Manospeed

What happens if pax is not at the gate by a certain time and there is a stand-by list? When does GA decide to swap pax with people on stand-by or do they just leave with the seat empty?

AAExPlat

Who knows...but in my case, the plane was only half full and nobody on the standby list. And that wasn't the first time I have encountered this attitude (at IAH in particular), so this is a bigger issue than just a one-time event. I flew 138 segments on UA in 2016, 140 in 2015 and 141 in 2014. I see this kind of stuff happen often enough to know it is something they could easily fix if they wanted to.

Manospeed

Did you call UA and ask them why their GA would do this? What was their reasoning or explanation?

AAExPlat

I don't have time to call UA for stuff like this. They also keep getting my PQD wrong despite that fact that I made no changes to the reservation and I am debating whether calling them for that is even worth it....at the end of the day, I want this to be an easy relationship...so I complain as little as I possibly can and reserve that kind of action for something truly egregious if/when it happens.

AAExPlat

Manospeed. You'll notice that many of us here are pretty jaded...me included. It's what happens when you fly 250k PQMs a year and observe what happens on these trips year after year. Pretty soon, it sinks in that UA doesn't really care about us 1ks beyond the fare of any given day. Now, if you are GS, things are a little better and you actually have clout. But as 1k you are just as important as most kettle in my experience. And with planes on record LDFs, there is no incentive for anyone to provide good ground service.

This is most obvious when you get out of the US and fly international airlines where I usually get treated better without status than I do on UA.

That's one of the reasons why I think contacting UA is a waste of time. Last time I made the effort is after I got sick repeatedly from a very particular breakfast item (quiche) which I believe would have been a health hazard to all F pax on those flights. I didn't ask for any comp, just for them to check out that the caterer is practicing sufficient food safety protocols.

Manospeed

I don't know about you, but if I was physically at the gate in a pool of sweat because I just ran a 1 mile sprint to get to my connecting gate and the GA closed the door on me (with a smile) I'd be fuming and UA would be getting a phone call from me the very next morning.

AAExPlat

I wonder if you would still do it after you've done it countless times and all you got was an apology from the 1k agent and that was it....

Manospeed

I'd make a phone call after the first incident. The second incident, there would be no phone call, no protest, no outrage. I would simply cease flying with that airline entirely. Miles or no miles.

AAExPlat

i wish I had that option without adding oodles of stops....

spin88

This is an option if you fly 25,000 miles a year, mostly on connecting flights, or are in a competitive market (non-hub airport or competitive city). It is much harder if you are in a fortress hub and fly a lot. if you fly 100K+ miles per year and need a broad network, unless you want to connect much of the time, if you are ex IAD/IAH/EWR/SFO/DEN your options are (a) put up with United or (b) fly several airlines and have lower status in each.

I am a perfect example of this. I was GS for years on UA, switch enough of my travel in 2012-2013 to Delta drop to 1K. I was then 1K on UA, Plt on Delta. Then gave up on UA when the service at 1K was horrible, and ended up as Gold on VX and Plt on Delta, with about 25K status miles in my MP account every year. I am much happier, and having options is good, but top tier status does have its value, and I realize that, I am just willing to forgo that to avoid the problems with United and get better product/service on OALs.

Scott Kirby described United's problem this way on the 1Q 2017 call:

[As an example] We have a Newark-based global services or 1K customer, and we started flying the regional jet to Atlanta and regional jets to Dulles and regional jets to Detroit. We pushed that global services customer, who is a high-yield customer, who booked at the last minute to fly on Delta and American in those markets. And beyond that, that customer used to just be a Newark-based customer that was on American -- or United Airlines frequent flyer program and flew exclusively on United. But now, all of a sudden, anywhere they flew, they decided to go shop because we forced them to carry free frequent flyer cards in their wallet, and because of that, they're no longer global services because they didn't fly on United all the time. We lost those customers. So it's not about pricing power. It's about winning back the loyalty and giving a better product to our best customers so that they choose and want to fly United Airlines. ....

It's about creating the best product for our customers in those markets so that they'd want to choose to fly United exclusively. ...

This is about restoring United to where it should've been. And we had some unforced errors. And we were double faulting and giving points to the competitors

I think his analysis of what happened was correct.

SFO_FT

Does anyone here actually think that the April 30th "review" is going to result in noticeable changes to UA's "customer" service? Yes, they'll give more leeway to gate agents to increase voluntary denied boarding (it took DL just a few days to announce their change).

Manospeed

I don't have any issues in terms of carrier selection flying out of ORD. I have myriad of carriers available albeit some with limited networks, but at the very least there big three (AA, DL, and UA) are all available. For international flights again a buffet of carriers.

However, I can see how your options are limited if you're based out of a second or third tier airport so one is forced to accept the occasional inconvenience than having to be continually inconvenienced due to scheduling/routes/network etc.

spin88

The major cities where United has done the worst 2012-2016 are LAX, SEA, NYC, and ORD. All of which (except some at EWR) have extensive options with OALs. United traditionally had a "natural share" which is those passengers for whom United's network ought to be the best. United is badly under-performing this share, which is why its financial results are very weak.

Manospeed

I think they they will address the Dao incident directly so it never happens again, but any other improvements they claim to have made in their protocols will probably be mostly 'cosmetic' in nature.

I'm scheduled to fly to LAX early May just after their 4/30 roll out of changes. It will be interesting to see if UA has many any noticeable modifications.

Manospeed

That may be the case for some pax, but I personally have not had any issues in 8+ years of flying UA out of ORD, which is why I have stuck with them although another 'draw factor' to me is that UA is part of Star Alliance which includes Lufthansa (my favorite carrier) and Aegean Airlines for when I go back home to Greece, which is annually, and am able to collect all those miles or use them. Had Delta or AA been part of Star Alliance I may had been more open to switching.