Hi Everyone:

Apologies upfront if this turns into a rant. I am surprised by some things that I ran into yesterday flying from LHR to SFO on a Y fare ticket and felt the need to share. Bottom line, what a mess.

First up, my upgraded seat in business class was inoperable. The seat wouldn't recline or function via the seat control. Also, the entertainment system at my seat didn't function for about the first 3.5 hours of the flight.

When it comes to the upgrade, it didn't clear until 20 minutes before the flight. Mind you, I was at the top of the list on the upgrade list given my status and fare category. That said, UA staff cleared by my count four passengers before me. Not sure how this upgrade system is supposed to work, but I am pretty sure this isn't the process promised to those of us traveling on full fare non-restricted tickets.

Back to the inoperable seat, could I have moved to a different seat? Nope. The FAs moved a non-revenue flight attendant from a seat in coach about 1 hour into the flight as I asked for help with my seat. The purser said, "I would move you to another seat if I could but we don't have any." My reply, "Pretty sure you just moved a non-revenue flying flight attendant into business class. My guess is that seat isn't available." About two hours later the purser came back to me and said she could ask the person to change with me. At that point the damage was done and we had figured out a way to use a hidden manual control to get the seat barely functional. I simply added that I understood their priorities and I didn't want to involve anyone else in the mess.

I also asked for a certificate documenting the inoperable seat and was told none were available. The purser also assured me a customer service supervisor would meet me at the gate to document the issues experienced on the flight. Certain you all will be surprised to learn that no agent greeted me upon arrival.

I guess what really fries me about the move of the non-revenue FA into business class is that there were at least ten but no more than twenty people on the upgrade list who didn't get a seat. My troubles aside, it seems really unfair to me to see high-paying passengers get such treatment. Sure FAs have it tough but we are the ones keeping UA in business.

I sure hope this isn't the new normal of business at UA. However, I'm really irritated by my this trip to/from Europe. There were a few other issues that I won't bother the masses with because I've gone on long enough.

Safe travels to everyone,

Tom