bigwings8

No I'm saying that they should have to compensate the lost productivity, not just refund the wifi cost. United promises wifi connectivity. I expect to work for three hours on the plane. I value my internet-connected work time at $100 vs non internet-connected at $25. I expect to "earn" $75 per hour * 3 hours = $225. I also expect to pay $20 of that (or whatever the wifi costs) to United.

If I pay for wifi and it doesn't work, then UA should refund both the wifi cost and my lost productivity ($225 + $20).
If I don't pay for wifi (because it's not working and I give up on trying to connect), then UA should refund me the $225 in lost productivity because they claimed the wifi would work.

If I had known the wifi would not work, then I might have chosen a different airline. UA failed to maintain its side of our service "contract". Quotations because they're not actually legally bound to provide wifi. The market here has a lot of friction. I can't go back and change my decision. Additionally there's so little airline competition that even this loss of $200 in productivity might not lead me to choose a different airline (e.g. for route reasons). Although if that's the case, then either I'm economically irrational, or the other values that United provides outweigh other costs, even when the wifi is not working. Still, wouldn't it be nice if these behemoth companies were actually penalized when they failed to provide a service they claim? Or when they advertise something they fail to provide? Alas, economics is stacked in favor of large monopolist corporations. Sorry for meandering.

Caveat note - my expected economic value of wifi use access on the plane is actually [(increased productivity due to wifi connectivity) - (wifi cost)]. The argument could be made that that's the maximum refund I should receive (instead of lost_productivity + wifi_cost).

So anyway, my point wasn't about whether I should email to get my wifi cost refunded, but whether I can complain and get the $100 ETC that compensates me for something I expected (and perhaps priced into my economic decision) but then didn't receive. I imagine that UA is much more likely to provide that ETC to a 1K than to a silver, since their economic value assessment indicates that a silver is less valuable as a retained customer than the 1K who pays $15k per year.

bocastephen

LOL, I don't mean to be blunt, and I am far from a United apologist around these parts, but seriously??

You have no such contract or contract provision with United. Your contract with United is strictly limited to the provision of air travel services, not for wifi, food of your choosing, friendly staff or anything else.

I would focus on the issue of the wifi not working and hope for a $200 ETC and refund for the failed wifi - bringing up this argument will result potentially in no ETC at all, and maybe not even a refund for the wifi,

nomad420

$200 ETC! I had so much trouble with UA wi-fi I simply stopped using it all together for well over a year now. I had sent so many complaints in they stopped sending me any ETCs and simply refunded the fee. I think the most I ever got years back was maybe $50 then zero.

physioprof

I read the "should" as aspirational, not a claim to a legal right.

bigwings8

nomad420

To this point probably starting 3.5 years ago I did complain and would get a full refund of course and an ETC usually in the $25 range, maybe as high as $50. But after several complaints the ETC stopped coming and I only received a full refund. Perhaps they felt I was gaming the system which I was not. I now simply no longer use it. Quit honestly it doesn't have enough bandwidth for the work I do anyhow.