EliteLAX

I've got an ex-LAX flight next week on UA - going to IAD - this is not making me look forward to my trip.

Weatherboy

I must give kudos to the in-flight crew though; I think everyone was rattled, and at least in the forward cabin, they did a great job with service...coming around and chatting with all of us individually before we left, making sure we had ample food/drink, and making sure we were completely comfortable. And even though this extra-late flight turned into a red eye, the flight attendants were up/about with water, refilling drinks, etc. They really made it a nice flight once the door was closed.

It was also nice that they catered the flight for dinner. I suppose our lunch meals spoiled in the heat on the 757-300, but I was glad to see they brought on dinner meals since we were leaving so late on the 757-200. ...rather than bring in the old meals and/or just a replacement lunch batch. I had the steak and it was probably the best steak I've had on UA/CO. Then again, after the stress and chaos of being in LAX, I probably would have been happy with a BigMac at that point.

EsquireFlyer

Uh, I highly doubt that the gate reader even has a feature to "randomly deny boarding to X number of passengers." Further, such a system would leave seats empty on the plane, and some passengers allowed boarding without valid seat assignments (since BPs are apparently not reprinted for the passengers allowed to board).

In addition, I thought that (1) there was some sort of requirement that airlines ask for VDBs before issuing IDBs, and (2) UACO has some kind of procedure for specifying which passengers are supposed to get IDBed. At least PMUA did. In any case, "random by the system" is totally unbelievable.

So this statement by the GA reinforces my belief that the GAs had already offloaded some passengers and were trying to lie to passengers and blame "the system" rather than take responsibility for explaining the human decision to the passengers.

michelle227

That would require that management give a damn. The current regime, no matter what their PM affiliations, has clearly acted in a manner that suggests they don't...

UA-NYC

They had 18 months - could have done the GUI, could have modified SHARES to allow for instant ticketing, could have done a lot more training (clearly). But they didn't, and thus this is the situation we're in now.

Since SHARES is oh so robust, it seems like there are a lot of different *enhancements* they could do for it. I'll believe it when I see it though.

star_world

On the contrary, it's because of the work that was done in the last 18 months that they are in the situation they are in now - i.e. running a functional airline with some tidying up to do in a few areas. Only in the world of FT is the sky actually falling down.

I guess they just didn't see the instant ticketing thing being that high a priority

UA-NYC

"Tidying up" - that's a funny one. Not sure if your perceptions match reality, but of course YMMV.

mallodi

This thread is actually scary. I didn't believe it was ever going to get this bad. I'm glad I haven't been flying for the last month, but I'm worried that my trip on 3/29 will be a mess. I thought they'd have their s*** together by now.

TWA Fan 1

There have been problems reported in the media at large (WSJ, USA Today, NY Times, etc.). The first few days after 03/03, about 20% of PMUA flights out of ORD were on time (not all the delays, of course, were due to systems issues).

Some flights across the system had to be cancelled simply because the system couldn't account for them.

The hold times at the phone centers have been downright shameful, although, for anyone familiar with the PMCO MO, nothing really out of the ordinary, which is a pretty shocking statement in of itself.

Ultimately, though, I agree with you that systems is not a big issue, but that the crux of the problem is policy.

Most of the discontent on the PMUA side comes from PMCO policies being applied in any number of areas, policies which are reducing the value to the customer.

People will learn the system, but if the company is unwilling to change the policies, I think there will be a lot of unhappy customers out there.

JNelson113

OMG. I just read this OP's description of what happened. Unbelievable. It is unthinkable that this would happen on PMUA. They would have offered great VDB compensation, getting enough people to volunteer, and then things would have proceeded in an orderly manner.

Smisek and his cronies seem so oblivious to the boiling rage felt by elites, other passengers, and staff over how things are being done. I wish a national media person would write about this incident, if only to get their attention. What in the world is going on!

star_world

The problem is that the world of FT doesn't match reality

cesco.g

This just makes no sense at all!

Just wait, it will come!

Out of control is the only way to describe this! By now, we know, what a monstreous screw-up this merger has become. Some heads will roll!

bsmnsr

Good for you.

That's insanely poor management at the local level and shows the UA operation at LAX is in poor shape.

UA-NYC

Tip of the spear, and a nice early warning device for bigger system issues - one which seems to be ignored at the moment.

eddie1973

All in all, basically sum up the "new" United