hour weeks.

Well, being the only one there most of the time, I began to assume more and more responsibility. I was handling all of the Supervisors duties and a lot of the managers. Needless to say, they did not like it that I handled their job better than they did and were constantly putting me down and making things up to make me look bad -- everything from what I wore to how I walked. All BS.

Well, after some time, it was "suggested" that the manager leave LAX and was given a supervior position in HNL. That's when the fun started.... A supervisor from CS came over. She had lied on her application and stated that she had completed college while her ex husband states that she NEVER even attended college! This woman was such an emotional wreck that her only satisfaction was causing hurt and embarrassment to her underlings, all the way down the line! That was her goal - to see how many people she could screw with.

After hearing way too many lies from her and the supervisor, I contacted people services as well as her Manager in SFO. Talk about dragging their feet! I had things on this woman that would have got ME fired, from false statements with IAM issues to knowingly allowing another employee to submit FALSE expense reports. She didn't care. She and all her "pals" were Hawaiian and could get away with anything! Lucky for me, I was laid off - the best thing that ever happened. Of course, once I left, the "investigation" was dropped. What a surprise... the management cloak prevails again.

Ed: As mentioned on various pages, we pride ourselves in including any responses from UAL in dispute of material posted on this site. As such, we include the following note, received on September 10:

This is in response to a letter you received from the Administrative Assistant who was laid off by the CS Supervisor who came over as the new Manager of stores at LAX. I'm a ramp employee and while I would never take time to defend management, I have to say that this girl is misinformed. Her Manager is a college educated woman, a single mom, and never lied on her application to get the job. How do I know? I helped the Manager apply for jobs by helping her proof read her applications. The Manager is the best thing that has ever happened to stores at LAX. She is one of the good few. I will not discuss the relationship between the ex husband and the Admin Asst., as private lives should remain private. I know you print letters and there are always two sides to a story. This story is reliable. Hers was true to an extent in that she was laid off. The rest is out of pure resentment. She is not the only one who got laid off. I did too. We all have sad stories to tell. Thank you for letting me respond.

Mar. 28, 2002 01:52 PM

Ever wonder why most customers complain about the bad customer service they receive when they call reservations? Well, I'm here to tell you all about it and what they tried to do to me recently.

Just to give you a little back ground on how the rate our employee's call volumes there were two systems. One was efficiency. When an employee starts their day, they start with a 100% and then the number goes down based on how long he takes between calls. The system was fair and the numbers were not in question. Then we have our new system which is productivity. In this system, all employees start at 0% and have to work their way to 100% however if there are no calls coming in and you are available to take a call, you're still at 0%. Sounds like a problem, doesn't it. Well here is where it gets worse. Whenever the passengers call up reservations, the longer you take on the call, the worse your numbers become. Strange, you're helping a passenger and yet your numbers get worse. So naturally, reservation employees rush through their calls and try to get to the next call and in turn leaving out vital information that the customers want or need to know. To make matters worse, management expects employees to achieve 95% productivity. Then after a few months they raised the standard to 100%. Now heres where the major problem comes in. If you did not meet this goal, then you were asked to come into the office and explain your actions. You get two written warnings and then you are put on a level. The thing that got most people was management would not and could not explain how an employee can achieve this rediculous standard. They would always dance around the issue and put the blame on the employees, even though they couldn't do it themselves. When they first came out with the system, they knew that the numbers would never add up from day to day because the call volumes were always different. Unless the call center was completely busy all the time, you'd never make your goal and would eventually be fired because of it. And to prove that the system was flawed, a select few employees each month were able to get rediculous numbers passed 100%. Now any system in which an employee can get more than 100% is completely flawed.

Well after a year with this current system, the employees started to get pretty pissed off. The mistrust got a lot worse and soon it was hostile. Every day, employees are constantly harrassed and told to achieve numbers that management will not show them how to achieve. They even refused to let employees see what the formula of the system was. Naturally the employees vent their frustrations out on passengers.

After awhile, I figured it was time for some much needed vacations. Last year I went to Miami with a huge group of friends. I tell you it was the time of my life. On my trip back, I got $600 denied boarding compensation. I was pretty excited considering I was an employee. So then I figured I had 4 more trips in me confirmed. Well I went to Las Vegas and I got a free ticket voucher. I figured I was the luckiest guy alive. So then I decide hell with flying standby, I was gonna fly confirmed all the time and see if I would get treated any differently. After all, I was creating revenue for the company. Around that same time, I decided to book a trip to the olympics. A final hurrah because I was leaving the company for a better life. After coming back, I got hauled into the office. My good friend and I were accused of ticket fraud. I couldn't believe it. They basically blamed me for not paying a $100 fee for changing my ticket when one of the customer service agents at the ticket counter waived the fee and let me board the plane. I was outraged at the accusations. At one point, the investigator admitted that he had no way to prove what happened at the ticket counter. Well I had another trip planned for Phoenix a few days later and they question that ticket saying that the fare was $80 - $100 higher when I priced the fare on that same day and it was only $20 higher. So they decided to take me out of service for lost revenue. At this point, I was looking for legal representation, however I cannot afford it. I had to cancel my trip with my girlfriend and stay home. After three weeks, they sent me a letter saying that they had more questions to ask. At this point I was starting my new job within a two weeks and I figure enough was enough and I left the company on my own.

Now here are a few key things about this investigation. First, they had no evidence when they made their accusations. The investigator couldn't even read the record correctly and he involved union employees who were not involved in the investigation. Second, I made a phone call to my friend who they all took out of service and asked him to check flights. However, a non union employee, working in the operations center, lied and said I was checking on trades. So naturally he goes and tells management this and lies in an investigation. Third, they knew I had a better job and it seemed like they were a little jealous that I would be making a few thousand more starting than their own salary currently. Finally, when we closed out Los Angelas office recently, a lot of their employees came to Seattle to work. They offered 13 employees a leave of absence. However, since they were still on the payroll, they had to get rid of 13 people. My friend and I were the first two to go. From what my inside sources tell me, they are still aggressively trying. My story is just one of the many that are occuring to this day in Seattle reservations. Just as a side note, one employee, a good friend of mine was harrassed by a management person who happens to be racist and was caught on the record making racist remarks. Sadly, our big boss, ignored the comments and acted like it wasn't a big deal.

Mar. 17, 2002 10:49 AM

I am a United employee, and I have heard many of my fellow employees express concern over the fact that nepotism is quite big at United...While some major companies such as Delta have a rule, barring family relations and relatives working in management, United seems to promote it more than any major airline in the country...one only need pick up a copy of United's UNITEL phone book and see how the same last names pop up in different management positions (and no, we are NOT just talking about common last names such as Jones or Smith, which would lead one to wrongly assume at times that there is a relation).

Officially, United's policy is that as long as one family member or relative is not supervising the other, it is OK...but even this rule has been violated...case in point, the Labor Relations representative for the East Region was (and probably still is), the daughter of a woman employed at a major East Coast station (where she worked in the Training Department, an arm of management)...this technically makes her her mother's supervisor, and could potentially favor not just her mother, but her mother's friends...remember, Labor Relations is a division of People Services which handles competitive bid transfers.

Also I saw the name of a management person who was formerly a manager at a West Coast reservation office, and who is now in Chicago, come up in one of the employee complaints...just to let you know, this person is related to a former United CEO (son-in-law). United refuses to address this issue...you will find family members in various high level management positions (even though it may not necessarily be in the same city or station always), and it is no longer a joke, but a fact, that it is mainly "who you know" at United to move to the top...

Also, United's claim that it promotes diversity is such a silly joke...diversity only happens at lower level managment positions at United, and usually, minorities, whether African American, Hispanic or other, do not make it any higher than station manager, (Dutta was a fluke, and a rare exception...and it was a shock to everyone)...most of United's elite of VP's and almost always the CEO, are of White Anglo Saxon stock...I invite all United employees to speak out against nepotism at United. Make it an issue. And keep your eyes and ears wide open!

Mar. 16, 2002 18:32:07 PST

Ed: This letter is a follow-up to one originally received in January 2000. Untied.com is advising the former employee to seek legal representation and take UAL to court for discrimination and wrongful termination.

What United Airlines did to me:

I started to work for United in August of 1999. 252544

1) My first run-in with UAL as an employee

My first run-in with UAL was, when I had a situation with a passenger, which I could not resolve. The passenger became really upset and upon a UAL manager by the name of Lewis Towns finding out, he made me state that: "yes, I am a horrible person… I tried to get revenge on the passenger." I was intimidated and humiliated to the point, where I understood that the only way for me to get out of this trouble, was to let him hear what he wanted to hear.

The UAL manager in charge made it clear that he wanted to fire me on the spot, but, that due to the fact that I never had any other incidents, that he couldn't do it then.

I already felt really horrible and it took me a few weeks to recover my self esteem. Besides, some coworkers knew what had happened and we used to joke about it in order for me to cope with the treatment that I got.

2) The Incident that UAL used to fire me

On the eve of January 11, 2000, I walked up to CSR Jeff, because I wanted to ask him about taking a trip to the mall of the Americas together with me and the others. Everybody always used to fly there and I wanted to know when they had planned to go there next. As I approached Jeff, I saw that he was talking to this new CSR, Ilia. I knew that Jeff was flirting with Ilia, because he told me that he liked to hit on Hispanic girls.

When I reached Jeff's position I said: "Hey Jeff, you are flirting with the new girls again?" While we were all laughing, I said something like: "Why do you keep hitting on girls that you know you can't have."

The reason why I allowed myself to talk to Jeff like that was because, during my first week at UAL, I approached Jeff and CSR Tracy, to ask them airline related questions. Tracy then made an unwarranted reference to the fact that I was her type of man and that I was very beautiful, to which Jeff then replied: "That sucks, every time I like a dark Hispanic girl, they like dark Hispanic guys too. I never get a chance with them." He then said something like: "Gilbert, go to hell."

In any event, while we three Ilia, Jeff and I were continuing to joke, he said. "You are just jealous that I am not flirting with you." and he made reference to the fact that I was gay in front of that new Ilia.

I jokingly responded: "I like white men, but you are not my type." I said that just because I was a gay man didn't mean that I like every man."

During the course of the conversation, I turned around and took the girls hand and said something like: "You know what? She is my girlfriend, now." We were all laughing and this whole incident happened so fast that I never thought about this moment, until I was called into the office. It was just a silly moment during which there was no customer activity at the lobby. I finally walked away because a passenger arrived. I never got to ask him about the trip to MSP.

After talking to someone else, I returned to Jeff and we started talking about another subject. Again we were laughing and joking. (Notice that in Ms. Ramirez's statement she mentions that.)

Somehow, a supervisor overheard our conversation. According to what Jeff told me during a telephone conversation, the team leader called Jeff but he refused to cooperate and make a big deal out of it. The next day this information was passed on to the operating manager, Lewis Towns, who was waiting for a chance to find something to fire me for. This manager was looking for anything that could be used as a reason, because he could not fire me for the incident that I had with a passenger before. Now that the manager had something else in his hands, he started an investigation. From what Jeff told me supposedly the manager went first to the girl involved and asked her for anything and everything that I said. Then the manager turned to Jeff and Jeff could not deny anything anymore. One of the company-rules is that during an "investigation" an employee is obligated to provide any information that management wants to have; otherwise the employee faces termination for violating this rule.

I was called late on the evening into Lewis Towns Office where Beth Turner, my newly assigned supervisor was the only other person besides the manager. There was no union representative which could only mean two things. Either this was not such a big issue or they are acting in unfaithful manner. They handed me the reports and from Ilia Ramirez and Jeff Groe. I then became overwhelmingly nervous and read really fast through the reports. I told them that I was too nervous and that I could not read in detail everything that the reports contained. I told them that I was confused. I felt guilty for being in the office and having to explain myself. I told them that the incident took place.

Management then asked me to write whether the statements were true or not. I again told them that I was too nervous to understand the whole situation and that I would not be in the right state of mind to write a statement. The Managers then intimidated me into writing something.

I believe that this was the same tactics that they used to intimidate the others into writing something that they felt was good enough to have against me.

Again, I reiterate that there was no union representation here this time. On the one occasion that I had with Mr. Towns there was a union representative, supposedly as a courtesy.

There is more information to this story about the way UA Management handled this case. Management deceived, and lied to me and to the others in order to carry out this termination without anybody being able to prevent it. It was handled very smartly.

However.....

The manager, Lewis Towns, said that I violated the company rule by engaging in jokes with other employees. I have still all the handouts about UAL Code of conduct and employee rules. There is no such rule.

No-one, who knows this Jeff, can understand that I got fired over a joke with him. I didn't even violate any of the harassment rules because my joke had nothing to do with sex. I argued this with management and they told me that I was wrong, that there is a rule that says that you cannot engage in non-business conversations while at United. Again, that is not what I have in any of the handouts that I received from United Airlines. There is absolutely no mention about any company rule, which prohibits the type of conversation that I had with the parties involved.

Besides that, it is not a reality that no one ever jokes at United Customer Service. In the short time that I worked at United Airlines Chicago Lobby I saw incidents where groups of employees and Service Directors would laugh so loud and joke so indiscreetly that the entire lobby had to turn their faces around to the back counter Position 82 and 83 wondering about what was going on.

Also, in the aftermath, Jeff was heavily reprimanded for his constant joking but, since he cooperated and helped the manager find something damaging against me, he was given another chance. It was very hard for me to accept this termination on the grounds that this manager and his supporters invented.

When I finally got a chance to talk to Jeff, he told me that he never intended to get me fired or not even to complain. He said that he told the manager to please not dismiss me because of that. Jeff also told me that management made him believe that it was not a big deal and that nothing would happen. Funny enough, that is exactly what management told me when I was questioned. I offered many times to apologize to the girl and to Jeff. The manager told me not to worry and not to do that, because QUOTE "otherwise, management would have to get involved in this issue." With this statement the manager tried to conceal what his real intentions were. Jeff did mention to me that when he first asked the manager why he was doing this, he was told QUOTE "We are trying to build a case against Gilbert."

Jeff told me that he regrets having mentioned it to someone who then forwarded this to the manager.

The operating manager who ordered my termination is Lewis Towns.

UAL fired me for Joking??????

I don't believe that a manager is allowed to make up a rule and prohibit activities that are not listed under the rules mentioned in the book of code of conduct.

The only person who I joked with was Jeff and management knew that, because I told them that. Jeff also knew that if I had any customer issues again that I would be out of the job. Jeff knew everything about me and he also knew about every incident I had at United. It all seems so more strange, that especially Jeff would complain and say something against me. I truly believe that there is more behind this as I have evidence of other wrong-doing. Jeff was once before told to write something against me. I have the report and Jeff also told me that he felt bad for doing it. Jeff told me that he would never write anything damaging against me again.

I feel that I was singled out. Jeff was in his probation. He also had an incident with a passenger before. Jeff was known for being a Joke. Everybody, who I told that I was fired because Jeff complained against me, couldn't understand it. I can hardly understand why I was treated so differently having been in the same status as Jeff. I believe that they offered Jeff a deal where they would give him another chance as long as he would cooperate with them to provide info against me.

3) The last horror thing UAL did to me

After loosing my job, I attempted to make contact with some friends at UAL, in order to obtain a buddy-pass. I also tried to find Jeff, in order to find out what the whole story was. UAL management made warned everyone not to talk to me. Another UAL manager warned and intimidated me to the point where I was afraid to go to the airport. I had friends that worked at the Laptop Lane in O'Hare. They would let me use their computers in order to find a job. I had to go to the airport because I had no phone and no internet access at home anymore. UAL threatened me intensely with police and restraining orders. I remember that one time this UAL CSR good friend of mine hugged me at the airport. She was almost fired for it.

I got a job interview in Miami. I started preparing to move back to Miami, where I was originally from. As if I didn't have enough problems, my roommate then tried to call the police in order to get me out of the apartment. I spoke with the police at my house and they totally backed me and found out how unreasonable my roommate was treating me. Well, the police put him in his place. He left pissed off and threatened me in regards to my belongings. This happened the day that I had planned to fly with the first buddy pass to Miami. Originally, I had planed three trips to Miami, in order to get my stuff relocated.

While at the airport for my first trip, I found out that my roommate had planed something against my belongings. After I checked three suitcases in, I had to abruptly return to the apartment. So with the help of another UAL employee and his pick up truck, I got another shipload of stuff, which I was going to give to the UAL friend to store. While packing I ran out of time. I got late to the airport for my 12 pm flight. I then asked the counter agent, whether I could just check in the other load. She the said "yes" and I proceeded to check in the second half. After a half hour of waiting, I found out that the flight was overbooked. I decided then to take a few drinks with my UAL friend at a bar and take the last flight in the evening. My friend from UAL got drunk and couldn't drive me back to the airport. So I waited till the morning and we checked in more luggage. I figured that it was not a problem as domestically it does not matter if the passenger goes or not; the luggage always goes. Again the morning flight was full and we waited till the afternoon, my friend again got drunk and this time I, took the bus to the airport. I had no more luggages to check in and I was dressed with light clothes.

When I got to the airport, some agents that knew me suddenly approached me and said that "THEY" are looking for me. I was surprised and hoped even that it might be something good. I then ran into Lewis Towns, he said: "What did you do?"

I was baffled when he questioned me about checking in and not flying. He seemed in a hurry and just told me to go to my gate and that someone will talk to me. He made it again look like it was not a big deal. At the gate I started noticing un-usual movements. I thought for a moment that I saw one of the managers watching me and hiding from me while talking to a radio. I didn't think much of it as the line was huge due to a problem with the prior flight. They apparently cancelled the earlier flight due to mechanical and used a DC10 instead of a 777 to accommodate all the passengers.

When I reached the podium, the agent took my ticked and called for the manager with the radio. I then was approached by him and two O'Hare Police officers. I expected to be taken to a room, but no; UAL decided to humiliate me right in front of the passengers and make a scene. The two police officers yelled at me and told me to get the hell out of the airport without saying a word. I screamed at in front of everyone; that if I opened my mouth at all that I would be arrested. With my heart, almost exploding out of fear and the UAL manager only saying that they would contact me in Miami, walked out of the UAL area.

I broke down at the AA terminal; I had no more that $400.00 Dollars; no place to stay and I was wearing tropical clothes. My buddy pass was confiscated and a new AA ticket cost $800.00 Dollars. I was in shock. I didn't know what to do. I was trembling. I was upset. My friends home phone number I lost in the bus. I was stuck.

For a moment, I didn't care what was going to happen to me; so I walked back to the UAL terminal. I ran into the same UAL security officer (Mr. Hetherington). He warned me that I was going to be arrested. But I guess he saw how desperate I was, and talked to me. He explained to me that I shouldn't have checked in the bags, because what that was considered illegal. He then listened to my reasons and said he believed me. However, he explained to me that here was nothing that he could do to help me. He did though help me regain my composure and to think about ways to get back to Miami. I must say that he, despite of his position, was friendly to me.

I found an old phone number of a friend in my handbag. This was a guy who, I met at a bar many years ago during a flight attendant interview trip to Chicago. At that time he worked for AA as a flight attendant out of ORD. He currently was living in DFW, though. I was really, really lucky to get him at his house in Dallas. I explained the whole story of what happened to me. I guess that knowing my character from a few years ago, he trusted me, believed my story and decided to help me. The earliest though that he could get me a buddy pass was a two days. I begged him to think of any old friends that he might have in ORD. He did remember a friend that worked at the counter and arranged for me to purchase a buddy pass from this guy the next morning.

Also, to my surprise one of the guys that worked at the Laptop Lane, passed by the Goodwill office at the AA terminal and saw me in my struggles. Well, he became another Good Samaritan and offered to let me stay in his apartment for the night.

I am utterly great-full for the help that I got after those monsters at UAL did what they did to me.

On top of everything, UAL confiscated my luggage (all of it) for weeks. They demanded $400.00 Dollars for it to be released.

UAL is very vindictive. I had hoped that they would spare me some dignity. No. UAL is money hungry. The people that work there, as management, have no heart. You would think that a company like that would spare a terminated employee from any financial heart-aches. I was desperately trying to save every penny I had. UAL showed again and again how horrible they can be. I saw this many times during my employment, how they loved to get any money out of poor people who where trying to relocate.

After what UAL did to me, I thought that it was too much of a bitter experience for me to ever apply for an airline. I was still traumatized of everything that they did to me. I got scared of airlines. I try to understand what I did in order for the folks at United to treat me like a terrorist or so. I will never ever forget this experience. It also has changed the way I behave with coworkers, now-a-days. I am not the same friendly, outgoing person anymore. I think I have become now way too careful with what I do and say at work. When I see other doing what I did, I usually think: "I guess you haven't had the UAL experience yet."

I am also not surprised that UAL is loosing money like crazy. I know how they treat people that are not Premier Executives and 1K.

4) One year later

In August 2000, one year after this whole ordeal, I called Jeffrey Groe in Chicago, in order to find out in more detail about what happened.

During the conversation, I learned of facts that I had never even thought of during the course of the investigation, nor in the aftermath. However, on one very short occasion in which I had seen Jeff at the airport and attempted to apologize to him for making him feel the way it was portrayed to me by management, to my surprise Jeff was utterly afraid of being seen with me, while at the same time telling me that someone overheard us, that he did not want to write the report and that he was basically forced to do so. I believed him immediately and decided to leave him so that he would not get in trouble.

Although I attempted to find out more at the time about the Truth of this entire deal, I ran into lots of obstacles, those being threats made by management. At the time it seemed that I was immediately branded a danger to everybody. Managers who had not even known me during my employment became aware of my presence. It was impossible to get in touch with people who knew about what had happened to me and wanted answers as well as me. I believe that Management at this stage had the task of breaking every link from each side. A terminated employee is a terminated employee.

In the conversation that I held in August 2000, after almost one year of silence, and coinciding with what would have been my one-year anniversary, Jeff told me who it was who overheard our conversation and what happened next. According to Jeff, Service Director Robin Gackee stood close by and overheard almost everything that was said during the course of our joke conversation. Immediately, after me proceeding to my break, she approached Jeff and told Jeff: "I heard everything that was said." To which Jeff said in a joking manner "yeah, he is an idiot." She then told him that she wanted him to write a report about it, to which he declined, while insisting that it was only in jest.

Jeff told me that it wasn't until a day later that management called him into the office and while they already had the statement from the other party involved they pressured him into writing his report. Please, remember that refusing to provide information during an investigation is reason for termination at UAL. I remember this clause as well as each of the others that are in the employee business code of conduct that were handed out to new hires. I guess that management did a very thorough investigation, because on the report belonging to Jeff, he stated incidents where jokes, which were made in the past, to my knowledge, had nothing to do with the current investigation but were rather statements that were to depict me as a bad person. I also cried to Jeff about those and I told Jeff that in any event he did have a choice as to whether cooperate with these damaging statements or not. He apologized and agreed, and also said that he didn't know why he didn't make that choice.

Unless Jeff is a liar, I believe him as he sounded very sorry and remorseful. I was crying and in deep shock over the things that he told me. I must admit that I am still distrustful about him, as this had been the second report that Jeff had written against me. Jeff was also involved in my first and only incident with a passenger at UAL. After the first report he told me that he would never write something against me again. We both knew that if either one of us had any incidents with passengers again that we would be gone from United. He knew that I was walking on thin ice. Although Jeff and I were not best friends we were good acquaintances and went out a few times. I shall also reiterate that Jeff always joked not only with me, but with everybody. Again, no-one could believe that I got fired over Jeff feeling offended about joking with me. I am not trying to denounce him, but his reputation was as such. Jeff told me that as part of the agreement that he would be spared that he better not continue with his humorous behavior.

Jeff told me that Robin Gackee "hated my guts." I told Jeff that I never would have suspected, because I admired Robin and liked her very much. Thinking back though at the way she and I interacted, I now change my standing on this correlation. I suppose that I was too blind out of admiration to see how much she disliked me. Jeff assured me and gave examples about how she "hated my guts." Then I remembered two occasions where I could considers these as examples of her dislike.

One day, I had a discrepancy with a passenger for which I called for lobby support. In this situation two passengers had missed a connecting flight to the Great Lakes Area. I offered them a flight, which would leave in the morning at 9.40AM or so. The customers wanted to be placed on an American Eagle flight, scheduled for departure at 8.00AM. I explained to the customers that due to the fact that they had award tickets that I was not empowered to send them to AA, as American Airlines would not accept the tickets because there is no monetary value on them. (Be advised that during training we were told that Passengers holding award-tickets may only be accommodated on United. FIM's based on Award Tickets are a NO-GO.) Having made them understand this policy we were now at the issue of hotels. Obviously and as expected the party demanded hotel accommodation. The passengers were Premier, not even Premiere Executive and as with policy they were not entitled to Hotels, as the misconnection was the result of weather delays. Because of the Hotel issue, I could not convince them and requested support. Robin Gackee took over my position and not only did she write them a FIM to AA, but also gave them a $125.00 Dollars Travel Voucher each. I was humiliated and for days could not understand her reasons behind her actions. Again I admired and trusted her. I believed that she was always correct. I thought that she was awesome and probably one of the few that really had indebt knowledge.

On the second occasion, during a briefing, we all were asked to draw a pig on a sheet. As it turned out I drew mine at the bottom of the sheet, which according to her then aloud in front of everybody meant that I am a "negative pig who is a very negative person." I certainly felt embarrassed at that point, yet I let it slide while thinking that she only meant it out of humor.

Jeff told me that I must have really pissed her off for her to be the way she was with me.

I am submitting this new statement in the hopes that someone at United will find the correct way, and find out in a very careful manner what really happened. I believed that the policy about revenge on employees is not allowed at United. This is certainly in contrast to what happened to me. In spite of everything that I have said in good faith before, I did not understand the game that was being played with me. I know that I have made statements before which could make it seem that, indeed I did something wrong, but please remember that intimidation and confusion was a big factor in the way this "Investigation" was handled.

All it takes is to find out, who first brought this incident to the attention of management? Why did it take more than 24 hours in order to confront me with this issue? The reports were written one day after the incident, which leads me to believe about Jeff's hesitation to cooperate. As to my allegations of the two examples in regards to Mss. Gackee, it is possible to retrieve an activity log of everything that I did during my short employment and you should be able to find the passengers I mentioned before. Besides that, I told some of my coworkers about my confusion about her actions, therefore those witnesses can be located, too. There are also witnesses to the second incident. I don't know if I can count on Jeff, if he is ever questioned about this.

United strives for a retaliation free environment. It is painful to see that this is exactly what was done to me.

In my UG it says that the cause of my termination was VIOLATION OF COMPANY RULES. I have every hand out that was given to me and nowhere in the handout has it stated that SPECIFICALLY what I did was a violation of company policy.

Feb. 4, 2002 02:46 AM

I came across your site and thought I'd drop you a note. In 1996, at the age of 15, I became a 'Premier' on United, flying over 25,000 miles a year, mostly to visit family in Florida. I remained loyal to United for years, choosing them for all my travel, both domestically and internationally.

In May 2001, I became a CSR based at ORD. After a month of training, I went upstairs to the lobby to begin work at the ticket counters, and finally I realized what all those United customers were complaining about. I got repremaned numerous times for 'overextending' United's rebooking policy; basically, if a United flight was late departing, causing a passenger to miss a connection, I would book them in a seat to their final destination instead of listing them as standby, which is required.

I rationalized my actions because I figured if someone paid hundreds of dollars for a ticket they should get more than a spot on a overbooked stand-by list. I constantly heard my fellow co-workers show no sympathy to stranded travellers and slowly began to realize that the company I worked for didn't care for either its customers or its employees. After barely two months of employment, I just stopped showing up to work; a pretty dumb thing to do with no other job lined up and a new apartment to pay for.

It turned out to be the best thing i ever did; shortly after I left, Sept. 11 happened, and United fired my entire training class, with no severence, because the 8-month 'probationary' period had not yet elapsed. I now go to college and wait tables, and the sad thing is, I make more money as a waiter in a cheap restaurnat then as a CSR for the world's largest airline.

Jan. 16, 2002 09:56 AM

I am about to become an unemployed Californian as a result of United Airlines decision to close all but one small reservation offices in southern California. They will be keeping about 84 positions available for about 1,000 employees. Although they already have the space available with no cost to the company in Long Beach, they plan to lease out the remaining space. United also has a reservation center located in Mexico City which is not closing and will possibly be expanding.

United Airlines claims to be pulling out of California due to the high cost of doing business in this area. Although I understand that side of it I am extremely upset that our government would allow a corporation to take United States bailout money and then layoff American employees before employees in Mexico who are doing the exact same job with less seniority. Understandably, it is more cost effective to do business in Mexico but I do not feel that should be an option for a company that is taking hundreds of millions of dollars from our government.

United Airlines is running an advertising campaign based on "United we Stand" with the American flag waiving and God bless America. The truth is that as one of the two largest airlines based in the United States of America they are robbing our government for their own personal gains with total disregard for the American people or the country's economy. While displacing thousands of Americans they are trying to use the devastating events of September 11 to their advantage with this campaign. As a taxpayer I am appalled and as an employee I am ashamed to be part of this organization.

I think that if we are going to bet on the trickle down economic idea that something should be done to keep that money from trickling across our borders.

I would appreciate anything you can think of to prevent our country from handing out any more of United States funds to huge corporations who will have the same options that the airline industry has been given to take those funds outside of our country while forcing more and more Americans into a state of poverty, and on to federal or state assistance as a result.

During these extremely difficult times I believe all Americans must stand united against terrorism, economic depression and apparently corporate America as well. Please stand united with us.

Jan. 8, 2002 07:32 PM

I came across your site after a mistype and am so glad to find a place to share my experience. I quit United Airlines after only three days of training.

After many years in education, I decided that a dream job for me would be working for United. I was very excited when I was called for interview and accepted for customer service. I had even learned the airport codes well in advance of the first day and since I speak three languages and have an advanced degree, I thought I would be an asset.

It became very clear to me in the orientation session that United is set up to be very unsupportive to its employees. The supervisors and trainers themselves had no training for their jobs and I guess were doing the best they could. But to an educator's eyes, the mistakes they made were very serious -- public gotcha games infront of the other trainees, failure to model the behavior they said they wanted, and tremendous emphasis on what would get us fired rather than on what would allow us to succeed. I couldn't see how customer service reps could treat the customers properly if they themselves aren't treated well and with respect. I chose not to keep on with this company.

I am sure the supervisors thought they had done everything right. After all they were only treating the employees the same way they were and are being treated. What a shame though, for there are many United employees who genuinely care and want to be helpful. I believe I would have made a valuable contribution to the company, but not once I looked into the darkness under the silver and blue.

I wish I had given the real reason for my quitting. I used a family crisis as the reason--true enough but not really why I left. I was given the right to be rehired, but I won't be using it.

Oct. 30, 2001 02:56 PM

As another example of UAL managements (that being said lightly) piss-poor, cock-eyed decision making this is what happened in one particular office during furloughs. United said they were going to furlough by job performance, experience and qualifications. So,what do they do? They furlough a 13+ year employee and keep a trainee. The furloughed employee asked why twice and the first time was told that part of the decision was based on who "United felt could best help rebuild the airline" (um, so 13yrs with the same company wouldn't qualify one for that?) and the second time was told that "someone had to go". That's United logic for you. The affected employee is fully aware that this was in effect a "hit" since there appeared to be no job performance issues. This had nothing to do with the furlough because it's obvious in this instance UAL violated its own furlough policy. This was a matter of getting rid of someone they didn't want for whatever arbitraty reason under the "furlough" umbrella. Hopefully the bastards involved from WHQ down will rot in hell. Thank you for this forum where UAL corporate stupidity at its best can be made public.

Oct. 30, 2001 01:20 AM

So now we have a new CEO at United, So what does that really mean, don't get me wrong as Mr Goodwin needed to leave, but is it really going to make a diffrence or are we going to see more of the same? Are we going to find someone who will try to make right of what Mr Goodwin made so wrong? Are we going to see more layoffs, I for one am not looking forward to the next few months, While United seems hell bent on pissing off our customers, We are having to bear the brunt of it in reservations. Daily we recieve calls from disgruntled passengers who are being treated as if they have had nothing to do with this airlines success, and want an explanation that we can't give! We give our most frequant travelers and most loyal customers elite status and then turn right around and treat them like someone who just flew with us their first time!.Don't you realize that if you keep up the rude and uncaring postion they WILL take their buisness elsewhere!!!! You need to realize that the way you treat you're customers is having a direct impact on everyone! Keep it up and we will all be looking for new jobs at other airlines, because one day you're going to wake up and find that as they say "you will attract more bees with honey than with vinager" Bring back the "do unto others" attitude before its too late for all of us.

Oct. 26, 2001 02:16 PM

Wow, what a site! I'm a thirteen year United Aircraft Maintenance Technician that is disgusted with the poor management abilities of our company. We're treated like mushrooms as maintenance professionals......always kept in the dark and feeding shit to us. About six months ago, I was pulled into to supervisors office as to why I took an Aircraft out of service? I was surprised about this confrontation with management regarding the safety of flight of an aircraft. After writing a letter explaining it to the schmoes and quoting mandated FAA requirements pertaining to the maintenance problems of that particular aircraft(I made a copy for myself)they backed off! Gotta hit em back hard at United....most of the supervisors of maintenance don't have a clue when it comes to maintenance!I told the supervisor if you press this any further I will go to the FAA. Well, that effectively shut him up.The incident isn't anywhere to be found!

Now, dissapointedly there telling us there is going to be more layoffs in addition to the 20,000 already booted out!(got it from the rumor mill) Hmmmmm, let me see,no money to pay our employees, but plenty to send overseas to France for Bizjets! To top it all off management has become extremely combative and confrontational after a national tragedy! Amazing...these assholes; absolutely no skill in management! Hello, Goodwin are you listening? Did anyone tell you that if take care of your main asset, employees, the customers will be taken care of in the same manner......with respect! What did you expect, the guy was a bean counter for 34 years!Back to the layoffs, we're hearing they want to cut all the way back to 1990 seniority! That my dear Untied friends is a massive layoff! Minimum 4000 maintenance professionals alone and a few thousand pilots! Now add in CSR's and everyone else, probably another 30,000....thats a total of 50,000 people....will we survive? I don't think so!

Oct. 25, 2001 07:05 AM

Basically what I have to say is simple. You have beat around the bush long enough, lets identify UAL's real problem.

Problem # 1 As a public company UAL is limited in what they can tell their employees, this causes management to actually share virtually NOTHING. This lack of comunication among the ranks will continue to cause safety concerns, poor treatment of employees, and bad customer service.

Problem # 2 Ual is afraid that the employees will lash out again UAL, therefore they do everything possible to hush the employees, for instance, After the attacks I was somehow selected to take ANP, I was then walked out of the door, and treated as if I got fired. Ual wanted to do everything they could do to stop employees from lashing out against their Politically Right Wing Bull Shit Poilicies.

Face it UAL problems will end will Goodwin is gone, and the board is realigned.

Oct. 23, 2001 08:50 PM

Recently the company is losing money and directing the employees to show no mercy with collecting fees and doing nothing to keep the frequent flyers happy. This was not always the case. Mr Goodwin put out a directive in the summer of 2000 saying be generous with the 1K's. I did this in the way of giving one way upgrades or $100 travel certs.

I was informed this week that I gave too much and a dollar figure was given to these soft money certs, money which I am now responsible to account for. I may need an attorney. I showed the manager just who was given these ammenities- 4 or 5 of our MILLION MILE FLYERS, passenger who would have long deserted UAL that summer if someone was not looking after them. Well I am angry and disappointed and find United to be without a conscience.....

Oct. 23, 2001 08:44 PM

Just recently the most prosperous U.S. airline, ual, offered over 11 Billion dollars for US Airways in an ALL CASH DEAL(4.7 cash and rest debt). After the tragic 9-11-01 incident ual has cried louder than every other Airline for Taxpayer money. What happened to all that cash?

UAL mechs and ground support employees have not had a raise in over 8 years! Badwin got a 48% percent raise this year alone! Where is the money?

It is painfully clear that ual is trying to take advantage of a tragic situation for their own benefit. Many business owners have suffered but will get no Taxpayer help. Layoffs have hit ual union employees hard and Management keeps making the big bucks. ual is 55%+ EMPLOYEE OWNED but run by a small minority of greedy mismanagers who are bent on using this event to further line their pockets at the expense of the employees and U.S. Taxpayers. Where is the shame?

Only front line ual Pilots. Flt attendants, Mechs, Agents, Ramp, etc, blue collar workers feel it.

-- the opinion of One truly Grounded Employee

Oct. 22, 2001 09:35 AM

This is about the "furloughs" that commence on Oct. 31st. I work in a West Virginia office and I hear repeatedly from passengers, "Are you in the West Virginia office? Oh Good!" When Sept 11th happened, we were told "Dont tell the public anything. Tell them to watch the news.", "No we dont have to worry about our jobs, we are fine," This is a temporary setback, we will bounce out of it the numbers are on the rebound," "I realize we are 75 in que, but we still need people to take ANP to make our numbers look better.

On Friday, Oct 19th I sat in a team meeting with others on my team and listened to my advisor tell us she had to go. I couldnt believe my ears. Out of all of the people in management they kept, they laid off the ONLY Person that had a team that had no furloughed members. I think that should be a testiminial at the VERY LEAST to her abilities as an advisor. When we had a coworker brutally murdered, our advisor was there for us to talk to. When my husband had a heart attack, my advisor spent time asking questions and giving me some very helpful information because she had been through it with her husband.

Now I found out they are bringing in advisors from another office with LESS experience, less common sense (and yes I know this for a fact because 1 of the advisors was in my graduating class)and less of an ability to motivate us. No one will ever be able to replace my advisor EVER! She has more class, more business savvy and more leadership ability in her little finger than anyone they have kept or will hire in the future (and I'm sure they will hire more)I hope when the final day comes to Mileage Plus (and I'm sure with business practices as they have shown this past week) they will be happy with themselves knowing they gave it their best shot, kept their buddies employed, and it was "really to bad" about the others because it wasnt beneficial to them.

I enjoy my job immensely and am very proud of having it and to be called a Mileage Plus employee, however I am rather "embarrassed" at the way people were chosen for furloughs. (Ahem,,, not laid off, they have to do more for ya then). There are people in my office that only end up working 19 hours a week, call in sick 3 days at a time work a half a day and take a half day vacation and get belows on their qcs, but still have their jobs. While others, mostly single Moms (and almost every pregnant woman) were told, sorry but it is necessary to furlough you. See ya! What a waste!

Oct. 22, 2001 07:34 AM

Never have I believed so whole heartedly in a job, and loved the people who I work or worked around as I have with my time at Mileage Plus.We have come along way since our first graduating class in the Huntington office.We have all been proud of the job we have done and the reputation we have built between ourselves and the customers we so dearly love. Until the recent attacks on America on September 11. A day I will not soon forget as we stand and watch in disbelief as our jobs begin to disapear and and fellow co-workers who have given 110 percent are layed off and their lively hoods are taken away in the blink of an eye.

On sept 11 I awoke to a phone call from a co-worker telling me to turn on my TV and I sat and wept openly as I watched the news unfold. My first instinct was to call work and ask if there was anything I could do, offered to come in early if needed and so on. I went to work that evening and there were few calls. It wasn't until the following day that passengers began to call and to my surprise were offering their condolences to US! I took calls from families who needed to get to NY and DC that had family on the planes that were used in the attack, I cried with them and tried to still, do the best job that I could with what little we had to work with. Over the next several days I began to wonder what else we had to look forward to and now, those nagging questions we all had in the back of our minds are being answered.We have yet to begin to suffer the full affects of sept11. I often complained early on that we were the one's taking calls and our nerves stretched beyond comprehension as no one, not anyone offered support or an ear to listen, other than my advisor whom herself felt so terrible,was the only line of support offered. With no one to talk to, We did the best job that we could, all along thinking this is what is right.

Well I am not so sure, I stand here in an office watching as those close to me go into an office and are being told they are no longer needed at this time and that layoffs must occur. While I understand some of the reasons behind them, I also find myself realizing that all is not perfect with United. We have been through weeks of uncertainty, being told one thing today and finding out tommorrow some thing different.

We actually had our local news at our Charleston office standing outside of the building the day they announced that the office was closing asking employees as the entered how they felt about losing their jobs, BEFORE THEY HAD EVEN BEEN TOLD!!. These so called "leaks to the press" to me are nothing more than united proving how little they actually care about us, the employees of mileage plus!!!! Now that layoffs have been given we also have to watch as what we were originally told is exactly not what was done. No layoffs went by seniority so it doesn't matter how long you've been with the company, or the service you provided only how many days you missed whether it because of a sick child or loved one. Only that you may have missed a day at you're job, and now some no longer have jobs (as of oct 31).

Our management has suffered layoffs and were told that performance as well as education and experience would determine their future with mileage plus, and what did they get? layed off with extensive schooling and dozens of years experience and a job very well done, they lost their jobs to others who in some cases have had no schooling and little experience. So we find the bottom line, we give until we can't give anymore and you take and take and take, then discard us as if we mean nothing.

And just to rub it in a little more you send us one last check with all vacation, all severence pay in one nice neat lump sum where uncle sam can take most of it back and we lose everything ........ It's not too much to ask that we be treated like the vital part that we are for United, not the red headed step child who deserves nothing so should get nothing.

Thanks for nothing and don't bother asking fo more! We have nothing else to give.

Oct. 6, 2001 10:59 AM

As a former reservation agent I want to express my profound disgust with United Airlines. The day of the tragedy, with the world in shock, the atmosphere in United Reservations was one of obliviousness to the events. No one was there to talk to any employees about what happened, it was just log on and take calls...and don't forget to say, "Thank you for calling United".

Unfortunately many of the fellow employees were completely oblivious to the tragedy and United's connection to it...then again, I guess they aren't paid to care ($8.40 per hour). Management's solution was to pass out candy during the shift and make people work unlimited overtime until such time as they were laid off. I guess candy is alright to appease little kids..and there are some (effectively) little kids in reservations.

Finally, United has yet to take any responsibility for the highjackings as they had noone trained in anyway to prevent such things; not in reservations, not in customer service, not the minimum wage security people they hire, nor flight attendants, nor pilots.

I was so disgusted with United that I resigned before layoffs were announced, and the response? "Ineligible for rehire" That's the best news I'd heard in awhile.

Oct. 6, 2001 01:11 AM

I work out of the [omitted] Mileage Plus office that will finalize layoffs on Oct 19. I feel very shocked that after seeing many of my coworkers breaking down on the call floor after speaking with grieving family members, caring about their passengers, giving their all, United has been extremely vague with employees in a state already showing a barren economy. When anyone in management was asked if we should be putting in resume's due to this to prepare for the loss of our families incomes, we were scoffed at, ignored, sometimes even ridiculed. There are employees who live a hundred miles away from the office and have made that drive daily for the past two years to feed their children, single mothers, people who held their head up high for United and Mileage Plus. Now these said people will either have to stand in an already congested unemployment office, having been told all too late that they will be going, or they may be one of the precious few who go on to another office an additional 50 miles away. They have begged for everyone to help them with this dilemma, brow-beat ANP into peoples minds "if you care about your job we need the numbers to look good" and have one day told us that our fears are unwarranted only to put in a memo that next evening that they would be closing and cramming the elite into an already full office building further from their homes. We have all very much cared about our jobs. Half of the time from our passengers we heard, "You're a big help, you must be in one of the West Virginia offices, huh". We believed in our company. Does it seem that this is reciprocal? We are the same CSR's who were cursed when the flights all were cancelled last summer, and who fielded all the calls after Sept 11, and who broke down on the call floor and no grief counselor ever thought to grace a doorway. United and Mileage Plus will not tell anyone how to go about day to day life, just get on the phone and thank the customer as you wonder just how to word your work history, feed your family in the future, live your life after the guilt-ridden fear that we all went through when two of the planes we sold every day went down. Thank you United/MP.

Tue Oct 2 21:26:18 MDT 2001

As you, I am also a United Employee. My wife and I were just discussing how perfectly incompetent Jim Goodwin and our senior management team are. Just when you think they can't be any dumber, they continue to amaze by taking it down another notch. Companion passes, jumpseats, lack of communication, arbitrary reductions to solid ual flying, complete and total disregard for the years of service the many dedicated ual employees have invested. They have exploited a tragedy to circumvent the rules of fair play and dupe the flying public. How bout ticket fares? Maybe if we could price our product competitively we'd be continuing to expand like JetBlue instead of the classic ual strategy to cut and run. Please ask Mr Goodwin to step down...tell him we'll pay him what ever it takes...really, He's just not up to the job. Best of luck.

Sept. 29, 2001 02:34 PM

Please bring back untied.

The flight attendants just found out that all buddy passes will be suspended. One of the biggest perks is now being pulled!

Something that doesn't cost them anything, why would they pull it?

Sept. 28, 2001 10:17 AM

United got a bailout from the Fed's and then turned around and placed 20,000 employees on a leave of absence without pay (ANP). I'm one of those 20,000. ANP is widely believed to be a precursor to furloughs/layoffs. There are very nasty rumors circulating that United is going to try and weasel out of paying some or perhaps even all severance pay employees would normally be entitled to. I greatly admire and respect your decision to temporarily suspend 'Untied', however I think untied.com could be of great benifit to others such as myself who have been placed on ANP. I'm going to write my representatives in congress regarding what United has done, and I'd be especially interested in knowing if any class action lawsuits come out of United's ANP decision or United's potential decision to deny severance.

Sept. 15, 2001 12:22 PM

I wanted to say thank you for your consideration and thoughts. As a member of the airline industry, now is a very difficult time. I understand that your website, untied.com, is designed to effect change for the better at United Airlines. Thank you for your message to United Airlines employees and families in this time of uncertainty and fear.

Sept. 14, 2001 01:50 PM

As an employee of United, generally I do not like your site. But I just want to let you know that on a personal level, I want to thank you for temporarily shutting down your site and for your condolences. It's heartwarming to see, conflicting groups come togeather in a time of need and grief.

Wed Sep 5 14:31:18 EDT 2001

I am a black 53 year old employee with 25 years of service. When I started with UAL in 1976 the company didn't even fly to the state of Texas.

In 1977 American started automating travel agencies with their Sabre reservations system. United had filed with the FAA in 1976 for the rights to fly to Japan. American had a verbal agreement with Nippon Express, the largest Japanese travel agency at that time, to automate them. United was given approval by the FAA and all that was needed was the approval by the Japanese government. This compelled United to secure the contract with Nippon Express by any means necessary.

Since I speak Japanese I was approached by Don Yuskiewicz,the manager of the newly for Apollo Travel Services {ATS} department. This was at United's New York City reservations office; the office was actually located in Rockleigh,NJ.I was asked to work on the Help Desk,answering format questions from newly automated agencies. One day Don asks me to ride into NYC with him. I asked him for what purpose and he said he needed my help. On our way down the Palisades Parkway Don told me he wanted me to speak Japanese to the manager of Nippon Express. Don said he had contacted him about going with United's Apollo system but the manager, Mr Ono,said he had a verbal agreement with American. Don said he told Mr Ono that when his agent would need help,they would have to call a toll-free number and talk wityh someone in Dallas,Texas. Mr Ono's reply was "I dont care where they're located as long as they get the help they need. Don said,"this is why I need your help Kerm".

When we arrived at the agency there were two Japanese agents in the US on travel visas. They spoke little if any English,but when Mr Ono heard me speak his language he told Don "not only are you closer but you have someone who speaks our language. I trained the two travel agents in the back of the classroom,translating everything the instructor (Barbara Fleiger) was saying. The training lasted 5 weeks and afterwards I went back to the Help Desk where I was swamped with work.

I noticed a memo with all of United's res offices with ATS. I was suprised that most cities had at least 4 people on their Help Desk while I was the only one in the New York office. Cleveland had 4 help desks agents, Chicago had 8,Los Angeles had 6,San Francisco had 7 and so on.When I approached Don about getting me some help his response was "Oh, you're doing fine". I had enough and told Don I couldn't work under these conditions. He asked me if I wanted to go back to the Res floor. I was so mad I accepted to go back to my former position.

I was replaced by 3 whites. When word got out Don was transferred to Chicago and promoted to Director of Communications at O'Hare airport,his assignment was overseeing the building of United's new terminal during the early 1980's. In 1983 I transferred to the Cleveland res office to be closer to my family. I was born and raised in Homestead,Pa; a small borough in the Pittsburgh area. I was approached by the manager to interview for a management job in Chicago that I did not want. I was told that the interview process would be a good experience even if I didn;t want the job. I agreed and went on the interview. Little did I know I was interviewing for a job that was being vacated by a black female whom this white supervisor, Steve Zitnak,was trying to fire.

I accepted the position and was told I would receive 6 weeks training. The positon was Automated Accounting. When Steve was reprimanded by his superior for trying to fire the black woman, Celestial Smith, I was set up with a trainer who was going on a cruise 2 weeks into my training. When word got out Steve was promoted to inflight supervisor. While in Cleveland I spoke out on behalf of the lack of promotions for females of color. For this I was punched in the back of my neck while sitting at a table eating my lunch and reading the paper. I was punched by Ed Hall, a supervisor.

I reported this to the manager,Jim Meenan but I never received any feedback. Ed Hall has retired with a full pension. On June 14 of this year one of my co-workers of Arab of decent was complaining about being teased by white male employees about his name. His first name is Fouad, pronounced "foo-ed" but my white co-workers, many who are my age insist on calling him Akbar or Hussein or Muhammad, anything but Fouad.While discussing his problems to me he used profanity. But some white women in training complained about his conversation with me telling a supervisor that they felt threatened,although he never directed the conversation at them and if they would have been doing thir job,taking phone calls,they wouldn't have heard him.

A letter was put into both of our files. We were instructed by our union rep to sign the letter because it was normal procedure. We signed in protest because there was never a transcript on what was said nor were we allowed to know the identity of our accusers,even though Fouad and I pay union dues, the union felt it appropriate to defend our accusors even though they were in training and didn't pay union dues. I have since gone to a therapist for anger management because I can't take United's racist petty games anymore.Publish this if you like. They don't scare me. I only fear God and I know he is on my side.

Tue, June 26 12:27:23 MDT 2001

I am a flight attendant with United Airlines. I was reading your site and found a few articles related to the incedent at a crew hotel in L.A. Although United assures it's crews that we are staying in safe hotels, there have been problems at the Melia Reforma in Mexico City as well.

Thankfully nothing as serious as a rape...yet! We have been asking United to move us out of this hotel and the unsafe area for weeks, and nothing has been done. The pilots were moved 4 months ago to a Marriott at the airport, requiring no transportation fees.

But flight attendants remain being driven downtown, and staying in a hotel which the front desk asks us not to leave the hotel as it is unsafe.

I have set too many times in a room at the Melia Reforma listening to the automatic weapons being fired and the hotel security scrambling around as someone has charged into the hotel.

What will it take for UAL to move us from this unsafe hotel? I can only hope we do not end up with a repeat of the L.A. Bonaventure!

Friday, 4 May 2001 15:23:58 -0700

Ed: While it is Untied.com's policy to preserve the anonymity of UAL employees who publish their feedback in these pages, we note that the writer of the following letter has requested that his name be witheld because of of past retaliatory actions, by UAL management, against his family. The writer is a cancer patient, and cites management's disregard for the employees as the cause of his nervous conditions for which he is being treated.

First and foremost, thank you for this forum so that my fellow employees can brief the public and other fellow employees about what I have come to call basic human rights violations. Of course that is a exaggeration, but an appropriate statement nonetheless.

After many years with this company there have been more negative happenings than I can count. Most folks would think that we are just complaining, since most employees don't like management in companies, but you know what...this stuff really happens. Our company's strategic management training program prides itself on the gap between management and employee. United Airlines seems to embrace the idea. A while ago we had to new people at the helm that almost made a difference with introducing to the good ole boy's network a new kind of management (new at United) whereby certain guidelines would be set in place to respect the employee and treat the whole as a team effort to bring about sweeping change in a company that surely needed it. It is a simple task for normal people to treat others as they would want to be treated, and the resulting morale among employee groups reflected upon our customers with extreme acceptance. What is that? That is a company that was going somewhere. Management was told to embrace this philosophy or separate.

Employee groups worked together in the most part toward a common goal. Job security, equitable treatment of peers, and job placement based upon knowledge rather than EEOC quotas. I have been personally passed over for positions that I am qualified for because of quotas. I can identify with the statements made by a "pilot" who wrote in, however not as inflammatorily. White women, Pink People, Black People, even with Stripes, it doesn't matter to me or most other employees where anyone came from. No... the problem lies in the process itself. It is unfair, and it has been left unchecked way to long. It is a prerequisite in some stations to damage an airplane in order to be considered for a supervisor slot ! I wonder how somebody can be allowed to interview for that job after a negligent act of incompetence. Seems the EEOC guidelines have thrown that out where we work. I still ponder that statements made by some businessmen who have been approached to hire EEOC quota-qualifying people. It is said in many places by different people that the government will either issue tax breaks, supply funding, or subsidize salary if quotas are being met. Save Money ?? Well they quickly got the attention of UAL if that is the case. Personally I could not promote someone who has damaged aircraft, worked unsafe next to aircraft, or just plain cannot think straight for themselves instead of like some programmed robotic imbecile. Ever had to deal with one of those at the gate ?

Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Dutta need to get their act together and fast. My company is nose-diving without a terrain clearance avoidance system. They are dangerous, callous, and could care less about you. Unfortunately there are many power hungry head strong management employees out there who are eating out of their hands. They needed that refresh because Edwarson and Greenwald wouldn't have it. We are back to the mismanaged cash cow we once were. Of course everything is the employee's fault. There will always be a fall guy to take the blame for an action that could have been corrected. These two people are playing with families, some of them generations. And we sit back idly and watch our dreams disappear while they line their pockets with unearned wealth. How many of you are experiencing any form of mis-treatment since the IAM was voted in to represent the PCE group? I would venture to say many of you have seen the change, the anxiety of middle-management. It is pushed onto you. A harassment session if you have been out of work because an illness...even a serious life threatening illness does not stop them from skirting the law to harass you for being away.

Oh yes, they say there is the door if you don't like it. It is my understanding many thousands of dollars can be spent of training one person. That person then must represent UAL in a positive manner. That person has to smile and really love his job. That person is to shine under even the most stressful of conditions presented to him/her. What's up with this so called "corporate culture" ? There are many wrongs, and yet we swallow them to the point of belittlement and go on with our jobs. I remember being up there with a feeling of worth when Edwardson and Greenwald were around. I'd take them back in a heartbeat. They were the best I've seen so far, and they surely surpass these two (Goodwin & Dutta) in experience and philosophy. You two guys, do you think you have a bunch of uneducated morons working for you? In the most part many of us are college educated. So I challenge you, as many have done, to take down your "RULES of the ROAD" signs all over the place and start to practice those ideals. Having them hanging on all the walls just fuels our fire knowing they are the false advertisement gold medallist of the decade. I know you read this, and as always try like hell to find out info and play fire-a-rama with people who speak out against unfair and unethical business practices. Your silly little management team in the cities literally spends a great deal of TIME and MONEY trying to destroy the lives of those who make this company great. Remember the words that once came out of that office you now hold. "Our employees are our greatest asset." Remember to promote a safe and secure work environment. Remember to promote from within based upon knowledge and experience. Remember while lining your pockets to treat those who work for this company with the utmost respect. Remember to go home tonight Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Dutta and treat your own family with respect.

Start to use your heads and get back to the basic backbone of the corporation you supposedly lead. Stop railroading and streamline the process by which we can pull this company back out of the nosedive. Answer to your lawsuits, and stop making them ! Begin a healing process that will discontinue all negative treatment of employees. Deal with those who blatantly break our rules with respect and dignity, not with a kangaroo court where a verdict has already been reached. Sometimes negative treatment is deserving, yet a majority of the time it is nothing more than some power trip. You will see a return not only in respect for yourselves, but a return on the stock market as well. And it doesn't cost you money. Certainly it should not cost any pride, for if it does, your are in the wrong place gentlemen.

Educate incompetent middle-management or replace them with respectful leaders. Stop reaching into the EEOC party hat and pulling names for the next round of supervisors. Because the party is over. It has been the next day for a long time and this company has a real bad hang-over.

Remember.

Thu Apr 19 11:59:23 CST 2001

As a former employee of United airlines reading the customer complaints, I felt there were a few things I would like to add and say. After being employed by United for less than one year, I felt as if 100 lbs. had been lifted off my shoulders on the day I left there for good. Lousy pay, lousy hours and never have I worked anywhere where I was treated with less dignity and respect.

While many of you passengers have VERY legitimate gripes, there are a few things you should be made aware of. There is NO excuse for rudeness on that we can completely agree. As far as being lied to by Customer Service people - I don't believe that is the case from my experience. Usually the only information available to the CSR is what is in her computer as to the cause for delays and cancellations. As far as seating goes, at the counter the computer gives a chart showing what is empty...that is what there is to choose from and in some cases there are no seats at all which leaves the agent with no choices. Food, lodging, coupons, upgrades, sending to other airlines....the rules are clearly defined by the company as to what the agent may and may not do. The agent may well want to or feel that you deserve (as I did) in many cases far more than you getting but to do so could cost them their job. Everything an agent does is closely monitored, in particular the time spent with customers. As I was told when I worked there...we expect you to spend no more than 2 minutes with a customer (this is monitored). I was dinged many times for spending TOO much time with a passenger. One complaint, I read referred to the taking of a break by an agent when the line was long. Tell me how many of you would work for $9 an hour on your feet being yelled at, picking up bags while all the time trying to keep a smile on your face and be pleasant and then give up your lunch (which will be deducted from your pay whether you take it or not). Agents can spend enormous amounts of time at the ticket counter without even a bathroom break. I could go on and on...but the point of this is that a big part of the reason you as customers do not get good service is because (1) not enough help (2) inexperienced help (airline is lucky to keep 1 out every 10 employees hired to work ticket counters and gates) (3) poor treatment of agents regardless of whether you are a good agent with no complaints on your record or not. The bottom line here folks is that happy employees make good representatives of their company and what you are dealing with when you deal with United are employees that are squeezed right in the middle between what the company expects and what you expect. It is a no win situation believe me.

The airline industry can be an interesting and challenging place to work...I for one would love to try another airline someday...hopefully one that treats its employees with some respect. But as for United...they have a long way to go in employee relations. And until they learn how to deal fairly with their employees, I doubt very much that if you continue to fly with them your experiences will be much different.

Friday, February 16, 2001 4:14 AM

Ed: The writer of the following note has authorized Untied.com to publish his letter in full. If anyone wishes to contact Mr. Kevakian for further details, he can be reached by email.

My name is Gregory S. Kevakian and I was hired by United Airlines on October 20, 1997 as a Customer Service Representative at starting pay of $8 per hour. At the time of hiring, I was 42 years of age and it was understood that after successfully completing one year of service at such a low pay, I would be granted a guaranteed interview for the position of pilot (upon renewing pilots license) or a sales position.

I was based out of San Francisco International Airport. During the next 11 months, United Airlines customers who showed their appreciation by actually writing the company on my behalf accepted me. To date, I received more customer satisfaction letters from fare paying customers in such a short period of time... more than anyone has ever received throughout the entire history of the airline.

I received so many letters because of my attitude. I believed that United Airlines was the best airline in the world and being such everyone, including myself, was obligated to provide the best service possible.

What was my reward? I was accused of being a "kiss-a--" for the customer and that my only motivation was getting letters from customers. It should be noted that I never at anytime solicited, from any customer, that they write a letter to the company on my behalf. I was just doing my job the best of my ability and apparently enough customers felt it appropriate to inform United Airlines Management of my efforts.

Within the 11 month of employment, I interviewed for the position of Service Director. The Service Director is primarily responsible for interceding customer complaints on the floor and resolving issues the best they can. I felt being that I had a documented high-customer acceptance for handling all kinds of issues, I would have no problem securing the position. At that time, United was hiring 19 year-olds for the same position. I was interviewed by a panel of three (One of Whom was 19) and I was denied. No official reason was given but I was told I could re-apply in one year.

On October 1, 1998, a passenger who did not want to gate check his bag confronted me. His actions caused me to lose my balance consequently hitting the back of my head on the jetway wall. Surrounding passengers said I was passed out for a few seconds. The passenger who caused the conflict was very apologetic so I decided to allow him to board and there was no further incident.

I reported the previously mentioned incident to my immediate supervisor who instructed me to fill out a report the next day.

The next day, I could not get out of bed. I was eventually taken to the emergency room at University of California San Francisco medical center where it was determined that I sustained a work-related injury and that I might have nerve damage at the c5 c6 vertebrae.

The pain increased to such a level that I was placed on Medical Leave Status. My one-year anniversary date came and even though at that particular time I was still classified as regular full-time, I was denied an interview to either apply for a pilot's position or that of sales.

Now the nightmare begins. After my sick time was used up, United Airlines refused to pay what is called Temporary Disability Benefits which is allowed as promulgated via the current Worker's Compensation Regulations. Thus, I was not receiving any income at all.

United then ordered me to be evaluated by their Flight Surgeon who made the final conclusion that I sustained a work-related injury and suggested that I try physical therapy followed by epidermal injections and as a last resort, evasive surgery.

Upon initial request for physical therapy - United Airlines denied the request. Upon initial request for epidermal injections - United Airlines denied the request.

Six months goes by without any source of income. I am evicted from my residence. My near-perfect on-time credit rating which took years to accomplish was now completely shot.

Consequently, I could no longer afford to live in the San Francisco bay area so I requested a transfer to Phoenix - Sky Harbor Airport. United Airlines granted said request.

Upon arriving at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, I was assured by a union rep that I would not endure the same mistreatment that I did at San Francisco International Airport.

My neck pain caused me to be placed once again on medical leave status just after one week arrival at Phoenix. Again with no more sick time, I was denied Temporary Disability Benefits. Again no income, I was evicted from my residence.

With nowhere else to turn, I contacted a local church who help me get housing and food.

United Airlines once again ordered me to be evaluated by the same doctor that evaluated me previously. Once again, that same doctor concurred that I sustained a work-related injury and recommended the same regime of treatment as previously mentioned herein.

United Airlines once again rejected their own medical professionals recommendations and once again denied payment for treatment

No recourse now, I was forced to retain legal counsel of Boxer and Gerson, Ralph Mann, Esq. out of Oakland, California. Upon doing so, United Airlines immediately changed its posture and authorized the epidermal injections. (I was told by medical professionals that physical therapy was no longer an option because of the length of time of the injury to the date that UA authorized payment)

I sustained three epidermal injections spaced 3 to 4 weeks apart. End result, unsuccessful.

In October 19, 2000, over two years after I sustained my work-related injury, a hearing was ordered at the Worker's Compensation Appeals Board in San Francisco, California. In Kevakian vs. United Airlines; RSKCO, et al., Case No.: SFO 0431008. Prior to the commencement of said hearing, legal counsel for United Airlines specifically John T. Huskin, Jr., Esq. with the law firm of Mullen & Filippi out of Oakland, Ca., made the following threat to my legal counsel and myself:

"If you continue you with this, I will make sure that I delay these proceedings for five years!"

During the hearing legal counsel to United Airlines (John Huskin) admitted that they did not comply with discovery (i.e. providing my legal counsel with copies of my medical and personnel file). His excuse was he did not want to take the time and expense to photocopy the files. His arrogance was shocking.

At the conclusion of the hearing, United agreed to authorize payment for my evasive neck surgery but refused to pay my past disability payments.

Approximately 30 days later, the Honorable Judge Larry Quan issued a Findings and Award against United Airlines ordering them to pay all of my past disability payments (it should be noted that we are only talking about $217.00 per week).

United Airlines appealed.

On November 11, 2000, in response to United Airline's appeal, the Honorable Larry Quan issued a Report and Recommendation on Petition for Reconsideration in favor of me and totally against United Airlines.

I went into the hospital On January 10th, 2001 and underwent major surgery to correct the damage caused by my work-related injury.

On January 26, 2001, the Honorable Judge William O'Brien issued an Order denying United Airlines Request for Reconsideration.

To date, I have yet to receive one penny from United Airlines.

During my time at United, I received in excess of 40 letters of commendation from passengers. At my deposition hearing, the attorney representing UAL implied that no such letters existed and that they (United management) could not even locate my personnel or medical file. It has now been over two years since this ordeal started and as of today's date, United management still indicate that they cannot locate my personnel or medical file.

What they did not count on is that I kept copies of all the letters (see images, below) and was able to present them myself through my legal counsel.

On February 16th, I needed to fly to LAX in order to begin my post-surgery treatment. I arrived at PHX accompanied by my wife and the United Airlines supervisor advised me that my flight benefits has been suspended. I asked for what reason. He could not provide me with one. To this date, United management has refused to provide me with a reason why my flight benefits have been suspended. It should be noted that my wife WAS able to fly that day on United. In fact, I had to sign her write-your-own [ticket] for her to fly even though I was unable to fly myself. Being that I was unable to fly with my wife that day, I asked United management to provide me with a letter of employment verification so that I can get the airline rate at Southwest. They refused even though I am still a United Airlines employee on current medical leave status. Consequently I was forced to purchase a separate ticket for myself on Southwest Airlines in order to meet with my wife in LA.

I contacted a supervisor at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport and he advised me that even though I am on medical leave, I am still eligible to fly. He had no answer as to why my privileges have been arbitrarily revoked without any proper form of notice.

I can not apply for another job, I can not even apply for welfare or social security because the computer system indicates that I am receiving worker's compensation benefits albeit that I am not personally receiving one dime to live on to cover over a two-year period of time.

I know that my legal battle with United Airlines is far from over. What has kept me going is my relationship with God, my wonderful wife, kids and family and my church. If it were not for them, I certainly would either be on the streets by now or dead.

Ed: We reproduce here a number of the letters that Mr. Kevakian received directly from his employer. Clicking on any of the thumbnails will bring up the full image.

UPDATE: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 04:45:17 EDT

As expected the airline is now in contempt of court concerning my worker's compensation claim. With that in mind, my legal counsel has filed a "Readiness to Proceed" requesting from the court an additional 10% in damages for "an unreasonable delay of all benefits included in the award."

In one of UAL's recent mailings detailing the "United Airlines Rules of the Road" for all employees, it states:

• We trust each other.
• We keep our commitments.
• We speak with honesty and candor.
• We reach and acknowledge closure on decisions.
• We support and represent team decisions as our own.
• We place team interests before our own.
• We provide complete and impartial information.
• We actively recognize and celebrate successes.
• We address conflict with an individual directly, constructively, and confidentially.
• We include the stakeholders in decisions. We plan before we act.
• We call each other on any violation of these Rules of the Road."

Ed: You're most welcome! UAL employees can "vent their gripes" (Untied.com protects your anonymity) by using the appropriate email address given here.

Sun Jul 23 11:16:14 PDT 2000

I am a United Airline non-union pilot curently on illness leave of absence since May 1999. I have not received a penny from UAL since May 1999. I was certified by a physician to be totally and permanently grounded. United denied my claim and told me to arbitrate. I did arbitrate and the neutral ruled that I was permanently disabled. That was over eight weeks ago. United Airlines will not respond to to my letters or letters from the union, A.L.P.A. although this is binding arbitration. In my opinion, they are deliberately testing my resolve to try and bring me to my knees. They are hoping I will not have the funds to take them to court since the union obviously is dragging their feet. This reprehensible treatment supports what other employees claim on your web site. Keep up the good work.

Fri, 21 Jul 2000 05:23:54 -0700 (PDT)

Well, the shit hit the fan! United's Senior Litigator, Nancy J. Gordon, was recently fired for mishandling an ongoing sexual harassment case. She wrote a nasty letter to Cary Donham (an attorney representing the victims) which appears on your website. Apparantly, the pending legal doom at United is scaring a lot of people and some heads have rolled. I work WHQ in Marketing and wish to stay anonymous. Also, the EEOC issued two subpeonas against the airline for failure to cooperate in the Federal Investigation. Looks like this whole thing is another Mitsubishi or Ford case. Anyway, just an FYI from a friendly supporter of your site.

Thursday, July 06, 2000 12:36 PM

An employee who is still with UA changed my time card without my knowledge, told me he was just trying to help, completely denied any wrongdoing, and was allowed to keep his current position. I left the company because I was humiliated and was told I was lying about the situation. This person also stole disability checks from employees, took office equipment, and was promoted because he was chosen as employee of the year. I would love to file a complaint, sue United if possible, but cannot afford a lawyer. I have proof that this person is lying to the company and stealing on a weekly basis.

Mon Jun 26 22:18:17 PDT 2000

Dear Mr. Goodwin:

I am a customer service agent at one of your major stations and I am fed up with all the crew cancellations and crew delays. It is not the public's fault that you and the pilot's union cannot get your differences resolved and that UAL's unhappy pilots are deliberately not picking up the overtime they used to and deliberately causing delays by telling maintenance that they will not fly until that little light switch is fixed, for example, which they would normally ignore and do a deferrment on, and that they will not reroute when there is a weather situation enroute, and asserting that they will only fly the route they are scheduled for, and deliberately creating situations which involve crew legality, and then walking off after claiming that they have already reached their max flying time, all because their contract negotiations are going on...while you Mr. Goodwin, make money off the hard work, sweat, blood and tears of customer service agents on the front line, dealing with unhappy, inconvenienced and stranded passengers, and fill your coffers and that of your elite of 20 company officers with the fruits of our labor. At least give a hoot about the public...don't have them standing around the customer service center for three hours, just to be reaccomated, and listen to their gripes...they pay your salary.

Sun Jun 4 11:36:38 PDT 2000

Months ago, I was disciplined by management for have been out of work for the treatment of cancer. Sporadically, after surgery I was to be treated further with therapy to irradicate any remaining disease. I wrote in to this website to voice what had happened to me, and the letter was posted. Now for an update....

We now have a wonderful union (IAM) contract which binds us basically to the old Series 15, the United book of Law. Because of my union representation I was made to follow the union path of greivace proceedure before any government agency or attorney would step in. I filed a Step One letter which was to be answered within three days. It was never answered. Some weeks later I again filed the Step One. This took about 6 weeks to be answered, and with a one-liner "grievance denied". I then followed through with union representation to the Second Step level, which was a letter to this supervisor's boss, the station manager, requesting the letter from my file be removed and my FMLA Rights be recognized. (Here is where it gets interesting. My FMLA Rights all along have been denied by the very people who are supposed to recognize a potential FMLA qualifying disability. Hell, an educated person would think cancer is one of them, but obviously the managment team in my city did not.)

Well the Step Two grievance was to be answered in 10 days. Try another 6-8weeks !! It seems that the 3 day and 10 day process was a circus that took four months. (There is currently NO PUNITIVE clause to dictate what happens if a grievance is not answered within the time frame allotted by our contract. Another one of those great things series 15 gave us that people voted yes for in the current contract. I only hope it is resolved with the next contract in July.)

Well, after four months of anxiety, harassment, and discrimination I was finally told that the letter would be removed from my file and that the FMLA (FINALLY) would be recognized back to when I was diagnosed with the disease. Seems somebody must have read the Federal Law pertaining to refusing the FMLA rights of an employee. And of course, the shallow apology which was not even an admittance that they screwed up.

Today I am still being single out (yes a pattern exists) for anything that can aggrevate me into resigning from my job. The talk in the office (here-say) is that "...maybe he will quit." Seems they just don't learn do they ?? As I said before, I have never seen more retaliatory, callous management than with this company which I have done many positive thing for in the past. I was such an employee where months of my time was volunteered to activities that made UAL look like a wonderful place to work through charitable events, promotions, advertising, etc. I have even received awards for it. Today I am being rewarded for my loyalty with the most disrespect an individual can take. I am reminded daily of a terrible disease through intimidation, harassment, and discrimination directed to my person while at the work place. Yes, placed in undesirable work positions day after day while others are rotated, reasonable accomodation is denied when I am in pain or feeling ill, positions which I am highly qualified for are no longer made available to me, etc. That's just the start....and it is the United way.

I do wonder how many others are treated with disrespect who work for this company. When is United going to learn the definition of management from Webster's ?? United is hiring management people just to fill quotas. Get out there and find REAL management, REAL people, and you may someday run an airline with 100% loyalty. Hire management with the right qulifications. Loyalty ? Mine is gone now forever because of what I have come to call "Basic human rights" violations. It is a shame that this whole mess has happened, and the fire still burns.

I will update my situation as I continue to fight for what is right through all channels that I can. What they did to me should not have transpired, and this should never happen again to any employee. Thanks again for your time to post these important messages to our fellow employees and for the passengers who may wonder sometimes why we feel the way we do. I remember United trying to become the "Global Employer of Choice". My god, they even advertised it. Something is really broken here.

Fri, 14 Apr 2000 11:56:19 -0500

I hope I'm sending this letter to the appropriate channel. I just today found your website and I'm compelled to write about my experience as an (now ex-) employee of United Airlines.

First, let me explain that my father is a Captain with another major carrier and my mother was a stewardess with United in the Sixties. I grew up as a frequent-flier during the glory days of regulation and saw the world in the Eighties as a privileged "non-rev." After getting a marginally marketable BA in English, I was lucky enough to be hired as a flight attendant by United, a job I held for six long years. I have little experience from the perspective of being "just another customer," but I think I am qualified to validate your website's complaints and position.

Each and every mile flown while wearing United wings was a degrading challenge. Those of us who were fresh and enthusiastic were quickly deflated upon going "on line." We were squeezed on all sides, from the nasty and bitter veteran flight attendants, to the homophobic pilots, to the undersocialized public (that characterization especially includes the cabins up front), callous and incompetent management, nonexistent perks and minimal pay. I started with no illusions about the supposed glamour of the industry, but no amount of familiarity with the downside of airline employment prepared me for the jungle into which air travel has evolved and for which I unwittingly volunteered.

As described so well and so often in the complaint section of this site, I'm sad to say that I too quickly developed the "if I don't acknowledge you, you don't exist" attitude endemic to United customer service personnel. I hated to see passengers come aboard, avoided staying in the cabins for more than was necessary to provide the most basic service, and couldn't wait to get the hell off the airplane at the end of the trip. There was no reward for going the extra mile. Premier customers would come aboard angry from chronic ticketing and boarding errors, and my seven hours worth of sycophantic service rarely undid the damage from the passenger's five-minute battle with the gate agent. Coach passengers, compressed into a narrow-body 757 for long hauls, starved by the awful and minimal catering, understandably glared at me sitting captive in my jumpseat. I wanted to fly to serve, to be hospitable; I could do neither. United airlines provided me with a uniform to represent their product, failed to deliver a reliable, quality product for me to represent, leaving me with a tired and hollow smirk and a desire to hide in the galley as long as possible.

The day I barked at a hungry and overwrought senior citizen and made her cry, I knew that I had had enough. United's culture is one of indifference and I refused to participate any longer. I quit at the end of the trip, and regret to this day that the pervasive attitude I absorbed kept me from apologizing to this poor woman. I'd like to think that since I'm no longer there, she has flown with United again and been treated better by a happier FA, but I doubt it. There were too many like me.

I'm not sure if, like some say, its a problem of declining American civility. I've flown a few European carriers and Air Canada. They are wonderful on an exponential level. Maybe its more a problem of the airlines' size. As far as I can tell, American (smug and snotty) and Delta (WAY too big for their britches) are no better than United. Southwest has lost that special quality they once had, and Alaska looks it might be getting too big. I just don't know. But United Airlines WILL turn the warmest, most caring individual into a grim robot with a nametag.

PS: If, by chance, you post this, and if, by chance, that poor lady reads this, this is for her: I'm truly sorry for my behavior that awful afternoon in the Spring of 1998. I hope you had a hot meal, a good night's rest, and a great holiday in Florida.

Fri, 10 Mar 2000 13:00:59 -0800 (PST)

Here is an update to my husbands lawsuit against United Airlines for discrimination against him due to his military service. The case is currently in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago which also happens to be the headquarters for UAL. UAL is trying to enforce a federal agreement my husband never saw nor agreed to. It seems Indiana state law allows an attorney to say he has received his clients "verbal authorization" to settle the case even if it goes directly against previous written orders by their client. My husband has never, nor ever would, give any attorney complete and total control to settle his case, especially without knowing the terms and conditions of the settlement before hand. It is my opinion that UAL "influenced" my husbands ex-attorney by agreeing to pay his fee ($15K) just as long as he agreed to find a way to settle the case on behalf of my husband. For the record, my husband suffered a job related injury which left him with a broken back and then a UAL supervisor falsified his accident report which prevented my husband from receiving ordered medical treatment. Medical treatment that may have prevented him from becoming disabled. He has now been left with a permanent partial disability and needs to medicate daily for his pain. UAL has refused to accommodate his physical disability which has caused us to file another law suit, this time under the American with Disabilities Act. We have suffered great financial losses because of UAL and have only been able to endure so because of my job. If there is a national news agency that would like to investigate our situation and how UAL treats its workers whom are disabled because of a work related injury, please feel free to contact us we welcome the opportunity to show the public UAL's true colors and to let others know how much "justice" costs. For a corporation that says its concerned with public safety and public service, I feel they have never shown that to my injured and now disabled husband. If they treat their own Employee/Owner with such disrespect and indifference, where does that leave you, the average flying public traveler?

Fri Feb 25 04:59:51 PST 2000

I recently found your website by mistake. And I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading every story and comment from customers and employees alike.

As an employee of UAL for 4 years, I can totally relate to their stories. I have enjoyed the life style of traveling all over the U.S. and other destinations, but have my own horror stories onboard the planes as well as from the company.

I can attest that the company has not changed. From the most recent story, to the oldest dated story, they have not changed. UAL can pay lip service and implement lapel pin winning contests (for flight attendants) out the butt, however, fundamental management practices are above the grasp of this company. The method and mode from which this airline operates continues to be shut the customer up, kiss the ass of the 1K fliers and motivate the employees with fear and threats. I thank god and all of my flying partners that we have a union, because if it weren't for them, we would be making $7/hr and have worse working conditions.

The worst are the crew schedulers in local domiciles and at WHQ (world headquarters), what a rude contemptuous bunch of bastards. They and the supervisors don't care about the individual but bunch you together in the stereo-typed f/a group and you are a mere number. Market-trak surveys and numbers are by far more important than any flight attendant. But seriously, if United would just employ qualified leaders who are geniunely concerned about the employee and can motivate by example and through genuine gestures, maybe we might do the same for the customers. Instead they promote simple minded people who can enforce policies of not wearing a short sleeved shirt internationally because market-trak surveys say so.(Japan in the summer is scorchingly hot and humid) It is sort of like working for someone who keeps kicking you in the shin before and after every flight, then expect you to be this outstanding personable caring individual to the customers.

As a result of my experiences in my short career with United, I have learned that each individual must get what he/she wants from the job and collect the paycheck and go home. Loyalty, customer satisfaction, caring are very subjective, and virtually non-existant here because of the company. UAL keeps saying that we are the company, but the facts are we are a stock-held company with profit as a motivator. Money, money, money!!! I am just thankful that I have another parallel medical-related career on the side for income boost and a buffer, for sanity.

Please take note United, since you seem to read this website more than you read the employee letters to WHQ, maybe, just maybe you might read this one and change?

Sun Feb 20 00:03:40 PST 2000

I am a United Airlines flight attendant who has written you previously, and you were kind enough to post my letter on your site. I recently had the most humbling experience with my employer. A recent snow storm caused irregular operations in Chicago, "whats new", well my flight to Chicago cancelled and I was stuck in Indianapollis overnight with my other two crewmembers. When we called our crew desk we were promptley placed on hold, for over an hour. When we finally were able to speak to someone about our situation they informed us that we would be laying over in Indianapolis.

The problem was that they couldnt find us a hotel room, after another hour of waiting for them to scurry up a room they informed us we would have to share one room, yup thats one bed for 3 flight attendants, not acceptable. Especially since I am a male flight attendant and the other two were older females'. So the crew desk informed me that they couldnt help me any further and if I was unhappy with the arrangment, I would just have to spend the night in the airport. Now this is the largest airline in the world telling me that they can't find me, a crewmember a hotel room! This was insulting, how am I supposed to work the next day? Are you telling me that with all the resources United has, that they can't find me a room?

This is more than an inconvinience but it's a big saftey issue, how can I be expected to maybe have to evacutate an airplane if I was up all night in an empty airport staring at the ceiling begging for a chance that I might get some sleep. The next day I spoke to my supervisor about what had occured, it went in one ear and out the other. I walked out of her office and I realized that the feeling I had was the exact same feeling United passengers have when there travel plans are disrupted by a delay or cancellation, and then short changed by United's customer service representatives.

Keep up the the great work your doing with this website, maybe you'll have a positive effect on United and they'll change the boorish corperate culture that exists.

P.S. I have your website bookmarked, keep the updates frequent put up some advertising, maybe sell discounted tickets of United's competitors, you'll soon have an IPO and make a mint, if that happens credit me with the idea and give me a small cut so I can quit this unorganized mess of a company.

Wed, 9 Feb 2000 23:54:15 -0700

Well, it finally happened. In the 15 years I have with this company I was told never to get hurt on the job or come down with a life threatening illness. Cause once you do, your in for a fight for your job. You become a true number, a liability. You must be extracted from the company as soon as possible. I have seen this happen, any they are real good at it. UAL knows that the normal Joe doesnt have the monetary recources to fight the goliath, and they invite you as an employee to sue them. Problem is, most attorneys will take cases only on an hourly charge, rather than consignment. God only knows that if attorneys would come out from under that rock, they could basically put United at it's knees.

I was diagnosed with cancer a while back, and these morons actually wrote me up and disciplined me for being out of work with the disease. It is no secret where I work that I am fighting them with everything I have.

Remember people...don't get real sick, and don't get injured on the job. It's a pink slip. Just think you flag wavers out there....take a hint....global companies of this size usually hire from within, promote from within, and base it upon experience and education. True global companies have a tuition reimbursement program, a way of nurturing there employees and keeping them loyal. True global companies value the employee....especially the first point of contact. Not just the pilots. Hell they're mostly millionares now anyway. Just look how customer service employees were termed unskilled labor and fed some crap called ESOP whereby we all lost our butts !! Hell, I could go on. It has been a long time since I have found anything positive about United Management.

Thing is, in the mind of United Management, the employee is the enemy. We are the bastard child that always complains and they can never make us happy. My god, that's a great 1950's attitude there. It's true, as long as they treat us like sh** they will get sh** in return. Especially from me. I cannot wait until the day I can throw my keys and mu ID on the desk and say "So-Long". No notice need be given, hell they'll fire a cancer patient in a heartbeat if given the chance. Why give them 2 weeks to harrass you further....just let them know who really wins the game. Go back to school, get a real job, someplace where you will be appreciated. Folks I talk to who have left the company have actually put their lives back together and feel ALOT better both physically and mentally. There is LIFE after UNTIED!

Fri Jan 28 16:49:24 PST 2000

United Airlines recently fired me. The grounds of termination: Inappropriate Conversations at work

The story is:

I made a joke to someone who is a really cool coworker. In the rollocoster of jokes he did get offended and mentioned it somehow to someone else, who reported it to a supervisor. This supervisor confronted my coworker, who apparently did not want to report me to management for that.

However, the supervisor informed management. Management questioned him about the incident. My colleague was then intimidated to the point where he had to make statements of the occurrences of that night. According to my coworker, management said that they wanted to BUILD A CASE AGAINST ME.

Management called me into the office and proceeded to tell me about my wrongful doing and said that "just wanted to get my statements on this issue." Management told me that he complained. This appears to be a lie. When I asked to apologize to this coworker, Management said "just leave it alone, otherwise management will have to get involved in this matter."

To make a long story short

1. United Airlines fired me.
2. UAL lied about Jeff (my coworker) complaining
3. UAL lied to me when they told me that everything was ok, in an attempt to keep me from finding out the truth. Jeff never wanted to complain.
4. UAL maliciously looked for a reason to terminate my employment.

Fri, 28 Jan 2000 16:06:00 -0800 (PST)

Please feel free to include my letter on your web site, and my name and email address so others may contact me personally. As I said I will encourage other mechanics to come forward with their experiences with United management trying to force them to sign off unserviceable items to be used on united aircraft. The general public is not aware of United jeopardizing their safety for the greed of profits that they seek. My parents and I are hesitant to fly because of what has happened over the years of this new management at united and with the increase of air crashes that have taken many lives of innocent passengers.

I have been employed with United Airlines for 15 years, my mother, father,and uncle had worked for United dating back to 1944, and over all the years have seen a decline in employee moral due to the lack of competent management. I am currently being held out of service on workers comp/disability with mental stress and panic disorder from 4 years of harassment on my job that I have had to endure from United's management. I have been verbally threaten by two supervisors [...], with one of them trying to provoke a fight on company property. During an investigation hearing [...] made derogatory statements and was caught lying in his testimony to the union and company hearing officer. On one occasion during a daily meeting [...] told the entire group of mechanics "If this was his own business of operations he would not hire any of us mechanics to work here."

This statement offended the entire group, even after many complaints were made United promoted him to manager. This manager's position became open because [...] was retired from this position for his statement referring to the mechanics as "assholes on the floor."

I have also been forcefully told to sign for incomplete and unserviceable brake assemblies for use on United aircraft, and I refuse to comply with this illegal action because this would jeopardize the safety and airworthiness of United's aircraft. The brake shop at United's maintenance operations center in San Francisco has become a hostile work environment because of incompetent management. Many complaints have been dismissed,rejected,and concealed.

As an employee and owner I would be interested to form a group to reclaim our worker's rights and restore the United family way of doing business "the friendly skies" that once had existence. I am in contact with other mechanics that feel the same way as I do and would be willing to come forward to put an end of the harassment,discrimination and improper conduct that exist at United Airlines. From a past motto "let's make it happen" and it could if "our family is United". I was made aware of this web site while reading a magazine in the doctors office,I will share this site with as many people as I can that have the same dissatisfaction with united airlines as I do. please feel free to contact me any time, and I would gladly provide you with names and how to contact other mechanics that have experienced inappropriate conduct at United Airlines.

Sincerely,
Edwin J House

Fri, 20 Aug 1999 10:25:30 -0700 (PDT)

I was an employee of United until I was fired in March 1997. I am an openly gay man who was an International Concierge at ---. My boss, ---, hates gays and was constantly harassing me. She yelled at me for wearing a Versace cashmere jacket one day to work. She wasn't even working that day, but heard from another supervisor how nice it was.

Anyway, I was fired for booking revenue space on the computer system. One day a waitlist cleared and I was sitting at the computer of another person (there were only 3 sets for 23 Concierges). I made a few changes to my reservation and let the employee know who was sitting by me. She didn't have a problem with it. When the waitlist cleared, a res agent tried to call her to inform her since her sign was in the system. When she was called she was very busy and forgot that I made the changes in her sign.

She admitted that she gave approval! There was nothing out of the ordinary with the reservation and I was a premier executive at the time. I asked the sales office for upgrades after a fellow worker encouraged me to. The sales office had no problem with it. No one had any problems with it except my boss. I had only worked at United for nine months at this time, but had worked for them before for almost four years without any problems. I completed the management development program at LAXRR and was considered an excellent employee.

At the hearings that followed there was no dispute about what happened. United's policy says that if you use someone else's sign-on or allow them to use your sign on, it is a violation. There was no malice. Everyone used everyone else's sign due to the lack of terminals in the office. Everyone was aware what I was doing and no one had any problems because I wasn't doing anything wrong. My termination wasn't reversed, even though the rule was applied unfairly. Attorneys wouldn't take the case even though they knew it had merit because there wasn't enough money involed. I still have all the papers and evidence. I am still a premier executive and when I flew to Paris last Christmas and used an upgrade given to me by a flight attendant after being inconvenienced, she tried to have the flight attendant fired as well.

Thu, 12 Aug 1999 22:14:20 -0700 (PDT)

I have collected an anthology of information on how ---, manager of the Reservations Department in --- POD Office has been capricious in his actions as a manager, discriminated against employees that did not cow tow to his dictatorial system, sexually harassed individuals (even went into the bathroom on a female employee), given final notices to individuals with impeccable reviews and orchid letters from customers, mentally abused individuals, caused emotional trauma to a female employee while undergoing chemo therapy, and the list goes on.

It is a shame because the upper management is well aware of this man's behavior and condones it by not doing anything about it. I have hard copy evidence and witnesses not speculations.

Tue, 10 Aug 1999 00:13:11 -0700 (PDT)

I worked with United for 6 months and the stress was horible. I had a lot of stomach problems due to nerves. My supervisor was always calling me in her office and telling me that I needed to do a better job. She always said that since I came from another airline, I should be doing better that everyone else on the floor. She was making my life miserable.

One day while working, I got sick and had to put a pax on hold to go to the bathroom to throw up. When I got back she called me into her office and told me to never put a pasenger on hold, not even to go throw up. She was always badgering me. I told her that I was sorry and that I had been real sick, she then asked me to bring her a doctors note, which I did. The doctor wrote her a letter on letterhead explaining my illness. When I went in the next day to work she called me into her office, I tried to give her the note but she would not take it, she fired me.

I am now at another airline and happy. There are alot of X-United employees there who went through similar situations with the exact same supervisor. The Supervisor seemed like she always wanted the people who wanted to further their career fired and she didn't stop until she succeeded.

I tried to sue United but I could not afford the attorneys fees.

Mon, 2 Aug 1999 09:11:25 -0700 (PDT)

I was put on indefinite disability by a company doctor after I fell on the plane while working a trip. The company then denied me compensation, claiming my injuries were not work related. I have been receiving only $48.95 per week total income from short term disability for the past 6 months.

Recently, my supervisor, without my knowledge, took me off medical leave and put me on personal leave. I did not find this out until I was denined treatment by a physician because my insurance had been terminated as a result of this change in leave status.

Thankfully a union rep. helped me to have that corrected. In short, as a result of my fall, a previous back condition has been severely aggravated. I also permanately injured my knee, shoulder and hip. I am currently under the advisement of an attorney, and have a lawsuit pending.

Sat, 24 Jul 1999 12:30:11 EDT

I got fired from United Airlines three days ago because of poor customer service and misinformation. The supervisor here at --- told me this job "wasn't right" for me and fired me for no reason. I am extremely bitter and upset because I came in everyday, sat down on my chair, and gave 100% of my effort. In the past few weeks I was starting to do well and getting thank you letters from customers. I should be staying with United and NOT looking for a job elsewhere.

Mon Jun 21 08:33:53 PDT 1999

We as mechanics that perform maintenance on you aircrafts feel embarassed to say that we work for United Airlines. the problems that you passenger see wrong in the interior of the aircraft that you fly on is the direct fault of our Maintenance Management. The foremen do not want us to document the problems that are "Cosmetic items" in the aircrafts. If we document what is wrong to be fixed, and we do not have time or part to fix the problem, it makes management look "BAD" to the upper chain of command. If you document something and it doesn't get fix right away, they do not score points for their job promotions. Its called "Deferred Rate Count".

We as Mechanics would like to fix everything wrong that we see but management will find a way to punish us. Sounds stupid, but is true. The FAA will not get involved, unless it is of a Safety matter. We have complained to the FAA, but they say that it is a Management-worker problem and not theirs. It is our right to document what ever we see wrong, but we have no power to enforce our rights.

One day i documented 20 seat covers to be changed and management yelled at me for doing it. I was alone with the forman that yelled at me, and i said "If it isn't dirty to you then let me put it on your face". he walked away...

Wed, 16 Jun 1999 07:59:05 EDT

Nice web site. I am a flight attendant for United Airlines and I have seen hundreads if not thousands of passengers that have been mistreated. Sometimes those incidents were not the fault of the employee or for that matter the airline. Unfortunatley most of the time they are the direct result of employee negligence.

Your complaints are welcome, I hope they are all addressed. Although I have a sneaky suspision they will not. As an employee I have written many a letter to management and I have never had a true response. They just send these"template", letters, there all the same the only thing different is the name on the header. You know what will make them listen? When they start seeing you flying on the competition. Keep the web site up its gonna get real busy.

Sun May 9 01:22:33 PDT 1999

I am a United Express employee and ashamed to admit it! I do try my personal best to try to counter all of the bad attitudes, but the attitude tends to be contagious and often I am the rude agent. At any rate both United and United Express, with few exceptions treat the customers like garbage. I can't say how many times I have felt guilty looking at the people sleeping in the airport while I am on my way home because their flight was cancelled due to weather. Often when I want to do something for passengers, I am blocked by supervisors and always changing "company policy" Guess what -they don't just treat their customers bad, they treat their employees bad too. They think that the fact that we get flight privileges erases it. The scheduling is such that you are competing with your co-workers for a schedule and if you have a life, you might as well seek employment elsewhere. Also, they don't give the gate agents much of the training that they need, especially United Express. Oh and did you hear about the kid in Boise Idaho, where the idiot flight attendant let an unaccompanied minor off of the plane, and he wandered 30 miles down the freeway?! I know I personally am thinking about quitting and trying to get a job with an airline that treats their people and customers with respect.

Tue May 4 10:40:58 PDT 1999

I can't say I enjoyed reading the web-site, becuase I do enjoy working for United Airlines, they "were" a great company to work for as well as a great company to fly. However, in recent months, United has made it very clear, that that "great company to work for" is no longer part of United Airlines.

What makes the job stressful is that United hires people with no airline experience at all, no computer knowledge, and 1 year of customer service backgroud from the local Burger King, sends them through a 7 week training program, paying them $7/hour.

I came to United, because of the employee ownership, because I thought they were a good company. And for a while, i have to admit they had me fooled. United Reservations has voted to be unionized, and just last week, the tentative agreement was released, all reservations employees were bright-eyes because of the way United and the union made the contract out to be a "great improvement over our current conditions", exceeding airline industry standards. When we reviewed the new agreement, we found there was free-parking and a 44 cent per hour increase, I'm sorry, but United simply MUST do better if they want to keep people there to answer the phones.

I must say we are lucky here in the United Sates: we United employees can choose to take our hard work to another airline that values its employees as well as its customers. It's most clear to me now: United does not value either.

Sat, 31 Oct 1998 05:15:53 -0800 (PST)

I was sexually harassed in the UAL pkg lot at JFK by another UAL employee. This employee won the case, when he was in the union, I wasn't. He lied throughout the whole hearing, and I am not getting any justice. The company knew I was leaving for another job, perhaps that's why they voted for him and not me. UAL places a high value on zero tolerance... I just don't understand. This guy touched my breasts and he gets away with it. What is wrong with you people?

Ed: According to the letter writer, she contacted Kevin Wiggins at JFK, who conducted a hearing regarding ramp svcman [name removed], who put his hand down her shirt to touch her breasts. After 5 weeks, the writer was told that she lost her case.

Fri, 19 Jun 1998 23:08:57 -0400 (EDT)

I would like to tell all of you about my husband who currently works for United Airlines and the discrimination the company has shown people like him because he elects to defend this country with the Military Reserves. He has worked for UAL for the past 9 years and has been a part of the military for over the past 16 years. His flying job in the Reserves requires that he serve an average of 120 days per year to keep his flight skills current. His supervisor at UAL removed him from scheduled training classes with the justification that "he wasn't a dependable employee due to the time he spends with the reserves." The same supervisor changed an accident report 2 days after it was filled out by another supervisor and without my husband's knowledge. My husband wrote to many management personnel, including the VP of Maintenance about his treatment but it fell upon deaf ears. None of them rendered any assistance nor did they investigate his complaint or take it seriously. All of which I am told violates company regulations, not to mention federal laws, concerning any employee who complains of discrimination in the workplace.

Finally upset with the lack of response taken by the company's management, he filed an official complaint with the US DOL/VETS office here in Indiana. At the end of this federal investigation, it was found that UAL had discriminated against my husband due to his military obligation and stated so in a letter to the Manager of the IMC. UAL continued to ignore the problem, so my husband wrote to Mr. Edwardson, President and COO of UAL, and to Mr. Greenwald, CEO of UAL. Although both of these gentlemen were sent copies of the findings by the US DOL/VETS investigation, they too elected to take no corrective action. Needless to say we have been forced to hire a law firm. It's a shame that it takes a court room to get UAL to "talk". Is this the "Open Communication" policy UAL has told its employees about?

As for the changing of the accident report by his supervisor, it prevented my husband from getting the medical treatment ordered by a UAL doctor. Finally, after fighting with UAL and the company's insurance administrator, they sent him to a specialist. He was then told that his back was broken in 2 places and the disk was shot. After the 4 1/2 hour surgery and all the pins and screws they had to install to fix his back, he is now partially disabled. Because this is not a "Service Related Injury" my husband will more than likely be medically discharged out of the military with no entitlement to any retirement benefits. My husband wasn't disabled during his 16 years of service nor was he disabled during the Gulf War. It took his employer, United Airlines, to do that.

My hope in writing this letter is to inform every employee of United Airlines who is part of the military reserves to watch your backs! Management doesn't want their employees spending any time away from their precious "money machine" and it appears they will do anything it takes to keep them there working. I hope other spouses will not have to watch their husbands or wives become disabled, or worse, all because of UAL's "Management Team" and their "commitment" towards the men and women who serve to keep our country free for all of us. It is unbelievable that UAL continues to apply for and is granted big dollar Department of Defense contracts by our government. Shame on our government for "awarding" any of these financially lucrative Department of Defense contracts to UAL. I guess there is no place in UAL for corporate morality where there is money to be made.

United Airlines has forced us to resolve this complaint through federal litigation simply because they can afford to. They are willing to spend their record breaking profits on their attorneys, in order to defend the actions of corporate officers. I guess their written corporate policy of "Zero Tolerance" for discrimination in the work place does not apply to management personnel, even prior to, during and after a federal investigation. If any of you who read this feel that the treatment by United Airlines of a military reserve employee is appalling, then write to them and to your elected Senators and Congressmen and let them know it; we have.

Tue, 7 Apr 1998 21:21:41 EDT

I was employed by UAL for approximately four years, working in an aircraft provisioning group. During this time, I was appointed to an employee task team, based at corporate headquarters in Chicago, for approximately one year, to establish new provisioning procedures and implement them world-wide. On return to my normal post, I was met with intense resistance from the supervisor and manager of the department when I attempted to train the employees on new procedures and implement the new process. The supervisor and manager also ignored my reports of safety and health problems.

I filed grievances through the personnel department and eventually contacted the FAA and FDA regarding these issues. The complaints led to retaliation against me and intimidation of my wife, also an employee, who was acting as my representative in the grievance hearing. I was assigned to a new work area, a different shift assignment, and different days off, with the manager's knowledge that I would be unable to accept, thereby forcing my resignation.

I know of several others in similar situations (some of whose letters appear in this web site) who have been retaliated against by UAL. I am now looking for additional employees, especially those who have filed their own lawsuits against the airline, who have experienced similiar situations concerning discrimination, retaliation, intimidation, grievance steps, punishments, whistle-blowing, breach of contract, Series 15 violations, etc, in the hopes that we can help each other.

Ed: If you have any information that would be of benefit, please use the fill-in form to send your story to the former employee.

Wed, 18 Mar 1998 23:41:21 EST

I am a former United Airlines employee. I have worked at the corporate office on temporary assignment, and was based in MIA as a CS/CG agent, where some of the employees in my opinion have been discriminated against, abused, intimidated and retaliated against by the ramp manager and his subordinates.

I hope that my federal lawsuit, which contains 6 seperate federal counts, as well as the lawsuits of 5 of my fellow (former) employees will wake the upper managment up, so that they stop turning a blind eye to the unscrupulous actions of some of their management. I have lost count of exactly how many employees have been terminated in MIA since I have left, but the lawsuits range from racial discrimination to whistle-blowing, and everything in between. There are alot of good people working for this company in MIA, and I hate to see any more of them terminated by the corrupt management in place there. I had hoped Gerald Greenwald would remember what I told him when I met with him in his office --- the worst thing he could possibly do would be to turn the other way, but that's exactly what he did.

Now, the lawfirm representing United Airlines (in Florida) is trying to find ways to keep him from appearing at a deposition, even though he is a material witness. Good luck to those of you still employed --- if you value your jobs, do not transfer to MIA!!! For me, I can only hope that my lawsuit will prevent anyone else having to go through the hell that I and many people before me had to endure.

Mon, 16 Mar 1998 17:50:35 -0500 (EST)

As a former reservations agent for United, please let me defend some of the accusations of imcompetence on the part of the reservations agents.

Agents are given 7 weeks of training, during which time about 1/3 of the trainees drop out due to the high stress level. Before training is completed they start taking "live" calls from customers - customers who have no idea that they are talking to a trainee with no experience. At the completion of training agents are sent "to the floor" to begin taking calls 8 hours a day. Even after 7 weeks though, the agents still have only about 1/3 of the knowledge necessary to truly be of service to the customers. This results in customers continually put on hold while the agent tries to get help (one "help desk" for as many as 25 agents). Agents are tethered to the computer and phone console for the entire 8 hours with only 1/2 an hour for lunch and 2 15 minute breaks - all of which are timed to the second by the phone console.

Also timed are the number of instances that the agent goes to "after call work" or any other times that he/she is not taking a call. Agents take an enormous amount of verbal abuse from customers - called liars, foul names, sworn at, screamed at, blamed for loss of luggage, blamed for late flights, blamed for airport delays and on and on. All this for $6.75/hour and and a 6 month wait for flight benefits, lousy shift hours, working holidays and weekends.

I came from a class of 12 (started out at 20). Just a few months after training, only 5 remain "on the floor". Needless to say, classes are run in continual cycles due to the high turnover. It is impossible to give the best in customer service when turnover is so high, stress and exhaustion are factors, and your every move and word is being monitored. Because the 800# routes calls to the least busy reservation center in the nation, it is impossible to track down a certain agent or to request the same one you talked to last time. The agents know this and therefore are comfortable in their virtual anonimity when they know they've screwed up because the customer won't be able to call them back and scream.

I'm sure the 6 month wait for benefits is because they are fairly certain that most of the agents will quit before the 6 months is up and they'll never have to worry about giving away "free" flights. So the next time you get an agent on the line that seems lost, hesitant, puts you on hold frequently, doesn't know the answers to your questions, etc. keep in mind that that agent has probably only been on the job a few days or weeks and won't last much longer than that. And the next time you call, you'll be getting another inexperienced agent and so on and so on.

Ed: Untied.com does not condone the abusive treatment that some passengers show toward reservations agents nor any other airline employees. By the same token though, it seems highly irresponsible of UAL to put new or untrained agents to work without adequate support from more experienced personnel. Given these working conditions, it is little wonder that the airline has so many problems.

Sun, 25 Jan 1998 15:09:46 -0500 (EST)

Have you thought of doing an expose on employees with United who are wrongfully terminated from the company? I do not work for UAL but my husband DID and I know of numerous employee horror stories -- all of whom have been fired for having disabilities.

United DOES NOT like to accommodate disabilities. If they do, it is after a very long battle in which they are finally forced to do so. Then, usually, the individuals are targeted for termination. This has been verified by several supervisors. United has the abilities to manipulate the system to fire the employees wrongfully, but try to justifiy it rightfully. They need to be exposed to the public for this kind of treatment. If the public was aware of this, they would be appalled.

Unfortunately, for now, this should be anonymous due to possible litigation matters we are pursuing along with a host of other individuals here and in other areas of the country. I have seen UAL spend thousands of dollars on, for example, an $800 Workman's Comp. Claim that they did not want to pay for. Why??? And, where do you think they are getting the money to fight the litigation? From the public who is buying their tickets!

Wed, 14 Jan 1998 23:31:33 -0500 (EST)

I work for UAL and daily see kennels that are unfit to send on a plane due to Dept. of Agriculture regulations: no water dishes; too bad, collapsable kennel; too bad, duct tape used to hold kennel together is not the worst I've seen. I've reported all this and more to supervisors, Dept. heads and even regional VPs with no luck. Finally I contacted the USDA directly and am waiting to file a deposition. In short please don't send your pets on United unless you really don't care if they arrive alive or not.

Tue, 16 Dec 1997 04:27:12 -0500 (EST)

Ed: This note came from an individual who, earlier, had dismissed the initial version of the Untied website, and in particular, our own initial letter of complaint to United, as he apparently misunderstood many of the key points. Interestingly, his comments, below, indicate that he now takes the site far more seriously. Not surprisingly, so does UAL management!

I've just read some of the employee letters. As an employee myself I must say I agree with 99 percent of them. Complaining is something we can all do, what about a solution? One of Greenwalds popular references directs us to take a look at UA's profits. His belief is that if it makes a profit it must be correct. If this were only true.

Well it is not. I can tell you a few of his profit making schemes don't work. UA hires anybody and I mean anybody. Recently, a Customer Service agent was promoted to the Human Resources department at a Major hub of UA. Most of the CS agents were happy to hear this, as it may help in the hiring of proper individuals. After all a CS agent can see the the kind of people working around him have been put there by mistake (by management who know nothing about what it takes to be a cs agent). This persons ideas were shattered when he was told that he has a quota to fill, a turnover rate to match and that the only way to do that is to hire anything that breathes.

I quote directly from a member of the hiring department as saying, "We'll hire anyone that breathes." So I will tell you that as long as UA hires anything that breathes, that is the only thing that you are going to get in response to your complaints.....breathing, after all that's all it takes to get hired at UA. And for you Greenwald. Yes hiring gangmembers, computer illiterates, high school drop outs and employees who can't speak english, does make a profit for YOU in the short run. But you get what you pay for. And a web page like this is what you pay for and believe me it's costing.

Sun, 16 Nov 1997 13:58:29 -0500

I enjoy your site imensely. I am from a UA family. My brother, uncle and 2 cousins work at ORD (Chicago). I even gave up a chance to work there to finish my grad degree. Maybe the best move of my life...

I often am given "buddy pasees" for UA which I don't use. I have my own share of horror stories as does my entire family. I have deduced that the only way to get good service on UA is to fly with an employee who knows the crew. I am hesitant to share my stories as it may reflect badly on my family members at UA. They are the last of the good ones. I just laugh (cry?) when I read about luggage that can't be loaded at the gate!! My brother is a lead at ORD. All they have to do is drop it down through the jetway. The FAs are just too damn lazy!!!!

Sun, 21 Sep 1997 09:40:27 -0500

I just perused your web site "Untied Airlines" and I love it. I'm an eleven year United Airlines employee working at [...] I can relate to the many sad stories about the poor service rude, employees, and misinformation we provide to our customers. It's really too bad we have employees give such poor service and who are totally inconsiderate towards the passengers.

I believe this is a result of poor managment because we react and interact towards the customer just as management reacts and interacts with us. I'm talking about mid management. I've written many letters to senior management and even discussed the behavior of mid management with Mr. Greenwald who assured me that changes would be made. This was in 1995 and things have changed little.

Thanks for taking the time to establish this web site. I really hope that senior management takes the time to really make the necessary personal changes in mid management that we so badly need to occur in order for our sevice to improve.

11 Sep 1997 22:07:41

I was a United Customer Service Representative for two years and find your Web site sad but true. I agree with presenting the problem of poor service to United's staff but the sad truth is they have no idea how to fix it.

A friend of mine was at a general communications UA meeting with several senior managers at Elk Grove Village. Presentations were made, goals set, plans made, rhetoric rang through the auditorium. After several ideas were presented about making improvements to UA's service the floor was opened to questions. My friend, a experienced business person who had flown thousands of miles on his own airline thought about it and asked "How can we train our flight attendants and customer service people to handle the stress of their jobs and maintain courteous and professional relationships with our customers?" The flight attendants in the audience started to make rude comments and get irritated. The senior manager became very nervous and started to summarize how well the inflight service staff did their jobs and the meeting nervously proceeded around the question.

The flight attendants are unionized at United. They did not participate in the ownership deal. The bottom line it's damn hard to discipline or fire a flight attendant and even harder to set up a reward system for the really good attendants. The truth is there are some great attendants at United. These people love what they do and love the people that fly with them. There is also the other extreme, they are rude, thoughtless, and seem to relish in the small amount of power they get when the aircraft door closes. Ironically, the good, the bad, and the ugly get treated all the same. Does UA want to improve the inflight service? Step one. Set up HR policies that motivate the crews, are fair, and maintain professional competent staff. Step two. Ditch the union. Some unions help companies grow a keep good people, this one doesn't.

The customer service agents are not unionized and are paid low and assigned mandatory overtime resulting in long hours. When I worked for United, I started at $16,500, two years later I was making a salary of $18,300 after two high rated reviews. I was college educated and would have been homeless except for family. Sure there were great flight benefits, but you couldn't eat those. They didn't help you pay your car payments either. I quit UA for a better job I hear stories from a few die hard friends who stayed in UA about gang people working at the reservations centers. My point in all of this is that you get what you pay for in hiring and compensating people. United has invested very little in its people capital as of recent and it shows. The Ivy League degrees at WHQ are useful tools, but management needs fly their airline and make honest evaluations, meet their employees and work with them. The management at United needs to drop grandiose ideas about slogans and commercials. They need to commit to the field and build the best business practices they can from operations of the aircraft cleaning crews to Chief Executive Office. They are a world class airline no doubt, but they could be the best in their class.

I replied to the Premier Executive who felt he had been lied to at Traverse City. I think he was treated terrible. There were things I felt he should know. I am thoroughly convinced he was a victim of stupidity and not dishonesty. The gate agent probably didn't even know what the passenger paid for his ticket. The individual at the gate was a Great Lakes employee and probably had no idea how to handle the situation, he or she was probably poorly trained. United like all airlines overbooks flights on a history basis. A majority of the time this works fine but sometimes everyone shows up and there begins the trouble. Most airlines give the people with seat assignments priority. (This based on the assumption that these people booked first and took the assignments) But Apollo and Sabre (UA and AA Reservation systems) erase seat assignments on any equipment change. This poor fellow probably got his seat assignments, the EQC happened and he lost them (even though they're still printed on his ticket) in the system. Other people call after the EQC and get new seat assignments or book afterward and our poor traveller is dropped in priority in an over capacity case. Here is what should have happened:

1. Your travel agent should have checked your reservation 24 hours prior to your travel. That is what you pay them for. The error would have been fixed by a United Travel Agency Customer Service Rep. and most definitely and Premier Executive CR worth his/her weight in dirt would have fixed this for your agent long before you and your family hit the airport. Shame on the travel agent.

2. The United Express/Great Lakes Rep. should have had the brains to find you a flight back home WITH THE TICKET YOU HAD. Any CSR with a bit of United training would have least recognized you were a PE and at least done that. The connections might have been unconventional but you would have gotten there none the less. I've offered compensation to other passengers to get them off planes so I could get PE's on. Shame on GL for lousy training. Shame on UA for letting a partner carrier abuse a valued customer.

My message is long but heart felt. I am not a "UA basher". I truly love UA despite it's need for improvement. I was never rich at United but I had some wonderful times. I met some excellent people ( including my wife) when I worked there in my associations with co-workers, customers, and people I met on trips. I still fly UA and sometimes I'm treated like royalty and other times..... well like a refugee. I hope UA fires some damn lawyers and hires some outstanding managers. Maybe that will bring change for the better.

Sun, 20 Jul 1997 23:23:40 -0400

As another UA employee that was referred to this web site, I also spent a great deal of time reading all of the comments and information contained in this site. I must admit that I am not surprised by what I have read. On the contrary, it is old news to me.

There is a plethora of several reasons why the quality of our customer service has deteriorated - probably some I don't know about - but a few key reasons. First, although the value of our stock has skyrocketed since the employee take-over (ESOP), this is something that has really benefitted the senior employees. Anyone with less than three years of service with United is getting a VERY poor compensation package.

This problem snowballed into the next one - interoffice divisions. We are not a United airline. Flight attendants are not part of the ESOP. The unions are heavily involved in contracts that contain some very questionable provisions. Pilots are getting a fabulous deal from the ESOP thanks to their contract. Senior management has been getting huge bonuses thanks to the airline's Wall Street performance, while we are all told that nothing can be done to improve our compensaton packages.

There is no pay-for-skill at United. And this does not create a comfortable nor amicable work environment. I can't believe that United's senior management didn't have the foresight to see that this would create serious problems.

As an instructor, I don't feel that the majority of new hires has the skills necessary to do the job that's asked of them. This is not to say they couldn't develop the skills (let's face it, we're not surgeons), but, in my opinion, they are not given adequate training, and the 1K desk was the largest offender of this. After just seven weeks of very intense training, and two weeks of on-the-job training, some agents were immediately sent to the Premier Desk to serve our most valuable customers.

Sun, 20 Jul 1997 12:19:52 -0400 (EDT)

As a pilot with over 30 years service with United, I've become ineasingly disgusted and appalled at management's blatant disregard for the customers who gave us our success.I live in the Pacific NorthWest, and no longer even attempt to apologize or excuse the way our management has deliberately and stupidly shafted one of the most prosperous and heretofore loyal customer bases we once had. When asked why United no longer offers service along many very lucrative routes we once served from Seattle and Portland, I only tell people that out geniuses have decided that everyone now must be herded through the cattle chute in San Francisco. San Francisco, where even the slightest cloud cover causes massive delays, diversions, and cancellations. Where we once flew full airplanes to London, Hong Kong, Honolulu Reno, Sacramento, and many other destinations, our geniuses destroyed all service to those places and told this entire region that "if you want to go anywhere from here, you have to be herded through the San Francisco cattle chute, and if you don't like it, then, to hell with you and your money."

When disillusioned travelers ask (or berate) me about this, I can only tell them that this airline is managed by "geniuses" who think they know what's best, and that we are mere digits in their silly little computer model. These "geniuses" have a total pig-headed commitment to their "hubs', and no amout of logic, costs, inconvenience, customer dissatisfaction delays, experience or pleading is going to change that. So all I do is strap on my airplane and fly it the best way I know how, but tell people if it were me traveling, I would go by any means possible to avoid the horror story on the bay.

Sat, 19 Jul 1997 21:36:14 -0400 (EDT)

Dear Mr. Greenwald,

I just visited a web page called Untied.com. May I suggest that you read the letters and comments therein VERY CAREFULLY, and then act on this information? It would be far more productive than the new, empty ad campaign.

Sincerely,
[name removed]
Captain

Fri, 11 Jul 1997 03:13:20 -0400

Mr. Greenwald has alot of gentlemanly manners, diplomacy and even an upfront no holds barred discussions with us employees at airport sites. However you are right that these new directives [concerning improved service as promised by the new United ad campaign] have to filter down through management and supervision.

But you know what, we don't have such supervision anymore. All the people who made United Airlines at one time a place where employees had a "family" feel and people who really cared is long gone and it left round about 1978. Alot of these longtime employees and caring people have retired and left this airline. In the past year United has made it mandatory that all or most employees attend a one-day session called "Mission United". This was a useful "tool" but not long enough (one day, 200 people in one session) primarily aimed at getting us to see the benefits of being caring employees and happy to work for United and make it the BEST airline etc, etc.

Oh, lets not forget we are employee/owners and we are allowed to be "empowered" to make decisions towards the customer (not always having to run to a supervisor to ask for permission); however, I have yet to make a decision towards a customer (hopefully in his/her favor) that wasn't "shot down" by my peers. I either get flack or negative comments or I'm surrounded by fellow workers who can't make a decision to save their life. Thank God I have the strength and mindset to ignore them and make the decisions I have to make.

One letter in this website concerning a lady with lupus who was traveling with a piece of medical equipment and got no help or compassion, compounded by insensitive comments, really got to me. The best point this writer made was about flight attendants and employees who said it wasn't in their contract to lift the equipment. What assholes - their parents obviously never taught them about human compassion. I have been brought down a peg myself after "losing it" with a customer or being somewhat sarcastic when the next person that comes in front of me has an infirmity or is elderly or somewhat lost or helpless - this is the thing that should humble people toward others.

Here's an example of a longtime United Airlines employee (now retired) who behaved differently. One time he observed a young girl with parents traveling to Mayo Clinic (she was in the late stages of cancer). He allowed her brothers on the plane to say their last goodbyes as they were not traveling with her. The tears and emotions he said were wrenching as it was obvious they would probably never see her again. On another occasion, the same agent helped a Viet Vet with no legs and only one arm be lifted into his seat. It was mandatory to tell the gentleman that in the event of an emergency probably no one would be able to aid him. (He did tell him quite diplomatically and the gentleman understood completely).

The bottom line is THEY DON'T MAKE THEM LIKE THAT ANYMORE.

Mr. Cooperstock, I will try in my own small way to be a better customer service person for United, your site has humbled me. I thank you and probably will never have the pleasure of meeting you on a United Airlines flight. Nevertheless, keep up the good work and I will look at this site frequently.

Ed: And if United encouraged its other employees to adopt a similar attitude to that described above, rather than continue to treat its passengers with contempt, this web site would have no reason to exist.

Wed, 9 Jul 1997 02:44:12 -0400

Thanks for a great web site. I am a United employee for 18 years and although I honestly have to say I really enjoy working for United and United has been good to me, I can see the reason for such complaints. In my opinion the reason is the people they have hired in the past 5, 10, 15 years. Because of the "politically correct" and "diversity accepting" society we all have to live in, they have hired many incompetent, inarticulate, nonthinking, noneducated people who only take up space and still think working for the airlines is so glamorous. They are now on C and D level pay scales which equate to about $6-$7 per hour with less than the same medical/travel benefits those of us hired pre-1975.

What is so glamorous about this starting pay with no hope for maximum for about 10 years. The turnover is in a constant state of flux - who would stay at this rate of pay if they can't even enjoy the travel benefits because they can't afford to go where they want to go? United for the past 10 years has paid people peanuts so all they have is "monkeys". Until they pay a decent starting wage and hire people who are educated, experienced and able to speak English they will continue to get the employees and service that these people have rightfully complained about.

Wed, 11 Jun 1997 13:52:29 -0400

A coworker at UAL directed me to your Untied website. And I promptly spent much to much time reading the horror stories. Although most of it is negative, I can only hope more UAL employees read it and strive to eliminate the need for it. As for me, I work baggage service at [airport name] and if I can ever be of assistance in the lost luggage field, feel free to e-mail me.

Wed, 04 Jun 1997 14:31:40 -0500

I just read the new letter about lost baggage. It does sound like a clear UA error. I am surprised that we have not settled with these pax yet. It sounds like her info just got lost by UA, not a very good commentary, but it does happen. Unfortunately it seems like they are starting from square one at this point.

Sun, 25 May 1997 11:38:01 -0400 (EDT)

I am an eight year flight attendant with United Airlines, and I found your pages very interesting. I have to say that I think some very good points are raised in the many letters I have read. These changes need to start from the top and work their way down. No service that can't be provided in a consistant manner should be offered. It's that simple. Please keep writing management! Believe it not, we are in this thing together!

Wed, 09 Apr 1997 21:29:26 -0500

I find it humorous that UAL has had lawyers write you as opposed to a customer relations person. I know that all you want is an acknowledgement of the problem. I bet it would have been easier for UAL to admit the problem than to get lawyers involved.

Tue, 04 Feb 1997 14:45:08 -0800