A United Airlines Nightmare

To Whom It May Concern at United:

(note: confirmation & ticket numbers have been deleted for this blog post)

In August I redeemed miles on Continental for a trip home to Indiana for the Christmas holidays and was given a ticket with United. In trying to return to Houston on my return leg of the trip, I ran into numerous difficulties that need to be noted as it shouldn’t be this hard to get on an airplane and fly 1000 miles.

My original return flight was from SBN-ORD-IAH and the e-ticket number was (xyz) and the confirmation number was (XYZ). The flight from SBN-ORD was to leave at 7:21 pm December 29, however the equipment coming form ORD was 2 hours delayed. I called United and mentioned this to them and they swore my plane was leaving on time because I was taking different equipment than the enroute plane. This seemed odd to me as I’ve flown out of SBN all my life and that is not how the schedule works. So, I went to the airport, checked in for my flight, and learned that the plane was indeed running 2 hrs late and thus I’d miss my connection to Houston (flight 703). In essence, the United rep lied to me when all I was trying to do was rebook on an earlier or later flight and save my family the trouble from taking me to the airport to wait for a few hours only to turn around and leave.

While at SBN, the United reps were really rude as they didn’t want to talk about rebooking my flight until they had checked in everyone in line (for a flight that wasn’t leaving any time soon.) They also were put out I needed tickets printed as my parents do not have a printer at their home so I couldn’t print them out ahead of time. I didn’t even have an assigned seat for the first leg of the flight and was told the reason was it was issued late. August is late? I really did get the ticket in August. While at the airport, I called United and rebooked for a flight on December 30 leaving at 12:41 pm (flight 7217) from SBN via ORD and arriving at IAH at 4:41 pm (flight 3638). The e-ticket number was (abc). The next morning I woke up to check my flight status and found that it was canceled.

I then spent the next 3 hours on the phone with various United reps to try and find a way back to Houston. I was hung up twice by the United reps – they suddenly couldn’t hear me anymore and this always happened during a critical time in the conversation as when they were giving me the e-ticket number. So I’d call back and have to start all over each time because no one could find the reservation the previous rep had made. At the end of the 3 hours I finally was rebooked on the December 30 evening flight out of SBN (same as December 29) with e-ticket number (mno) and had a back up option on Delta for the morning of December 31 confirmation number (JKL). I was also supposed to have another backup option on Friday evening on United for the same evening flight with e-ticket number -16218895xx but the rep hung up on me while providing the number and that reservation was never found again. What I found even more frustrating was that I could go online to United, Delta, and Continental’s websites and find available flights that cost $500-$1500 one way but yet the agent on the phone said there were no seats available for them to book for me. And, if there were first class seats available they wouldn’t think of giving me one of those seats or upgrading another passenger just so I could get on the plane. I had to specifically ask each and every time for them to come up with that idea. At one point the agent told me to purchase a $900 ticket on Delta to get to Houston and that United would reimburse me. I asked how that would occur and she said I’d get half my miles back. Sorry, but there is no way I would be the winner in that situation. If anything this original ticket was worth $300 had I paid in cash.

So, the evening of December 30 I check my flight status and everything looks good. My parents (who are in their 70s) take me to the airport and I hear one of the reps tell someone the flight is delayed until 10 pm (from a 7:30 pm departure time). I ask about this and they tell me that at most it would be delayed until 8:30 pm. So they check everyone in, take everyone’s baggage, we go through TSA security, and as soon as the plane arrives (just 30 mins late) we are informed the departure time is indeed 10 pm and we can either wait it out or be rebooked. Had they told us that an hour before we could have avoided this whole nasty process of wasting everyone’s time, but no, they went through the motions. Now, there were only 2 computers available to rebook all of the passengers and a very long line. Two hours later I finally had a rebooked flight (for 2 days later) and my luggage off of the airplane. I called my sister who came to pick me up at the airport and returned me to my parent’s home. My mom cried when I walked in the door as this was my third attempt to leave.

Since it was already quite late, we went to bed and set the alarms for 5 am since I had the Delta flight to try and catch at 7:45 am (confirmation number JKL) to Detroit (flight DL3710) and then Detroit to IAH (flight DL3399). I was given an e-ticket number of (jkl) as well. I woke up in the morning to 2 missed phone calls from Delta and when I called them back they said the flight from Detroit to IAH was delayed. However, the Delta agent noticed that while I had a reservation, United didn’t issue an e-coupon for them to actually give me tickets to board the flight. She told me to call United back and ask them to do that. So…once again I call United and spend 1.5 hours on the phone with them (2 different agents of course). This is where I have lost my patience with United and think your agents truly have no clue what they are doing. The first agent I spoke with could not find the reservation for the 7:45 am flight at all. I told him had a Delta confirmation number (JKL) and a United e-ticket number (jkl). He couldn’t find it. Said the flight was booked. So he rebooked me on yet another flight. This time a Delta flight from SBN to Detroit at 11:30 with confirmation number (RST) and then a 2:45 pm flight from Detroit to IAH on Continental with confirmation number D2QKG1. I had to ask for the 2 separate confirmation numbers as he wasn’t going to provide them. I had to ask for him to make sure I had an assigned seat. And then I wouldn’t let him off of the phone until I tried the confirmation numbers on the respective airlines websites. It wasn’t until I tried the Delta one and it showed only the SBN to Detroit flight that he told me the 2^nd flight was on Continental (and then I had to ask for that confirmation number). He said I had to check in online on each airline’s website (Delta AND Continental). I asked how they would know my flight is to original in SBN and end at IAH and he said they just would. I asked how my baggage would get tagged if the tickets aren’t in one itinerary together and he said it would just happen. I said by magic. He said yes.

Note for United: there is no such thing as magic. Something is wrong with your system. Really. It shouldn’t be this hard to get from Indiana to Texas. People have been doing it for a few hundred years whether by horse and buggy, car, train, or plane.

So I go online to check in for my flight and once again it tells me that I don’t have a valid e-coupon to check in and I need to call. I once again call United and finally tell them that this is way too complicated and travel shouldn’t be this difficult. If I, a true rocket scientist, can’t comprehend how this flight was going to work (and how to get the documentation) then there had to be something wrong with it. I asked for the Delta/Continental flight to be canceled as I didn’t believe it would get me from Point A to B to C and now have just one reservation left, for Saturday Jan 1^st, 4 days after my original departure date. The confirmation number is once again (XYZ), flight 7239 SBN to ORD and flight 221 ORD to IAH.

After waking up at 5 am this morning and my parents not able to go back to sleep after the debacle with United…now on New Years Eve we will miss festivities so that we can wake up at 4 am for me to catch a 7 am flight (supposedly).

The questions are, at this point will I ever return to Texas and what are you going to do to compensate me for this nightmare, stress, and fatigue on me and my family?


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On January 5, 2011 I received a reply from United via their website that I had submitted the above letter to. I appreciate that they recognize the substandard customer service that I received and I certainly hope that United agents are soon trained to be able to issue e-coupons so passengers can fly on other airlines without the difficulties I encountered.

Thank you for taking the time to write in to us.

Please allow me to express my sincere apologies for what occurred on
your recent flight with us. Having served as an air carrier for the
past 70 years, this certainly runs counter to our standard for quality
service and seamless travel. .

Despite our best preparations, flight disruptions are sometimes
unavoidable. We will not hesitate to delay or cancel a flight whether
due to controllable or non-controllable reasons in order to ensure the
safety of our passengers and crew. As your flight was delayed due to
weather problems affecting Chicago your frustration is undoubtedly
understood. 

While delays do sometimes occur, sub-standard customer service should
not. Our poor handling of this situation certainly does not meet our
United standard for service. The customer service agents at the airport
are given extensive training to offer you efficient, accurate and
relevant information to your specific needs. I am sorry that you were
at the airport longer then expected and returned on January 01, 2011.

In light of what you experienced I would like to offer you this tangible
expression of our goodwill in the hopes that you will allow us the
opportunity to rectify this situation and regain your trust as an
airline. Please see the terms and conditions for your Electronic
Certificates below. 

I appreciate the opportunity to be of assistance. On behalf of my
80,000 colleagues, thank you for choosing United Airlines.

Regards,

Roly Novak
United Airlines Customer Relations