sfoboy85

If history repeats itself (and we all know that sometimes it does), this specific UA rep has a very fair shot at being promoted to the CEO of the company

All jokes aside, sorry about your difficulties...

LaserSailor

The bag mishandle rate of all the majors us ROM 1:10,000, so that's the lottery you are playing when you check. Not too bad odds when compared to all the other things that can go wrong on a trip, and in stark contrast to the "they lose my luggage every time " hyperbole.

Of course, if you pack a carryon with contingency items on a transpac or the like you can usually do damage control if your checked is lost.

When we do a critical demo we ship via fedex during the appropriate service level for the business need. I don't want my people worrying about cargo and luggage on travel, especially when FedEx removes all the drama.....( one of my favourite commercials......We're doomed........)

halls120

In 16 years of flying 50-100K a year, I've had my bags arrive late three times, and misdirected once. Not all that bad, but it happens, and as such the key is to carry on or ship ahead anything that is critical.

Getting back to the OT, someone should recommend the agent who said “Your bag is no more important than anyone else’s, it doesn’t matter that you are a 1k member” to Jeffie. He/she would fit right in as a CEO confidante.

Singapore_Schwing

I'm not sure what 'us ROM' means, but if it's 1:10,000 bags is lost, I must have terrible luck. Not that it's happened often to me, but 1:10,000 is stunning and should be worthy of citation. I've only flown about 1/5 of that number of flights on all carriers combined in my life, and have had probably a dozen bags delayed for 12+ hours.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the meaning...

LaserSailor

Fact checking........

ROM - Rough order magnitude or approximately

I got this wrong.

Mishandle rate (temp loss, delay, etc) is approx 0.8%, or 1:100

Loss rate (not found after 30 days) is approx 0.01% or 1:10,000

So for your 2000 flights you experience of 12 bags mishandled is about 1/2 of average....play Lotto!!

OMAguy

the weather was all i thought about when reading this thread, and this is the only post referencing the storm that has caused a major meltdown with all the airlines. i landed at LGA Monday night at 1130pm, and there were just rows and rows of bags (there had to be hundreds) just waiting to get to their owners. and this wasnt just UA - AA had the same massive piles of bags.

the difference between UA and AA? you couldnt exit the UA area without showing a claim stub - the AA bags were just laying out throughout baggage claim and anyone could have taken one with nobody noticing. i felt UA was at least protecting the bags somewhat.

the bottom line is that the baggage people have a huge mess on their hands - and they are trying to get bags to people as quickly as they can. i am not defending the actions of this agent, but i am thinking we need to have some perspective here. UA treats its 1Ks pretty well still these days - and just because it doesnt extend to your bag in this crisis, UA is still good to 1Ks.

honestly, i would think with all the unhappy posters on here that UA wouldnt have any elites left.

craz

Well this will take until '15 to see if they cahnge things.Till then there are 100s if not 1000s of 1Ks with a Spend of $2500-5000 I wouldnt call these 1Ks any companys best customers.Till now a UR rep had no way to know if your Spend was $2500 or $50000, now that they wil be tracking it UA Needs to step up and take better care of the 1Ks

Keep in mind that any delayed bags arent delivered by UA Ground but by some really Elcheapo delivery company and they do so in a way that works best for them, and not for us or UA.

In most cases once a bag is delayed we can forget about any special treatment in getting it back. Been there way too many times to count,Im only happy that thus far tehy were only Delayed and not Lost for good.

btw OP I live 15 mins from EWR and make the drive to PHL/LGA/JFK alot more then I do to EWR , saves me a ton of $$$

dcpdxtrans

Ironically, I had something similar happen and eerily, I said something similar, along the lines of I am not going to give the rep any attitude. Then I said in what I thought was a pretty funny and patently absurd way: but that random guy with all the extra suitcases, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind.... Nothing, no response, silence! At least I thought it was funny.

JoeTravel

The 1Ks had a dedicated reservations line in the pre-merger days. Nowadays the line is answered for any Premier level members. 1Ks are financially important to SMI/J and the shareholders , but they are no more important to most other UA employees than the traveler who flies once a year. Company................friendly .

Kacee

It's not a dedicated line but it gets priority routing. I've never waited more than 30 seconds or so (fortunately did not have to call during recent meltdown).

bseller

You've been around these parts for a long time.

I'm genuinely surprised that you BELIEVE the PQD requirements are in order to help UA "take better care" of anyone.

If its not obvious by now that elites are persona non grata, it will be soon enough.

Dave

Spoddy

This. Exactly this.

Every time I come here and get sucked into reading a thread that's degenerated into a whining-fest about how bad UA treats it's Elites, I think to myself - I can't wait for the next year.

I would not be surprised that once UA work out who their high rollers are by getting 1K through actual lots-of-travel (and not MRs), things may change for the 1Ks and maybe even the Plats. That's simply down to the ability for the airline to pay more attention to the few - more deserving - customers. The math doesn't work for them to pamper tens of thousands who aren't generating the revenue to cover it.

I know the OP said he spends $30K a year, and I would hope his service improves in 18 months.
Having said that, this week isn't exactly a week where anyone can expect great service, given the weather.

It would be in Smisek's best interest to address the FF's, by telling them that they are special, and there will be better love in the coming year(s). So far all I've seen is quietly brushing the "over-entitled elite" comment under the rug, keeping quiet and hoping people forget.

halls120

Our phone calls are given priority, but the days of only getting a 1K agent are long gone.

rankourabu

I wonder where you get your "facts"

boobeary

Ditto. Baggage delay wait for a premier customer was 45 minutes on Tuesday, 30 minutes the week before that. Oh if only there was a 1K agent!

The baggage mishandle rate has also apparently increased in the last month (my own experience and increasing wait time with each subsequent phony call).

1K status DOES matter in terms of compensation though. I remember getting offered 20k? miles for a plane delay while my non-status mom got offered 10k miles for an even longer delay. My husband was also maybe premier silver or gold and got offered a % off certificate while I was offered a $350 certificate for an overnight delay (of course the % off is based on base fare so it still doesn't make $350 even with our frequent transcontinental trips).

So does 1K matter? Barely.
I'm not making a concerted effort to make it again next year but am cashing out those awards this year!