Venting
 

I know we all read too much about how awful United has become. I hate to pile on, but this forum is the only place where the majority of people know the reality of being a road warrior.

While I have hated all the downgrades, TODs etc that have come our way I keep sticking with United because A) I live near EWR and B) I am close to 1MM and (although it is devalued) still has some value to me.

After my third straight MX delay/cancellation along with several other recent issues, I sent this short note to Customer Care. I Seriously doubt anyone at United will care, but I had to vent.

Starting this thread for any others who, like me, want to see this airline succeed, but are tired of being beaten up and let down.


This flight was the third straight plane for me that I have boarded, only to deplane for mechanical issues. The result was yet another cancelled flight. In addition, when I did board, my seat cushion was broken and "caved in" in the middle. Had the flight gone off, I was going to have to use my pillow as support in order to be somewhat comfortable.

I am a long time customer and have flown close to one million miles on CO and UA. I am sad to say that for the first time, I no longer have confidence that United can get me where I need to go. Combined with the brutal service cuts and downgrades to MileagePlus, I am not seeing much reason to continue flying United. I am very close to a million miles, and quite frankly, it is the only reason I have not switched yet. I am growing quite tired of friends and colleagues asking why I continue to put up with an airline that is more focused on its $2 billion in cuts than actually providing the service it is supposed to deliver.

I will cross 1 million miles in late 2014 or early 2015. United has those months to at least try to improve or I will walk. I may only be one customer, but once gone I will never come back

honestly to me, the issue is not the mx delays which happen, perhaps more frequently on ua, but they happen everywhere. it's the recovery. in pmua days, something like that and i'd be on any flight on any airline that i wanted. even WN or something w/o a ticketing agreement (creative agents issuing 2 customer care vouchers then me buying a cash ticket on wn: one voucher to cover my cost of the wn flight and the other as compensation).

today it's begging and pleading, never knowing if we'll get taken care of, not sure if 1k's get a hotel in weather irrops, etc etc. the uncertainity and poor track record of recovery is one of the main reasons i finalized my divorce. it felt so freeing to book a ticket on dl the other day.

Ditto for me, I'm at 940K miles, 10 yr 1K. I have already decided that I am done with UA for all of the reasons that OP has expressed but especially the fact that UA can no longer get me reliably where I need to go.

I am now 100K short of 2MM, flew rought 110K miles on UAL in 2012, 40K on other carriers; in 2013 I flew 50K on UAL, and 100K miles on other carriers; I am now at 20K miles on UAL (nearly all a cheap TPAC ticket) and 70K on other carriers. All of my currently booked travel is on VX.

I sat and thought about it, and realized that I was stressed every time I flew UAL. Even when the plane was on-time the cheapo soft product and at this point justifyable unhappy staff never made it a good experience, it was at best ok.

Yet on OAL (ANA, AS, DL, VX), I was less stressed, and actually enjoyed the experience. I figured that at some point, Jeff will leave, and a new plan will be put in place. Someone will have to try to create a better UAL, and at that point, United will be desperate for HVFers, and will welcome me back. So I'll do the next 100K miles either over a long time, or later. :p No use suffering now for it.

I agree with the sentiment of this thread. Living in Houston and frequently traveling to NJ, United obviously is my most logical option. For a while I've been considering exploring other options but unfortunately UA dominates both IAH and EWR, so it has always been logical to just sit tight since United dominates the routes I fly most.

It was eye-opening for me walking thru EWR C3 concourse yesterday afternoon though, noticing that every single flight I saw was delayed-- some very heavily delayed-- for maintenance. My own flight wound up pushing an hour late only because the gate agent forgot to do a headcount before closing us up and was trying to reconcile standby pax in the computer (he wound up having to hook up the jet bridge again and come onboard anyway)-- something that seems like it should have been completely avoidable if done properly.

Flying UA has just become too unreliable for me to justify the "convenience" of IAH-EWR. Flying into EWR always has had its delays for traffic and ATC, but an alarming percentage of my UA experiences lately have included maintenance delays or other delays for seemingly unnecessary reasons. For me personally, the idea of flying a more reliable carrier and making a connection to get from IAH to EWR just feels more comfortable and reliable at this point.

With all this in mind, I decided to enroll for the DL status match challenge this morning...

You could always fly WN from Hobby to Newark

Agree re the MX issues. Yesterday (after an SDC to a more convenient set of flights via diff connecting city) I faced 3 cancellations due to MX. (1 for the 1st segment, 2 for the second - in a row). I then checked my original itin (pre-SDC). One of those flights cancelled as well due to MX.

That's 4 flights in one day, in different cities, all MX. Combined with the usual "You didn't pay for first, you're on an upgrade" classic, as well as the complete indifference of most of the employees I encountered, this definitely feels like the summer of 2000.

725,000 miles for me to date and I as soon as I use up my credit from a trip I had to cancel in May I will be looking else where. Just plain tired for the BS, the incompetence and the ever growing supply of slim line seats. Driving EWR to LAS is sounding more and more appealing to me now

So if I understand what you are saying, you are willing to put up with 6-9 more months of torture just to reach MM status on an airline you likely will never fly again? :confused:

I understand that you might be frustrated with UA, but is that any reason to divorce your spouse? :D

Finally someone has explained that continuing a tunnel vision trek to attain a certain level that has now been so deleted that it is foolish to continue wasting good money for a status that means absolutely nothing.

Let's put it like this, "Now that you've got there, SO WHAT YA GONNA DO NOW?" Change your title on FT and spend a lot more money to receive crap service?

The ol' gray mare she ain't what she usta be!

Recall the old joke quoted by Woody Allen in Annie Hall. Two elderly women complaining at a Catskills Resort. "The food here is terrible." "I know, and such small portions."

The resort was also losing money on every sale, but making it up on volume.

It doesn't mean nothing. *G status can mean a lot, even if not flying UA.

Walked in to SFO at 05:20 and my 07:00 flight was already delayed 35 minutes and counting. The combination of UA, closed runways, and typical summer clouds has been especially pleasant lately....:rolleyes: