Just had a terrible travel and Customer Care experience. Quick warning - DO NOT TRANSIT THROUGH A CHINA AIRPORT WITHOUT A VISA. That said, below is the rant I just sent to United Customer Service. Would love opinions on whether I am being unrealistic here, and if not, what kind of compensation I should look to get from United:

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I have just had one of the worst travel experiences followed by an even worse interaction with United Customer Care.

My itinerary (confirmation number ******) was booked by United going from SFO --> PVG --> SIN --> DPS. There was a 7 hour layover in Shanghai, but I was okay with this, expecting it would be like any other long layover. It was anything but.

Apparently, Shanghai does not handle transfers like any other airport. They are not able to seamlessly transfer your checked baggage to an ongoing flight, and as a result, you are supposed to pick up your bags and then check in again for your next flight. For short layovers, this is not an issue as someone from immigration escorts the transferring passenger to pick up their bags and then to the check-in desk for the next flight. However, my problem is that I had a 7 hour layover, and the check-in desk for the connecting flight did not open until 3 hours before departure.

As a result, I had to wait in Immigration for 4 hours. I was watched at all times by Immigration security. I was not allowed to walk around the airport and there was no food or drink available. When I needed to go to the bathroom, security had to escort me.

If I had had a transit visa, this would not have happened. However, United’s information on this states (and I quote):
Visa Information – Connecting country: China (People's Rep.) (CN): Visa required, except for Holders of confirmed onward tickets for a max. transit time of 24 hours. Transit incl. two stops, with a total transit time of 24 hours, within China (People's Rep.) is permitted.

I had a confirmed onward ticket and therefore naturally assumed that I did not require a visa of any sort. This led to my 4 hour stay with Chinese Immigration.

Given this experience, I would expect United to either not book passengers for connecting flights through China, or to let them know that a transit visa is required.

However, that is not even the worst part of the experience. As I was waiting in Immigration, I called United Customer Care and spoke to [XXXX]– apparently a Customer Care Manager. She was completely and utterly devoid of any compassion. Her first response was that this was my fault for not confirming the transit requirements with my embassy before traveling. When I responded incredulously that this information was provided by United on your website, she claimed that United had zero responsibility because this information was provided by a third party (IATA) and was listed as such. While I am sure this would be an appropriate response from a lawyer trying to protect United, it shocked me to hear it coming from a Customer Care Manager. Surely United takes some responsibility for the accuracy of information it provides on its own website!?!

[XXXX] then shocked me even more by stating that technically United had not really provided incorrect information. She said that it was true that no transit visa was required and it was up to each country’s immigration authorities to determine how transit through the airport would be handled – basically suggesting that a 4 hour stay in the “sterile area” (her words) should be viewed as acceptable. She declined to answer directly when I asked her if she would expect United to book exactly the same ticket tomorrow and provide the passenger exactly the same information or if she would at least acknowledge that something somewhere had gone wrong. At this point, I hung up out of disgust.

While I understand that IATA provided the transit information, I think United needs to bear some responsibility for booking this flight as an acceptable routing (your reservations agents suggested this route – I did not custom design it), and more importantly, I think you need to give some direct feedback to Ms. [XXXX] on her customer service attitude.