United cancels reservation, ruins anniversary trip
Apr 16, 2013, 9:18 am
#106
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: SEA/YVR/BLI
Programs: UA "Lifetime" Gold, AS MVPG100K, OW Emerald, HH Lifetime Diamond, IC Plat, Marriott Gold, Hertz Gold
Posts: 9,497
Let's not be parsnippy...
...Someone at UA screwed this reservation up for him, that is a certainty!
I AM NOT inferring that the OP is in any way responsible for his demise. What I am saying is that hopefully he and others that frequent this forum have learned something by the OP's recent experience.
There is really no need to ALWAYS take a stand for an OP or a stand for UA...
I AM NOT inferring that the OP is in any way responsible for his demise. What I am saying is that hopefully he and others that frequent this forum have learned something by the OP's recent experience.
There is really no need to ALWAYS take a stand for an OP or a stand for UA...
IMO he's using the word "trip" as a synonym for his "flights," and UA did ruin the return portion. Besides, if one carves five days out of a busy schedule for an anniversary vacation celebration at a destination that includes 4 /12 hours of air travel on each end, this was a sour ending to a special vacation.
Perhaps the OP should have written marred, or detracted from, or some other verb more acceptable to the critics, but it's just plain silly IMHO to seize on ruins trip to minimize the OP's unpleasant experience and to imply his complaints aren't valid.
Let's attack him next for choosing ORD-SFO rather than something closer to home that wouldn't have involved so much air travel.
Apr 16, 2013, 9:19 am
#107
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: LAX
Programs: UA1K, HH Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 212
My sympathy to the OP. While the "It's not fair, but it is what it is, you have to be hyper-vigilant" line certainly benefits from being pragmatically true, it suffers from being an awfully good reason to switch service providers in an industry.
Domestic air travel hasn't been fun for some time but United's recent operational performance (largely due to what appears to be a difficult technology platform for their employees to successfully navigate) is a bit beyond the secular struggles of the industry.
One note to defend the OP's lack of hyper-vigilance. I can stand a great many "glitches" while traveling for business on my own (and goodness knows UA has pushed the envelope here). The second you involve Ms. Market, however, you best not drop the ball. I spend the better part of my marginal effort in life attempting to ensure that she's happy. I don't appreciate needless complications to that process.
Finally, when I'm traveling with Ms. Market, good luck trying to get me to check an e-mail or login to a website to check a flight. I'm busy living life. If the concept of having time fly by on a trip to the extent that you miss a check-in window, or fail to quadruple-check your itinerary seems not just implausible but actually cause for shared-"blame" when a situation goes pear-shaped, I feel sincerely bad for you.
Domestic air travel hasn't been fun for some time but United's recent operational performance (largely due to what appears to be a difficult technology platform for their employees to successfully navigate) is a bit beyond the secular struggles of the industry.
One note to defend the OP's lack of hyper-vigilance. I can stand a great many "glitches" while traveling for business on my own (and goodness knows UA has pushed the envelope here). The second you involve Ms. Market, however, you best not drop the ball. I spend the better part of my marginal effort in life attempting to ensure that she's happy. I don't appreciate needless complications to that process.
Finally, when I'm traveling with Ms. Market, good luck trying to get me to check an e-mail or login to a website to check a flight. I'm busy living life. If the concept of having time fly by on a trip to the extent that you miss a check-in window, or fail to quadruple-check your itinerary seems not just implausible but actually cause for shared-"blame" when a situation goes pear-shaped, I feel sincerely bad for you.
Apr 16, 2013, 9:25 am
#108
Join Date: Feb 2008
Programs: 6 year GS, now 2MM Jeff-ugee, *wood LTPlt, SkyPeso PLT
Posts: 6,526
The OP is not an average Joe, they are a 1K.
I don't think anybody is blaming the OP for what occurred (at least not most people in the thread).
I also don't think anybody (at least not most people in the thread) are saying it's anything but a failure of United's system since the merger.
Saying all of that however does not change the fact that the easiest way all of this could have been prevented was if the OP had checked the rest of their reservation immediately after they made a change to it.
Should people have to do this? Of course not, the situation should never have happened.
Could the OP have prevented all this? Most certainly.
That doesn't make it the OP's fault, it's a simple statement. It's clearly United's fault for messing up the reservation. But as has been made very clear over the last year, United isn't going to discover it on their own, and they are not going to fix the problem.
If you don't want this happening to your reservations, you need to check them.
Laugh all you want, but had they checked after the change was made, this thread would not exist. That's what it pretty much all comes down to.
I don't think anybody is blaming the OP for what occurred (at least not most people in the thread).
I also don't think anybody (at least not most people in the thread) are saying it's anything but a failure of United's system since the merger.
Saying all of that however does not change the fact that the easiest way all of this could have been prevented was if the OP had checked the rest of their reservation immediately after they made a change to it.
Should people have to do this? Of course not, the situation should never have happened.
Could the OP have prevented all this? Most certainly.
That doesn't make it the OP's fault, it's a simple statement. It's clearly United's fault for messing up the reservation. But as has been made very clear over the last year, United isn't going to discover it on their own, and they are not going to fix the problem.
If you don't want this happening to your reservations, you need to check them.
Laugh all you want, but had they checked after the change was made, this thread would not exist. That's what it pretty much all comes down to.
O.K., I'll rephrase my comments!
Being a 1k normally results in many hick-ups along then way.
Being on FT is a way to learn the ins & outs of flying this airline.
UA is notorious for screwing up itins,especially after ANY agent gets their hands on a booking.
Arriving at a destination, if one doesn't have access to the internet, is easily solved by walking into nearly ANY hotel's lobby and going to ual.com.
Since the OP didn't think about checking on his return portion and whether he may have a problem does NOT put the responsibility ON HIM whether his anniversary trip is now kaput, but he could have straightened this out earlier IF he would have checked on it.
Someone at UA screwed this reservation up for him, that is a certainty!
I AM NOT inferring that the OP is in any way responsible for his demise. What I am saying is that hopefully he and others that frequent this forum have learned something by the OP's recent experience.
There is really no need to ALWAYS take a stand for an OP or a stand for UA.
We all know that problems are inevitable, and precautionary measures are a necessary requirement if one wants to get home from their sojourn on the flights that they thought that they had purchased.
As far as the "Kettles" are concerned, they're screwed, but FTer's can benefit by knowing what may be in store for them with this airline.
I am not taking any position on this matter, and am only pointing out where one must be proactive if they want to deal with UA.
It ain't right but "It Is, What It Is"!
Being a 1k normally results in many hick-ups along then way.
Being on FT is a way to learn the ins & outs of flying this airline.
UA is notorious for screwing up itins,especially after ANY agent gets their hands on a booking.
Arriving at a destination, if one doesn't have access to the internet, is easily solved by walking into nearly ANY hotel's lobby and going to ual.com.
Since the OP didn't think about checking on his return portion and whether he may have a problem does NOT put the responsibility ON HIM whether his anniversary trip is now kaput, but he could have straightened this out earlier IF he would have checked on it.
Someone at UA screwed this reservation up for him, that is a certainty!
I AM NOT inferring that the OP is in any way responsible for his demise. What I am saying is that hopefully he and others that frequent this forum have learned something by the OP's recent experience.
There is really no need to ALWAYS take a stand for an OP or a stand for UA.
We all know that problems are inevitable, and precautionary measures are a necessary requirement if one wants to get home from their sojourn on the flights that they thought that they had purchased.
As far as the "Kettles" are concerned, they're screwed, but FTer's can benefit by knowing what may be in store for them with this airline.
I am not taking any position on this matter, and am only pointing out where one must be proactive if they want to deal with UA.
It ain't right but "It Is, What It Is"!
To try to give you some perspective, in the entire history of FT there have been 2.8M posts, may (most) made up by folks like you and Seth. UAL in a YEAR operates nearly 2M flights, and carries 140M passengers. Looking at those numbers FT members are probably at most .1% of UA elites even know about FT, and of those who do and are members probably only 10% of them read it religiously. Anyone with 31K+ posts and "flyertalk evangelist" in their tag is not exactly the usual suspect.
I joined FT in 2008, I had 1 1/2 million miles under my belt before I knew this joint existed. I knew what I knew, which meant that I knew what had happened to me. Even as a GS/1K and reading FT, and paying lots of attention I am still surprised by things. I only learned about SHARES auto cancellation on rebooking when it happened to me.
I don't expect anyone to religiously check their itineraries, and especially not if the problem has not happened to them and they figured out the cause of the problem. And frankly, even knowing about the problem, I don't have the time to check my itineraries regularly, I have a life. I just know they may get messed up, and it upsets me. I do double check by asking when ever I get rebooked and am with an agent, but that is because I am there. I don't obsessively call.
If someone gets mugged, or ripped off I don't blame the victim. Now if it happens a second time then I might, but I don't expect customers to have perfect knowledge or to be spending 24/7 on FT either.
Apr 16, 2013, 9:44 am
#109
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 2,933
It's NOT my perspective that I'm worried about loosing, it's my return flight that is on the top of my "To Do List" when I get to point "B", and by checking regularly I have never needed to purchase a F/C AA ticket home!
FT should be a learning experience and not something that needs to be mandatory and constantly read to prevent having one's trip screwed up by UA.
All I'm saying (for the umpteenth time) is that there are problems around every bend with UA. There are ways to cure or remedy these problems sooner than later. Loose that prospective and you just may loose your flight home as the OP recently did!
FT should be a learning experience and not something that needs to be mandatory and constantly read to prevent having one's trip screwed up by UA.
All I'm saying (for the umpteenth time) is that there are problems around every bend with UA. There are ways to cure or remedy these problems sooner than later. Loose that prospective and you just may loose your flight home as the OP recently did!
Apr 16, 2013, 9:48 am
#110
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 4,645
So, at minimum, there are two things to worry about loosing. ;-)
Apr 16, 2013, 9:55 am
#111
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 2,933
I'll let others worry about MY MILES and Smisek, which are 2 things "The Friendly Skies are Falling" folks seem to worry about most!
Apr 16, 2013, 9:56 am
#112
Join Date: Sep 2009
Programs: UA GS>1K>Nothing; DL DM 2MM; AS 75K>Nothing>MVP
Posts: 9,344
If it's just me, I don't tend to double check my reservations very carefully. If I'm traveling with wife, family, it's an important trip, etc. I always carefully double check flights, cars, hotels, passport expirations, etc. especially when I make a change.
Apr 16, 2013, 11:14 am
#113
In Memoriam
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Easton, CT, USA
Programs: ua prem exec, Former hilton diamond
Posts: 31,801
I will state it in as simple terms as I possibly can.
Had the OP checked as soon as they made changes or as soon as possible after they made changes, this would nave been a non issue
Because they waited until a few hours before the flight it was an issue.
You can do all the math you want, but the simplest of facts remain, had this been identified sooner it could have been handled totally differently.
It takes about 30 seconds to check your flights. If that's too valuable for you to take, then enjoy the hours of hassles you will have fixing it a few hours before flight time.
No matter how many pages of posts people make, and no matter how many other totally unrelated examples people post about people who only fly once every ten years, no matter how valuable you believe your time is, the simplest of facts remains.
Had they checked after the flights were touched by United this would not be an issue.
Because they did not check it became a major issue.
If you don't have the time or don't know to do that, that's your problem. But for those reading this thread, that's easily the simplest and most helpful bit of advice in the thread.
If you have a change in your schedule, you need to verify it after the change to make sure they didn't mess it up.
Had the OP checked as soon as they made changes or as soon as possible after they made changes, this would nave been a non issue
Because they waited until a few hours before the flight it was an issue.
You can do all the math you want, but the simplest of facts remain, had this been identified sooner it could have been handled totally differently.
It takes about 30 seconds to check your flights. If that's too valuable for you to take, then enjoy the hours of hassles you will have fixing it a few hours before flight time.
No matter how many pages of posts people make, and no matter how many other totally unrelated examples people post about people who only fly once every ten years, no matter how valuable you believe your time is, the simplest of facts remains.
Had they checked after the flights were touched by United this would not be an issue.
Because they did not check it became a major issue.
If you don't have the time or don't know to do that, that's your problem. But for those reading this thread, that's easily the simplest and most helpful bit of advice in the thread.
If you have a change in your schedule, you need to verify it after the change to make sure they didn't mess it up.
Apr 16, 2013, 11:26 am
#114
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,649
If you don't have the time or don't know to do that, that's your problem. But for those reading this thread, that's easily the simplest and most helpful bit of advice in the thread. If you have a change in your schedule, you need to verify it after the change to make sure they didn't mess it up.
How any of you can think that this an acceptable way to run an airline is beyond me.
Apr 16, 2013, 11:44 am
#115
Suspended
Join Date: Nov 1999
Posts: 24,153
Had they checked after the flights were touched by United this would not be an issue.
Because they did not check it became a major issue.
If you don't have the time or don't know to do that, that's your problem. But for those reading this thread, that's easily the simplest and most helpful bit of advice in the thread.
If you have a change in your schedule, you need to verify it after the change to make sure they didn't mess it up.
Lastly when everyone is yelling about IDB, keep in mind the OP purchased a Y tkt not an F tkt. Their friend a GS used their RPUs for the OP and his wife.
Ive been in the same situation and if R=0 and F =0, UA will not downgrade the last person cleared nor pay for you to fly in F on any other carrier.Had the OP purchased an F tkt then things would have been different.
I understand fully that the OP didn't want to fly in Y and a middle seat due to work once he got back to ORD. But lets not forget that w/o any authorization they purchased that AA tkt = they are on their own and shouldn't expect UA to refund it. I wonder if he flew AA and his wife UA or did they both fly AA
Apr 16, 2013, 11:51 am
#116
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Houston
Programs: UA Plat, Marriott Gold
Posts: 12,704
Apr 16, 2013, 12:45 pm
#117
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Between ORD and MKE
Programs: AA ExecPlat; UA 1K
Posts: 147
As the OP, first let me say that I appreciate all of the thoughtful comments that this thread touched off. The initial post was written in flight (using AA's in-flight wifi^) in the middle of the night. It may have been a tad emotional (which I usually am not). Upon reflection I would like to add the following in the light of day and after the passage of a little time:
1. I do remember the good things about the trip. Until the snafu at the end, it was wonderful, and the advice to remember the good and not the bad is sound and I am already there. Still upset, no question, but keeping it in perspective.
2. Will I "never fly United again"? I felt that way at 3 am Monday morning. I do agree with some of the advice in these pages that it is not useful to inflict more damage on oneself out of spite. I will, for some significant period of time I think, be much less willing to fly United. I book flights for an extended family of two dozen people. All four of my kids got elite status last year, and one of my kids (a college student) got Gold status. That happened because I was loyal to United in arranging and planning their travel. That is not my mindset for now. Living in Chicago, we have choices almost everywhere we fly, and I will start taking advantage of those choices. Sure, other airlines have problems too, but UA's disloyalty to loyal customers has consequences. If they won't fix this for me, why should I trust them to fix anything for my loved ones when they travel?
3. Many of the posts said that I should have known to check and make sure that my reservation hadn't disappeared. I guess I have two reactions to that: (i) I am one of the most experienced flyers I know, and I have never had to do that with another airline, or previously with pMUA. Now I know, but the fact that I didn't know means that others who fly only occasionally must have no chance to protect themselves; (ii) a big thing I look for in whatever I buy is vendors who make my life easier. Life has become crazy-busy and the to-do lists never end. I look for solutions that subtract from my to-do list, not add to it. So if United's model is to do things randomly to my "reservation" so that I have to constantly log in to "protect" it, my response will be to not book with them unless their price is a LOT lower. I don't want to spend my remaining years logging into United.com 10 times a day.
4. Re the "needing to be in 1st class" bit. I don't need to be in first class generally, and when the upgrades were messed up after the systems integration I was only mildly annoyed because I figured it was a teething pain and it just wasn't that important to me. This trip was different for two reasons. One was the anniversary bit, and I just wanted it to be better so I put more effort into the planning than I usually would. Second, upon landing at 5 am, I had to leave at 6 am to drive my son for a college visit (nearly 400 miles round trip). I didn't want to do that while sleepy, which a trip in a middle seat in coach on a red-eye would have left me. If I could have changed that driving trip to a different day, I would have taken the coach seat and saved my complaint for another day.
5. Two things about United's reaction upset me more than everything else: first, they quickly saw that it was their fault, and they could have chosen to undo two of the complimentary upgrades they had given other people. I later was able to see the final upgrade list for the flight (since my wife was checked in) and it showed 19 people had been upgraded, some probably on regional upgrade instruments but many probably just received complimentary or TOD upgrades. Once they realized that two of those people got upgrades they shouldn't have gotten, why not undo those upgrades and give the seats back to me? You are basically choosing who to p*ss off at that point, and isn't it better to give Customer A what they were promised and spent something of value (a regional upgrade certificate) for, and tell Customer B that the thing we "gave" you for free became unavailable so we are going to put you back to what you initially paid for? I have lost complimentary upgrades a couple of times when the aircraft was changed, and I was unhappy but didn't blame United or seek compensation for it. The second thing about United's reaction that upset me was when the GA in SFO said that the auto-cancellation thing was a problem caused by the merger. I was being polite (though clearly frustrated) and I remained so throughout. But I answered that comment with one simple sentence: "the merger was 3 years ago" (in fact, the merger was announced 3 years ago on May 3).
Regular posters on these pages and regular UA flyers know that this airline is broken. Badly broken. I believe that future MBA courses will use this company's customer service as an example not to be followed. When that day comes, maybe we'll have the satisfaction of knowing that we were right about how these things end. But for now, all we can do is vote with our feet and our wallets.
I flew AA and she flew UA.
I was able to find one AA First Class seat on a "P" fare (discount first, about $700). There were two more seats available on AA but at full unrestricted first (more than twice as much). At that time, they had given her a first class seat and were still trying to get me on the UA flight even in coach. So I chose to place the AA flight on "hold" (the one seat at a "P" fare) as a fallback position in case UA couldn't get me in first on my original flight.
When I got to the airport, UA was able to get me in a coach middle seat and informed me that first had checked in full -- my only chance for an upgrade was if someone misconnected or simply didn't show up. I was outside security in SFO Term 3. It was 10:20 pm. UA's departure was 11:10 pm and AA's was 1145, which meant I had until 10:45 to buy the ticket on AA if I was going to go that route (AA would only sell the ticket at their airport counter in Term 2, not by phone, since it was so soon before departure). I calculated that if I waited to see if somebody didn't show up for the United flight it would be too late to race over to Term 2 and ticket the AA flight, so I decided to run over to Term 2, take the AA flight, get some sleep, and do my long drive in the morning. The AA flight landed a half hour early and I actually met my wife at UA's baggage claim (we checked both the bags under her name since I was not sure which flight I would be on).
If I don't get compensated it's not like I'm going to starve or anything, United will just have to decide what the right thing to do is, and I will act accordingly in booking future travel.
:-: You absolutely get it. Great post.
1. I do remember the good things about the trip. Until the snafu at the end, it was wonderful, and the advice to remember the good and not the bad is sound and I am already there. Still upset, no question, but keeping it in perspective.
2. Will I "never fly United again"? I felt that way at 3 am Monday morning. I do agree with some of the advice in these pages that it is not useful to inflict more damage on oneself out of spite. I will, for some significant period of time I think, be much less willing to fly United. I book flights for an extended family of two dozen people. All four of my kids got elite status last year, and one of my kids (a college student) got Gold status. That happened because I was loyal to United in arranging and planning their travel. That is not my mindset for now. Living in Chicago, we have choices almost everywhere we fly, and I will start taking advantage of those choices. Sure, other airlines have problems too, but UA's disloyalty to loyal customers has consequences. If they won't fix this for me, why should I trust them to fix anything for my loved ones when they travel?
3. Many of the posts said that I should have known to check and make sure that my reservation hadn't disappeared. I guess I have two reactions to that: (i) I am one of the most experienced flyers I know, and I have never had to do that with another airline, or previously with pMUA. Now I know, but the fact that I didn't know means that others who fly only occasionally must have no chance to protect themselves; (ii) a big thing I look for in whatever I buy is vendors who make my life easier. Life has become crazy-busy and the to-do lists never end. I look for solutions that subtract from my to-do list, not add to it. So if United's model is to do things randomly to my "reservation" so that I have to constantly log in to "protect" it, my response will be to not book with them unless their price is a LOT lower. I don't want to spend my remaining years logging into United.com 10 times a day.
4. Re the "needing to be in 1st class" bit. I don't need to be in first class generally, and when the upgrades were messed up after the systems integration I was only mildly annoyed because I figured it was a teething pain and it just wasn't that important to me. This trip was different for two reasons. One was the anniversary bit, and I just wanted it to be better so I put more effort into the planning than I usually would. Second, upon landing at 5 am, I had to leave at 6 am to drive my son for a college visit (nearly 400 miles round trip). I didn't want to do that while sleepy, which a trip in a middle seat in coach on a red-eye would have left me. If I could have changed that driving trip to a different day, I would have taken the coach seat and saved my complaint for another day.
5. Two things about United's reaction upset me more than everything else: first, they quickly saw that it was their fault, and they could have chosen to undo two of the complimentary upgrades they had given other people. I later was able to see the final upgrade list for the flight (since my wife was checked in) and it showed 19 people had been upgraded, some probably on regional upgrade instruments but many probably just received complimentary or TOD upgrades. Once they realized that two of those people got upgrades they shouldn't have gotten, why not undo those upgrades and give the seats back to me? You are basically choosing who to p*ss off at that point, and isn't it better to give Customer A what they were promised and spent something of value (a regional upgrade certificate) for, and tell Customer B that the thing we "gave" you for free became unavailable so we are going to put you back to what you initially paid for? I have lost complimentary upgrades a couple of times when the aircraft was changed, and I was unhappy but didn't blame United or seek compensation for it. The second thing about United's reaction that upset me was when the GA in SFO said that the auto-cancellation thing was a problem caused by the merger. I was being polite (though clearly frustrated) and I remained so throughout. But I answered that comment with one simple sentence: "the merger was 3 years ago" (in fact, the merger was announced 3 years ago on May 3).
Regular posters on these pages and regular UA flyers know that this airline is broken. Badly broken. I believe that future MBA courses will use this company's customer service as an example not to be followed. When that day comes, maybe we'll have the satisfaction of knowing that we were right about how these things end. But for now, all we can do is vote with our feet and our wallets.
I flew AA and she flew UA.
I was able to find one AA First Class seat on a "P" fare (discount first, about $700). There were two more seats available on AA but at full unrestricted first (more than twice as much). At that time, they had given her a first class seat and were still trying to get me on the UA flight even in coach. So I chose to place the AA flight on "hold" (the one seat at a "P" fare) as a fallback position in case UA couldn't get me in first on my original flight.
When I got to the airport, UA was able to get me in a coach middle seat and informed me that first had checked in full -- my only chance for an upgrade was if someone misconnected or simply didn't show up. I was outside security in SFO Term 3. It was 10:20 pm. UA's departure was 11:10 pm and AA's was 1145, which meant I had until 10:45 to buy the ticket on AA if I was going to go that route (AA would only sell the ticket at their airport counter in Term 2, not by phone, since it was so soon before departure). I calculated that if I waited to see if somebody didn't show up for the United flight it would be too late to race over to Term 2 and ticket the AA flight, so I decided to run over to Term 2, take the AA flight, get some sleep, and do my long drive in the morning. The AA flight landed a half hour early and I actually met my wife at UA's baggage claim (we checked both the bags under her name since I was not sure which flight I would be on).
If I don't get compensated it's not like I'm going to starve or anything, United will just have to decide what the right thing to do is, and I will act accordingly in booking future travel.
The second you involve Ms. Market, however, you best not drop the ball. I spend the better part of my marginal effort in life attempting to ensure that she's happy. I don't appreciate needless complications to that process.
Finally, when I'm traveling with Ms. Market, good luck trying to get me to check an e-mail or login to a website to check a flight. I'm busy living life. If the concept of having time fly by on a trip to the extent that you miss a check-in window, or fail to quadruple-check your itinerary seems not just implausible but actually cause for shared-"blame" when a situation goes pear-shaped, I feel sincerely bad for you.
Finally, when I'm traveling with Ms. Market, good luck trying to get me to check an e-mail or login to a website to check a flight. I'm busy living life. If the concept of having time fly by on a trip to the extent that you miss a check-in window, or fail to quadruple-check your itinerary seems not just implausible but actually cause for shared-"blame" when a situation goes pear-shaped, I feel sincerely bad for you.
Last edited by iluv2fly; Apr 16, 2013 at 4:42 pm Reason: merge
Apr 16, 2013, 1:02 pm
#118
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Colorado
Programs: UA Gold (.85 MM), HH Diamond, SPG Platinum (LT Gold), Hertz PC, National EE
Posts: 5,697
Only if your already logged into UA, then maybe. I have seen my trips look normal if I'm looking at the mobile app, but are red flagged when I check via the full site. Back to back sales meetings, conferences, etc. for work, or for personal travel: at the beach, hiking in a remote area without cell phone coverage, etc. I have spent more time babysitting my reservations since 3/3/2012 than the previous 19 years combined with United. When I have time, I review my reservations daily, but that isn't always possible.
Shares is now consuming more of my time than acceptable. Of the roughly 15 times in 2012 that had a potential impact on my remaining reservations, about 10 required a phone call from me. I'm struggling to find that OK, especially when compared to the previous and more proactive PMUA, at least for elites.
Apr 16, 2013, 1:11 pm
#119
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Between ORD and MKE
Programs: AA ExecPlat; UA 1K
Posts: 147
I deleted a bunch of stuff from the original post for brevity. But this is what's striking:
OP ends up buying a first class seat out of pocket on American.
WHY DIDN'T UA MOVE THE OP OVER TO AMERICAN IF THERE WAS NO AVAILABILITY ON UNITED?
I assume because United is too cheap to execute a service recovery. For a 1K.
OP ends up buying a first class seat out of pocket on American.
WHY DIDN'T UA MOVE THE OP OVER TO AMERICAN IF THERE WAS NO AVAILABILITY ON UNITED?
I assume because United is too cheap to execute a service recovery. For a 1K.
Lastly the OP on his own went and purchased an F tkt on AA, w/o being told to by UA.Understandingly why he did that, I wouldnt count on getting that amount refunded to me from UA or 1/2 the UA tkt back either, I have a feeling the OP will be back with some friendly posts and words for COdbaUA
As for future friendly posts and words for COdbaUA, if they deserve them, I will write them. They have not done everything wrong. I think my main disappointment is the preventability of the problems I am seeing. When a system interface repeatedly leads to undesirable outcomes which affect your customers, a smart company invests as needed to fix the system interface and is honest with customers in their communications throughout. This problem, and others like it, have been happening at UA for a very long time. The part that frustrates me the most is that they simply have no interest in fixing these problems.
And until they do, I have a lot less interest in purchasing their product. When that changes, and these things start getting fixed, I will be more than happy to lead the cheers.
Last edited by FlyinHawaiian; Apr 16, 2013 at 2:45 pm Reason: merge