Avoid United Airlines

[Paul Farkas]

I usually am understanding when taking a flight. My main concern is get me from Point A to Point B safely and as close to on time as possible with my luggage on the flight.

Our family experience taking a simple 2 hour flight from O'Hare in Chicago to Burlington,VT prompted my writing a letter to the United Airlines Chairman, President and CEO. Wearing three hats, he deserves triple the heat.

Here is the letter...

"United Airlines Deserves to Fail


Att: Glenn F. Tilton, Chairman, President and CEO

"Dear Mr Tilton,

Running an airline during these challenging economic times is no easy task. I overlook minor flying inconveniences that have been built into the system. My experience on 2/26/09 was so outrageous that it must be shared with you and over 10,000 optometrists who are part of an Internet community ODwire.org, which I administer.

United was the airline of choice going from to Chicago, IL to Burlington, VT. It is the only non-stop flight.

Tickets were purchased well in advance so that I, wife, daughter, two grandchildren and my daughter's companion could attend a family fuction. The flight time was changed in the interim by United Airlines.

Then the problems began. For some reason our original seats were cancelled. The available seats were scattered throughout the plane. Boarding passes would not be printed in advance on line. The only choice was to go to the United ticket counter at O'Hare International Airport.

We arrived at 12:15 PM for a 1:49PM flight. More than enough time to get boarding passes and go through security. The computer system could not produce boarding passes and suggested I call for assistance. I was put through to an overeas assistant, who I imagine from the accent was located in India.

I could not understand her and apparently she could not understand me, because boarding passes were produced for the same flight but the next day. At that point, I insisted on help from behind the counter. They were not too interested in offering assistance but made a call and finally boarding passes were produced. A $15 baggage charge resulted in the attendant leaving her post because she did not have a change for $20. More delays.

By this time it was 1:15 PM with a warning that the gate closes 10 minutes prior to the scheduled departure or 1:39 PM. Gate F14 was a solid 15 minute walk from the ticket counter. No warning of the distance. My wife is still recovering from back surgery. Any normal walking distance is fine but this was ridiculous.

The airport has no moving stairs or shuttle bus visible, only wheel chairs which must be gotten at the ticket counter but who knew. This lack of concern for passenger needs is inexcusable.

The story continues. The bag that was accepted at 1:15 PM at O'Hare never made it on to the flight. We were assured in Burlington,VT that the 6:00 PM flight would have the luggage and it would be shipped to our hotel. By 10PM we learned that the luggage was still at O'Hare Airport. It finally arrived at 2 PM the following day with many of the items wet. I imagine it was kept outdoors a portion of the time.

I expect that our experience with United is not unique. Your computer system is antiquated. The customer service using India rather than local help is ridiculous. Cost savings are lost by inefficiencies and customer outrage. Your ticketing staff at O'Hare, a major United hub, is a disaster.

Mr Tilton, I hope you take this communication seriously. I look forward to your response which I shall share with fellow optometrists who are frequent flyers and have a choice of airlines. Needless to say, I will fly United only when there absolutely no other choice. I will leave additional time expecting incompetance and an impossible distant gate. Carry on luggage will be the order of the day.

Very truly yours,

Paul Farkas, MS,OD,FAAO
Administrator- ODwire.org"


Any airline stories you wish to share?

 

[Kristopher Glanville]

Over the years I have had many problems with United. Once, they wanted me to take a Greyhound bus for 5 hours instead of the 45 minute flight I was scheduled for because they over booked. I had purchased the ticket 6 months in advance. I have also waited 5 days for luggage. I no longer fly United, which is difficult because I usually fly out of Chicago.

Just flew Alaska this weekend to Seattle. Nice airline, got a cookie and good beverage service. Sample size of 1, but I was impressed and will fly Alaska again.

 

[Ken Elder]

Over the years I have had many problems with United. Once, they wanted me to take a Greyhound bus for 5 hours instead of the 45 minute flight I was scheduled for because they over booked. I had purchased the ticket 6 months in advance. I have also waited 5 days for luggage. I no longer fly United, which is difficult because I usually fly out of Chicago.

Just flew Alaska this weekend to Seattle. Nice airline, got a cookie and good beverage service. Sample size of 1, but I was impressed and will fly Alaska again.

I once flew Southwest from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. My flight was booked for 8:00pm. I showed up at the airport at 7:00 at the monitor said delayed until 11:30pm.

I went up to the ticket agent to check my bag, delighted to be spending the next 4 1/2 hours at LAX. I mean, they have like chairs and everything.

So the ticket agent actually lets slip out that the plane is scheduled to depart Oakland, CA at 10:50!!

Wait a minute....time out, I said. It's more than a 40 minute flight from Oakland to LA. You're telling me that they're going to fly the plane down here, load all the people off, get us and our bags on and we're still leaving at 11:30??

The woman pondered this for a few minutes and then clickaty clicked away on her computer for like a minute in classic Meet The Parents fashion before announcing with that ever so pleasant airline employee smile, "I'm showing an 11:30 departure, sir!"

LMAO!

I asked if I could get a refund on my ticket, which they gave me with no problem. I then went over to the car rental counter, got a one way rental to Las Vegas and drove the 4 1/2 hours to Las Vegas. For kicks, I kept track of the flight on my cell phone and I actually beat the plane to Vegas by like 40 minutes.

I actually wrote Southwest a letter pointing out that it was actually faster, cheaper, and more convenient to actually drive myself to my destination than it was to fly on their airline. They were very nice. They sent me a nice letter and a voucher for a free flight, which I was not angling for. But I just thought it was a pretty funny story.

 

[Paul Farkas]

Result of complaint...

This the United Airline response 9 days after my initial E mail...

"Dear Dr. Fargas:

I am responding to your correspondence addressed to Glenn Tilton. We
are concerned to learn of the difficulties your family encountered
during your February 26 travel to Burlington. Please accept our
apologies for the frustrating and unpleasant experience you detailed.

Responsive customer service and effective problem resolution are
integral elements of our commitment. It is disappointing to learn your
family's experience at O'Hare was not reflective of the high caliber of
service we strive to provide our guests. Our agents are trained to
provide professional and helpful service so it is especially
disappointing to learn of the poor service you report trying to resolve
the seating assignment, check-in and baggage challenges.

All of us at United are committed to making air travel as comfortable
and hassle-free as possible and to doing our very best when it comes to
requests from passengers with special needs. I'm sorry the series of
delays resulted in your wife making the exhausting walk to make the
flight. We realize that not all disabilities or feelings of distress
are outwardly visible and we do rely on our passengers to request
assistance so we may help to ensure their health and safety.

We realize that at times we are not doing as well as we should be in
assisting our guests. Your feedback is very much appreciated as this
allows us to improve airport services as well as provide quality
customer service - the basics that help you have an easy airport
experience and arrive at your gate in time for boarding. Your email has
been shared with both our O'Hare Operations and Customer Service
management for their information and necessary action to address our
automation inefficiencies and service shortfalls.

Dr. Farkas, your business and satisfaction is very important to United.
Although I understand you spoke with Customer Relations, your
circumstances warrant further consideration. Please accept the attached
$100.00 electronic travel certificates. We are committed to providing
the distinctive level of service that will earn your continued support.

Regards,

Laura Marshall
Executive Services
United Airlines"


They are giving vouchers worth $500. the down side is it must be used on United Airlines.

My response to Ms Marshall...

"Dear Ms Marshall,

I appreciate the "CustomerVoice1 Reply" that made me feel special. Even the unique misspelling of my last name gave me a chuckle about United Airlines care and attention to detail.

The very least, I expected a personal "form letter" from letter from Glenn Tilton. I run a large organization but find the time to respond personally, especially when the communication is from an opinion molder of a large professional interest group.

I will share your letter of concern with the 10,000 member optometric community on ODwire.org on a topic I began about my United Airline misadventures. I already received comments from other Chicago ODs bemoaning the fact that United Airlines is the only air travel choice from O'Hare to many destinations.

Perhaps United having some secret shoppers at the airport with fictitious problems, will convince management that something must be done to better train ground staff.

Thank you for your concern and the United Airline credits. We'll utilize them soon after the birth of our grandson in Vermont. We shall be better prepared at that time for whatever challenges United Airlines presents for a simple 2 hour flight.

Very truly yours,

Paul Farkas,MS,OD,FAAO"



It pays to complain. You have a voice and vendors do listen!

 

[David Tabak]

United Works For Me

I live in the Chciago area and when we fly we always fly United. Why? Because they can get us almost anywhere in the US and a lot of places around the world nonstop. We recently did a trip to Orlando. The return to Chicago was delayed 3 hours because someone died on the inbound plane and they had to stopover to take off the body!
United, without us even asking, sent us certificates for either $100 off a future flight ($300 total for the 3 of us) or we could each have 5,000 free miles. We did not have to bitch or write letters or complain. They did this on their own.
I will continue to fly United because of service like that!

 

[Ken Elder]

I live in the Chciago area and when we fly we always fly United. Why? Because they can get us almost anywhere in the US and a lot of places around the world nonstop. We recently did a trip to Orlando. The return to Chicago was delayed 3 hours because someone died on the inbound plane and they had to stopover to take off the body!
United, without us even asking, sent us certificates for either $100 off a future flight ($300 total for the 3 of us) or we could each have 5,000 free miles. We did not have to bitch or write letters or complain. They did this on their own.
I will continue to fly United because of service like that!

I don't fly that often and when I do, it's usually to someplace in the Southwest. Because of that, I usually end up on Southwest airlines because they are essentially the only airline with non stop service to anywhere out of Hartford.

I've flown southwest numerous times. I've also frequently flown Delta, United and British Airways.

I've come to realize that any airline can suck on any given day for any given reason.

I don't fly often enough to definitively say that one airline is so much better or worse than another.

What I would like to see is the following:

1) If there's a delay, please just tell us and explain why. If the departure time says 10:45 and it's 10:40 and there's no plane at the gate, it's pretty safe to say we ain't leaving at 10:45. If it's weather, let us know. If there's a mechanical problem, just let us know. No one wants to get on a plane with mechanical problems so if there's a delay while you fix it, no problem. We get that "shit happens." JUST TELL US. Don't keep us in the dark.

2) If you know that there is going to be a delay in taking off, please don't board us onto the plane and then make us wait an hour on the tarmac or before we pull away from the gate. If we gotta sit for an hour, we'd all rather sit in the semi-comfy airport terminal where there's a bathroom and a magazine rack and some chow, not in the cramped plane. I understand that as long as the plane pulls away from the gate within 5 minutes of scheduled departure, you get to claim you "left on time." Maybe we should change that ruse. No one wants to sit on the tarmac!

3) Please come up with a reasonably standard way to purchase tickets. There's far too many ways and travel sites and websites to purchase tickets and it's so confusing. One site has a fare for $250, another on the same flight for $799. Everytime you purchase air travel, you always are left with the sense that you're being screwed or that you could have gotten a better rate somewhere else. This is the one area where southwest does excel. Perhaps the other airlines could follow suit.

 

[Paul Farkas]

Antiquated O'Hare International

I absolutely hate hate hate Chicago O'Hare airport!!! On 3 separate instances, my flight was cancelled/changed/overbooked. I had to stay over night 1-2 days...at MY expense. I got a $50 voucher for the hotel...big whoop! Apparently, I'm not aggressive enough...(Kudos to Dr. Farkas...I need to take some pointers from you.) I think I flew with Delta, United, and American Airlines. I don't know why I thought it would be different if I changed airlines...the customer service was the same incompetence, just with different uniforms. It was like that airport had it in for me. I swear it was a conspiracy against me...my friends laugh when I get in my "O'Hare soapbox," but it's so true. From then on, I circumvent O'Hare in my travels...even if it takes me an additional hour or two, even another connection instead of a direct flight. That's how much it affected me.

The airport is way to spread out without enough people mover systems.

Anyone with any sort of motility handicap is well advised to order a wheel chair upon arrival or departure. When visiting Chicago consider Midway airport as a very convenient alternative.

 

[Jenifer Ambler]

I absolutely hate hate hate Chicago O'Hare airport!!! On 3 separate instances, my flight was cancelled/changed/overbooked. I had to stay over night 1-2 days...at MY expense. I got a $50 voucher for the hotel...big whoop! Apparently, I'm not aggressive enough...(Kudos to Dr. Farkas...I need to take some pointers from you.) I think I flew with Delta, United, and American Airlines.

Great. I'll be changing planes there next month. Guess at least I'm forewarned. Was the best route I could get to maximize my American Airlines miles usage.

 

[Julie Douangphila]

Great. I'll be changing planes there next month. Guess at least I'm forewarned. Was the best route I could get to maximize my American Airlines miles usage.

Jenifer..being forewarned is being forarmed! I wish you luck there..you may have the complete opposite experience. A friend of mine flies through there all the time without any mishaps..but he's very easygoing so I don't trust his account much..

 

[Richard Hom]

The airline industry

As part of my Microeconomics class, I did a paper on Airport Landing Slots. I think much of the change in the airline industry can be traced back to the efforts of Alfred E. Kahn, the chairman of the US Civil Aeronautics Board in 1975-78, proposed rules that deregulated the airlines.

That kind of deregulation impacted the landing slot allocation for all US Airports. The major airlines were mandated to pursue a market approach rather than an allocation approach, meaning that the slots could be bought and sold. Thereafter the major airlines concentrated their tmajor cities and left the smaller cities to a large extent.

The hub system and deregulation probably dictates today how airlines behave today.

 

[Scott Caughell]

As part of my Microeconomics class, I did a paper on Airport Landing Slots. I think much of the change in the airline industry can be traced back to the efforts of Alfred E. Kahn, the chairman of the US Civil Aeronautics Board in 1975-78, proposed rules that deregulated the airlines.

That kind of deregulation impacted the landing slot allocation for all US Airports. The major airlines were mandated to pursue a market approach rather than an allocation approach, meaning that the slots could be bought and sold. Thereafter the major airlines concentrated their tmajor cities and left the smaller cities to a large extent.

The hub system and deregulation probably dictates today how airlines behave today.

In theory, wouldn't the deregulation give more income to the airports and make them better?

 

[Richard Hom]

In theory, wouldn't the deregulation give more income to the airports and make them better?

The big issue is how to allocate the landing slots without a whole sale collapse of the present system. On the one side, the larger carriers had the rights and the FAA had to find a way to politically move to the market system without stifling competition and without giving too much advantage to the existing carriers.

The Administration and Congress were both clamoring for some kind of market approach. Should the FAA take away all slots and then put them up for the highest bidder? Or should the existing slots be grandfathered in and their property rights given to the carriers. This means that they could buy-and-sell these slots.

In all cases, there would be winners and losers. Legislators from the smaller airports knew that they would lose service completely because the larger carriers would immediate head to the larger cities.

As a matter of fact, that's what happened and the smaller cities lost service until new market entrants who couldn't buy their way into the larger cities started using the smaller cities as their own hub.

The hub required huge sums to update terminals because the airports were not prepared to handle so many larger airplanes.

In the end the smaller cities got the service from the new entrants and the larger airport cities got their huge hubs.

It's an indirect answer to your question that was "yes".