Originally Posted by
stelly
I've only flow UA once in the last 12 years or so.
We spent 12 hours at EWR recently trying to get a flight to London for which we were booked in Premium Plus, with Premier Access on our boarding passes.
The flight was ultimately cancelled. After 55 mins on hold I got through to a UA agent who rebooked us for 2 days later, and told me it was still PP seats.
Fast forward to checking in online - the seats are regular economy.
Called UA, 1h8 mins on hold and then agent tells us there is no PP seating on that flight, that's why.
Called UA again, 55 mins on hold. Agent tells us there is PP on the flight but it's full. We ask about getting PP on the flight home, they say it's full. I go online to see it's not full, they have seats. They then say they will put us in PP but put us in an economy plus seat. When I point out it's Economy Plus they keep telling me it's premium plus.
Another 55 mins on the phone and we speak to a supervisor who again, says they can't give us the seat class we've been booked in since Feb. They can't put priority bags on our luggage (like we had for our cancelled flight).
Is it always this bad? Are they always so slow to take calls, and have no discretion at all to help? Is it only the passengers who fly this roulette game every week and have thousands of miles racked up that they help?
Is it always this bad? Yes and no. I've been 1K for 16 years now and am sometimes treated well and other times deliberately ignored, and I spend 80% of my time in F. 1K desk is outsourced (but getting better), but the level of service there is nothing like it used to be: prior, one could change flights quickly, get rerouted quickly, everything a business traveler frequently requires out of an airline, but that is mostly all gone.
Here is the most important thing to know about United today: it's $$$$-based service, and you paid middling. If you book in advance, even in F, and save money, come departure time, you're a low-paying commodity, because there are others ahead of paid you that paid double and triple what you did, and they'll get priority over everything. This also means that if you're calling their generic help line, forget service or assistance...or them to help or aid your situation. They'll do the bare minimum to process you and get you off the phone.
It's all incredibly frustrating and disappointing, but this is what cattle pricing brings. Once prices double due to fuel costs, airlines will feel the sting and return to business/leisure travelers, and things will improve.