Got a complaint about United Airlines? Share it (and see others’ complaints) here
Okay, so the American Airlines complaint post is the only one that’s taken off so far, but that doesn’t mean people don’t have bad experiences with any other airline.
Got a complaint about United Airlines? Did something bad happen on your flight? Was something amiss in your air travel experience, or the booking process?
Let me tell you one experience I had booking with my frequent flier points on United. I’m a web site developer in my day-job, so I’m familiar with computers and the web. I purchased a flight to Portland, Oregon, for Christmas with my rewards points (or whatever you call them). I got a good price — but after I booked them on United’s site, I went surfing around the site to see what other flights I could have gotten for those points. I checked out an itinerary to Chicago in January, and that’s where I left my browser when I shut down my computer.
So the weird thing was I never got any confirmation email about my flight.
The day before I was supposed to fly to Portland, I went and double-checked. And, yes, it was the Chicago itinerary United thought I had. That was no good. So I called United, got bumped up one level of customer care, and they told me I’d have to pay a hundred-dollar rebook charge, but also, they could get me a fifty-dollar voucher for future travel. That’s not awful, and mostly I was annoyed that they didn’t believe that their website could make a mistake. Yes, websites make mistakes, and yes, United’s did. There you have it.
More from Flight Blog
- Got a RyanAir complaint? Share it here, and see what complaints others have
- Share and see complaints about Delta Airlines here
- Got complaints about American Airlines? Share them here.
- Complaints about Spirit Airlines? Get in line … er, share them here
- Share your complaints about Qantas Airlines
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- Made it. (Joe, Write!)
- C to the Section–A mom’s general observations about c-sections (Mile High Mamas)
- MTV owns the sidewalk, and other amusing tales (Get Real Denver)
- Frontier Airlines: Same "different animal" (Carrying On: Travel Blog)
Related Posts:
- Got a RyanAir complaint? Share it here, and see what complaints others have
- Share your complaints about Southwest Airlines here (and see what other people have to say)
- Yours and others Contintental Airlines complaints: Share them here
- Share your complaints about Lufthansa Airlines here
- Share your complaints about Qantas Airlines
March 28th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
TO whom it may concern we were on vacation at lake tahoe we flew out of okc to denver connected went on to reno. then we are back to the airport to fly out of reno and are plane was late so this put us late into denver we could not make our okc flight this was saturaday night they had nothing till tuesday so we had to rent a car drive 12 hours with 3 kids 16 months 6 years 8 years home and all united airlines would say is that they are sorry.
December 27th, 2008 at 9:37 am
I booked my flight online. The website booked us for the wrong return flight as we would still be on the cruise ship when the flight it booked us for was leaving. We didn’t even look at this flight. I called United and was told by representative after representative there was nothing that could be done unless I paid $150/ticket change fee. Finally after numerous calls they waived the change fee (Tech support couldn’t prove the web hadn’t changed it and confirmed they have had this problem before, but insisted it was fixed now). They said the only flight available was a 5 pm flight, which was fine but there was a $122 fee because this flight was more expensive. I asked if there were other flights that wouldn’t have this and was told no. I had them changed it and asked if there would be any additional fees and they said this included everything. I then called numerous people to waive this $122 fee since we had originally booked this flight and it wasn’t $122 more. Nobody could do anything so I emailed the CEO. He had a gentleman call me but when I talked to him he said there was nothing he could do. I emailed the CEO again who had Ginger Staffeldt contact me. She was able to change our flight to another flight that worked for us and didn’t have the $122 charge. She also confirmed that there would be no other charges or fees. We showed up to the airport and they wanted to charge us $15/bag for “excessive baggage fees.” I asked the the rep said this was disclosed on our confirmation, but when I showed him that it wasn’t on there he just walked away. I called Ms. Staffeldt who did not return my call. We were charged this on the return flight so we ended up paying $30/person more. I again emailed the CEO when we got back and left numerous messages for Ms. Staffeldt. Finally a lady named Ruth called and said she couldn’t do anything about it. I continued writing and calling and a resolution manager called. She told me there was nothing they could/would do and that the fee was disclosed to me. I asked her when this happened and she said it had been disclosed in the media last Spring and it was hidden on their website. She confirmed that she did not review the two calls in which I was told there was no such fee and also confirmed that it doesn’t tell you about this fee during the booking process. She then said this issue was closed and they would not call me back. I have heard nothing more. So we have a resolution manager who acknowledged she wouldn’t look into the actual issue by reviewing the calls — how ironic and representative of United’s service.
March 4th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
I am extremely displeased with the service that I received from United Airlines on March 2nd. The first two flights that got me to Chicago were fine, but it was when I tried to get home to Syracuse is where I encountered problems. The flight was supposed to board at 7:20PM and it for some reason got delayed an hour and a half. I am not sure the reasoning but I was fine with it. After an hour an a half there still seemed to be problems. The guy behind the desk that they were just waiting on the plane and then we would be on our way. After another 20min and being switched gates twice the guy said that the plane was at the airport but had no gate available. When the plane finally arrived at a gate the guy behind the desk said it would be delayed again because, quote “United Airlines is short on employees and you need to write them and tell them of their lack of service.” Apparently there were not enough crew members to get the plane running. At about 10:00pm the guy finally said they were set to board the plane. Everyone boarded and though tired of waiting were happy that the plane was about to take off. Until 5min after being on the plane the pilot gets on the loud speaker and says, “I have bad news. The flight is canceled due to lack crew.” Apparently the crew working had too many hours. The pilot mentioned that another flight was leaving any minute and we could try to get on that one. At this point everyone was extremely angry and got off the plane. We soon found out that the other plane ran by United had just left. We all headed down to the Baggage Claim department and waited in line to talk to the United Airlines attendants. I called over the phone and got on a flight first thing in the morning. I still waited in line because I wanted a place to stay for the night and some kind of reimbursement. After about an hour and a half of waiting in line the attendant said the the flight was canceled due to whether. Apparently she was telling everyone this to avoid having to pay for peoples hotels. I told her she and whoever told her that were lieing. Another flight had taken off at the same time as ours was supposed to and the pilot never mentioned anything about weather. The lady gave me a voucher for a hotel which simply gave me a discounted price. She said she could not give me anything else. I asked her for a food voucher and she could not give me that either. I had witnessed her give a food voucher to a guy earlier in the line after he had argued for quite some time. She simply told me that she never gave anyone anything. I asked to speak to management and was told they would not be back for 45 min. I left angry not only because my flight was canceled but because United lies to its customers in order to avoid costs. I later learned that some people from my flight did not get flights until 4pm the next day!
March 21st, 2009 at 2:56 am
Just had a bad experience today. I suppose to be on morning international flight to Singapore through Chicago but that Chicago flight was cancelled. OK no sweat. Went to the counter, the agent wasnt very helpful, didnt say much, didnt even apologize, but whatever, they gave me another flight on the evening with another route to Singapore through Doha with United Express (washington) and after 6 hours of waiting at the airport, found out this flight was also CANCELLED. OMG. So ok, i went to the counter again, the next flight avail was on the next day. While booking for my ticket, the agent who was attending me seems want to hurry to get out from work (it was about 7 pm that time and there waasnt much customers left at the counter anymore). While he was on the phone talking to somebody, he passed the phone to this one guy and hurried home. So much for customer care!! And now this new agent, old angry looking guy, did booked me on the next flight. I politely asked for a hotel to stay for the night. And what did he said? Nope. Sorry we dont do that. I asked him why and he said, cannot do. And he just left. No freaking explanation or whatsoever. I was very very pissed off. Luckily there was this cool dude who came by and tried to explain it to me but i was very pissed off i didnt even bother to hear.
Definitely my LAST time on United Airlines.
June 15th, 2009 at 10:22 am
How about American Airlines? I have a flight booked (on june 6) to Italy and back for $740. I called today ( june 15th ) to see if I could move up the departure by one day ( july 17th ) and they asked for $760 dollars change fee. The entire ticket would cost me $1500!! The fee costs more than the tickets!
This sounds highly unethical but mostly it should be ILLEGAL! This is something a third world country would do not the USA !
December 18th, 2009 at 2:25 am
I had a problem also before on there website, when I was about to put complaint through the internet, when I clicked on the submit button, webpage cannot be found! duh! But hopefully they got to fixed it now.
March 16th, 2010 at 6:15 am
United Airlines drops the ball again.
Let me share with readers my experience with United Airlines.
I have just completed a month long business trip that I booked through Air Canada. I traveled from Toronto, ON to St. John’s, NL, from St. John’s, NL to Halifax, NS, from Halifax, NS to Montreal, QC, from Montreal, QC to Winnipeg, MB, from Winnipeg, MB to Calgary, AB, from Calgary, AB, to Vancouver, BC, from Vancouver, BC to Denver, CO and finally from Denver, CO back to Toronto, ON.
The leg of my trip from Vancouver, BC to Denver, CO and then back to Toronto was via United Airlines, a Star Aliance partner of Air Canada.
All portions of my trip were fine, (in fact, travel on Air Canada was surprisingly enjoyable) until my return from Denver, CO to Toronto, ON.
I arrived at Denver International Airport 2.5 hours prior to my scheduled departure time. I gave myself, I thought, enough time to obtain my boarding pass, check my baggage, proceed through security and have enough time to enjoy a bite to eat and a coffee. (I am diabetic and needed to be sure I had time to eat)
I entered the line at United Airlines to obtain my boarding pass and check my baggage at 8:30am. An hour later, I was finally at the terminal to “Self Check” for my boarding pass and baggage check.
Intending to use my Bank Card, I proceeded to pay the $25 charge to have my baggage checked. United Airlines is not equipped to accept a Canadian Bank Card and I was forced to run to an ATM for cash. The attendant was generous enough to allow me to jump ahead of the line when I returned with cash (as she said I wouldn’t have time to go back through the line).
I gave my fee and waited for my baggage claim receipt and have my bag checked. Fifteen minutes later, the attendant returned (she had trouble with her machine) with my bag check and change. She then asked me to put my bag on the scale to ensure it was below 50 lbs. Alas, it wasn’t. She told me I would have to remove items from my bag (10 lbs over) or pay an additional $125.00. I readjusted my bags, removing a pair of shoes (which I had to throw in the garbage), pulling out printed material which I put in my brief case, removing my medication and glasses from my carry on and placing in my checked bag to make room and adhere to the 50 lb maximum.
Finally, with an hour to make my flight, my bag was checked and I was ready to proceed through security. I quickly moved to the security area to wait in the long line.
45 minutes later, I had cleared security and was ready for my sprint to the departure gate. For those of you who have been to Denver International Airport, you realize that I have to catch a train from the main terminal to the gates. My gate was B60, which is almost the furthest point in that terminal. Sprinting to the gate, I managed to reach the boarding area 5 minutes before the scheduled departure.
Yes, I managed to eat…the entire 2.5 hours I had given myself!
I boarded the plane, thirsty and hungry, and found my seat and settled in.
A little concerned that I haven’t had a chance for food, I expected to be offered an opportunity to purchase a sandwich or a snack and obtain a soft drink. Well, I was offered a soft drink…but just one glass as “others needed a chance to have a drink.” No food was offered.
Three hours later, I arrived at my final destination in Toronto.
We were held at the top of the stairs leading into Customs and Immigration, to allow time for the line to clear below. Finally, we were permitted to proceed down through Canadian Customs. Here I was met with another 40 minute wait.
I was finally cleared to proceed to the baggage claim area where I was to obtain my checked bag before joining yet another check point for Immigration and Customs.
When I arrived at the carousel to claim my bag, my bag was no where to be found. I approached an attendant and gave my name, only to be told my bag was “delayed”. I had to complete a form and re-enter a line for the last check point. A half hour later, I was at the last checkpoint…I thought. I had to go to yet another area to submit my claim for the delayed bag.
9 hours after arriving at Denver International Airport, I was finally free of the secured area at YYZ in Toronto. That’s 9 hours with nothing more than a small glass of Diet Coke. (You may remember I mentioned I am Diabetic and that I had put my medication in my checked bag to adhere to the 50 lb maximum)
I finally arrived home, bagless, tired, hungry and feeling ill.
I began following up on my “Delayed Bag” after I had a chance to eat.
As of 11pm on Saturday, March 13th, my bag had not been located.
I tried again on Sunday to find out some information on my bag. At 11pm on Sunday, March 13th I was told a bag had been located with an 87% match to my description. Through conversation, I was able to assure the attendant that the bag they had located was, indeed, mine.
I went to bed feeling relieved that I would have my bag returned the next day.
Well, that didn’t happen.
I regularly followed up on line and over the phone, to determine when my bag would be delivered. I was told no one knew where the bag was nor when I could expect it to be returned. I was repeatedly told that I would be contacted when the bag was released to arrange a time for it to be delivered.
Monday, March 15th at 11pm I tried again to find out some information about my bag. No one knew anything. I had spoken with several Agents, one who raised his voice to me, and a couple of supervisors to no avail. I retired for the night.
This morning (Tuesday) at 6am my phone rang. Of course I was sleeping and missed the call. A couple of minutes later, the phone rang again. Answering the call, I was told that a delivery service was at the entrance to my building with my bag. (What happened to arranging a convenient time for delivery?)
Three days after arriving home, I finally had my bag. A DAMAGED bag!
I contacted United Airlines once again to complain that my bag was damaged. I was met with indifference to my complaint and offered a $100 Travel Voucher for United Airlines. That $100 voucher and a nickle will give me 5 cents!
I explained to the supervisor that this was unacceptable considering the run around I received, not to mention the damaged bag which will cost considerably more than $100 to replace.
United Airlines does not provide any opportunity to speak to anyone above a supervisor. United Airline Supervisors are not authorized to do anything more than offer a $100 Travel Voucher. A $100 Travel Voucher is useless to someone who will never travel United Airlines again!
Considering the economic climate, one would think a company like United Airlines would want to encourage people to use their services. All they have achieved is totally alienating a future customer and hopefully, through this medium, advise others to avoid United Airlines at all costs!
August 26th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
I have witnessed the most appalling customer service situation ever. I was scheduled to travel from the flight from Denver to San Jose at 9.34 on First Class.s I approached the gate, I was accosted by the representative with an offer to fly on the previous flight for $50 extra. I agreed and he told me it was not going to be first class but economy. I said it was ok. When I went in, my hand baggage was snatched from me and I was put in a Seat 22E – middle. I asked the rep if I could be moved to the emergency row middle seat instead. I have never seen anyone answer me as impolitely as he did. When I asked him why he would not give me a seat that was empty given that I was downgraded, he asked me to leave if I wanted to in the most impolite tone I have ever heard “You get 22 E. You can leave if you don’t like it” was what I was told – which I did. I found when I got out that my bags have however left. I now have been charged $50, have lost my bags and am at Denver Airport. I am going to blog and post this experience in every site that I can. I will make sure that over the next 2 hours that I am stuck here, this post will feature in a dozen forums. I am a Star Alliance Gold member with 500k Lufthansa Miles. This is about the worst I have been treated anywhere.
December 31st, 2010 at 12:31 pm
United Airlines Calls Police For Those Who Complain
I am at Chicago O’Hare airport, awaiting the 6pm flight to LaGuardia. I just wrote United to complain about the atrocious failures of United Airways.
I was booked on flight 7126 (UA flight 7593) December 30 from Salt Lake City to Chicago, connected to flight 6770 (UA flight 694) to New York La Guardia. I learned that the equipment is a regional aircraft with 64 seats, normally used for short trips, which is an aircraft in which I would never normally fly in bad weather. Being concerned for the safety and aware of the current delays, I tried calling United to discuss options.
It was nearly impossible to reach reservationists at United Airlines because of wait times of over one hour. The automated systems would not accept the flight number because United Airways is reselling seats through US Airways without having synced their computers. When I finally reach United after multiple attempts, I was told I would have to pay at least $150 to change my ticket, even though all the flights were overbooked and it would certainly have been beneficial to United to change me to a later day. I was also told the flight would depart on time, even though common sense indicated that this was likely untrue.
At the airport, United decided to instigate one small delay after another, each time assuring passengers that they would make their connecting flights.
On the plane, a female ground crew agent who was assisting the flight crew was very rude to me. As I took out my cell phone to turn it off, she said in a snotty voice “Can’t you read the sign?” In response, I asked if I may turn off my phone, and she then said that phones are not allowed and that I’d have to turn it off, and she walked away.
The pilot announced another hour delay after boarding. It became obvious that the ORD-LGA flight would leave without us if it was not also delayed. I asked a male flight attendant about connecting flights. He dismissively told me that was not his job. Later, he announced on the PA system that a uniformed agent would greet us at the gate to facilitate flight transfers. Of course, no uniformed agent met us at the gate. We lost time trying to find out what was going on upon arrival at O’Hare.
On the flight, the sink in the only bathroom for economy class was not functioning. A hand written sign on the sink said it was inoperable. So, there was no sink in which to wash one’s hands or similar on the flight.
Upon arrival at O’Hare airport, I found the United Airlines Customer Service desk, where I was told that I have been rebooked on a flight about 22 hours later (UA 502, Dec 31). I was told there is no hotel voucher, no food voucher or any special assistance. I could get a discounted hotel at my own expense or wait at the airport for 22 hours. The female agent was kind and professional, but could not help me. United was using the excuse that bad weather and air traffic delays absolved itself of all responsibility, even though the weather was rather good at Salt Lake and Chicago. I said this was unacceptable and asked to speak with a supervisor.
A man arrived and briskly explained that United Airways could do nothing for me, that the Customer Service desk doesn’t handle complaints and that I’d have to go online to complain. I said this was unacceptable. He said the airline was within its rights and that I could have chosen to change the flight for $150, implying that I accepted the bad service by choosing not to pay to change the flight. This conversation was brief, lasting about 60 seconds. Though he was very aggressive, I did not raise my voice nor swear. I simply restated that this was unacceptable, using exactly that word. He then said I’d have to leave or he would call the police. I again said this was unacceptable. He immediately picked up the phone and called the police to have me arrested, and left. I then asked the agent to put me on the wait list for the earliest flight to LGA. As I was awaiting that function, five police officers with bullet proof vests and guns arrived and removed me for interrogation.
After several minutes of speaking with the police, they realized that a gray-haired guy like me wasn’t much of a threat. The police were very polite and professional, actually joking about the incident a bit. They released me and suggested I try the other Customer Service counter in another concourse.
It was not a surprise to me that United Airlines acted that way, in my opinion, with incompetence, they lied to me, violated FAA rules, unnecessarily delayed me for over a day, refused to accept responsibility for their actions, and were rude. That has pretty much become the brand of United Airlines under Mr. Smizek’s direction. For this, I wanted and still want to complain.
However, I was genuinely shocked to find out that it is standard operating procedure of United Airlines Customer Service to try to have their clients arrested if they calmly complain for more than 60 seconds. That United Airlines would endeavor to intentionally and unnecessarily harm their clients goes beyond unacceptable. I’m stunned.
May 23rd, 2011 at 10:48 am
Last night,May 22, 2010 I flew on United from BWI to DEN and then on to Monterrey CA. I am a United Premier flyer, previously I had much higher status on United but I have increasingly flown alternatives – (A List on Southwest) due to dissatisfaction with United’s performance.
The leg from Denver to Monterrey (flight 6709) was over three hours late with a borading, de-board and plane switch. Upon arriving at Monterrey I find not only did the rental car counter close at 10:00 (90 minutes after my intended landing), but my driver was missing from my golf bag. Thanks a lot for the first class “priority” treatment of my luggage. Do those tags just tell the handlers what bags to hit first? Of course no one was at the terminal to assist me. I ended up walking out on the tarmac and grabbing a member of the ground crew.
I almost forgot the coupe de grace – during the flight a water was accidentally spilled on me and my bag. No big problem – accidents happen. Except that when I grabbed my Blackberry to call a cab (no rental car remember?) and found it was fried by the water.
Just another satisfied United frequent flyer.
August 1st, 2011 at 11:34 am
I was flying Continental/United from Jogn Wayne (SNA) to New Olreans (MSY) via Denver (Den) on July 23. The flight to Denver was fine. I boarded the flight to New Orleans as scheduled and then things went south. The plane, a Canadair Jet, was full with 61 passengers. Because of heat factors in Denver, the plane couldn’t takeoff so half of the passengers had to be removed and I was one of them. After waiting in the customer lines, I was booked to Chicago and then on to New Orleans and would arrive seven hours after I had planned to be there. The United plane coming into Denver was going to be delayed by two hours and while I could get to Chicago, I was going to miss the flight to New Orleans. So I went back to the Customer Service lines and waited until someone could try and sort out the problems I was having. One offer was to switch to Delta and take a red-eye flight to Atlanta and then onto New Orleans, but I was going to have to pay $150 for the change in my itinerary. That wasn’t an option I was willing to do. I was finally put on a flight to Houston, which would require an overnoght stay there and then fly onto New Orleans the next day. Because of the long wait times in the Customer Service lines and the delays in getting bookings to complete my flights, I missed dinner and I’m a diabetic that needs food at regular scheduled times. I asked for a meal voucher from the CSR at the counter and was told United doesn’t give meal vouchers when “the passenger voluntarily chooses to change their schedule”, but a gate agent would meet me in Houston with a meal voucher there and a hotel voucher. I arrived very late at night in Houston and there’s not only no gate agent, there’s nobody working in the airport except a few janitors. I was finally able to find someone who spoke english and get directions to the baggae claim area were someone in Lost & Found would try and help. After waiting for an agent at Continental’s counter to look at my paperwork, she couldn’t help because United was the one who changed my flights. I went to the United counter and the agent there couldn’t find me in the system. Also, United didn’t have any more vouchers for hotel stays available and I was told I should have gotten the vouchers for the meal and hotel in Denver. I found a hotel on my own and finally got to bed at 2:00 in the morning knowing I had to get back up at 5:00 in order to get back to the airport and figure out what airline and what flight I should be on to get to New Orleans. In the exhausted state I was in, I did a minimal amount of unpacking, but I lost my $3000 hearing aid some how. I was able to get back to the Houston Airport before 6:00 AM, but first Continental and then United couldn’t match up my ticket with anything in their systems and it took over 45 minutes to get that straigthened out. I asked the gate agent if they could code my borading pass to I could go thru the First Class line that only had 4 people in it so I could save some time. No, they couldn’t do that so I would have to go thru the other line that snaked around and around. I made it thru security and then ran to the far end of the airport and made the flight with 2 minutes to spare. Once in New Orleans, I had to take a taxi, even though I had previously paid for a shuttle, but due to time constraints on when I was supposed to teach a class in the morning, I couldn’t wait for the shuttle and all of the drop offs. I’m out over $250 for hotel costs and taxi costs I hadn’t planned for and $3000 for a hearing I need, but must six weeks for a replacement. United Airlines is truly a worldwide entity because when I got home and tried to speak to Customer Service, the first three people I was able to get on the phone spoke a language similar to english, not anything most native speaking english language people would understand. Southwest and JetBlue are now my airlines of choice.
September 14th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
I had a terrible experience on United yesterday, September 13. I was booked to fly from Washington Dulles to Madrid, Spain on UA 7663 operated by Aer Lingus. The flight was cancelled for mechanical reasons. We remained on the plane for 3 hours while they looked at the mechanical problem. Meanwhile, the flights of other airlines were departing for Europe and we could have been put on those flights instead of being required to remain on the plane. Remarkably, as we were getting off the plane and listening to the mechanics operating loud power tools in the belly of the aircraft, the pilot came on and apologized, saying that his earlier announcement that the flight had been cancelled had somehow not been heard over the public announcement system.
We then were directed to the Red Carpet Club for flight rebooking. This took two hours as the insufficient, but very helpful United staff tried to get passengers on other flights. My flight was rebooked for today, September 14, although I am waitlisted. When I then asked for a voucher for a free hotel room for the night, the poor staff said that they had been told to tell the passengers that no free rooms were available and that the passengers would have to pay the cost themselves and send an email claiming compensation later. This was outrageous and demonstrates a complete lack of concern by United for its customers, some of whom were foreigners who were left late at night at an airport with no assistance to find a room for the night. United’s actions in this regard were an embarassment to America and what I would expect from a 3rd World airline.
As a result of the flight cancellation, I have incurred about $1000 in expenses to pay for rebooking of a connection flight from Madrid to Barcelona, a 1 night stay at a good Marriott Residence Inn, the cost of 1 night cancellation at a Barcelona hotel and the cost of a taxi to and from the Marriott. I have demanded compensation for these expenses, not flight credits. The reason for this is that last year, one of my suitcases while in United’s custody at Los Angeles Airport was looted by United employees. United subsequently gave me $500 in flight credits, but this turned out to be almost unuseable. The credit could not be used on international flights, nor multi-destination flights, and there were also blackout flights. As a result, I only was able to use about one-half of the credit.
October 29th, 2011 at 9:37 am
I just sent a complain to continental / united customer service. Yet since thay have taken such an arrogant positon towards their customers I will vent through this blog as well. Unfortunately I do not expect an answer for United; I am an elite member flyer, that does not mean I deserve better customer service, I am only stating it to express the number of flights I have to make for business purposes. Continental charges WAY more than other airlines for my normal route which is to Mexico City and I had been paying it only because of the miles.
I recently purchased a ticket to go to San Francisco from Houston. I had to make changes to the ticket for reasons beyond my control. So I called and the new fare I had been ask to pay was $1,300.00 dollars in addition to the $409.00 I paid when I purchased the ticket. Naturally I rejected that fare and since the lady on the phone did not attempted to find me a solution I purchased a one way ticket with another airline. I knew that would take me to having to call continental again and make arrangements so that I don’t loose my return ticket. What I discovered when trying to do so was very surprising: They would charge me another $150.00 plus the difference of the price of the ticket, another $400.00 dollars!!!!! I don’t care if it is in the rules of the ticket, they had my money already, I had purchased a ticket already!!! instead of trying to find a better solution Bev (the “supervisor”) repeated 3 times during the conversation that it is MY FAULT becuase I decided to give my money to another airline.
The arrogance of continental when you speak to them on the phone is such and their desperate attitude to charge you extra has cost them at least my loyalty. Not the first bad experience with them, but certainly the last. I wish them luck with their merger, they are going to need it. It is the best thing that has happened to the other airlines!