Originally Posted by
limey1K
I flew HUB1-HUB2-HUB3 yesterday. Delayed from HUB1-2 due to the fact that it takes UA 55 minutes to load a 738 for some reason, ran between terminals to get to my HUB2-3 flight to find its gone on an MX delay but the app hasn't updated
Fix the MX issue after an hour, we all board and then sit and wait for paperwork which the Captain explains isn't coming because the maintenance computer network "is down". Plane is taken out of service, we deplane and they begin the search for a replacement, I'm now 3 hours delayed and slightly fed up so I call the GS line, wait 20 minutes and am told by an agent that she cant re-book me on one of the other flights between HUB2-3 because they are all sold out and that only applies if the flight is canceled. I asked about the guarantee and she said that only applies if seats are available. Got home 6 hours late, never saw a GS agent at the gate, never had a call and the only thing the Club agent said was "good luck finding a seat back there". Its pretty sad at this point.
Unfortunately my experiences outside of my last trip have been similar - agent at the gate, late boarding due to MX issue. Agent said goodbye as she had to move on to her next assignment for another flight, turned into rolling delay for 2.5 hours, no one returned during that time. Knew we were going to misconnect, called the contact center and waited 15 minutes for a pickup. Agent kept saying she couldn't do anything until we "officially were notified by Operations of a final departure time and that we were certainly going to misconnect". I did a HUACA, 10 minute wait, and second agent saw the delay and instantly rebooked us on the later departure (as seats were available). Definitely requires being on your toes recently - even though my recent experience at HNL was good, I had to be proactive and solve the issue. In prior times, an agent would have protected us on the delayed earlier flight and called.
One thing I did hear is that there are too many GS to handle with the reduced staffing levels - rolled over 2020 qualifiers, plus those added on who qualified for 2021 and 2022. Normally there is some churn each year, but that didn't happen last two years, and now it seems everyone is traveling.