Originally Posted by
dagezi
I flew UA for years (as a kettle before my FT days) out of SFO and was always impressed by the sheer nastiness of many the GAs and cabin crew. (Now this may just have been SFO -- my uncle who is GS with them still goes out of his way to avoid that station). The final straw for me was being forced to deal with flight delays at something called a "self-service customer service" kiosk in ORD circa 2004. CO has always been head and shoulders above those experiences. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if end up flying mostly UA metal after E+ reciprocity. Still, I'm not at all thrilled by the prospect.
Nice to hear about the exit rows on US. Good to know in a pinch.
I have flown UA fairly extensively since 2006. Being based in NYC, UA is not the most convenient carrier, but I have flown them to DEN, ORD, YVR (via ORD), and PEK (also via ORD).
Except for my trip to PEK, which was in J, I have always purchased the buy up to E+, which was wonderful.
I have never met any employees who were anything less than professional and friendly.
On one DEN-LGA, I stood by for an earlier flight, and the UA GA was extremely helpful.
I have been at the RCC's in both LGA and ORD, which I found wonderful.
As a UA non-elite my only complaint concerns the ICC and the inability to contact anyone via voice regarding MP issues.
As CO has integrated into *A, it's been fascinating to watch the evolution of the attitudes toward UA (and to some extent US). As the alliance was announced, there was a torrent of negativity coming forth on this forum, a torrent that seemed to be based on some very old experiences flying UA.
Also, it seems that some posters here have a deep-seated need to establish the superiority of CO's product at all costs, even if this position is--in many respects--no longer justified.
As many here have begun flying UA, I think they have discovered that UA (and, again, to some extent US) is not the horrifying experience that some have described, and that, in fact, there are some aspects of flying UA which surpass the experience on CO.