I boarded a 737 at EWR and sat down in my assigned 1A. Behind me, in 2A, was a gentleman yelling into his cellphone -- certainly loud enough I could not ignore him. I had apparently wandered into his conversation mid-stream, when he was demanding to speak with a supervisor. When connected, he made the following points (in a loud, angry voice):
- I've been a 1K for three years! I'm one of UA's very best customers!
- I have TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND MILES in my account!
- I fly BILLIONS of flights a week (yes, he really said that).
He had two complaints:
1. He didn't get PRE-CHECK on this flight, and wasted 45 minutes of his life waiting in the standard security line. He was *certain* that this was caused by the UA APP updating earlier in the day, and dropping his KTN from his reservation. While I couldn't hear the other end of the conversation, I assume the agent explained that PRE-CHECK is not guaranteed -- that it can randomly be withheld on any flight by TSA, and there's nothing UA can do about that. Yep, in my 250K BIS this year, I've had it happen three times, including one SSSS, despite having had Global Entry for eight years.
2. He was furious that he was upgraded earlier in the day and his wife wasn't. He said that as a 1K, his wife is upgraded with him *every* time except today. He said when he was upgraded, there were three other seats empty* and his wife was entitled to one of them. I assume at that point the agent explained the concept of split PNRs, but he *demanded* compensation of a $100 ETC. I don't know if he got it, because he replied, "I'll be calling Oscar tomorrow and I want your name and ID number." (Why he should get compensation because his wife didn't get a companion CPU is another question...)
*I know where those three seats went -- I along with two other full biz fare GS pax from an international flight that came in to EWR early did an SDC from our original later connection flight into them. And then there were none. Sorry!
Sir, if you're reading this, I understand your frustration. But you were unbelievably rude to the UA phone agent, and simply wrong on both counts. When you travel a lot, things happen.