Originally Posted by
BigFlyer
I recently flew RT on UA from SFO to AMS.
The outbound flight was a mess - left 2.5 hours late because there were no cleaners to clean the plane, then at AMS they went to a remote stand which caused another 30 minute delay to wait for a bus to the terminal.
The flight back was fine, but the entertainment system did not work, and the flight attendants kept announcing that people should contact United for compensation.
When I got back to San Francisco, there was an email from UA with the subject line "We are sorry about your flight, but hope this helps", and a credit for $150.
Is there any way to determine if this is compensation for the outbound delay or the inbound lack of entertainment? $150 seems high for the lack of entertainment (I bring my own so I didn't even notice), while $150 seems low for the 3 hours of delay and having to navigate the stairs in the rain with luggage.
if properly reported, these comp. emails can go out pretty quickly - even before landing on the problem flight. If I had to guess, given the timing of after landing in SFO - it was probably that. Also, last time I heard, though I admit it’s been a whole, they typically don’t (or wouldn’t - in the past) do proactive comp. claims for delays of <4 hours.
also, this will definitely age this, but I flew NRT-SEA once with an inop entertainment sharem, and even though I had an empty middle next to me where it did work, FA insisted on giving me comp, which was $250. This was 2012 or 2013, I think. So that was in the heyday where UA gave comp for anything. Given that, inflation since then, etc., I’d say the $150 is definitely a downgrade on compared to the past.