asya999

As far as those calling shenanigans on this - come on, he was seated next to an unfriendly passenger and was going to work or read or whatever. She went out of her way to humiliate him (which FAs complied with even though it's clear they felt bad about it) - I'm not surprised he didn't feel prepared to gather all his things to move seats.

He lucked out and was seated with kind and friendly seatmates who make a flight pass quickly - they made jokes, they talked - I frequently don't get to my reading or work during a flight if I'm engaged in an interesting conversation, especially since you're not supposed to turn on any devices till well after take-off.

Having left things on planes I feel for the original blogger (OB?) - but I've also had good experiences - Mr 999 left his leather jacket in the overhead when on a tight connection at LAX and told the GA at the new flight who called over the original flight and left them a message.

Two weeks later we got a call from LAX lost and found to come and pick up his jacket! That was UA and thanks to those who make it happen!

crankychick

I had a good experience with UA. I have friends who were not as lucky when leaving things behind, one of my friends lost 2 iPods in seat pockets, realized it when they were going to use it on their next flight.

I left my Nook on a plane in June and realized it when I was getting ready to hop on the airport train to remote parking.

I went back inside, talked to the agents and they called to the gate to have someone check to see if it was there. I had to wait about 10 mins, but the agent at the check-in desk told me they had it, gave me a gate pass and sent me on my way.

The GA had it waiting for me when I returned to the gate. It was maybe 20 mins from deplaning and forgetting it on the plane until I had it back.

tuolumne

the story just made it to gizmodo

FearFree

Sadly, that statement does not seem to be limited to the travelling public that lose items.

andyh64000

I left my Kindle, back-up cell phone (aka MP3 player) and my Headphones on an ANA flight to NRT a few months ago and didn't realize until I got to the RCC. The RCC called ANA to ask them to look for them but they were not immeidately found. I followed up the next day and ANA did find the items and they shipped them at their expense to my company's Japanese office who then shipped them to me. About $500 or so worth of stuff so I was pretty happy .

astroflyer

His blog post is the textbook example of how not to write a complaint letter. You want something that is succinct, to the point, and doesn't throw the kitchen sink at them. I mean in the end, he could have complained about being moved because he's fat (which may or may not have been the reason) or because he lost something...but complaining about 20 different things just muddles the point.

And just to make a point...try leaving something valuable on your local public bus system and see if you ever get them back. Neither BART, nor MUNI, nor AC Transit are well known for reuniting anyone with lost property. My friend recently left his used (but still very valuable to him) hiking boots on the Amtrak to Glacier...also not returned by customer service. It's pretty tough to yell at everyone else when you're the one that lost the item.

belfordrocks

Yes, other than the lost Kindle incident he managed to complain about everything from upselling Economy Plus, to United EasyCheckin to the Jeff Smisek welcome video

ldsant

You guys are a tough crowd! I read the blog and feel like the guy had a legitimate complaint. I don't remember him saying anywhere this was a complaint letter TO United; rather it appears that he is venting on his blog. Why is it if somebody has a bad experience and wants to complain some folks tend to think that the person is in the wrong? We all come to things with different viewpoints. It may not be the way that some of you guys would express your opinion, but why "trash" him for sharing his experience?

sinoflyer

I feel bad for him for losing his Kindle, just as I know I would be had I lost mine. My only gripe is his poor piece of writing:

Wordiness - check
Obligatory complaints about the various aspects of airline travel - check
Seatmate From Hell - check
Gratuitous remark about Fox News - check
Blaming everything except the morning coffee, without the decency and humility to acknowledge the ultimate culprit: themself - check

You would hope or expect to learn something new after reading such a long-winded and supposedly deeply thought out piece like that, but I can't say I hadn't seen this movie before.

noah

Left our kindle on a plane PDX-SFO en route to KOA earlier this year. Realized as we were walking out of the gate area for the arriving flight in SFO. Gate agent was too busy to go check herself (plane was on it's way somewhere else) and though asked the cleaning crew to check our seats it was surprisingly never found. She said that at SFO alone they get about 50 electronic items per day (phones, laptops, kindles etc).

We emailed lost and found etc and never got it back. I discovered later that it was de-registered from my Amazon account within *6 hours* of us leaving it (before we even landed at KOA).

belfordrocks

Because his bad experience was exclusively his own fault.

Michael D

Funny that he only mentioned and wasn't complaining that he had to move because someone didn't want to sit next to him.

Will a flight attendant do that for anyone/any reason or only for certain things such as obesity??

EsquireFlyer

I tried to read the story, but it rambled too much about irrelevant issues, and was just TL;DR.

BearX220

Yeah, really.

My God, it is so wordy. And he falls into the classic rant-trap: he's got a semi-justified hook, but as he picks up steam he starts to find fault with everything... the seat covers, the FAs' earrings, the view out the window...

Rule one of complaining -- and journalism (he mentions he does some "reporting"): organize. Then cut. Then cut more.

EsquireFlyer

And apparently TSA, too, even though UA has nothing to do with that...
And of course the kitchen sink.