How often do you complain about the Wifi?
Jan 16, 2019, 7:04 am
#46
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Montrose, CO
Programs: United 1K MM, Marriott LTPP
Posts: 548
This is a legit question; when you write in to complain about the wifi, what do you say? Do you actually ask for compensation, or just state that it was a giant inconvenience and hope they connect the dots and give you a cert?
I purchase the wifi on most of my flights and I would say it works ok about 75-80 percent of the time.
I purchase the wifi on most of my flights and I would say it works ok about 75-80 percent of the time.
Jan 16, 2019, 7:05 am
#47
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Montrose, CO
Programs: United 1K MM, Marriott LTPP
Posts: 548
That approach works for me when I am on vacation, and if they didn't advertise that wifi was available it would also work for me when traveling for business, but they make a big deal out of the service being available and then it isn't, that's my beef.
Jan 16, 2019, 10:49 am
#48
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Pikes Peak COS
Programs: 3 Month Delta Plat, UA PP 2.4mm, Marriott Lifetime Titanium, HH Lifetime Diamond, National EE
Posts: 426
I ask for a refund every time it doesn't work long enough for me to get my work done. I asked 1K Voice if UA execs would take a 3+ hour flight when they needed to get important reports done then they'd see what we face. They replied that the UA execs are the ones .....ing the loudest. I sure would hope so.
Jan 16, 2019, 11:26 am
#49
Join Date: Dec 2007
Programs: United, Star Alliance
Posts: 4
How often complain about WIFI
I would say I have problems with paid wifi on United half the time. However, they promptly refund me the cost of the WIFI. That doesn't make it less of a problem, though, since I have to work on my long flights. Very frustrating.
Jan 16, 2019, 11:59 am
#50
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: FL
Programs: DL, UA, AA, AS, Hilton, Marriott, Avis
Posts: 37
Every time...
I used to subscribe to GoGo Internet's "all airline" package, but the service got so crappy, I'm now on "pay as you go", and when the connection isn't serviceable, I definitely raise a complaint. I find that they are quick to credit back the charge, which is all I ask for, but they really need to up their game if they're going to make any money at this.
Jan 16, 2019, 4:18 pm
#51
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 7
I used to subscribe to GoGo Internet's "all airline" package, but the service got so crappy, I'm now on "pay as you go", and when the connection isn't serviceable, I definitely raise a complaint. I find that they are quick to credit back the charge, which is all I ask for, but they really need to up their game if they're going to make any money at this.
Jan 16, 2019, 5:38 pm
#53
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 10
Wait, you can complain? I've had a subscription for almost 9 months now and when I complained the first day I got the sub I was told they don't give refunds for the subscription and didn't know there was someone else I could complain to. Who else would I be able to complain to?
Jan 17, 2019, 6:10 am
#54
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: FL
Programs: DL, UA, AA, AS, Hilton, Marriott, Avis
Posts: 37
Agreed, which is why I was OK paying the $60/month all-airline fee. First, they dropped it, so I settled for DL-only, monthly, but the connection has gotten much less reliable, and, on the older aircraft, the speed leaves much to be desired. I suspect that more people are using it, now, than were five years ago, which probably compromises the speed (it certainly does with wired broadband), and may even get to the limits of how many devices the older equipment can handle.
Jan 19, 2019, 5:25 pm
#55
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: SEA
Programs: UA 1K, AS MVPG, DL GM, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,266
United WiFi Speeds - is this normal?
So I’m a relative newbie to flying UA (as I am a DL DM and AA EXP) but on my last couple of international and transcon flights (IAD-PEK, PVG-SFO, PVG-LAX and SFO-EWR), I have been getting horrendous speeds (less than 0.10 Mbps download and 0 Mbps upload) and had times where it just doesn’t work altogether for hours on end. Pretty frustrating experience as on DL and AA, I never seem to have these kind of issues on international flights. I thought maybe the issue was due to flying Polar routes but after flying DTW-PVG (which on the map flew straight north from DTW and looked like it was vía Atlantic almost) and AMS-ATL (flew north of Iceland), didn’t notice any issues. Is this normal on UA?
The only positive out of this is that it truly makes me disconnected when traveling!
The only positive out of this is that it truly makes me disconnected when traveling!
Last edited by GYEWorldTraveler; Jan 19, 2019 at 5:35 pm
Jan 19, 2019, 5:40 pm
#56
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,480
It's not unusual. You should not hesitate to request a refund from UA when the wifi is not usable. Otherwise they will have no incentive to fix it.
Jan 23, 2019, 5:32 pm
#57
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 7
Agreed, which is why I was OK paying the $60/month all-airline fee. First, they dropped it, so I settled for DL-only, monthly, but the connection has gotten much less reliable, and, on the older aircraft, the speed leaves much to be desired. I suspect that more people are using it, now, than were five years ago, which probably compromises the speed (it certainly does with wired broadband), and may even get to the limits of how many devices the older equipment can handle.
Mar 5, 2019, 1:14 pm
#59
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: UA S, Marriott Gold (UA), Hertz PC (UA), HH Gold (cc), Avis PP, National EC Executive
Posts: 280
Lost status this year (1k -> silver). I used to complain sometimes when wifi didn't work and often would get an ETC. If you get on a plane expecting to be able to send 3 hours worth of email / review 3 hours worth of HTML content and then cannot do that, after the promise that you will be able to do that, then it seems like they should reimburse your lost productivity time.
But, since I'm less "important" now (only silver), I wonder if it's even worth complaining about the nonfunctional wifi? I imagine that as silver I'll just get an apology rather than compensation. Thoughts?
Or is the better strategy to buy the wifi subscription and then complain when it doesn't work and eventually have ETC refunds > wifi subscription cost?
But, since I'm less "important" now (only silver), I wonder if it's even worth complaining about the nonfunctional wifi? I imagine that as silver I'll just get an apology rather than compensation. Thoughts?
Or is the better strategy to buy the wifi subscription and then complain when it doesn't work and eventually have ETC refunds > wifi subscription cost?