United has terminated my flying days
May 29, 2017, 6:02 pm
#61
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Houston
Programs: UA Plat, Marriott Gold
Posts: 12,686
Possible GA broke protocol and cleared standbys/closed door 5 min early; possible your daughter didn't get the time quite right, and not clear that her seat had been given away (your OP only says "1 or more of her 3 seats" was given away).
If your daughter thinks she's correct on the time, and her seat was given away at that time, complain to UA and they can review the exact timing of when the seats were given away. Maybe the GA will get some retraining out of it.
If your daughter thinks she's correct on the time, and her seat was given away at that time, complain to UA and they can review the exact timing of when the seats were given away. Maybe the GA will get some retraining out of it.
Jun 2, 2017, 12:59 am
#62
Suspended
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: CA, FL, and China.
Programs: UA1K (no longer serviced!), Bonvoy P, Hyatt G
Posts: 704
you are one of the small fraction of human beings with the privilege of living in an age where traveling the world is safe, fast, convenient, reasonably priced, and abundant, and you are going to turn it down because of this?
Lol. Sad but Lol.
Lol. Sad but Lol.
Jun 2, 2017, 8:51 am
#64
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: DEN
Programs: UA 1MM, MP 1K, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 462
Not allowing enough time with group travel has nothing to do with United and knowing there was an issue to begin with, why not allow even more time ?
Last edited by FlyfromDenver; Jun 2, 2017 at 8:52 am Reason: typo
Jun 2, 2017, 12:49 pm
#65
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Central Texas
Programs: Many, slipping beneath the horizon
Posts: 9,859
To me, this is the big one. I travel alone as a 1K with Precheck and Global Entry and I still get to the airport two hours early. I thought there was something that says be at the 30 minutes before departure(probably depending on the size of the plane). Even going out of DEN, I have a few destinations that are somewhat tough to get to so missing a flight can be a problem - I'm not going to test it.
Not allowing enough time with group travel has nothing to do with United and knowing there was an issue to begin with, why not allow even more time ?
Not allowing enough time with group travel has nothing to do with United and knowing there was an issue to begin with, why not allow even more time ?
Jun 2, 2017, 1:59 pm
#66
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: DEN
Programs: UA 1MM, MP 1K, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 462
Agreed, but this was a case for which I would have cut my daughter some slack. The long drive down to MIA from the Port Saint Lucie area was made longer by traffic on the 'Pike, and she felt reassured by the TELCON with UA that the BPs would be "fixed" and available. I, made cynically distrustful with experience with airlines, would have got on the road earlier.... "Would'a, should'a, could'a", I guess.
Jun 2, 2017, 2:08 pm
#67
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Boston, MA, USA
Programs: UA 1K, DL Gold, IHG Diamond AMB, MR Gold, HH Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, National EE
Posts: 1,083
Seems a bit crazy (and sad) that you would voluntarily miss out on your bucket list trips just because of one inconvenient airport experience.
Jun 2, 2017, 2:27 pm
#68
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Location: Pacific Northwest
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Five Star offering AA has at some airports.
https://www.aa.com/i18n/plan-travel/...ivestarservice
Jun 2, 2017, 3:09 pm
#69
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: FLL/BCT
Programs: MR Platinum, and a certain status at an unnamed airline
Posts: 111
Agreed, but this was a case for which I would have cut my daughter some slack. The long drive down to MIA from the Port Saint Lucie area was made longer by traffic on the 'Pike, and she felt reassured by the TELCON with UA that the BPs would be "fixed" and available. I, made cynically distrustful with experience with airlines, would have got on the road earlier.... "Would'a, should'a, could'a", I guess.
Timing is also an issue here. Sounds like you may have known about the last name issue before leaving for MIA, whereas I'd leave even earlier to allow for extra handling time.
Jun 3, 2017, 12:20 am
#71
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Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 10,965
Jun 3, 2017, 3:54 pm
#72
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Philadelphia, PA USA
Programs: CO Silver, HHonors Gold, Marriott Silver
Posts: 982
to answer some objections to the plight of my wife, daughter, and granddaughter, OP chimes in....
1. When early on attempting to download to IPhone, the BPs weren't available.
2. A call to UA revealed a hangup over last names, to be cured by arrival time.
3. I'll admit 2 hours plus early arrival would have been better than the actual 1:30.
4. The major hangup was after the kiosk wouldn't print out BPs, between the lines at the counter and the time for the agent to "help", they were down to 30 minutes before DPT time. A call by UA to the gate, not to hold the flight, but that the 3 were on the way might have helped.
5. My daughter didn't short circuit TSA. She simply went before my wife & grand daughter, "double timing" to the gate. Actually, TSA was not a problem, and my wife at 74 and grand daughter at 4 were more than competent to navigate the intricacies of security (with stroller/seat and carry-ones). Lord sakes, the 4 year old is as smart phone literate as many adults in their prime, including many of the BS artistes who I encounter at airports.
6. My daughter claims that 20 minutes remained before DPT time when she arrived at gate, but 'standbys" were already loading and the "door was closed"
7. The later snafu was due to a GA unwilling to take responsibility for ticketing on another airline, AA, and NO supervisor being available, be it coffee or toilet time.
My termination from flight status is based n my wife's decision that UA failings were enough to terminate her flying. When you manage to survive the same wife for 52+ years, your sensitivity to their decisions, rational or even tinged with a bit of irrationality, is rampant and undeniable. I don't have many benefits left to lose, so flying while she drives or rides the train ain't gonna happen!
Further tracing the source of the BP problem, my daughter uses her maiden/business last name on the CC used to buy the tickets. It's a last name not shared by my wife and grand daughter. As a word to the wise, DON'T!
1. When early on attempting to download to IPhone, the BPs weren't available.
2. A call to UA revealed a hangup over last names, to be cured by arrival time.
3. I'll admit 2 hours plus early arrival would have been better than the actual 1:30.
4. The major hangup was after the kiosk wouldn't print out BPs, between the lines at the counter and the time for the agent to "help", they were down to 30 minutes before DPT time. A call by UA to the gate, not to hold the flight, but that the 3 were on the way might have helped.
5. My daughter didn't short circuit TSA. She simply went before my wife & grand daughter, "double timing" to the gate. Actually, TSA was not a problem, and my wife at 74 and grand daughter at 4 were more than competent to navigate the intricacies of security (with stroller/seat and carry-ones). Lord sakes, the 4 year old is as smart phone literate as many adults in their prime, including many of the BS artistes who I encounter at airports.
6. My daughter claims that 20 minutes remained before DPT time when she arrived at gate, but 'standbys" were already loading and the "door was closed"
7. The later snafu was due to a GA unwilling to take responsibility for ticketing on another airline, AA, and NO supervisor being available, be it coffee or toilet time.
My termination from flight status is based n my wife's decision that UA failings were enough to terminate her flying. When you manage to survive the same wife for 52+ years, your sensitivity to their decisions, rational or even tinged with a bit of irrationality, is rampant and undeniable. I don't have many benefits left to lose, so flying while she drives or rides the train ain't gonna happen!
Further tracing the source of the BP problem, my daughter uses her maiden/business last name on the CC used to buy the tickets. It's a last name not shared by my wife and grand daughter. As a word to the wise, DON'T!
1) OP tries to check in online. UA's lousy IT doesn't let him.
2) OP calls UA to fix it. UA's mix of poor training and poor IT systems doesn't let that happen. Poor customer service promises it will be fixed at the airport. It's not.
3) OP is "late" to the airport at 1.5 hours instead of 2.
4) UA's rigid self-service processes shunt OP to the kiosks. They don't work (surprise) wasting precious time.
5) UA's understaffing results in long wait times for a human. More time is wasted.
6) UA's poor IT systems and poor training means it takes an agent way too long to fix the issue that should have been fixed quickly on the phone.
7) UA incentivizes the GA to get the flight out early. GA cuts corners by giving away seats before UA's own cutoff times to meet this incentive.
8) UA blocks an attempt at a fairly reasonable service recovery due to lack of empowerment.
Why is everyone beating up the OP? UA's decisions on hiring, training and IT took what should be a simple process - saying you're here for a flight and printing out a piece of paper that acknowledges this - and makes it an hours long screwup.
OP could - perhaps - arrived a little earlier, and maybe that would have been the difference. But almost everything that happened was largely in control of the airline. And the airline from top to bottom has decided they don't care about customers.
Jun 5, 2017, 8:14 pm
#73
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: FLL/BCT
Programs: MR Platinum, and a certain status at an unnamed airline
Posts: 111
I'm with you on that, especially when I know I've got a 3 hour drive ahead on the FT. I was just curious if the OP had considered the craziness of 95, especially on a longer commute like his.