United.com snapped something inside me today, so partially apologize for this rant which in the big picture is, I believe, not just my frustration.
What happened to the mileage calculator?
What happened to future miles indicator from flights booked but not flown?
Those were helpful tools that might actually entice a little more business to UA.
Instead we still have a flight rebooking tool that has not worked properly in 10 years and probably much longer. Filters don't work, its fare quotes are wrong, flights displayed so often not the connection you want, etc.
What the Bleep is going on with website IT management? I now know to use the website as a vague reference to reality which only calling into a real agent can confirm. I like booking my own flights, but .bomb has just burned one time too many.
To be fair, United does have a few good unique, helpful features like 'where is this plane coming from' but important components have been left broken for years and other helpful functions seem to be disappearing. It's time United finally started something from scratch and pay for it by forgoing all the junk food snacks mid-flight on long hauls, keep C&D midfield Dulles as is (cuz it actually does work for the most part), and even peel budget on further EWR C terminal upgrades (my home airport) which I minimize time at but compared to JFK/LGA it mostly works competitively with what it has.
As for the Mileage Plus page, it sells the services of so many low-brow 'partners' that are non-aviation related one might be forgiven for failing to catch on this is an airline website. Fine with the Chase stuff ( but Marriott is currently a little toxic). Overall our award winning Mileage Plus's (this is not sarcasm I like the program) home on the internet is a little too far trashy, it's branding horribly tacky and inconsistently applied by a "design team". I'm not even saying if I like/dislike UA's branding, or pondering whether it is actually considered leading edge, world class? I'm saying the loyalty program pages are a such a huge fail in usefulness , coupled with aesthetics that feel designed by people either full of contempt for UA or apparently regularly popping acid.
Heads should have rolled years ago, I'd be surprised if some haven't. Just not the right ones. United.com just gets worse and worse as technology increasingly revolutionizes the rest of the world. Sadly for customers technology and pride bypassed the digital production and art departments, and management who seem to have given a much lower priority to IT than quarterly EPS growth. Too many web transactions only elicit "Error" which may have wasted you 20 minutes, or all might be fine when you log out and return. There is little to inspire confidence the next systemwide outage on United's internet and IT offerings is far off. Terrible to say because the consequences are nothing in comparison, but does no-one feel sometimes you're in the twilight zone, waiting for the big one to hit California. Like it's coming but nobody can predict when?
One thing that is consistently present and easy to find featured - legal disclaimers. Appear everywhere like the one below that makes me think a little too often - am I making shady transactions which will banish me to another enterprise?
Program rules
The accrual of miles and Premier qualifying credits, redemption of awards and provision of benefits through the United MileagePlus program, including the Premier Program, are subject to change and are subject to the rules of the MileagePlus program.
See the complete rules and details of the MileagePlus program
Second last parting thought - is the language of fare rules really in English, and is the length just another deliberate way to ensure the vast majority of humans will never understand them?
The website is currently all lights on and no-one's home. I'd rather someone tell me I'm flat out wrong.
Adam