Boraxo

I stand corrected!

Though I bet WN has a better on time record from OAK than UA does from SFO, which are the airports that matter most to me.

LaserSailor

DL clearly seems to have read my post last night.....

kokonutz

Yeah...DL is the LAST airline I thought i would ever consider being loyal to.

But as someone who buys premium fares both on my and OPM, I am sure looking hard at them right now!

Thing is, now that I have gone free agent, the notion of locking myself into a single airline seems so limiting....

freeflyin

Add me to the list,although my exodus began last year. I only had 40k EQM last year and will have less this year.
Have already cancelled one UA cc and the second one is going next month. If I ever need UA miles, I will transfer from CSP.

CO_Nonrev_elite

I cancelled two UA cards yesterday. Not one peep about retention from Chase. They just said OK. I asked if they had many people canceling and they said yes. I didn't ask for specifics

circitmage

Got my AA Executive Platinum via a UA GS status match earlier this week ... I've flown about 6 segments as a kettle on AA since leaving UA and gifting my miles to CRS ... So far the AA experience has not been bad at all - aside from having to learn the ropes and routes of the AA website ... AA main cabin crews seem happier than UA F FAs and service *in the main cabin* is on par with F on UA, food is decent"er" to equivalent, planes are *definitely* cleaner on the inside (seem older on the outside) ... will report out when I have more F segments under my belt for an apples:apples comparison ... its a shame, if UA only had paid more than lip service to "my loyalty", AA would never have received my or my company's business

rankourabu

Did you ask if many people are filling out new applications?
The marketing behind the cards is huge to the general (less knowing) public. There is no way more people are cancelling than signing up.

travelimages

My story is slightly different . . .

First off, the mileage program has been seriously devalued. For instance, 200,000 miles didn't go far when booking the family on BOI-GRB-BOI a year or so ago. The only way to get a guaranteed 'normal' seat is to use what amounts to double miles. Go the other route and you can use less miles, but there is 'no availability', plus they're fill their empty seats by sending you around the country on a quite lousy itinerary.

Then when taking a Washington Dulles to Denver flight and thinking there wouldn't be enough overhead bin space for my loaded camera bag, I asked a flight attendant for the 'jetway service' whereby they have it waiting as you get off at the other end. Of course, being a larger plane they don't offer that, so she scribbled on a piece of paper, and had the bag checked. I realize now that checking my camera bag was my own ‘duh’ moment, but one expects that the airlines are going to do their utmost to protect their client property.

I had a carbon copy with a tracking number, but the bag never made it out of Dulles. Well, actually it did, but probably in the company of an airport employee. On another note, perhaps the airport with the most thefts could be the subject of another thread!

United never once apologized, and gave me the runaround for 6 whole months. That plus my time spent researching new gear, and the cost of purchasing said equipment.

So, here comes the amazing bit . . . the full value of my equipment was $6,300 plus. My United compensation? A $54 check, and 1600 miles! WOW! Of course the miles cost United NOTHING as they toss you about putting you into empty seats.

Now if they'd have just given me the miles value to match the equipment value, United would have been $10,500 richer today, because that is how much I've spent on OTHER airlines since this all happened.

Of course, I remind Smisek of this via direct email once in a while but for some reason he never responds, LOL!

What he should realize is that you should never bite the hand that feeds you, i.e. over $100,000 in flight tickets since 1989.

United = DUH!

As to who I fly now? . . . the lowest price and the least stressful itinerary wins every time.

Banton

I'm a 12 year 1K, 2MM based in SEA and fly twice a month to DC. Last year I flew 42K on United. Service is deteriorating noticeably. Very poor attitude. Many planes now have no AVOS for transcons even.
There are two issues for me: it is extremely difficult to make a dinner meeting in downtown DC on UA bc I have to leave on their 6:00 a.m.to ORD and take my chances in ORD. About 25% of the time I had a problem in ORD, and getting up at 3:30 a.m. to make the early flight was not fun. AS has a nonstop to DCA leaving at 8:00 a.m arriving at DCA at 4:00. I've done that flight three times this year already (They sort of matched my status Gold MVP) and it's been an early arrival each time. They have Wifi on virtually all of their flights and you can rent (free in F) a did corder to watch a zillion movies. When I arrive, I have time even to work out before the dinner meeting.
My DC meetings end at noon Sunday. UA has cancelled most of their flights to SEA during the afternoon and early evening from ORD to SEA. You can wait 5 or 6 hours in ORD until 8:00 p.m. for the connection from ORD. But even the new clubs at ORD are disappointing. Last weekend I flew UA: DCA-ORD-SFO-SEA - 12 hours to get home. I won't go that again. I will probably wait for the 6:40 AS nonstop flight, make their 75K level by mid-summer and be virtually guaranteed upgrades - and it's a nice touch that the AS FAs ask all MVP Golds in COACH if they would like a cocktail (Too early for me so far). UA flight attendants and phone CSRs could take valuable lessons from the AS equivalents. It's like night and day. My two international trips will be on KLM and KOR as they award elite status credit to AS, as does AA and Delta.

mike1968

^+1 and similar reasons I went AA last year. For SJC Not sure if you took the DEN connect or flew non stop to SFO, but saving the $200 RT on car service needed to get to/from SFO is a further bonus and the AA flight times now seem better than what recall when they both flew the route (UA always had better flight times from what I remember).

Baze

Sorry for your loss. But UA mainline has never had jetway service for carryons. That is Express flights only. And I hope you learned to never, ever check anything of value. United policy is that they are not liable for high value items in checked bags per the list in the link.

http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont...e/fragile.aspx

ani90

Surely the problem is not differing size of UA bins but the size of your carry on luggage? If your carry on complies with UA requirements, does it still not fit in the bins (obviously excluding regional jets).

ama537621

I am going to eat crow and still fly United for international flights with family. My corporate travel dept would roast me alive if I booked tickets with an infant friendly airline. The cost is extremely high compared to flying on a US carrier.

I will stick with the Devil I know and fly the horrible 747 E+ option for PVG-ORD, then the 737-900 from ORD-BUF. I guess I should feel lucky that I have a non RJ option from ORD-BUF

ani90

No need to eat crow. A lot of this leaving UA talk is largely irrelevant, or is all talk not complemented by action, as the topic of the thread infers. I have been on many international flights since this thread started and on most over 80 percent full, some well over 95% full. If people are really leaving UA, I doubt it is in any significant number (or on the contrary there is as much movement towards UA as there is away from it).

LaserSailor

I have enjoyed the crow with some fava beans and a nice Chianti....ssssssssss

They only served the Chianti in half cups,

I've found UA and DL both good for my domestic, but fly UA exclusive for intl due to network