MaximusDamon

I guarantee you this whole thing went horribly wrong because UA was too cheap to pay the cost of rerouting pax on reasonable flights up front and even a day or two later when they still could have fixed this with minor inconvenience. As many have said PVG is a major airport with lots of flight routing options on many different *A carriers and other non *A carriers. UA just didn't want to pay the money to reroute pax...bottom line. And this is the result. We as customers should not be so quick to excuse them or let them off the hook and they now need to feel the repercussions of this kind of PR nightmare. I hope this gets major play online and on the news.

I've seen clear examples recently of UA not wanting to rebook/re-accommodate pax from cancelled or severely delayed flights onto other airlines. They will only rebook on UA and think nothing to make pax wait days for that rebook claiming "all flights are full". It's very rare that ALL flights are really full with NO options on ANY airline to get someone where they need to go. It happens, but it doesn't happen often. More likely than not UA will just tell you all flights are full (on UA) because they have a cost-saving policy not to use other airlines.

This is DISGRACEFUL. UA is a mere wisp of the airline it once was and they should be ashamed.

cruisr

This is a disgraceful. I can't believe UA could not have rectified the situation earlier. Really really sad

fridayinlove

1&4. I didn't get rebooked when I called in US line twice on 7/11 and 7/12. The first phone call took place an hour after the first cancellation when I overheard two premier members successfully got rerouted. A few hours after the call I got wifi access and found available seats to Chicago and SFO. I am a general member by the way.

2&3. We went to the airport and left every day to a Howard Johnson assigned and paid by UA.

FlyWorld

What would they have done to Jeff if he had been lecturing them on how great the airline has become under his leadership and how much they should like these change?

AADC10

One of the issues at PVG is that there are only a handful of actual UA employees, usually around 2 daily. Most of the work is outsourced, probably to Air China, so most of the people at the counter could care less about UA's problems. The situations is the same at PEK and some other overseas outstations.

It also seems like they kept trying to put passengers on the same equipment rather than rebooking them on other flights, even UA flights that went out with empty seats.

It is also unclear if there is an impact on reliability from the outsourced heavy maintenance.

EmailKid

But a full refund PLUS $1 K voucher X 200+ pax isn't exactly chump change @:-)

Or are they counting on people never setting foot on UA again, thus not using the voucher

EmailKid

ibuyyoufly

Maybe Mr Hand should start his Listening Tour over there.

DeaconFlyer

What did they say when you asked to be rebooked?

Passmethesickbag

What a pity UA doesn't have any other hubs in Asia where the crew could have flown the passengers if they didn't have sufficient time to fly to EWR... like NRT... And what a pity there are no *A partner hubs there either... like PEK or SIN or BKK or ICN....

itsaboutthejourney

Didn't UA also leave pax in COS a few years ago, even taking off with an empty plane after it was fixed? Shame on UA, I hope they pay dearly for this and management feels the heat of their mistake.

Thunderroad

Good point!

This is such pure BS. Wouldn't accommodate the rest, not couldn't.

Welcome to FT and thanks for providing this info. Though I'm very sorry to hear about the circumstances under which you provided it.

Disgraceful that UA didn't at least rebook passengers requesting this even when it first became clear that the delay would be 24 hours, not to mention 72.

Maybe he should stay over there.

fridayinlove

Both representatives claimed no availability on both UA and all other *A airlines. I held an award ticket by the way.
I didn't call in again after finding seats to ORD/SFO on the first day - which turned out to be my biggest mistake - as I thought I was able to leave 10AM the next morning on the fixed plane.

aCavalierInCoach

Is there some problem in shares with pulling up availability on other carriers?

Had a UC agent who seemed genuinely interested in helping me but, bafflingly, claiming he couldn't see an alternative set of flights for me after a mechanical cancellation and delay on subsequent flight -- routings were clearly available on US, DL and AA.

fridayinlove

On additional piece of information that some news reports didn't make clear: late night 7/12 at the gate, UA ground service announced over PA that UA would bump 7/13 UA87 passengers, clear the plane, let us on it and make UA87 passengers wait for our plane to be fixed. He repeated several times and later on, upon request, printed copies and passed around in order to calm down some of the upset passengers. Well, these people only got even more upset the next day when we all found out UA87 guys were to board that plane promised to us, while all we had at that moment was another gate without aircraft showing a boarding time of a couple hours later, which nobody could believe anymore after so many schedule changes and cancellations. What followed was the turmoil shown on videos.

MIT_SBM

For me it would still be stranded. When I need to go, I need to go. My employer won't be very understanding of me not showing up for work, regardless of whether I am in China or Kona. Or maybe I should always fly back 4 or more days before the planned end of my vacation, just in case.