Sept. 2016: Another passenger "ripped" from her Business Seat
Apr 24, 2017, 5:11 pm
#46
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 401
Amex points are a terrible waste to use for air fares or upgrades of one sort or another. But people do it, including my brother-in-law. They never get transferred to an airline that's not a partner such as UA. Basically UA sells an airfare at whatever the market price is and you pay for it with some combination of cash and/or points which typically have a value of from $0.005 to $0.01. So if it cost say, $1000 for an airfare, you could buy it from AMEX for 100,000 points.
I'll even admit to taking statement credit at times due to usually having a hefty 7 figure balance of UR points.
Apr 24, 2017, 5:18 pm
#47
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Yes. I think so. If you could buy it for cash, such as an "upgrade" to E+, you could buy it with AMEX points. Where an upgrade was some combination of UA miles and a fee, no.
Apr 24, 2017, 5:45 pm
#48
Join Date: May 2014
Location: DMV
Posts: 2,092
re-read the article. the AGENT named Exxxxe Dxxx is not
a F/A. Sloppy journalism is bad enough... reading comprehension is worse. The agents name is mentioned, so where is the outrage from others saying getting employee names is next to impossible ? I know fa's who have been harrased/stalked on layovers by seedy type pax who somehow got crew member names.
a F/A. Sloppy journalism is bad enough... reading comprehension is worse. The agents name is mentioned, so where is the outrage from others saying getting employee names is next to impossible ? I know fa's who have been harrased/stalked on layovers by seedy type pax who somehow got crew member names.
It sticks out to me because the complainant does not come across as the most credible source of information.
Apr 24, 2017, 6:01 pm
#49
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 811
Whether it's an FA or GA is not the pertinent point. The point is that it's pretty difficult to believe that any United staffer on the job calls someone that word. Maybe if it was "b--ch" I'd buy it..
It sticks out to me because the complainant does not come across as the most credible source of information.
It sticks out to me because the complainant does not come across as the most credible source of information.
Apr 24, 2017, 6:14 pm
#50
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The fact that it is alleged the FA called the complainant a 'c-nt' is probably the part that makes me really doubt the story. A downgrade and FA rudeness all certainly sound like realistic scenarios but that word gets me to raise my eyebrow. I've seen a fair few UA FAs act in a less than pleasant way toward passengers and others but never seen them resort to extremely crude insults when they go on their officious power trips.
Even as far as insults go it seems like an odd one given how it's considered so very off-limits in an American context. I know it's now a bit more commonly used due to recent hipster Anglophilia, but that is more likely to be the complainant's social set..
Even as far as insults go it seems like an odd one given how it's considered so very off-limits in an American context. I know it's now a bit more commonly used due to recent hipster Anglophilia, but that is more likely to be the complainant's social set..
Cheers.
Apr 24, 2017, 6:21 pm
#51
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: WAS
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Posts: 1,757
Besides the other parts of the story that don't add up, this is what makes me doubt it went down the way the socialite described it. FWIW - her attorney's should do better due diligence (aka, there isn't a 1B, etc) or it could get tossed. Be interesting to see if UA settles just to get it out of the way.
Cheers.
Cheers.
Apr 24, 2017, 6:23 pm
#52
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Cheers.
Apr 24, 2017, 11:17 pm
#54
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Besides the other parts of the story that don't add up, this is what makes me doubt it went down the way the socialite described it. FWIW - her attorney's should do better due diligence (aka, there isn't a 1B, etc) or it could get tossed. Be interesting to see if UA settles just to get it out of the way.
Cheers.
Cheers.
Apr 24, 2017, 11:43 pm
#55
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None of this matters though, she was downgraded for whatever reason. The posted articles seem to be full of inaccurate info, which makes it difficult to understand what happened.
Apr 25, 2017, 12:01 am
#56
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Karen Shiboleth, the Instagram-loving daughter of wealthy New York lawyers...
Another nonsense sideshow...
Apr 25, 2017, 6:36 am
#57
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 514
Points + $500 to upgrade to economy plus? Starting to smell fishy here.
Then on top of that another $1000 to go to the front of the plane. Maybe, but that seems like an awful lot.
Then they moved her when there were other open seats? Were they for crew to rest? The FA then dragged her by the arm and forced her to the back of the plane? Maybe that happened, maybe it didn't. Then they called her a cun*t in front of other passengers? Are there any witnesses to this whole encounter? Seems very exaggerated.
On top of that, what is up with all this name dropping? Like it's going to get her somewhere? She's an over-entitled elite (not elite flyer), but a spoiled brat.
UA will just settle but this woman is full of crap. I just don't buy that is how this all played out.
Apr 25, 2017, 7:11 am
#58
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A one way economy ticket to London out of NY is $1500? Ok, I could *maybe* buy that if it was during some peak travel period.
Points + $500 to upgrade to economy plus? Starting to smell fishy here.
Then on top of that another $1000 to go to the front of the plane. Maybe, but that seems like an awful lot.
Then they moved her when there were other open seats? Were they for crew to rest? The FA then dragged her by the arm and forced her to the back of the plane? Maybe that happened, maybe it didn't. Then they called her a cun*t in front of other passengers? Are there any witnesses to this whole encounter? Seems very exaggerated.
On top of that, what is up with all this name dropping? Like it's going to get her somewhere? She's an over-entitled elite (not elite flyer), but a spoiled brat.
UA will just settle but this woman is full of crap. I just don't buy that is how this all played out.
Points + $500 to upgrade to economy plus? Starting to smell fishy here.
Then on top of that another $1000 to go to the front of the plane. Maybe, but that seems like an awful lot.
Then they moved her when there were other open seats? Were they for crew to rest? The FA then dragged her by the arm and forced her to the back of the plane? Maybe that happened, maybe it didn't. Then they called her a cun*t in front of other passengers? Are there any witnesses to this whole encounter? Seems very exaggerated.
On top of that, what is up with all this name dropping? Like it's going to get her somewhere? She's an over-entitled elite (not elite flyer), but a spoiled brat.
UA will just settle but this woman is full of crap. I just don't buy that is how this all played out.
Apparently some FTalkers have read the actual case....If there's a way of posting a link to the case, it would be interesting to many of us. I tried googling it, but nothing came up.
Apr 25, 2017, 7:45 am
#59
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: WAS
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Posts: 1,757
For the record, both boarding passes (for 1B and 21B) are attached to the complaint, as is the receipt for the upgrade to BusinessFirst and the $750 voucher. As I mentioned in a previous post though, it also repeatedly refers to "American Express MileagePlus" which makes some folks discount the whole thing entirely.
Last edited by Beltway2A; Apr 25, 2017 at 8:01 am
Apr 25, 2017, 11:45 am
#60
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The complaint has been publicly filed by the Manhattan court: link
Pretty clear the aircraft was an sCO 752, and she paid $1,149 for an at-checkin upsell offer which booked into 1B. According to the complaint she paid "approximately 60,000 American Express MileagePlus miles ... and $498.56 in fees" to change her flight from September 5, 2017 [sic] to September 10, 2016 and "a window seat in the 'Economy Plus' cabin".
It definitely seems like she was downgraded, but it's hard to believe most of the rest of her story (e.g. "other seats in J were empty" could have been because the flight was not fully boarded). The $750 ETC would be standard GG OVS DOWNGRADE compensation for the flight, and seems entirely plausible the refund of the upsell was miscommunicated.
A ~$1,500 fare would book into B and be the cheapest one way they sell (NYC/LON is one of the markets where an entire round trip is cheaper than a one way). But it would then be a flexible fare in the second-highest booking code so why so many fees to "change to Economy Plus" is beyond me
They conveniently don't have any documentation of the "American Express MileagePlus Miles".
Pretty clear the aircraft was an sCO 752, and she paid $1,149 for an at-checkin upsell offer which booked into 1B. According to the complaint she paid "approximately 60,000 American Express MileagePlus miles ... and $498.56 in fees" to change her flight from September 5, 2017 [sic] to September 10, 2016 and "a window seat in the 'Economy Plus' cabin".
It definitely seems like she was downgraded, but it's hard to believe most of the rest of her story (e.g. "other seats in J were empty" could have been because the flight was not fully boarded). The $750 ETC would be standard GG OVS DOWNGRADE compensation for the flight, and seems entirely plausible the refund of the upsell was miscommunicated.
A ~$1,500 fare would book into B and be the cheapest one way they sell (NYC/LON is one of the markets where an entire round trip is cheaper than a one way). But it would then be a flexible fare in the second-highest booking code so why so many fees to "change to Economy Plus" is beyond me
They conveniently don't have any documentation of the "American Express MileagePlus Miles".