JBord

Count me as someone who appreciates a good blend more than a single malt!

To the OP - the truest statement you wrote is "I feel it's how you approach the agents". Even in the darkest years of UA after the merger, I never felt like I got bad customer service, and often found it to be very good. I believe (whether correct or not) that in most bad experiences, the customer is contributing to the problem.

Kacee

I have had mostly positive UA cs experiences the past few years, but 1 out of 10 UA phone agents is mean and unhelpful and it doesn't matter how you approach these.

skidooman

It matches my experience as well.

United CS got my back many times. I will always remember Stephanie from Utah. She got me out of a difficult situation in India after the local guys fumbled badly (cancelled flight and having me fly out FIVE DAYS later). I will also remember that lady that opened 4 reward seats for me when Air China changed our flights so the connection became illogical. And of course, in these cases, having an attitude of "let us talk like friends/colleagues", that works in your favor. It makes for a more pleasant experience for both parties and increases the chance that you may be helped the proper way.

But yes, unfortunately, you get from time to time people that shouldn't work in CS. They define their job more as gate keepers and less as people that - within rules, of course - should make your experience more pleasant.

And this is probably my biggest gripe against United. There are gems out there. There is also pretty good service, without being gems. But you never know. On the phone, in the air, you get sometimes the person that should be there, and these seem to be tolerated much more than at other companies, say the best in their class: the SQ, NH, LH...

Management in my view often compound the problem by lacking consistency. They announce a great change about Polaris but then slow down delivery to a crawl. Add meal options in Y International that actually mean you get 2 meals instead of 3. Dial back food in domestic F based on "customer input" after making a big fuzz about renewed food choices a few months earlier. So, somewhere, employees are left dancing between aspiring to be a great classy carrier or just one of the carriers for whom the bean counting is the top priority. That leavescustomers puzzled.

United lacks a purpose, an overriding mission in my view. It should be careful. Companies that are a bit of everything to everyone do not fare well in this economy (look at what happens at Sears).

seat38a

I'll let you read what I wrote in the post flight survey. Seriously, they could have downgraded the snack to dog food and I would not have cared if these two were serving it.

lincolnjkc

So I'm flying RIC-ORD-CLE again... Same route as when I OPed this thread back in January.

Was supposed to be flying RIC-EWR but that flight posted a 2+ hour delay and I rebooked myself to avoid a disconnect/airport Sprint in the best case. First the supervisor who handled geting my bag pulled and rerouted remembered me from 6 months ago, and once again took great care.

Then the FA on our E145 has a great sense of humor with his PAs and stopped by leaned in and said "Mr. LincolnJKC, it's a pleasure to have you on board today" with a firm handshake and genuine demeanor.

It really doesn't take much to make me happy, but it sure makes me feel valued :-)

Rumples

Hey FT,

Was on UA 758 from EWR - LAX with a 6:00AM EST Departure yesterday. Had the best crew I ever think i've had on a UA flight, or any flight for that matter. Pilot got on the PA and gave a cheery welcome to everyone, detailed the specifications of the plane, made some great dad jokes, and gave us all the nerdy information about flight distance, what we would be flying over, etc.

FAs were incredibly attentive, greeted each person in Business by name, and were extremely pleasant the entire flight. Then when about to land, the FA came by and gave me a note from the Pilot about being a loyal member and thanking me.

Really blown away and wish all flights on UA were like this. Any other experiences like this recently? A new training program maybe taking effect?

hookthem

It is hit-or-miss. Always has been and always will be

SFO 1K

In my experience the pilot can set the tone and give direction in a way that in contagious to the other crew members. Not always, but I've seen it happen more than a few times. Sometimes this even manifests itself with a Captain buying the crew Starbucks (or Dunkin') before a flight. Gets everyone in a cheerful mood.

truncated

Just a guess... this was a 28J 752 wasn't it?

SFO 1K

Yep!

lamphs

UA303 DEN LGA July 2, 21A.

I am *S. About ½ way through the flight, the FA from F (I assume because I had only seen her at boarding), handed me a piece of paper “this is from the captain” and walked away.

Turned out it was his business card with a handwritten personal note thanking me for my business.

It was a bit funny because the FA seemed irritated about having to hand me the card. And my row mates gave me a look of “who are you to get a note from the captain?”.

Anyhow, good job UA. I appreciated the gesture!

cricketer

Two stunning crews in the last week, both of which prompted me to write in with compliments.

One on LAX-SYD - they were brilliant in every respect, right down to the one bloke who had a great time using his dry wit on my kids (who later asserted that these were the best flight attendants in the world).

Then another fabulous crew on NRT-SFO today - a flight that was also notable for going out with 18 empty seats in J on the 77W.

Having flown QF, SQ, and NH all in business as well on this trip, there is no question that while SQ really nailed it on the food (thanks to a couple of good BTC orders), UA won hands down on service and soft product in general. None of the others were bad, but UA was fantastic.

COSPILOT

GoSh4rks

Had an awesome and surprisingly young crew on Jul 8 HND-SFO that had great hustle doing the J meal service, and one of them was super cheerful (who also a Japanese speaker - Caucasian!)

lincolnjkc

Another great experience with "Nancy" from the 1K Desk (does UA still have a call center in Detroit? It looks like that's where my ticket was reissued from)

Jumping from a project in DC today to Memphis tomorrow -- booked DCA-IAH-MEM. My DCA flight went off the rails a few times (3 hour delay, 2 hour delay, on time, 1.5 hour delay) making my connection at best risky, and was SBY for an earlier flight that was full in front and back.

Once it was clear the earlier flight was no bueno, the later flight was muy no bueno, and the line at the DCA UC for rebooking was folding back on itself I figured I just call reservations. As it was clear it was a "weather" issue I figured I was pretty much out of luck. Nancy confirmed that there were no options on UA that would get me to MEM tonight.

I just politely asked if she could take a look at American (Delta being on my no-fly list) she expressed some doubt since "they're in the same boat we are, the entire Eastern seaboard is messed up" but said she'd check -- and she came up with one seat on AA4422, confirmed me, apologized for the inconvenience and thanked me again for my business.

No add collect, no "I'm really not supposed to", no "This is weather so we'll get you there when we get you there", just very efficient, professional, friendly service. Of course I'm bummed that my A fare turned into an aisle on Economy but at least I'm getting where I need to go (fingers crossed)