By: Kathy

Kathy — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 04:30:22 +0000

I just have to tell this story of our experience with United Airlines…
It was unbelievable!
January 5th, 2011, my daughter, 21 at that time, booked a flight on United Airlines. She was traveling from Medford, Oregon to Washington DC. Now, let me just tell you that Medford’s airport is very very small. You cannot even get so much as a coffee before your early flight. The walk through security to your gate may take 3 minutes, maybe 2 when there is no line, which there wasn’t. Her plane was to leave at 5:35 am. We are inside the airport, in line at 4:55 as a storm was hitting and the rain was really coming down. Jackie got in line as a lady at a kiosk asked for passengers heading to San Francisco (which was hours away), to step forward. My daughter changed lines to the lady at the kiosk checking passengers in as her line was shorter. Approximately 5 minutes went by now, and Jackie stepped up to the lady at the kiosk. “I’m sorry, you don’t have time to catch this flight. You need to be at the airport 30 minutes before your flight leaves,” she says. I said, “It is 30 minutes prior to the flight taking off.” “You are going to have to step to the counter,” she says.
So, we get in line at the counter behind the 3 or 4 people there. We get to the counter at about 5:05. The lady behind the counter says, “You should have been to the airport at least 30 minutes before your flight.” Now, I’m feeling a little angry as these guys cannot seem to tell time, and time is wasting. Jackie said, “Its 5:05! If you add 30 minutes to that, its 5:35, when the plane leaves. We have been here the 30 minutes prior to the flight!” The United Airlines representative said, “Your missing the point.” The point was, we were in this tiny airport 40 minutes before the flight left, and now they were not going to let her board. We were cutting it close, but we were there on time!
The United Airlines representative then said, “You can purchase another ticket, for over $500, and we will subtract the $310.10 you paid for this ticket, plus you’ll have to pay the $150 fee. “What? Are you kidding?” I asked. “No, I’m not kidding she said.” I asked, “Why on earth would we pay for another one? What time is the next flight?” She said, “There is another plane leaving in a few hours, but it’s completely booked. You can pay $50 and go on stand-by, but you might be waiting 3 weeks for another flight if you don’t purchase another one.” My mind was completely blown now. What kind of scam are these guys running here? “I asked, “So you are telling me our only option at this point is to completely purchase a new ticket for twice as much or pay $50 in hopes Jackie can get on completely sold out flights?” The United Airlines representative replied, “Yes, but I doubt she’ll get on another flight. They are all sold out!” I could not believe this was happening. Not only were we at the airport within the time limit, but NEVER have I ever been spoken to so rudely for something we paid over $300 for! I asked the representative to please write the 800 United Airlines number down for me.
I went straight out to my car, and called United Airlines on the phone. The gentleman that helped me was very nice. He said, “No, you do not need to pay extra to rebook for flight.” So, I rebooked the flight for later that afternoon at 6:30 pm. I asked, “So this is not going to cost extra?” “No ma’am,” was his reply. OK. We weren’t happy about what happened, but there isn’t much we can do at this point.
At 1:53 pm I get a call from the airport, (not United per say, but a sister commuter plane company), and they said, “If I can get Jackie to the airport by 3:00 pm, we can get her on a flight out at that time. That wasn’t enough time for us as we have an hour drive or so, so I took care of a few errands and was just going to get my daughter on the 6:30 flight.
At 2:59 pm, I get a call from a United Airlines representative. She tells me she “read the notes” from our earlier reservation we missed, and because we “got to the airport late,” we were going to have to “pay for another ticket to travel today.” I asked, “What the heck is going on? We were not able to get on the flight at 5:30 this morning, so I called and rebooked our flight. Why are you trying to hit me up for more money? This has all been taken care of.” The representative replies, “According to the notes, you arrived to the airport too late to board the flight, and your flight had to be changed which includes fees, and a difference in price. You were explained this, and given a choice of 3 options you could have done.” While she was talking, I was trying to correct her… “First off, I was only given 2 options, and one was my daughter could be waiting 3 weeks in the airport on stand-by! Second off, my ONLY other option was to buy another ticket, and pay nearly $600 for it, and third, I have already taken care of this, and she is scheduled to get on another flight at 6:30 tonight…” “Ma’am, I can read the notes, and you arrived to the airport late!” I said, “I don’t care what those notes say. We weren’t late AND if she is saying she gave us 3 options, she is lying!” The representative told me I was going to have to pay for another ticket because it was “policy.” Now, I’m getting mad! What the heck is this all about? I have some lying notes about me in some virtual computer, and that’s just that? Who calls on flight plans you have taken care of hours prior, and wants more money from you? I have flown quite a bit, even missed a flight or two, but have NEVER been charged more money. I was trying to explain it to the representative, and she is just speaking over the top of me! She does not care one iota what I have to say… Nice customer service! Just what is happening here! I asked, “Can I speak to your supervisor please?” “One minute,” was all she said. While I was waiting for the supervisor, my cell dropped the call. Fantastic. Now, I have no clue what’s going on. Unbelievable! We are wondering if we are on candid camera! On top of that, I am TERRIFIED to call them back! But I do.
A very nice United Airlines representative answered. I asked, “Do you have about 10 minutes to listen to what kind of experience we are having with United Airlines?” “Yes,” she replied. So, I gave her our confirmation number, and began the whole story again, clear back to the lady in the Medford Oregon airport that told my daughter she may be waiting for a plane for 3 weeks. She actually apologized to me, which was the first apology we got. She said, “that was very unprofessional of her.” At that time, she informed us our 6:30 pm flight had been cancelled I believe because of the weather, and she was going to rebook us on another flight that left the next morning at 6:00 am. This is exactly what she did. I asked her if this was going to cost me any extra money since it’s a crap shoot which representative you speak to, and some have a different answer, and she replied, “No.” She apologized again. I asked for her name and ID number, which I got. Thank you Monica, you were the best…
We went home to get an early nights sleep. I read online how a Southwest Airlines pilot chose to hold his plane 12 minutes, I believe, so a grandfather could catch his connecting flight to get to his dieing 2 year old grandson. Good for Southwest Airlines! I have always liked their service. Wow! It was nice to read about an airline that cared! Anyway, at 8:45 pm, my daughter just finished booking her second nights hotel stay in Washington DC for the following night through Priceline. Just as she did, United Airlines called, at 8:47 to be exact. The 6:00 am flight had been cancelled due to weather I was told, but Jackie had been rebooked for 6:00 am the following morning, on the 15th. I explained to the guy that called that my daughter had just booked her 2nd room through Priceline, and that she couldn’t get her money back because of the third party thing. I asked him if there was anything they may be able to do as far as a hotel voucher goes. He said he would send us a customer satisfaction voucher for $125 to use in the future. I was thinking we could put it towards a hotel room through their list of hotels on the United website. He said, “Have your daughter go to the United Airlines counter in Washington DC when she gets there, and explain what has happened. It’s their choice whether to give one or not.” I went to the website to see if I could use that $125 towards a hotel room… nope. I called the number associated with that part of the website. The lady told me the same thing. She said to explain what has happened to the representative at the United Airlines counter in DC, and maybe they would issue the voucher, but the website could not use the customer satisfaction voucher for a hotel. OK, Jackie will try when she gets there… fingers are crossed. We went to bed for our early flight.
United Airlines called me again at 12:49 am to state that “the 6:00 am flight had been cancelled due to weather, but that Jackie had been rebooked for a 6:00 am flight the following morning of the 15th.” I thanked him, and told him we had already been notified. Again, at 1:31 am, another representative called. Dang! I thanked him and asked that since we already knew, could they make a note not to call again. They didn’t call anymore, so we slept.
Jackie was able to catch her 6:00 am flight on the 15th, and actually arrived in DC! Yay for that! So, after getting her bag, she headed to the United Airlines counter to very politely ask about the voucher we had been told about, by the other 2 United Airlines representatives earlier. After Jackie explained the whole situation to the representative behind the counter, she rudely replied, “United Airlines does NOT give out hotel vouchers!” Very Nice! Very concerned about customer service, and very courteous! No they were NOT! I would not recommend ANYONE ever fly with this airline, EVER! I’m pretty sure the voucher for one night at a hotel for my daughter would not have come out of that representatives pocket… they do NOT seem to care about anything at all, but especially for the customers who PAY to fly on their planes! No way, never again! On a personal note… “Monica, you should go work for another airline!!!”
Since I started telling people about our experience with United Airlines, I have heard many horror stories from others that have dealt with United Airlines. My recommendation… “Fly with ANYONE else!!!” Oh ya, anyone out there want to buy $125 worth of United Airlines flight bucks for REAL cheap???

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By: Kathy