United Airlines Sucks: UAL Reaches New Heights in Bad Customer Experiences

I now call the “Star Alliance” of airlines “The Death Star Alliance.” I have never been treated so horribly as by United, US Airways and Continental.

My great idea to take our 10 month old son to visit all the Grandparents turned into the trip from hell. Much like “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” meets “The Out-of-Towners” we encountered almost every possible problem an airline can throw at you. We flew on seven flights, drove 450 miles unexpectedly, got sick and were injured. To add insult to injury, my infant was nearly strip searched at one check point and I was photographed for a blog on travel misery. (I cut quite a figure with a car seat strapped to my back, stroller, laptop and diaper bag while bolting to make a connection at O’Hare.)

Each leg was late departing and arriving. We missed connections and stood in lines for hours trying to get alternate flights. Our upgrades were “lost”, we were re-routed to airports not on our route, only to have those flights canceled. Our baggage was locked up in storage, lost or sent to the wrong terminal.

The final straw was sitting on the tarmac for 4 1/2 hours for a shuttle flight between Newark and Norfolk only to have the flight canceled. We were then put on a flight to Richmond that was also canceled. The customer service desk shut down leaving everyone stranded with no hotels, transportation or food, since the airport restaurants also shut down. With no alternative flights available for two days, I had to rent a car at a distant location (none at the airport) and drive to North Carolina.

Don’t get me started on the lousy equipment. One plane kept losing power so we couldn’t get off. Yet another lost air conditioning and condensation was raining from the ceiling. As if that weren’t enough, the last flight’s seat cushions weren’t attached to the frame so the shot off like slip ‘n slide toys.

The flight crews ranged from angry to scary. My husband had scalding tea dumped on him. One stewardess lost her shoe and was crawling up and down the aisle looking for it. Another was like Nurse Ratchett patrolling the passengers.

I got a gushing nose bleed on one flight and had to be iced to keep from flooding the plane. I had to change my son on the lid of the toilet of one of the filthiest bathrooms I’ve seen outside of the third world (and I’ve been to the third world). My husband contracted some pestilence from his first flight. I got an eye stye on my third of six flights - a staph infection from the bathroom I suspect.

They whammied us to the end with our connection home from Dulles to LAX missed while we sat on the tarmac yet again. We managed to get three standby seats on the last bucket of bolts out to LAX. When we arrived, half of the luggage was MIA…ours went to a different terminal, but at least it got there.

You know when even the stewardesses are pissed, the airline has a problem.

DOWN WITH THE “DEATH STAR ALLIANCE” - MAY ALL THE EXECUTIVES AND MANAGERS OF THE AIRLINES BE THROWN ON THEIR OWN STINKY PLANES AND HELD HOSTAGE WITHOUT FOOD OR OPERATIONAL TOILETS FOR 48 HOURS AND MAYBE THEN, THEY’LL KNOW THE MISERY THEY INFLICT ON THEIR HIGH PAYING CUSTOMERS.

We’re buying an Airstream Bambi…screw flying!

- An Angry Mom in Marina del Rey

Wow Angry Mom, you’ve had the worst travel experiences I’ve ever heard of. I can’t assume that was all United-specific issues, but regardless, I think you’re onto something with the Airstream, you just weren’t meant to fly. I hope your luck improves in the future. Thanks for sharing and making me feel better!

Airline executives will never be subjected to the travails of the ‘little people’ *because* they’re execs. They are insulated/isolated from that by ‘white glove’ treatment, because of who they are. So, not only do they not see it. They don’t care. They can’t care. Stockholders force practices and decisions that may be good for ‘the bottom line’ *this* fiscal year, but are deadly stupid over the long haul. Until and unless the stupid decision affect the bottom line and/or the stock price, it will continue.

This kind of stuff will likely kill off the regional airlines. By the time one drives to the airport, stands in a security line for an hour-and-a-half, flies somewhere for two hours, then takes another forty-five minutes to get to their luggage, rent a car, and get the heck outta the airport, the only logical conclusion that one can draw is that it’s just easier to *drive* to any destination under five hours’ driving time away. Bye-bye regional airlines. Of course, the unwelcome side effect of that will be new restrictions and pricing structures (read predatory) from the airlines and the car rental agencies.

All of the measures taken in the name of security have done *nothing* to really increase security for the flying public. It’s all window dressing, and for looks, to make the uninformed flying masses ‘feel good’ by what they *think* they see. And no one should have to deal with “attitude” from a barely above minimum wage, non-native-English speaking “security screener” who only two weeks ago was cleaning office buildings in Fresno. It’s less hassle to drive to the close-in destinations as I said earlier, or to avoid the whole lost/damaged/AIRLINE EMPLOYEE luggage STEALING circumstances by simply sending your stuff ahead via UPS. At least UPS gets stuff where it’s supposed to be, knows when it gets there, and doesn’t smash the crap out of it, or drop it on the tarmac in the mean time.

“Security screeners” mess with you because they can!! It’s a big power trip for little people with big egos. Airlines mess with you because they can! Where else are you gonna go? And if you try to discuss, resist, or try to get them to insert a little common sense, or reason into the process, they label you a security risk, keep you off the plane, and focus a whole bunch of security attention in your direction just to ‘teach you a lesson.’

I *hate* government intervention into ‘free enterprise’ but someone outside that whole process needs to shake some sense into the whole industry.. Yeah, like *that’s* gonna happen any time soon!

John makes excellent points about the ineffectiveness of the TSA and how inefficient regional air travel is getting. I agree we need help on a bigger scale.

I don’t have any flying tails about United, and my experience isn’t particularly current either, but I believe it is relevant. Back in 2004 I worked briefly for TSA (Transportation Security Administration - another miserable organization with a lot of unhappy employees. But that’s a different story). I worked at San Jose (California) airport and was on the ramp, so I interacted with the ramp employees and baggage handlers for most of the airlines that flew into SJC. At the time I was there, Southwest had the most flights, followed by American, Alaska, United, Delta and America West.

By a wide margin, the most unhappy, miserable ramp workers (and ticket agents) were the United Employees. Almost without exception, they were careless, thoughtless and treated everyone who worked around them like dirt. I saw numerous examples of bags left sitting on the ramp as the plane departed, and luggage thrown about beyond the point of carelessness.

In contrast, the Southwest ramp workers were enthusiastic, happy and fun to work with. They often went out of there way to be kind to us TSA folks and to go the extra distance for their passengers. I even watched Southwest baggage handlers take bags out to planes after they had pushed back from the gate. Most of the other airlines fell somewhere in between, with several airlines (including Alaska and Delta) using contract workers instead of airline employees for ramp work.

That probably helps explain why in the latest Consumer Reports, Southwest was near the top for service, satisfaction and price, while United was near the bottom.

I happened to stumble on this link and figured I might as well share my experience with United Airlines in a nut shell…..Original flight got canceled. Put us on another flight later in the day and even though I paid extra for a seat with more leg space they told people to sit where ever they wanted on the new plane and I got stuck in a cramped seat. They told us there would be representatives waiting for us when we arrived to get us hotel rooms for our lay over….no one was there. When we finally tracked some one down to help us they gave us $6 a piece for breakfast. I wrote them three times to at least get my money back for the extra money I spent for a seat I didn’t get. Still haven’t heard from them.

“…the United Employees. Almost without exception, they were careless, thoughtless and treated everyone who worked around them like dirt. I saw numerous examples of bags left sitting on the ramp as the plane departed, and luggage thrown about beyond the point of carelessness.”

VSU: A Very strong Union is never good for Corporations or their customers.

Here is a story on the positive side. My wife and I recently flew to Seattle from Rochester NY by Airtran. I had to change flights in Atlanta. The Airtran employees were helpful and courteous on both flights. On the return trip our flight was delayed in Atlanta because of heavy thunderstorms. I tracked the flight arrival and departure times on the website for a month before we left. The only time they were late was during storms. Most of the time they were a few minutes early.

I couldn’t agree more.

United should just pack it up and go home… do the world a big favor.

The last 2 of 3 flights that I have had on United have been cancelled. The 1st was due to mechanical problems (the inbound flight had to execute an emegency landing with passengers heads between their knees) so I was not that upset about not being able to board that same plane to leave my home city. What was upsetting was the fact that the United employees in the airport stalled those of us who were waiting to leave until the last flight on another airline had left. At that point they admitted that the flight was cancelled. The 2nd experince was even worse. I had to make last second reservations to attend a funeral. Being that my reservations were last second, I understood that I would pay an exorbitant amount for the ticket. Since it was going to be expensive anyway I flew out of the small regional airport nearest to my home in western Colorado. While waiting in the Denver airport on my return flight I saw the “on-time” sign at the gate suddenly change to “cancelled”. However, the ticket agents said nothing. When I asked, the agent I was speaking to immidiately cut me off and said that I would have to talk to customer service (a 10 minute walk). When I got to customer service the line did not move at all. Long story short, my flight was canceled because the pilot never showed (which they admitted). Instead of refunding any of the $1000 bucks I had to spend on my ticket. They gave me a $250 travel voucher so that I could fly their crappy airline again. One last thing, when I orginally asked for a bereavement rate, I was told that they were “sold out” of bereavement rates for the flight that I needed. How many relatives of dead grandmothers could their be on one Thursday in the western slope of Colorado? I am planning on wiping my butt with the $250 voucher.

To KentJLewis,

Did you ever happen to think that UAL didn’t purposefully overbook those flights, and that maybe weather delays and cancellations caused their computer systems to pack in the thousands of other stranded passenger into the next available flights (including those coming from other airlines)? Their computer programs “know” the average amount of no-shows for their flights, and sell seats accordingly. To not do so is inefficient and money-wasting.

Delays during bad weather suck, for everyone including the airline itself! The alternative is to just let the pilots takeoff with no consideration at all for weather conditions at the destination. The Feds have established “Minimum Landing” conditions just to help everyone, including FAA and aircraft Captains, in the Go-No go decision. Be glad it’s that way. Pack a sleepsack and then ship your important, but needed, excess baggage by FedEx.
CPMJohn

United sucks, never talk to customer service in India, they donot have clue regarding customer service, I wish United go out of business.

I am Rashi Gupta. I recently traveled to US by Air India and United Airlines on July 20, 2007. I want to share my terrible experience with these airlines which left no stone unturned to screw up with my baggage and with my career.

I traveled from Delhi to London by Air India and then to Chicago and finally Austin by United Airlines. When I reached my destination, I didn’t receive my baggage at the Austin airport. I received only one of them and one is missing. I tried to contact United Airlines and their customer service (800-221-6093) kept giving me different stories each time. I have been calling them like hell 4-5 times a day and I haven’t received anything specific regarding the missing bag. All they say is that we are sorry sir and we are working on your file. I am kept in the dark from the first day. Air India is even worse than United Airlines since they don’t even have a 1-800 number in US and the number (773-686-1435) they have given is always on the voicemail and voicemail is full so it can’t even accept new messages.

This is my first visit to US and I am here on a student visa. I lost all my important documents and transcripts kept on this missing suitcase. I also lost pretty much all my clothes, utensils, spices … others from India. I am a student and I don’t have money to buy these stuff again and nor don’t I have money to go back to India and get my transcripts re-issued. I can’t even get admission for MS which was expected to start Aug 1.
It has been more than a week now and they are not giving me any compensation and they can’t even trace where my bag was scanned last time. They have very pathetic and lousy system where they don’t update their website  www.united.com).

Please pass this information to as many friends as possible. They have playing games with dreams of so many students of coming to US and studying for higher education. Please beware of Air India and United Airlines.

I wanted to share this miserable experience with everybody because today it’s Rashi, tomorrow it can be You.

Rashi Gupta
Bag Stats: Red Color and Type 22
Missing Bag claim number: AI463920
File number: UA20287
Baggage Claim Number: J4DTMT

I’ve had no end of minor but truly infuriating hassles with United. Their phone support has now been outsourced to India, and whenever you ask a substantive question, the rep will ask you to hold and spend 3 minutes talking to a supervisor or entering data into the database, and then come back and say “no” to whatever you requested. It took me an hour to get a ticket using a travel voucher I had (you can’t use the web site for it), and they repeatedly lied to me through the whole process.

Once I was on a United plane that lost all its electrical power at 27,000 ft. The O2 masks came down, and we did a screaming, 5-minute descent into Grand Rapids, MI, with everyone terrified and kids bawling from the pain in their ears. We get to the terminal and the reps are just lounging around. No one greeted us, or told us what was happening. Eventually they gave us $8 vouchers for dinner while they brought a replacement plane in from Chicago, and even though there was no one else in the airport, we had to show our boarding passes to get the vouchers. A truly class act.

I have been a traveling passenger for a few years now. 90% of my travel is with United Airlines. I am a Premier Associate status member, and just recently have lost all patience for their cheap actions.

I was recently traveling for business from San Diego to San Francisco and volunteered to give up my seat in return for a free ticket to anywhere in the 48 US States to be used within a year. I received a paper voucher. A few weeks go by and I have misplaced my voucher.

I called customer relations at United (which is a call center in India with poor English speaking operators). They ended up locating the record of me in the system as receiving a free ticket. HOWEVER, they are unable to honor my free ticket without that paper voucher!!! The best they can do is give me a discount of $150 off a ticket (how far can that get you)

The airline world has been paperless for how many years now?!! But, when it benefits them to not give away a free seat, they revert back to required PAPER tickets!!!!

Please send this to as many people as you can. Flying as a Frequent Member, or at all isn’t worth it on United

Consider the employees……UAL just reported a $343 mil clear profit for the last quarter on Tuesday and today, Friday announced that the employee’s would receive 18.6% of the 100% of success sharing pay for the same quarter. They said we failed to make our goals on almost every measure THEY wanted to rate us on. I guess UAL’s success is our failure.
With employee moral so low it is through the floor, this is just another slap in the face from Tilton while he lines his bank account with more money and tells us to “stay focused on our customers, and of course, on one another… and stay united” and broke!

Consider the employees……UAL just reported a $343 mil clear profit for the last quarter on Tuesday and today, Friday announced that the employee’s would receive 18.6% of the 100% of success sharing pay for the same quarter. They said we failed to make our goals on almost every measure THEY wanted to rate us on. I guess UAL’s success is our failure.
With employee moral so low it is through the floor, this is just another slap in the face from Tilton while he lines his bank account with more money and tells us to “stay focused on our customers, and of course, on one another… and stay united” and broke! It is about to hit the fan. Just wait and watch…..

I arrived at the Omaha airport the recommended three hours early.
My flight, which was scheduled to leave for Denver at 7:01 did not bother leaving until 7:50. My connecting flight to Salt Lake City from Denver closed the door ten minutes early, so I missed the flight. I stood at the gate looking at the plane literally a full 5 minutes before the scheduled departure time. The gate agents were not inconvenienced and said I could just travel to Salt Lake City tomorrow.
When I complained, they told me to look at all the other people who missed their flights and were perfectly happy. Why was I the only one who was dissatisfied? When I said “Thank you. Actually it is not really like I am a customer, you are doing me a big, big favor.” The little prig said “You are welcome. I am glad you finally understand.”
I intend to talk with the travel department in my company and ensure that I am not booked on United in the future.
They seem to lack integrity and a sense of customer service. Additionally they seem incapable or unwilling to honor a contract, which is what I perceive a ticket as. Yes, I am on board – United airlines sucks.
I do not even want to talk about TSA. The entire screening process is abusive, unnecessary and ineffective.

UAL = Total Bastard Airlines (T.B.A).

The US Government should NOT provide any funding to bail out horrible airlines like Total Bastard Airlines. In a free market economy, TBA would be out of business. No more government loans or rescue schemes. Lights out. Gone. Let a new company start up and serve us better or give more business to Southwest Airlines who really cares about their customers.

Last week my flight from IAD to BHM was cancelled. No more flights. Re-routed to Atlanta. My checked bags finally showed up in BHM 4 days later. I called India several times per day and they kept saying “thank you for your patience”, I finally said “what patience, I have no patience but that really doesn’t matter to you”. They didn’t know how to respond.

Bottom line: The US Government should let United die completely. Pull the plug. Let her sink to the ocean floor. Only when horrible companies like United succumb to their own operational failures would people like us win. Death to United, aka Total Bastard Airlines.!!!

Overbooking seems to be a big problems with United. The customer service, located in that country on the other side of the globe, is even worse. I made a change to a return flight on United through Travelocity that would cost me less than the original ticket. When I arrived at the airport, they were asking for volunteers to take a later flight. They were taking people like crazy and I was one of them. Everything went fine at that point. I flew out 3 hours later and got a travel voucher. Then 5 days later I get a $728.00 charge on my bank card. I called Travelocity who stated that should have never happened and United hiked the price without letting them or myself know. So, I call United….6 times! Everyone refused a refund and read from the script. When I asked for someone higher, they said there was none. Without my permission or that of my travel agency, United took $780.00 more out of my bank account because of a overbooked flight I didn’t even take. I almost want to cry when dealing with offshore customer service, knowing they do not understand or even care, while United pads itself from its customers. So now I have to work on legal proceedings to try to get my money back as well as get compensation for my 10 hours time on the phone with them. I wish I could shut this company down.

United Airlines SUCKS because of people hiring friends and ASSHOLE people. People who do not have any people skills at all to be managers. And always works from home. And you want to hear something funny. These managers don’t even work in the office for more than 15 hours a week. If a snowy day, they would be the first one out the door. Forget about you little people. And they would be the one taking a snow day. What are they kinder garden??? If us little people call in sick or taking a snow day, will be marked on our elevation. And there goes our raise, not that we have one. But if the managers do that, they get themselves a better raise and promotions!!!!

I just wanted to add my 2 cents. I recently flew from Pittsburgh to Chicago to Denver on United yesterday. They lost my luggage and I have been playing phone games with their customer service all day trying to figure out where it is and how I am to get it. I paid close to $4,000 to come to Denver for a hunting trip and here I sit in a hotel room waiting for my gear watching shitty cable tv two days into my ten paid vacations that I get off per year. Currently United claims that the bags are still sitting in Chicago, only after screwing with me for more than 24 hours and saying that it was somewhere in DIA. I am so sick of this and will never fly them again if possible. My hunting rifle is in one of my checked bags and I cleared everything with TSA with fine. My big regret though is that the gun has special meaning to me since it was my 16th birthday present and it has gone all over the world with me.
United Airlines is a horrible company and I hope to god they go under. There is no reason to overbook planes so badly, cramp you in small seats, and then lose your luggage and treat you like shit. I have never had such bad luck with any airline like United.

UPDATE. After spending so much of my valuable time on the phone with Travelocity and United, I got my money back plus a little more. Persistence pays off but I should have never had to do that. Why couldn’t they give me my money back from the beginning? Nothing changed in what I said but I did call Travelocity again and told them I’m going after them if they can’t get United to give my money back as I was being patient and understanding that it wasn’t %100 Travelocity’s fault.

The lesson learned: If companies like these are so bad then we should refuse to do business with them and tell everyone else that. When they do screw you, you have to go after them no matter what and try everything you can. There is no reason these huge companies should be able to screw the little guy (the paying customer) so much. Don’t get caught up in customer service or complaint departments. Speak to someone or a department that can do something (Refunds Dept.) and don’t stop calling them every single day.

Thanks for sharing your experience and providing the readers with an update Chris!

I’m so glad I stumbled across this site. I also have been screwed over by United Airlines, and I vow NEVER to fly with them again.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday 2007, I booked a trip to Dallas from Los Angeles non-stop both ways, returning on the Saturday after the holiday to avoid the mad crush of returning families on Sunday. Upon arriving at DFW on Saturday, I discovered that my non-stop flight to L.A. was cancelled, and that I would not be able to fly back to L.A. until Sunday morning, with a layover in Denver, no less…

Sunday morning arrives, I fly to Denver on my flight which left DFW 45 minutes late, and miss the connection to L.A. they assigned me. Upon arrival at the United terminal in Denver, the concourse had a very distinct mood of agitation, probably due to the fact that most of the gates in that terminal belonged to United.

When I reached the customer service desk (in line with no less than 50 other people), they told me I would not be able to get a flight out to L.A. until sometime Monday. This is the point where I lost it. Uncharacteristically, I threw a major fit of rage (and almost thought I was going to be taken away by security). I was stranded in an airport that wasn’t even on my itinerary, with what turned out to be hundreds of other stranded United passengers. Someone else in line told me that on the news on Saturday he had read that in Chicago, United Airlines had a Thanksgiving dinner for it’s mechanics, and everybody got food poisoning…

After throwing a fit, and demanding to be put on another flight through another airline at United’s expense (it’s called Rule something), all of a sudden the customer service agent’s tune changed and magically, I was booked on a flight several hours in the future, but on Sunday nonetheless. I heard people in line behind me mumbling to each other “what rule is this guy talking about?”

So, 27 hours after I was supposed to arrive in L.A., after being stranded in 2 airports, and feeling so dirty, I got home. The next day, I called United (which I’m sure I talked to someone in India), and they sent me a voucher for $150…what a slap in the face.

What’s worse is that when I tried to use the voucher on a future flight, they made it all but impossible to actually redeem the voucher! I live 75 miles from the airport, and the day I booked the ticket (3 weeks in advance), they told me I had to personally go to the airport that day with the voucher and give it to a United ticket agent. I said, “Screw you, guys” and vowed to NEVER deal with United ever again.

Whew! I know this comment will just get lost in all the other bad experiences on here, but it felt so good to vent!

I have recently given Airtran, American, Northwest, and Sun Country business that United could have had, and am pleased to say that my experiences on these airlines have been satisfactory to very good. I guess anything else will always be a better experience than the day of my life taken away from me by United Airlines.

have watched united load my bags from the gate only to be told I missed the flight - got $8 to eat in SF and spent the day in SF Airport - thanks
paid the porter a couple bucks in Denver to check my bag to have it destroyed in the handling system on it’s way to Omaha - showed up shredded the next day - United allowed $25 discount on purchase of their luggage to replace and never paid my claims for destroyed property because my bag was softsided, jewelry shouldn’t have been checked, mangled by the baggage handling system, didn’t have receipts for shredded silk sweaters and other clothing - no reimbursement whatsoever, no apology - thanks United
flight cancelled in Birmingham AL due to bad weather thousands of miles away only to get move to Charlotte NC on US Airway and get delayed enough to spend the night in LAX - 38 degrees - no hotels, no compensation, no nothing - thanks again
have 86,000 plus miles but no flights are avail able for eight months to receive saver award ticket - thanks again
great service, except I can’t communicate with the Indian guy who answers United Customer Service line - giving thanks United again, again

I agree with the person that said t never talk to the customer service in India. They have no idea what they are doing! So, if by any chance your phone gets routed there, simply hang up! Would be such a waste of your time!!!

This cracks me up because I just called United to change my ticket since my infant is sick with a fever for 4 nights and I said I could provide a doctor’s note. I just wanted to change my flight and not get charged the change fee. The “Customer Service” agents in India (not sure what service they provide) told me that they do not allow waivers. I find this completey amusing as I have traveled with United for about 20 years and I have had waivers over the years for sicknesses, death in the family, etc. But not only did they inform me that they do not allow waivers, but that their change flight fee was increasing from $100 to $150. I am cancelling my United Mileage Plus Visa and am booking my future flights on other airlines. There has to be something better than being treated horribly on the phone, at the airport and throughout every process with United.
United Sucks. Here’s to hoping they go out of business…

As an airline employee for over 30 years am always shocked to see people sleep in the terminal. I can understand college students doing it but when I see seemingly well off adults sleeping on the floor I wonder. Is it really worth saving $100 to $200? And I want to point out that it’s very important to arrive to your gate early. We overbook flights because many of you are no shows.

I don’t think the airline employees making comments about this post understand the situation. I didn’t get a cut-rate ticket to save a few bucks, it was a business expense. Furthermore, there were no hotels available in the Denver area (thanks to many other travelers being in my same situation. Lastly, my issue with United in particular is record high profitability at the passenger’s expense; they don’t have to overbook at the rate they do, in order to please shareholders. I will never fly United again, nor invest in the company (other than to short the stock). Thanks for your comments though.

United airlines needs to be sued

Kent all these views need to me sent to a news paper and published.
I’m sitting here at home frustrated and exhausted and shocked at the horrible service of United airlines. It is a joke.
My old parents are stranded on a international flight from grand rapids to helifax in chicago without food or any assistance for 18 hours. The airlines refuses to help. I have no way of contacting them because they are from India and traveling without a cellphone. I have called everyone at united included the director and all they talk about its a fucking protocol. Aren’t people in the position of director supposed to use their brains. The flight was from grandrapids and the delay was in the connection because eof bad weather so it should be United’s responsibility if the delay was at the place of origin of the journey it was the customers problem. You cannot leave old people stranded without food and help and any contact with the family in the name of so bullshit protocol. I would like to take this case to the consumer court.

I booked a round trip ticket for my grandma to come to Vancouver from San Francisco airport on Sept 5 10:45 am Flight #1116 and return on Sept 8 at 3pm on flight 8255. When she got to the airport on her way to Vancouver she was denied boarding because she was told by the agent there that they wont let her board without a US passport and all she had with her was a Vietnamese passport with a US green-card. She had to take a taxi from the airport back to her home in Alameda. I contacted UA and was told by the representative that she in fact can come to Canada and the agent at the airport was wrong. A not was put in place. She had to go back to the airport for a 9:55pm flight on Sept 5. Now, since her initial flight was missed and that there was a number of things she had to do on Sept 5 which did not take place because of what happened she had to do them on Monday therefore cannot make it back to the US as originally scheduled. I contacted UA customer service and rescheduled her flight. The agent who helped me reschedule originally asked for $150 but after explaining what happened she told me that the flight is rescheduled and left it at that. Now, come Sept 12 my grandma went to the Vancouver airport to return home. She was again stopped by the check-in attendant and demanded that she had to pay for the rescheduled flight. The attendant was very un yielding and force my grandma to pay or else no check-in. My grandma is 73 years old woman with Limited English and cannot take all the stuff from the check-in attendant thus paid the full amount. I’m writing this complaint and will attempt to reach UA refund department for refund. If this failed I will take further action.

I don’t even want to retell my story right now but I would like to burn down the headquarters of United with all of its rude and incompetent employees in it and I would feel no guilt for destroying human life because these people aren’t humans. humans treat other humans like humans and why the fuck is it still in business if it filed for bankruptcy in 2002?

If you think United sucks, try being gang raped by a bunch of stink American Airlines pilots out of O’hare. There is a sick group of freaks that runs out of O’hare.

Read:

 myspace.com

Gerard Arpey you are a stinking filthy piece of feces. One day your children will find out what you reallly are. Disgusting.

United Airlines is HORRIBLE. They hire incompetent boffons who man the desks give people misinformation, lies, and BS. Then they recompense you with a travel voucher that you’ll NEVER use. The incompetence is disgraceful.. That;s USA for you; incompentent imbeciles bowing to the almighty alter of $$$. America is a JOKE.

If you think United sucks, try American. Its pilots are pigs and losers who sniff underwear at the airport.

I worked for a law firm in the 1990s and Gerard Arpey, the slob CEO, and his goon pilots had a lawsuit filed. They lost the suit and all Hell broke loose. Gerarde arpey sent a death threat to the firm. Shortly afterwareds, Tammy Frye disappeared. She was beautiful and had everything going for her. After that, Beth Allenson was found murdered in her Elgin, Illinois home from a shotgun blast.

On Aug. 1, 2006, I was gang raped by these pigs and they told me they murdered Tammy. They said they tortured, raped, shot and murdered her. I have nothing but problems with American Airlines and have provided a videotape to Congress at their request on this matter. I just heard from a court that a hearing will be set regarding this matter. I will fight to expose these pigs until they are put in jail. These pilots told me at the rape they have been murdering and raping women all over the City of Chicago for over 20 years with the help of some of the Chicago Police Department. These men are failures and envy women and men who are more successful, popular and more brillant than they are.

They told me at the rape, that they are angry with women like me who don’t look at them. They are tired of being alone and not getting sex. The flight attendants that come with them are filthy trash that help these men to rape. They are jealous of women who can get men as they have only been used for sex. Pigs are American Airlines. Danger airline. Gerard Arpey is a stinking failed, CEO who does’t give a damn if anyone dies on his aircraft.

O’hare Airport is a forced prositution for lonely, horny pilots on layover. I was told at the rape that if I prostituted for these pilots for one year, they would let me go. Of course, I said, “No”. They are still stalking me today. All the bad things you have heard about pilots is true

Of all the disturbing events I’ve witnessed at airports in recent years, I must admit that UAL’s abuse of its passengers, both on and off the ground, has put me over the edge. I was conned into flying United on two separate occasions - both overseas trips (to Germany in 2004 and to England in 2007). I insisted during the planning of the 2007 trip that I refused to fly United, and was overjoyed at the prospect of flying with Lufthansa only to discover after the fact that Lufthansa had partnered with United. Needless to say, I was royally ticked because I knew that the experience would be an excercise in terror. And I was correct: consistently delayed flights, cancelled flights, “broken plane”, lost luggage and beastly airline personnel (both ways). Though thuroughly disgusted with UAL in every respect I managed to maintain my composure right up until the moment, on the last leg of our journey back to Colorado from London, the UAL gate agent took to downright abusing an elderly woman for no apparent reason. I was sitting near the counter at the gate along with my ever-patient husband and a great many frazzled, exhausted, and stranded UAL passengers. Having listened to the gate attendant bark orders and rude remarks at the would-have-been passengers for more than an hour, I lost my nerve entirely when the man began to berate an old lady for “stepping over the line” in order to ask a question. When she politely suggested that he needn’t treat her so rudely, he labeled her a “security risk ” and screamed at her (yes, SCREAMED) that he would call security if she didn’t shut up and sit down. Then I lost it. I told the jacksas in no uncertain terms that he was, in fact, a jackass and should rather call security on himself. Moreover made perfectly clear that his attitude for the past hour had been intolerable and that the people he had been barking at were human beings who at a minimum deserved simple basic respect. I don’t remember quite what else I said to him, but could see the man fuming and turning over in his petty mind the prospect of calling security on me instead. Perhaps he thought better of it as the passengers seated around me appeared to have my back on the issue. In the end he shut up, i shut up, and people began exchanging contact information. After many hostile glances in my direction, which I returned in equal measure, we finally boarded an airplane. In the future, United is on my shit list (pardon the French). I’m done. I vow never again to to fly with United and henceforth will only utilize international airlines that are in no way affiliated with domestic airline companies. The airline industry has become an abomination and I refuse to further enable its lunacy.

It’s true. UAL is a nightmare. So why do we keep using them? For one thing, the mileage. Oh yeah, I now have 60,000 miles with them from flying to Asia once a year. But here’s the kicker: every year they keep increasing the mileage minimums so you can never really use those miles.

Yesterday I flew from Seoul to San Francisco. Cocktails used to be free. Now you have to pay for them. No problem, six bucks isn’t so bad. But they don’t accept cash now. You have to swipe a credit card. Unfortunately, their Soviet Era credit card machine wasn’t working. What did United do? Canceled cocktail service for a ten hour flight. On my connecting flight to New York we waited two hours on the tarmac because there was a “fuel line leak”. How comforting! Four hours later, when they finally got us a new plane, how did they make up for it? Two tiny balls of ice cream. But there “Wasn’t enough for everyone in Coach.” “Could you please share it with the person next to you?” they asked.
Man.

If that’s the worst that has happened to you from a United airlines flight, then count yourself as lucky. I’ve had flights that could be turned into a horror movie from that dispicable airline.

What I thought was going to be a nice Vacation for my family in Hawaii ended up being a roundtrip from Hell. To begin with, my flight was canceled with no prior notice. The explanation for the flight being canceled was due to weather the previous day. No other airline and no other flight with United Airline was canceled. The customer service Representative at the GSP airport(Dewayne) in Greer, SC was rude and very inconsiderate of my predicament. He acted as if he was doing me a favor by giving me a seat assignment for the following day. This flight cancellation was a cover up by United Airlines for either a crew problem or a logistical/mechanical problem of United Airlines that they did not want to own up to. I was not put on another flight until the following day. I lost a $500 hotel fee in Maui, Hawaii and a rental car fee for the day. I asked for compensation due to the cancellation and was rudely denied.

Now for the return trip. My flight with United was scheduled to leave the Maui(OGG) airport on 6/19/09 at 11:00 PM.(Flight UA 30) The flight left a little late with no explanation provided. My connecting flight from the Los Angeles airport(UA 946)was scheduled to leave at 7:55 AM on 6/20/09. We landed at the airport and were at our gate at 7:40 AM. I knew it was going to be very tight because the flight was late. We rushed off the airplane and were greeted by a guy who asked who we were. I gave him my last name and he said “hurry up they are waiting on you”. As my family and I rushed to the new gate which was only a short distance we were again rudely greeted by the United Airlines gate attendant who said we were too late the gate was closed. The time was 7:49 AM. The flight did not leave until 7:55 AM. My plane was still on the ground and had not left but the UA attendant refused to let us board. The flight was overbooked and our seats were given to someone else. He was unwillingly to help me with any further information and told me to go down to gate 71A to Customer Service. In the first place, this was not the customer service area. After I found the customer service area on my own. I had to wait for over 30 minutes in line which caused me to miss the next connecting flight to Washington DC (Dulles). Up to this point everyone with UA had been totally incompetent and rude. As I approached customer service I was greeted by Christine who was actually very nice and tried to help me with my dilemma. Unfortunately, all flights were booked except for one at 10:00PM. So, basically I was supposed to leave at 7:55 AM on flight UA 946 and now I am leaving at 10:22 PM on flight UA 44. 14 hours lay over in the LA airport. I repeatedly asked for some sort of compensation but was denied.

So, let’s recap the situation. Departing flight form GSP Airport was canceled and we had to leave the next day, robbing me of a day of vacation, a $500 a night hotel room and a rental car. The return trip connecting flight was missed due to United Airlines and overbooking all of their flights which caused us a 14 hour lay over in the Los Angeles airport. All personnel with United Airlines with the exception of Christine in Los Angeles was either rude or incompetent.

6/20/09 Sent online complaint form to:

Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings
U.S. Department of Transportation
400 Seventh Street, SW, Room 4107
Washington, DC 20590

I have been a 50K+ United flyer for over 20 years. That is up until this year. While I don’t think their service has gotten any worse in the last couple of years, really how could it, but I have simply been fed up with it. They don’t even respond to customer complaints anymore.

In the most recen fiasco I was sending my 16 year old son up to Eugene from John Wayne Airport in Southern California through San Fransisco. This flight was booked 4 months in advance with seat assignments. My wife checked him in over an hour early on the first leg of the flight, they told him to check in when he landed in SFO. That should have been a red flag but my wife missed it. After landing in SFO he went to the gate for the next leg and checked in. They told him he was 10th on the waiting list and the next flight out was Tuesday, this was Sunday!!!

This was a confirmed flight and he had a seat assignment however somewhere everything got fouled up. Finally some lady felt sorry for him and gave her seat up for him.

They were willing to have a 16 year old hang out in SFO for two days, even though he had everything confirmed. I was on the phone with the “Premiere” person while this was happening and she tried every excuse in the book to; he checked in late, oh I guess he didn’t. He wasn’t confirmed, oh I guess he was. She even tried to tell me he was on the plane while I had him on a cell phone at the gate.

They do not care about the customer.

OMG…I bought two tickets through United: one to Phoenix via Frisco and one to Baltimore via JFK. I have yet to go to Baltimore, did the Phoenix run 2 weeks ago…and what a poor experience. Before boarding, the gal boarded the ‘high-end’ customers first, letting them walk on a cheap-assed, red 3×5 Cintas floormat, verboten for the rest of us ’sheep’ to even look at. Whatever, got on board, got my seat, stowed my gear, an attendant comes by…

I’ve always asked an attendant if I could film out the window, out of courtesy, and have never been denied. This time, I asked and was given a very curt “No” and the gal stomped off. Cow. But this is a cattle-car, after all, right? Took off, had a good flight to Frisco (surprise), made the next gate in record time (from 73 to 73A, imagine that!), launched to Phoenix. Again, no filming allowed. What was this, were they afraid I was going to catch rivets popping off the wings in flight or rabid meerkats emerging when the spoilers popped up or something and put it on YouTube to go viral? I’ve flown Alaska, Horizon, US Airways, American, America West, Air Canada…ALWAYS okayed. Perhaps United knows people aren’t happy and don’t want video proof of it? Jeez, it’s already bad enough they fly Airbuses, for love of Hubert, can it get any worse? Me and my big mouth…

We did a hard left hook and landed on 25R. Touchdown was almost undetectable…spoilers emerged (but no meerkats), the roaring reverser next to me scared the hell out of me, but not as much as when the plane suddenly yawed hard to the left and then hard to the right, enough to where I lost sight of the runway and could only see grass. People definitely noticed this and a few shot out gasps or OMGs. I’m not Catholic, but a “Hail Mary” came out of my mouth (and I don’t even know how it goes!) and I checked my shorts as we taxied to the gate.

As we deplaned, the personnel in and out of the plane gave us Osmond-grade smiles, saying “Have a nice day”, to which I almost retorted “Yeah, f*** you, too!”. Obviously, everyone knows “Have a nice day” is business-speak for “F-You”, and they really milked this one on all four. Once I get off at Baltimore, I’m hurling my shoes at the United counter as I scream out a curse in Farsi…and I’m not even Muslim.

My wife and I were flying home from Samoa and had one over sized bag containing our kayak oars.
We did the walk to the ‘oversized’ counter which was not bad but as the ‘oversized’ line shrunk a rude lady who was obviously from Indian extraction begged us to go in front.
At first I thought no. Then as she informed us she was missing her flight, I recalled how difficult it felt when I was in her shoes. I let her in and was sad to listen as they informed her that she was too late already. It took the United employee who seem confident a half an hour to finish with her and by then the other employee had walked away.
Now take into account this was also the line for wheel chair access and we had an elderly New Zealander lady behind us who informed us her legs were diving out.

So the Indian lady walks away too angry at United to even say thanks to us and the United service lady walks away saying she would be right back, (we never learn why).
Now there it no one taking care of us and we are all wondering if we are going to miss our flights.

We could complain but this is what Homeland security is for, isn’t it?
You can complain unless you want to appear to be a TERRORIST!!!!!!!!!!!!

Half a hour pass’s. we complain to the other desks issuing boarding pass’s but to no avail.
That’s when I get this idea. I dig out my sketch book and write a sign ‘UNITED SUCKS’.
I hold it up for the world to see as they walk by.

Someone behind the counter yells something I turn around and am photographed.
I have no idea who did it but then I wonder…
Does this mean I am barred from one of the biggest airlines in the world?
I say the US government sucks as well since it has ignored our anti trust laws that now allow companies to merge that should not have so much power.
United is a bad company and we had to run to our planes not knowing if the others made it since it is impossible to log all their address’s or United might not do this to us.
We did what we were supposed to do!!!!
They messed us up and we had to run and stress out on what was supposed to be our vacation..
We paid them a lot of money so this did not happen.

We were booked on United via New Zealand Airlines which has a perfect record as far as we are concerned and this will also be sent to them as an advisory.
It is sad that so many United employees who are obviously very good at their job but have to answer to poor policies set down by a giant uncaring stock holder company who answers only to a dollar.

I flew United From Ottawa Canada to Orlando, It sucked that I had to pay $15 for my suitcase. But I got a really cheep flight so that made up for it. I brought my laptop so the flight was fast. didnt even notice time go by. Every one was very nice, and free pop. I flew a lot and that was fun.

It;s not all bad.

Love United.

United Airlines = Pathetic excuse for a company. 2 out of 3 different trips over the last 4 months had me layed over in cities for 12 hours. Once I got a hotel room after their shitty, crickity plane barely got off the ground after about 3 different lies as to what the problem was. The other time, as I stood crying at customer service after a 1 hour 10 minute wait to speak to someone, I was booked 12 hours later and told ‘unfortunately we can’t provide you a hotel room but if you call this hotel they sometimes…. I didn’t let him finish. I just walked away crying, having heard everyone before me get the royal ‘fuck you’ from each and every agent at the desk. I vow I will never EVER fly United again. It was embarrassing to fly home that 12 hours later after sleeping on the floor of an airport while that clerk slept comfortably in his bed. It’s not like I caused myself to miss the flight!!! I showed up for my flight on time, I checked in plenty in advance, I RAN to the next gate (2 away, no biggie) and I was looked at like I was crazy for even thinking they would allow someone to board a plane that leaves in 5 minutes and that this must be all my fault!! I’m sure they gave my seat away and laughed all the way to the bank. Cunts. All of them. And the idiot employees posting on here clearly are trying to feel a little less bad about their contribution to the sad pathetic practices of a corrupt, poorly run company. You cause this by agreeing to uphold their abusive policies, you sad little pricks. You’re doing the devil’s work. Sleep on that floor, bitches.

sep 12 a had a flight from sacramento to LAX and then to Los Cabos. I was 1 hr before departure at 5 am the baggage check wasn`t that full and the line did`t move for 25 min and they announce that we lost our flight, They try to change our flight to 10 am will my other flight was departing at 11 am from LAX. I end up getting a fligth from southwest and american airlines just to get to cabo 3 hr later but my problems didn`t ended wen i show up at cabo to get in the plane in sep 19 to get back to sacramento, at the airport they say that i have to buy a new ticket becouse i buy a round trip and i miss my flight so my ticket was cancel and is non refundable. I talked to custumer relations and i explained what happend in sacramento they just were rude and didn`t get another answer that is UAL policy and i should read it before i bought the tickets. THEY DON`T CARE ABOUTH TAKING PEOPLE TRU THEYRE DESTINATION THEY ONLY CARE ABOUTH THE MONEY “SUCKER“. CUSTUMER RELATIONS ARE ONLY FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE COMPANY AND THEY DO NOT RESOLVE NOTHING FOR YOU.

PS ‘; NOT A SERIUS COMPANY THEY ARE A JOCKE.

UNITED are such wankers. I have been 30 hours flying from the other side of the world, and then waiting 48 hours for my suitcases to arrive. So, after interminable b-shit on working through their automated lost baggage, I get a human being. She refuses to tell me what the $ meaning is of “reasonable” spending because now I have to go and buy some fresh clothes and I want to be reimbursed. To try and also get info about how the mechanics work of being reimbursed is impossible. These bastards don’t want to compensate for their screw-ups,and they are about as transparent and accessible as a pile of hippo poo.
UNITED WE FALL!