JNelson113

I completely agree. At least at PMUA elite service was very good. This would have *NEVER* happened.

TWA Fan 1

Which FT, yours or the rest of us?

I would ponder that one seriously before I answer...

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulli...inental-merger
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/p...ystem/640719/1
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/...tomers-holding
http://blogs.wsj.com/middleseat/2012...ixes-underway/
http://blogs.wsj.com/middleseat/2012...utover-issues/
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/united...185020167.html
http://consumerist.com/2012/03/unite...-together.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/bu...nentalairlines
http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...-it-right.html
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/3091...ays-system.htm
http://m.startribune.com/business/?id=142713695&c=y
http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs...witch-stumbles
http://www.times-standard.com/localn...roblems-locals
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar...erger-20120306
http://www.travelmarketreport.com/te...leID=7000&LP=1

And so on...

SkagitFF

For those of us who've not experienced CO to the extent you have...

was this an experienced GA expressing a policy that we might continue to encounter with the "new United?" In your opinion?

TWA Fan 1

As a seasoned PMCO flier I can tell you that any type of IrrOps was always CO's weak suit.

However, to be fair, I never encountered anything of this type in all my years of flying CO and I would say it's more likely an anomaly than an expression of policy moving forward.

goingbananas

True, in my roughly 2,500 flights with PMUA (almost all as a 1K or GS), I have never seen anything I have gone through come remotely close to this experience.

To the OP, I would have had my ticket transferred over to AA and flown in C or F to JFK and billed UA for the limo from JFK to your final destination. To me, this is the thread/story of the year for bad service...

Sulley

This sounds like a terrible experience all around. I apologize that you (and 200 others) had to go through this.

However, there are thousands of UA flights that operate daily without any issues. Please take note.

Both CO and UA CSR's do their best, but some do fall short -- in this case, they fell off the cliff.

Just a few points - not all management us sCO -- I believe it's 55 sCO/45 sUA.

Also, CO was not a "regional" airline. Rhetoric like that accomplishes nothing.

why fly

wow! heheheh! i see egg on someones face. thanks!

Weatherboy

I set up shop in the United Club to avoid most of the theatrics at the original gate 63. I did step out every now and then at the advice of the UC agents and United Premier line (the club agents said only the gate could protect me, there was nothing they could do even though it looked like a lengthy mechanical delay and/or cancellation was likely ...and the phoneline told me only the gate has the authority to deal with rebooking onto other carriers and getting me squared away with food/hotel vouchers.) But when I did step out, I did see what you saw...

At 3pm, someone announced that the supervisor went onto the plane to check things out and that an update would be provided at 2:30, to which the the irate mob shouted back "it's 3pm now!, 2:30 was 30 mins ago" but they never came back and I took shelter in the Club. I was checking on things in the Club on the United mobile app, and saw the time for the flight being pushed to 3:30, 3:45, 4:15, and so forth.

Somewhere in the mix, there was another EWR bound flight leaving in the same gatehouse (I guess 62?) and the moronic employee there kept making boarding announcements without regard to the flight 90 mob that was there. "I need everyone going to Newark to board right now"...which led to confused Flight 90 passengers rushing 63 only to be pushed back by randoms there. He did that about 3 times much to the agitation of everyone else there. I have no idea why they didn't differentiate their announcements since they were alongside each other at the gate. I watched that drama a few times before retreating back into the Club.

There was also some scuffle with an older passenger and a United employee. I'm not sure who the UA employee was; he was in more of a ramp-like uniform but the other UA'ers were acting as if he was a supervisor. Perhaps he was the Operations manager for LAX. Whatever the case was, he approached this angry older man (probably in his late 60's) and told him he wanted to chat with him behind closed doors next to Gate 63. I couldn't make out what they were saying because so many passengers were crying and screaming, but the old man declined saying "if you have anything to tell me, you can tell me right here. I've been in this line for 2 hours and I'm not losing my spot". The UA guy said he wouldn't lose his spot, and to speak with him right away behind the gate counter. Some angry looks and words were exchanged and I retreated back to the Club before I saw how things evolved there. Again, that looked to be like another moment where violence was going to erupt.

An another excursion to the gate area, there was a nun dressed entirely in white begging with the gate agents for help. She was waiting in the United Club for most of the mess too, so not sure what she was doing at the gate. At boarding time, she begged the guy working with the scanner for a "favor" since her traveling companion got buzzed to be denied. When I saw/heard the nun being put into a situation where she's begging for favors (I think she was willing to give up her seat so whomever was traveling with her could travel on) I knew we were in a bad situation.

I could see on the United app of the equipment change and the displaced passengers, so I don't know why the agents at the gate couldn't. I asked the United Club agent if my seat was safe, she said yes. Only to page me about an 1-2 hours later that the gate agent was denying me boarding and to go to the gate to "work it out with her."

EsquireFlyer

1. Are these figures as of today, or as of 2 years ago? For example, the CIO (who was from PMUA) quit in June in frustration over the decision to use SHARES rather than Apollo, didn't he?

2. Setting aside mid-level managers who don't have actual control over policies (but are only in charge of enforcing policies made above them), the senior management is almost entirely from CO, isn't it?

TWA Fan 1

Although the incident was clearly horrendous, I agree with this 100%.

I actually don't think this incident has any greater implication than a very challenging equipment swap poorly handled by the local ground staff.

Throw in some of the very harsh PMCO IrrOps policies which forbid line employees from providing any type of compensation or aid and you have yourself a very volatile situation.

avidflyer

Have you been flying the last few weeks? I defend the difficulties of this merger often but you cant honestly be saying they are running a "fully functional" airline with just some "tidying up" to do... I have had 8 flights in the last 3 weeks and on every one (usually airport or on-line issues NOT in flight) there has been some kind of MESS going on. The only thing UA should be doing now is telling their customers they bit off more than they can chew (pretty obvious) and please stick with us through this. Taking the arrogant approach is going to get them nowhere except fired when the exodus comes.

There is not a whole lot to be proud of here...

kb1992

Key management positions are sCO. CEO is sCO.

Nearly every policy, procedure, culture, is sCO.

You are right that CO was not a regional airline, technically.

But CO was run under the philosophy and culture of a regional carrier based in fortress hubs. The belief was that people in IAH/EWR/CLE don't have a choice.

halls120

It started out 55/45, but it is now more like 66/34 at the top, and when the CEO is sCO, he has the most votes.

star_world

Like the transatlantic 752 "debacle" that finally got noticed after the various cries of the sky falling down here for a few months?

Perfectly familiar with those articles (and plenty more - thanks for consolidating these by the way) - I must say the word that is now stuck in my mind for the rest of the day is "glitches". Bit underwhelming really.


I've been flying, booking reservations, redeeming GPUs, speaking to UA over the phone, receiving CPUs, etc. I'm well aware of the reality of dealing with this airline. So far I haven't seen the unmitigated disaster that some would have us believe is unfolding before our eyes. It's far from perfect, but people here have just gone way overboard.

TWA Fan 1

As a long-time CO customer (but not one of the blue COol Aid drinkers) I think the situation is somewhat more nuanced than that.

CO was smaller than UA, but definitely not a regional airline. It had, for many years, the most overseas flights out of the NYC area. It flew to HKG, NRT, PKG, BOM, DEL, PVG and numerous western European destinations.

There was (and still is) a fortress hub at IAH, but at CLE, this was a fortress hublet, which had so little O&D that it didn't amount to much.

EWR is far more complex, because, although CO controls the vast majority of flights there, most passengers in the greater NYC area not only had a choice to fly out of LGA and JFK in addition to EWR, but with what is probably more of a choice of carriers than anywhere else in the nation (AA, CO, DL all have hubs here, as well as B6, and numerous overseas flights on international carriers).

I do agree that many aspects of the CO culture are being imposed on the new UA, but there is no guarantee that the approach will end up being successful...