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.
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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!