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| United Airlines Skywest NIGHTMARE IN THE SKY AND ON THE GROUND Chicago, Illinois |
| 28th of Dec, 2011 by User140739 |
Dear Glenn: I wanted to share with you my recent AND last, mind you, flying experience with United. Let me take you back to December 24th (Saturday) 2011. Everything was going well. I woke up on time; I was happy and excited to be spending time at my parents’ house in Carmel, California. It was about 6:30am when I arrived at my parking destination and they quickly and nicely, escorted me to LAX. I arrived and was rudely stopped in my tracks with a United employee yelling at
me that I needed to check my bag. I told her “oh no, I’ll miss my flight†and then she said “oh well.†Huh. Upsetting but I moved on. I mean really Glenn; no one likes another adult to yell that early in the morning. But on ward I went! I got to the ticketing counter and a fairly nice woman took my bag and my 25 US dollars and that was that. But really anyone would appear nice after that first United experience. I got to the gate and boarded the plane. I was very excited about spending Christmas with my loving family and who, might I ad, flies quite a bit. I landed in Monterey and met my folks. We all went to the carousal to wait for my bag. It began turning and I watched as a few bags came out and down onto the carousal. I began to have a sinking feeling. Then I realized I was watching the same bags go around until they had all been collected by their owners. Then it stopped! But wait, where was my
bag?? Oh that’s right….it was back in Los Angeles. I went over to the United Airlines ticket counter and spoke to a very nice young man. He said the bag was in his computer, that it had been tagged properly. He seemed so proud of this? I looked at him confused and thought then why is the luggage not here? He told me that it would be on the next flight from LA to San Francisco then it would be flown here and that it would be delivered that Saturday afternoon. I gave him the address for delivery but said I would rather drive over to the airport again and pick it up as my parents’ home was hard to find. He gave me a form and my
family and I noticed later that under the address he had written sarcastically: “stuck in the woodsâ€. How rude. Why did he have to write that? So NOT so nice United little agent. Well we left and I couldn’t help but to be distracted with the thoughts that I might not ever see my bag again. We called that same United Counter a bit later and said to them that my bag had medication in it and I needed it. Did they care about that? Nope. By 5pm then bag was still not there like that rude little boy had told us it would be. The bag never went to SF rather it stayed all day in Los Angeles until about 6:00pm that night. Someone supposedly working at the Monterey United counter called and told me the bag was at the airport. It had arrived! I was happy. I ran into the airport and the United person asked me “where were you?†I must have looked perplexed… then I went on to tell him I have been here since 9am and that he had called me to come over and collect my bag. OMG, he thought I was on the flight that just landed? Wow, does anybody communicate over there? So Glenn, then we went home and had a nice Christmas the next day. Well, I didn’t have to deal with your airline. Of course it was a nice day! The day after Christmas was promising to be another great day and my last day of the visit. My cell phone rang and guess who it was Glenn? It was you! Well, rather it was United Airlines Automated Service notifying me that my flight that evening had been cancelled BUT that you guys had booked me on the next morning’s flight out of
Monterey back to Los Angeles at 9:30am. Oh no! But I have a very important Kaiser appointment that next morning at 7:30 am that takes me about a month to get into. I quickly called Kaiser and cancelled. Then I called the pet boarding, my landlords (because I was to pick their cat up the next day), I called my work and told them…lots of calls while standing in the middle of the street because it’s hard to get cell service up there. I got back
to the house Glenn. And we quickly had a meeting about what to do next. Well, we called United! Yes, we did. And guess what? I got to speak to an American Corporations employee living in India! He asked for my confirmation number and
flight number that had been cancelled. Well, I had all the wrong numbers. I did! I gave him my name and birth date and he found me that way. I asked him to check any United Flights out of San Jose or San Francisco. I explained I could drive to San Jose in an hour and a half or drive to San Francisco in two hours +. Ah, he found one leaving San Jose at 12:30pm that very day. But again, guess what Glenn? It was 12:28pm already. Ha ha ha. That’s a good joke? Funny little Indian man he was. He asked me what time that American Eagle flight was departing Monterey and I told him
around 6pm that night. He couldn’t find it and that confused me because it goes out nightly. The reason Glenn that he
could not find that flight was because it didn’t leave at 6pm but rather 5:50pm! I really had a hard time understanding him but after about 40 minutes he finally found the American Eagle flight and
booked me on it. I contacted all those people again to revise my last call. Except for Kaiser as I had already lost
that appointment time. Off to the airport we go! Got there in time, went to the American Eagle counter, gave them my new confirmation number and I was in their computer. But guess what now? The Indian man never ticketed it. WOWEE. Holy Moly! How does anybody get anywhere on United?? So we went back and forth to United back to American Eagle back to United. I’m sure you get the picture and hopefully you get my frustration too. The bottom line was that I was not going to get that American Eagle seat. Why? Goodness, if it wasn’t the condescending little man that wrote “Stuck in the woods†now looking back at me. I didn’t recognize him at first because he was now wearing a florescent vest behind the
counter with about 4 other United employees milling and sitting around doing nothing. I hope they weren’t expected to work because they sure weren’t! I expressed my disappointment and all he could do was raise his eyebrows and say with a sad face “I know…I know….I know….I know…†to everything I said. It’s as if I were five years of age and was frustrated because a toy broke! It made me furious. At this time I was convinced I was on some reality show about how long can human beings keep their composure? He said also that they would not honor putting me onto another flight because this flight was going. There was nothing wrong with it! I reminded him that it was they who called me to inform me that the flight was cancelled and I was rebooked on the 9:30am flight that next day. He said “Oops, it was a computer glitchâ€. Guess that’s why my numbers were off when I spoke to India. He said “yesâ€. Then I asked why I was I not notified a second time to inform me that it was a tiny computer glitch? He looked down at me with those sad eyes and guess what he said Glenn? He said “I know……†He did! I almost fell over. My mouth opened and I stared then walked away. I just couldn’t do it anymore! L So what if I hadn’t gone that night and tried to check in with American Eagle to find that it was all a glitch? Would I have shown up Tuesday morning for the 9:30am flight and told that it was full? That I had missed the previous night’s
flight? OMG, I don’t want to think about that. So Glen, after waiting and waiting for my not really cancelled United flight, (it was late, of course) I carried my heavy bag (oh yes, I switched my original bag out for another my parents had because I couldn’t conceive that you might lose it
again as I had such a tricky itinerary). The same non-working United employees told me I could carry my bag on board. I knew it wouldn’t fit in the overhead as I travel a lot. But they insisted probably because they did not want to
work. So they proceeded to tell EVERY passenger to carry their bags on. Hmm. We stayed on the tarmac for a long time. Then an announcement was made. The pilots could not start the engines from the cockpit. They needed exterior air to start them. Some machine I suppose. Made me think “what happens if we stall up thereâ€, “they won’t be able to start the engines because the lazy guys are on the tarmac†oh no!! L I decided to perhaps take a little in flight nap and in doing so my foot made a piece of the airplane fall off. Glenn, I wanted to keep it as a souvenir of this fascinating experience but knew I probably shouldn’t take a part of the United plane home with me. We landed and in the United terminal, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a customer service representative standing alone. I walked up, asked for an address, and she didn’t have one piece of information as to where the American Corporation she works for is located!! Does anybody work there? Here is what your United Customer Commitment should say: “It’s not that we’re lazy, it’s that we just don’t care.†So Glenn, thank you for the memories but I will not be flying your airline ever again. My parents will not be flying your airline again. I book travel at my work, oh yes I do, and guess who won’t be flying United again. And hopefully as many other people as can reach! I have included a copy of the United Customer Commitment in this letter so you know what it is. And I have highlighted some areas that perhaps you might want to take a look at and pass it along so people will at
least have some idea of what they should be doing. Our United Customer Commitment 1. Advise about lowest available fares 2. Notify customers of known delays, cancellations and diversions 3.Deliver baggage on time 4. reservations to be cancelled for a certain period after purchase 5. Provide prompt ticket refunds 6. Properly accommodate passengers with disabilities and other special needs 7. Meet customers' essential needs during lengthy tarmac delays 8. Treat; passengers fairly and consistently in the case of oversales 9. Disclose cancellation policies, frequent flyer rules, aircraft seating configuration and lavatory availability 10. Notify customers about travel itinerary changes in a timely manner 11. Ensure responsiveness to customer complaints 12. Provide services to mitigate inconveniences resulting from cancellations and misconnections. You need not reply. |
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