Warriorconcept

Gotta give kudos to UA on this one so far.

Booked EWR-SEA-TPE tonight with ANA miles, first leg UA Y (paid for economy plus), second leg EVA J.

Actually had a dream about a missed connection months ago which prompted me to post that question somewhere else. Anyway got to terminal A lounge 2 hours before flight, as I'm in the elevator I get the text about a delay for the first leg by UA. Checked for options in app, didn't give anything else. Went to agent in lounge who told me call United for the live agent feature.

Decided to do the video call option the app was offering to talk to an agent and got connected right away. Agent noticed the issue and offered to rebook me on other airlines to make it to SEA on time, only other option was alaska airlines. Had about 1.5 hours before boarding. Went to intra terminal bus, was told can't use it to go to delta in B. Had to leave A, catch the shuttle to B, check in with Alaska, and clear security to make the flight. Was faster than expected and bought myself $25 chicken teriyaki since my dinner at the lounge plan didn't work (went right after work).

Typing this now on the Alaska flight and looks like I'll make the flight (despite being delayed 30 minutes herd too). Just hoping my ticket didn't get messed up and I get my economy plus upgrade refunded at this point, otherwise very impressed with the video chat to agent option. Massive kudos to UA so far.

Kacee

A nice UA cs experience. Booked on a UA ticketed LX codeshare, wanted to convert to a native flight number in order to upgrade. Agent was not only gracious and friendly, he knew exactly what I wanted, exactly what to do, and took care of it quickly and with no fuss. Ticket reissued, and I was able to go on the LX website and confirm the (paid) upgrade immediately.

I also appreciated no annoying voicemail tree, and that hold time was about six seconds. This is what I'll miss most about 1K next year.

lincolnjkc

A couple supervisors in EWR were amazing at trying to salvage a misconnect (inbound had a maintenance delay that rolled, I made it from A to C with 2 minutes before departure and a closed door -- and no protection options showing availability on any airline until the next day with the possible exception of one AA option out of LGA. (There was one more UA flight but the app nor res nor the first CSC agent were indicating any availability)

Gate agent who greeted me with "flight's gone, too bad" when he emerged from the jetway, with earphones in, and also refused to call a supervisor the first few times I asked then claimed to call for one and just left the gate (20 minutes later the aircraft was still there but a supervisor wasn't; when I was introduced to the supervisor for that zone I was told that no on had called him) -- anyway, he may be the first UA employee I've had the "you shouldn't be working here" reaction so strongly. Making things worse, despite res offering AA as an option but suggesting I talk to the airport to see if they had any better ideas, agent in the CSC told me that they can't rebook on American, and when I pushed back (perhaps a bit more directly than I should have) she said "You do need a supervisor, don't you" and flagged one down.

Enter an incredibly empathetic supervisor who listened to everything, brought me to another agent to double check options including telling her to put me on AA and issue a check for the cab fare from EWR to LGA if they had something would get me to my final destination tonight, if not to issue the hotel voucher and get me out on the first option in the morning. The new agent found a seat last UA flight of the night (and in ticketed cabin!) so neither the hotel nor the cab voucher were needed. The first supervisor then walked me to the supervisor responsible for the gate zone where my misconnect happened, and that supervisor took detailed notes, apologized profusely, issued in-the-moment and indicated that appropriate action would be taken and customer care would be following up with me.

So it sucks to be spending 4+ extra hours in EWR and I really hope I never see the first agent again, but those two supervisors made lemonade out of lemons.

zymm

I'm watching the bags being loaded onto my ORD-LAS flight right now and the baggage handlers are diligently loading the bags without priority tags first so the priority bags will be first out when we get to LAS. Nice to see this in action!

sonyeoshin

Just found out about this thread. The HNL gate agent who handled UA1141 on Christmas Eve definitely deserves some recognition. GA clearly explained the situation about how there were no separate boarding group 1 and 2 lines which I think was because of limited space at the gate. During 1K boarding, the GA said something along of the lines like "If you do not know what a 1K is, chances are that you are not a 1K." which I thought was funny. Overall a very cool GA who definitely stood out to me and made everyone's experience better on that flight.

RobOnLI

Hate to burst your bubble but that only works if they load the Priority tagged bags in a separate cart at LAS and offload that cart first. Otherwise, the Priority bags go to the back of the cart, the baggage handlers load it to the gills with every bag possible and the non-Priority bags are first off. LIFO system usually. I hope for your sake it was either a separate cart or they put the Priority bags on a different shelf in the cart..

-RM

goodeats21

I realize this was a couple months ago, but was just looking through this thread and noticed this.
Was there something unusual going on that had the live agent in the United Club ask you to use the virtual assistance?

As a Club member for many years, having a live agent assist with irrops is a key benefit.

lincolnjkc

So a bit OT for this thread but my experience in EWR last night (the one that involved two discussion with supervisors on a (UA) preventable misconnect) one of the thorns in my paw was that the UC at the low C gates had three agents out front (both desks, plus a roving agent) and was told that if I wanted rebooking I could use the live agent "feature" (customer service disaster -- but that's a different rant) or go to the customer service center as there was no one at the desk in the club and the agents out front cant do rebookings (or call for a supervisor... makes me wonder what they can actually do... but anyway...)

I sent an email to the EWR CS MD complimenting the supervisors but also noting that most of the value I place on the club is the in-person IROPS assistance and suggesting that with the "self boarding" gates at the club it would be more useful for members to staff the desks inside rather than all of the ones outside; I got a very positive response with an indication that the inside should be staffed & he would look into what happened.

Warriorconcept

Interesting, was in ORD UC last night and saw seats to leave an hour earlier (probably 20 minutes before boarding). The agent desks were empty inside but the outside agent (that scans you in) was able to switch me to the earlier flight and check me in. YMMV i guess?

threeoh

I think all the workers in ORD can do is make sure the priority bags are closest to the door and thus first off the plane in LAS.

It's up to the LAS ground crew to prioritize those bags hitting the carousel first, whether that's loading them into a separate cart, or holding them aside and popping them on the top of the shared cart.

ORD can't and shouldn't second-guess what kind of cart setup LAS will have.

RobOnLI

And my reply called out the LAS handlers (well, the destination handlers). I never once mentioned the ORD handlers. But you're correct. ORD can do whatever they want to help but as my reply said...it's up to the receiving airport to handle them correctly.

-RM

elmira56925

My upgrade cleared at T-0 this morning on the IAD-MCO flight. My girlfriend died at #1. I ask politely to FA to keep a look out if there are any no shows since there were a few open seats right before door closing. The seats eventually got occupied by late arrivals. The FA felt nicely come over and stated that they would give my gf free booze and bring the snack box options back to her (multiple trips back).

The FA didn’t have to do this but it seems she actually enjoyed it. I initially told her that I’m in the doghouse by taking my 1K upgrade and leaving my gf in coach… even if it was a economy plus seat.

i emailed customer service and 1K Voice to give that FA a commendation. I really hope United read it and recognizes her.

cfischer

By writing this in you might get the FA in trouble ... handing out freebees costs UA money.

Any why on earth did you not give your FC seat to your GF and took the E+ seat ???

elmira56925

to my defense I only told United the FA was extremely professional and went above and beyond. I left out she gave my gf free snacks and mimosas. Why I didn’t give my FC seat to my gf? She doesn’t really don’t care about upgrades as I do being a 1K. Believe me she gets upgraded plenty in our trips.

narvik

Probably more a "Positive Experience with EWR" than UA, but:

Announcement by [great] UA FA on conclusion of HND-EWR today (paraphrasing):
"We are 23 minutes early; into EWR; while it's raining; and there's a gate open for us....someone please post this somewhere!"

Happy to oblige.