United = epic fail

[AtlantaBob]

Another vote for how horrible United is (I've posted on if myself, before).

My only advice is that credit card chargebacks are WONDERFUL things.

That being said, most of the time I fly AirTran (their business class is about the same as most airlines's coach). I know that some have had mixed reviews, but I've always had good luck with them--especially when I consider the cost.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: AtlantaBob
Another vote for how horrible United is (I've posted on if myself, before).

My only advice is that credit card chargebacks are WONDERFUL things.

That being said, most of the time I fly AirTran (their business class is about the same as most airlines's coach). I know that some have had mixed reviews, but I've always had good luck with them--especially when I consider the cost.

Any story behind that? I couldn't find anything with our wonderful search.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: waffleironhead

Originally posted by: sygyzy
Great, I am flying Continental in October. Do any US airlines NOT suck? How can the rest of the world be so good at flights and the US consistently suck?

Heres a little clue. Every airline makes mistakes. When you deal with the volume of traffic that the airlines do it is impossible to stamp out errors. They are just people....

They could reduce the error rates. The question is: Is it cost effective? If they're on top of these things, they'd analyze how much it would cost to improve the system, versus the costs of CSRs, and potential lost customers. If it's cheaper to piss off customers, they'll go that route.

 

[Josh]

Always fly Continental. Fuck United.

 

[Uppsala9496]

I've been flying United for the last 7 years now and have never had an issue with a bump.

All in all I'm happy with the service. As a matter of fact, I just cashed in some miles so I can go visit a friend in Copenhagen next month. Nice short 4 day pub crawl.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky

Originally posted by: waffleironhead

Originally posted by: sygyzy
Great, I am flying Continental in October. Do any US airlines NOT suck? How can the rest of the world be so good at flights and the US consistently suck?

Heres a little clue. Every airline makes mistakes. When you deal with the volume of traffic that the airlines do it is impossible to stamp out errors. They are just people....

I agree, airlines are always easy targets because travel is stressful.

I disagree emphatically.

I travel maybe once a month, sometimes more. I usually don't get too stressed about it, since I know it's required. However, sometimes you've really got to shake your head at airline stupidity.

Delta: Wife and I took a trip out to Vegas. Plane was delayed 4 hours from JFK because they couldn't find the flight crew, turns out they "forgot" about their flight. Then, since we missed out departure window, we waited another 2 hours on the taxiway. This then followed another 2 hour delay once we landed in Denver due to problems getting into Vegas and a mechanical problem that cropped up while waiting to get into Vegas (resulting in the divert).

They said they'd put us up in a hotel, which ended up being on the complete other side of Denver, resulting in a hour bus ride. They rebooked out flight for 5am (didn't know this until after we got to the hotel), we got to the hotel at 1am. We got 2 hours of sleep before the bus ride back.

They f'd up our hotel for that night and refused to reimburse us. No other vouchers were given. They said it wasn't their fault the flight crew never showed up (what!?).


Northwest: I just took NWA home from MSP this past Monday. First off, their planes suck ass, old, poorly laid out, and less leg room than any other airline. I am 6' 2" and my knees get hammered by the metal they put into the back-seat pockets (a problem I don't have on any other airline).

So, on the way home, weather in JFK was bad, circled for an hour. So where to do they divert us? Hartford CT. We land, 1.5 hours later, are told that the plane was broken and they didn't have an alternate for us. We had to take a bus to JFK. Then the luggage took 1 hour to get offloaded and in our hands. The bus ride took 3 hours.

What did they give us to compensate? $25 ticket voucher. Eff you NWA, you're a disgrace to Minnesota.


On the other hand, I love flying Midwest, Jet Blue, Southwest, Sun Country, among a few others. Never had one single problem on any of those. JB is fricking awesome, I had to take them out to Vegas almost 2 dozen times, never had one problem. Lots of redeyes back from there were eased by comfortable seats and the in-air entertainment screen.

Domestic airlines are poorly operated and extremely inefficient. I firmly believe a few need to just die. All we're doing now is letting a crippled system limp along.

 

[Mrvile]

We hate United and any other part of the Star Alliance. We always fly Continental.

 

[Mr Pickles]

wtb legitimate source.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I love NWA...UA, I have NOT had any bad issues with any flight company...yet.

 

[K1052]

United blows hard.

I pretty much stick with Southwest and Frontier. If I have to use a major carrier I use American, even with all their surly flight attendants and ancient domestic route jets, usually gets me to the destination on time.

 

[Uppsala9496]

Originally posted by: Mrvile
We hate United and any other part of the Star Alliance. We always fly Continental.

I've never had and issue with any *A carriers either.

In the last 3 years I've been on UA countless time domestic and international. LH has been fine. SAS, no issues...BMI, fine.

My wife and I did have our bags delayed over night from Frankfurt into Linz, Austria a couple years ago because our flight was loaded with tennis players flying into Linz for the ATP tournament. Those chicks had soooooo many damn bags.

No missed flights. Sure I have been delayed for weather and mechanical, but nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[Regs]

For domestic U.S. Flights, there are no U.S. federal regulations that require any compensation for a delayed or cancelled flight

Overbooking and Involuntary Bumping on U.S. Airlines
U.S. airlines are allowed to overbook flights to allow for "no-show" passengers. However, if passengers are involuntarily bumped, airlines are required to do ask for volunteers to give up their seats in exchange for compensation. Most involuntarily bumped passengers are subject to the following minimum compensation schedule:

• There is no compensation if alternative transportation gets the passenger to the destination within one hour of the original scheduled arrival.

• The equivalent of the passenger's one way fare up to a maximum of $400 for substitute domestic flights that arrive between one and two hours after the original scheduled arrival time or for substitute international flights that arrive between one and four hours after the original scheduled arrival time

• If the substitute transportation is scheduled to get you to your destination more than two hours later (four hours internationally), or if the airline does not make any substitute travel arrangements for you, the compensation doubles to a maximum of $800.

There are exceptions to these rules. This minimum compensation schedule does not apply to charter flights, to scheduled flights operated with planes that hold 30 or fewer passengers, or to international flights inbound to the United States. If a passenger can't be accommodated to their satisfaction, they may be eligible to request a refund for the remaining part of the trip, even if the trip were on an otherwise nonrefundable ticket.

Basically they have to prove U.S Airlines lied. Right now it's he said - she said and I don't give a f'ing shit about their dying whoever in Hawaii.

And of course the Air Line is not going to sign a letter. That's accepting liability when that's exactly what their trying to avoid.

 

[dud]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the official "We hate United" website yet:


WWW.UNTIED.COM

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO

Originally posted by: Bignate603
Crap, I've got tickets for Christmas on United.

no you don't

:laugh:

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
I love NWA...UA, I have NOT had any bad issues with any flight company...yet.

"Love" NWA? Are you kidding me? I haven't had one good experience on that carrier in the last decade (mostly acceptable). Prices going into MSP blow goats because of their gate monopoly. The MAC sucks them off at every turn, and they have really jacked up MSP airport. It's surprising anybody from MN would "love" NWA. They've been f'd up since I was a kid watching the whole Al Checchi thing.

Not sure how much you fly, but I would rank NWA pretty damn low on the list of carriers.

 

[ElFenix]

continental was good to me the one time i've been involved with an airline fuckup.

i was flying to japan and had to catch an NWA flight (then codeshare partner, so continental knew about it) to singapore. they didn't have a plane for us so the flight was delayed 6 hours. first they gave me extra airport cash vouchers when i asked so i had a nice blackened redfish before i left. then they put the entire flight up in the hilton near narita, then they put us all on various flights to where ever we were going next. they were very communicative and told us everything we needed to do and when.

apparently narita is not a 24 hour airport, the main terminal was closed so we had to go in cargo.

 

[slag]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: Ns1

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
Holy crap that is horrible, I have a list of airlines I don't fly due to one reason or another... United just got added.

United was already on my list.

My story of why:

Flying home for Thanksgiving first year of college, I had to check one bag as I was bringing home stuff I didn't need at school. First off, the flight was delayed 5 hours because of weather - okay, not their fault. We were also supposed to be on an A320, but they changed the plane to a 757 (a larger plane). This plane sat at the gate for almost the entire delay. After the 5 hour wait, we get on and then proceed to sit on the tarmac for an hour and a half. When I got to NY, my bag did not come off the plane, as it never went on in the first place. I spent another hour and a half waiting in line for the 2 CS people at the airport with at least 30 or 40 other people who were missing their bags. I don't know how they managed to not get our bags onto the plane, seeing as it was a bigger jet than what was originally scheduled to be used and seeing as how it sat at the gate for 5 hours. I ended up getting my bag the next day as they put my bag onto the last flight of the evening (2AM).

Continental did that to me too. Delta did it to a coworker.

Delta's been good to me, but I'm not really flying Delta from MDW to LGA - it's a separate airline operating under the DeltaShuttle name (Shuttle America aka Republic Airways). I've also learned to stop checking bags and got a rolling bag just small enough to fit in overhead bins.

Though, my parents flight out of MDW was canceled on Sunday afternoon due to weather over NYC and rescheduled to Monday afternoon. The most annoying part was we were in a museum and Delta made an automated call to my Dad about his flight being canceled and that he should check his email. So we ended up leaving the museum really early just so we could get to a computer to check e-mail. They could have included in the automated call that the flight was rescheduled to Monday....

OR, he could join the 21st century and set up his phone to check his email. Most every phone out in the world has a browser and is capable of checking mail or is capable of setting up imap or pop access to a mail server.