bldr1k

I guess its open to interpretation, but I'm not sure this thread is specifically for posting happy things. The title is "Am I just ignorantly blissful?". I would expect people to either agree or disagree with that point as part of this thread.

Not sure if you are referring to my post but I thought it was a balanced objective post with concrete suggestions on how United could improve things. In general I find United about the same as Delta and American, and they have definitely improved over 2012 and 2013.

BF263533

Just ignorantly blissful! I have been flying regularly for 45 years with my first flight on United in 1969. United even managed to mess up the last big trip of my life. When you are in the Winter of your life and doing your last Bigs, if you walk away with a bad experience due to United, you know what I will be complaining about to St. Peter as to why I deserve early entrance. United put me thorough hell on earth!

dmurphynj

Completely OT, but why do you say your last big trip? Never say never!

I have a family member who just turned 96 ... he managed to contract West Nile Encephalitis while we were (sitting at the bar) in Cozumel over the summer. Doctors had us planning for the worst, but he made a full recovery and is as sharp (and pithy) as ever. Just had a great time celebrating the new year with him - manhattans all around!

So never, ever say never ... Life is full of amazing twists and turns!

... and yes, we're planning our next vacation with him. Another trip to CZM, maybe a cruise, not entirely sure where yet but it'll be somewhere warm, wet and with a bar.

zrs70

All my long haul flights for this year have confirmed upgrades. As in the past, takes some legwork. But I'm happy.

Love the new snacks in F. Nice to see the change.

Wifi streaming is great.

Btw, anyone try using the AA mobile app? Ua's is leap years ahead.

wolf72

Question. As someone looking 'in' from the 'outside'..why does United and Delta have so many complaints about the cabin crew/flight attendent attitude/in flight services, delays (most of the time due to bad weather so..not much one can do about that), connectivity problems, and ground handling issues with the ground staff...

Is it because of the attitude of the staff towards achieving that level of service in the industry that asian and arab (and maybe British Airways/Quantas/Air New Zealand) achieve because of a different culture and different way of thinking or looking at things and how they handle people on a one on one basis? Or is it just other issues relating to pre-flight or post flight issues with the airline or ground staff?

I am not saying United Staff are bad or anything but..I keep hearing so many 'horror' stories from friends who fly UA...sometimes no complaints but when there are complaints, they are usually not very pleasant experinces.

Always Flyin

United has a LOT of problems, but the attitude of the cabin crews is seldom one of them. Some work harder than others, certainly, but generally I find they do a good job.

Absolutely true.

But I am still not going back to United.

LaserSailor

The view from here is punctuated by whiners and the "left united but don't want anyone to think they are having a good experience " group.

The grown ups who made a decision and moved on are silent here.

On the published GS criteria, GS travelers don't MR, except for the 0.1%. The rest aren't infuriated by the program, so UA address their needs well, and ignores the outliers.

Always Flyin

And then there are those who drink Bud Light and think it's a real beer just because it says "beer" on the can. Those with that mindset also fly United and think it's a real airline just because they can board first.

Both are a poor experience in their respective fields.

Both represent a failure to recognize that there are far better alternatives at the same or a lower price.

"But I'm GS!" Big deal. You still have to fly United.

greg99

Wikipedia: Loss aversion and the sunk cost fallacy

As a million miler, I continue to be tripped up by this. My Econ prof would be horrified.

Greg

weirdlyndon

Wiser words have never been spoken.

porciuscato

Here's the psychology at work:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

"... the victims... essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness"

787fan

That's how I felt when dealing with DL gate agents during MEM transit

channa

I would challenge that. Not only are most delays not weather, how the airline handles the situation plays a big part.

Further, United, specifically, has more faultible delays than other carriers.

Air Carrier Delays from the last set of DOT statistics:

Delta Air Lines: 3.66%
American Airlines (AA+US): 6.85%
United Continental Holdings: 9.89%

Definition of Air Carrier Delay: "The cause of the cancellation or delay was due to circumstances within the airline’s control (e.g. maintenance or crew problems, etc.)"

As to how they handle the delay is why people think poorly of them.

My last DL significant delay (about a month ago) was a 5-hour delay, posted some 5+ hours before departure. Text alerts and emails went out. I phoned DL, got rebooked, and got to my destination at about the same time as originally planned.

My last UA significant delay (couple weeks ago), was a 4-hour delay. Some 30 minutes before departure, display is showing ON TIME, everyone is lined up to board, and then they realize, oh s*** we don't have a crew. The assigned crew is coming from somewhere else and hasn't left yet, we're looking at a minimum 2-hour delay. So, they knew about it hours ago, but didn't say anything, and now any rebooking options have dried up, and now I have to ride out the delay. No delay was posted until 15 minutes after original departure. I arrived at my final destination 4 hours late.

So, two airlines, two very similar delays, but with two approaches to handling it, resulting in two different levels of impact. DL mitigated the impact by communicating. UA frustrated customers by not communicating and impacted everyone.

greg99

Ha!

This is particularly apt, given that I'm currently sitting stuck in a window seat in row 27 because my RPU wouldn't clear after people took TOD's, and the only thing that I can think is "at least the wifi is working."

(1 for 4 on recent wifi "equipped" aircraft)

Greg

itsMoe

God yes. Weirdly, they make it really difficult to book a flight. And there's no Admiral's club finder on it. While the UA app likes to crash on me, it does let me do the things I want to do without jumping through a lot of hoops. I'm quite happy with it.