aeroman62

Booked a roundtrip ticket today through my corporate travel web site on a CO code share from SFO/SNA/SFO next week. Record showed up on my Onepass account, got the UA record locator, looked the reservation up on united.com, and saw that the CO mileage number was messed up (had a series of random letters/number/hyphens/underscores), and I was unable to select any seat assignment.

So, I called the 800 number, got some arrogant fellow in India, who told me there were no E+ seats available on either flight. I told him I could see lots of E+ seats still available on both flights, he puts me on hold for 10 minutes, then comes back, says sorry, his mistake, and proceeds to assign me E+ seats. I then ask him why the usual message about a complimentary upgrade at 72 hours doesn't appear on the reservation page (I'm a CO plat, flew 123K miles last year). He claims first that they'll deal with that at the airport, but when I continue to press the issue, he finally admits he has no clue, and transfers me to web support.

After another 5 minutes on hold listening to the delightful Rhapsody in Blue, another person picks up from web support, finds my reservation, and then tells me she has no clue, will forward this to their "support" desk for resolution, and that I can check back in 24 hours on line to see if this is fixed.

Jeff & Co., this is indicative of every interaction I've had with your offshore call centers; and your systems integration between CO codeshare flights operated by UA, when booked by a travel agent, is terrible. If these are the changes you think I'm going to like, alluded to in your message at the start of each flight, I'm not grooving on them yet... Are others having the same aggravations under similar circumstances?

pptp

Do any major companies (or airlines) boast US based phone support? Sorry not right on point but I'm wondering. Might be a selling point.

WineCountryUA

for now that is a mistake. As a CO elite, call the Co elite desk and ask for a transfer to the UA elite desk (Detroit, Chicago or Honolulu based).

BF263533

I have had to deal with them on schedule changes that United made. They are very difficult to deal with. They insisted that a 42 minute connection at LAX with a change of terminals was possible.

When I asked that they cancel the reservation because I could book a nonstop from IAH at a lower price, they got a supervisor who approved the change.

They don't seem to have practical sense on how airports and flights operate in the US.

The always ask you to sign up for Mileage Plus, even if you have elite status on CO.

Critic

Dell (I think) offers US-based customer support as an optional extra on their support packages. But other than that, I can't think of any instance of an American company guaranteeing US-based customer service.

Yobz

Talked to a united rep tonight. Helpful and obviously a native English speaker. Maybe the merger will have positive side effects? :-)

gawhite411

Yes. Your employer. It's only UA that uses those idiots in India.

pptp

Except we got rid of our 800 number. I guess there is still one for elites.

Red_Rob

I have had very similar experiences with United. I believe it happens when you have a United account without status. I actually sent a hardcopy letter describing what happened to me. In the letter I mentioned that I would continue to fly Continental, and while hopeful that they would eventually iron out this sort of bugs that I would refrain from flying United until they were truly combined as a "single airline" (which I have done), and that until that time United would be my 3rd choice carrier (probably only resulting in a loss of 2-3 flights this year from me).

I did mention that if they would consider giving me elite status on United (based on my CO plat) that I would be willing to fly United prior to 2012. I got a response thanking me for my detailed description, and that it would be presented in an internal meeting to discuss ways to improve the customer experience during the merger. I was also told that United does not status match from *A carriers (including CO).

So at the end of the day, like many here (I presume) I remain "loyal" to CO (at least for now), but will wait to 2012 before flying United.

TPARes

got rid of what number? CO still has all the same 800 numbers we have always had. If fact as of late we have closed (in house) offices offshore and hired speakers state-side.

pptp

Got rid of the 800 number for customer service. I know we still have one for reservations.

Kind of like the TV preachers. If you want to donate, the number is free. If you need a prayer, it'll cost ya.