Originally Posted by
walkertalk322
Thank you both for the additional advice! That’s helpful to know and manages my expectations.
Out of curiosity, does the number of times you seek compensation play a role in how much you get? I read a bunch of instances where folks receive a $100-$300 certificate for malfunctioning seat or IFC, but wasn’t sure whether frequency mattered.
Over the past year I probably had at least 10 instances where a seat recliner, IFC, or wifi malfunctioned during the flight. Would it be reasonable to request a ETC each time? It seemed excessive and I didn’t want to be a nuisance, but if this is an automated process and folks have consistent success with it I may start to be more vocal!
I'm sure UA
tracks compensation and number of contacts may or may not play in to UA's willingness to give it but I don't think it plays into amount (or certainly not to the same extent as other factors like status level and general severity) offers. Early on reports of generous [IME] compensation for WiFi/IFE issues were relatively common but it seems UA has locked down on that, particularly post-pandemic. I tend to view the cost/benefit about complaining of those as "not worth my time" so I can't think of the last time I've written in (generally my threshold is paying for it and not working vs. not working so badly that I couldn't even pay for it -- and it's probably been 3-4 years since I've had one of those)
Edited to add: It is not automated, though sometimes I feel like I'm playing form letter roulette with customer service and may have better luck if it was automated -- seriously my most recent issue I got a generous ETC, apology, and a "yeah we could have done that much better" after a personal call with management via an unofficial channel, but the official customer service response was essentially "It was weather, yo, we don't owe you [expletive]" -- when I was raising concerns about everything except the weather.