EVERYTHING about United's service is inconsistent. I don't think bad serivice drives people as crazy as inconsistency does.

Data point: Just flew on a SAT-IAD midcon served by Mesa Airlines. It was by far the best service I've had on UA mainline or UX in probably 2 years. PDBs served with a smile, the FAs mentioned how we were flying on the newest plane in Mesa's fleet, and amazing attentive and professional service the entire flight.

A mainline flight just afterwards? A disaster. Grumpy FAs that didn't want to be bothered with lousy customers and decided to curtain off the galley and hang out there and play on iPads and gossip the entire flight.

It's the inconsistency that United really needs to fix.