I have NEVER flown US or even tried to book something directly with them, but today, after approximately 3 hours of pulling my hair out over on UA dot bomb decided to have a little look, and I can say in comparrison, WOW!

The differences:

US lets me use a UK credit card when booking on its US site. UA won't, and when I try to price up the exact same flights on the UK site tries to charge me 4 times (no exaggeration $387 vs £650) more. This is a HUGE factor for me.

Live chat box, nice touch, didn't work with me though, but I didn't try again so I don't know how reliable it is. Which leads me to the next point: calling US, took me approximately 40 seconds to actually be speaking to someone, as opposed to yelling at stupid robot man with UA.

All in all I found the whole interface nice clear and simple. Well presented and laid out, with a view to making the whole ticket buying experience as painless as possible. ^

Whilst I'm sure that there are many gripes about it that someone looking for the first time won't encounter, just be thankfull that it isnt UA dot 'we dont want your business' dot bomb.

p.s. one question, a K class ticket is a higher class the W and V on US isnt it?

It's kind of unique to see someone who actually enjoyed using usairways.com, but everyone's experience is relative.

On the whole, I find it very usable, but there are definitely things about it which drive me crazy, OLCI for one...

It's kind of unique to see someone who actually enjoyed using usairways.com, but everyone's experience is relative.

On the whole, I find it very usable, but there are definitely things about it which drive me crazy, OLCI for one...

The issues that we see are 2 fold - one is the ex-US AIRWAYS (pre-merger) customers seeing the new site vs the old, the second is the "not ready for primetime" bugs we get on the site.

I do think we forget that some other airlines have their issues too, of course the best site would be one that just works. Glad it did just that for the OP!

...p.s. one question, a K class ticket is a higher class the W and V on US isnt it?Nope. When K fares are available in a market, they appear to be promotional efforts to battle a Low Cost Carrier. You generally will not find them in most markets if no LCC is on the route.

Not too often that this forum sees compliments on the new website :rolleyes:

I do agree with the OP, though, that United's website is a disaster when trying to do anything beyond a simple booking.

Not too often that this forum sees compliments on the new website :rolleyes:

I do agree with the OP, though, that United's website is a disaster when trying to do anything beyond a simple booking.


As a CDN trying to book departing Canada ... UA (new) and US are the WORST sites imaginable!!! UA Canada just kicks you out, US doesn't recognize provinces and rejects your credit card number! Two complete bumblef#cks!

The OP hit on another fun customer service pet-peeve of mine: UA's "Mr. Robot Man". He actually works pretty well, unless you're in an area with a lot of background noise.

What kind of background noise you say? How about the customer service line in terminal A at IAD, with 300 other people all around you saying variations of cities and flight numbers.

I've actually found a pretty good hack to Mr. Robot Man that not only gets you to a US based res. center, but does it quickly! :D

I'm not going to post the actual hack on here as I don't want it to be abused. So, yes, I guess I'm just braggig. Sorry.

Good for the OP having a positive customer service experience with US. This just shows how much airlines need to invest in POS tools, like websites and customser service numbers. If US could capture every one of of .bomb's frustrated customers, they'd have a very successful business model.

Maybe I am just an easy customer that they can deal with (domestic US flights only) but I have never had any significant problems with usair.com.

I'm not going to lie, before I read the OP I thought the title was sarcastic.

I have NEVER flown US or even tried to book something directly with them, but today, after approximately 3 hours of pulling my hair out over on UA dot bomb decided to have a little look, and I can say in comparrison, WOW!

The differences:

US lets me use a UK credit card when booking on its US site. UA won't, and when I try to price up the exact same flights on the UK site tries to charge me 4 times (no exaggeration $387 vs £650) more. This is a HUGE factor for me.

Live chat box, nice touch, didn't work with me though, but I didn't try again so I don't know how reliable it is. Which leads me to the next point: calling US, took me approximately 40 seconds to actually be speaking to someone, as opposed to yelling at stupid robot man with UA.

All in all I found the whole interface nice clear and simple. Well presented and laid out, with a view to making the whole ticket buying experience as painless as possible. ^

Whilst I'm sure that there are many gripes about it that someone looking for the first time won't encounter, just be thankfull that it isnt UA dot 'we dont want your business' dot bomb.

p.s. one question, a K class ticket is a higher class the W and V on US isnt it?

I'm assuming you came through to European Res here in Liverpool. Glad to hear you got good service. We recently began taking calls from the US also, and they are all so appreciative of how we try to help them, and many comment on how much better our service is than the domestic US Res line, which often goes to Mexico.. anyone else have any comments?

Maybe I am just an easy customer that they can deal with (domestic US flights only) but I have never had any significant problems with usair.com.

yeah, that's it you're an "easy customer" .... oh, and the fact you fly domestically.

...so I'm mousing around the website, looking for an award flight to LGW.

They've said you can do pay/upgrade on the website, bit there's no obvious way to do that.

Then I try to book all-miles Envoy, flexible dates, and the little calendar shows up. I click on a couple of dates, and the little thing says "65,000 miles" or even "40,000 miles". OK. So I click further and it tells me it's 120,000 miles. What? Seems to be no correlation between the two pages.

And just what is "First". Do they mean I get First Class on the domestic leg? Like I'd care about that!

Probably have to do it on the phone, just like the old days. :(

Live chat box, nice touch, didn't work with me though, but I didn't try again so I don't know how reliable it is.

Looks nice but doesn't work. I wish all of my customers were this easy to please.

If that's where the bar is set then, yes, the site is great.

Wow! Don't ever compliment US! You will bring out the Philadelphia Boo-Birds!

Phildelphia sports fans were so bad that they actually booed Santa Claus at an Eagles game.

And they boo US every chance as well.

Bear in mind that US/HP is trying to be Southwest with some business class seats. Don't expect Continental or even United full service.

But, I admit, US does have the worst website of the major US carriers. Even the old America West site was better. How did that happen?:confused:

Wow! Don't ever compliment US! You will bring out the Philadelphia Boo-Birds!

Phildelphia sports fans were so bad that they actually booed Santa Claus at an Eagles game.

And they boo US every chance as well.

Bear in mind that US/HP is trying to be Southwest with some business class seats. Don't expect Continental or even United full service.

But, I admit, US does have the worst website of the major US carriers. Even the old America West site was better. How did that happen?:confused:


Thank you for linking the actions of meat-headed sports fans with a measured discussion on the future of US Airways. Most helpful. :confused:

Thank you for linking the actions of meat-headed sports fans with a measured discussion on the future of US Airways. Most helpful. :confused:

I think his point was that we rarely have a measured discussion on the future of US Airways. In my experience, though, our scorned PIT posters tend to be less measured than our PHL posters. Our bitter ex-PI posters tend to be least measured of all.

Wow,

I'm away a couple of days and civil war breaks out on the US board. Interesting!

Well anyway, having completed my first ever trip on US, I though I would post my reactions, thoughts and questions.

First, thought it was a little annoying that the self check in booths didnt recognise the FF card of other other * carriers. MY TG card didnt work at all. However I managed to secure emergency exit seats on both legs of my SFO-CLT-MIA flight, and the one with no seat infront of it to boot. ^

A quick chat to a friendly GA had my boarding passes reprinted with my FF number on it.

Boarding the flight, I was a little concerned to see a rather haggared looking bunch of FAs, but it turned out to be concern over nothing, they were attentive and superior to TED.

Looking at the sleeve of my boarding pass I noticed the Go First offers, and on the return asked about it. I was thinking mentally, "wouldn't it be cool if they offered credit for other elites".

Turns out they do, but something to do with the distance of the flight meant that the discount wasnt worth it, since the max that you can pay to upgrade was $250 anyway (at least I think thats what he said), and to get the $10 discount per 500 miles it has to be done a different way. Either way, I didnt take it, but was impressed that they did at least recognise and give some sort of minor benefit to other *A carriers.

So, I was wondering if there is any sort of similar deal on upgrading trans atlantic? If I follow the US route I'd be using them from LGW-LAS (anoying they don't do LHR...) and it would certainly be a plus.

Its a little unfortunate that CLT seems to be entirely US and there are no Priority Pass lounges in it, but by the time my final flight of the year posts I'll be TG *Gold, so I'll be able to abuse them for a couple of years.

At all airports there were lines for elites, but there was no one manning them meaning that everyone was self checking in.

Regardless, I was pleasantly surprised with US, and am strongly considering joining Dividend Miles from next year, instead of UA who I was considering.

Oh, a couple of last questions: I noticed in their route map that they consider LAS a hub city. So how hard is it to get good MR's from there?

And are Amex points convertable to Dividend Miles?

And is there anything else that anyone thinks I need to know/consider?

Many thanks!

Ace

Amex points aren't directly able to be converted.

But, you should be able to use points.com. I think most people find it to be a bit of a rip though...

I dumped an Amex gold card for a Starwood Amex, where the points (last I heard) are transferable to DM. This might be a solution for you as well.

It worked. It worked. Two days ago I was able to book a flight at the lowest fare offered. Over the past three months I was getting much higer fares for my trips than I could obtain on Expedia. Finally got the website to give me the lowest fare being offered. I hope this lasts.

Thank you for linking the actions of meat-headed sports fans with a measured discussion on the future of US Airways. Most helpful. :confused:

Except that the Eagles turned things around and became a stellar football program. US is becoming the Eagles of the 60s.

C'mon. US, particularly the HP side of the business, is the most dismal legacy carrier in the US for business travel. HP wants to be a low cost carrier serving tourists travelling to PHX and LAS. But for business travellers, it keeps getting worse.

So, the comparison between meathead sports fans and HP is inappropriate. The meathead sports fans would not have eroded US the way HP has.

Looks nice but doesn't work. I wish all of my customers were this easy to please.



I used the online chat with no problem a couple times when booking and was having troubles trying to use a CDN credit card. First time it took two times to click on the link but I understand it only pops up when an agent is ready to talk on the other end...

Besides the CDN credit card thing, I had no problem booking and found the site much easier to navigate than UA. Plus, got a UA codeshare flight to Tokyo for about $300 cheaper on usair.com vs. united.com.... ^ ^ Cheapest on the web for that flight.

J.