UM Placed on incorrect flight at EWR
Jul 2, 2019, 9:37 am
#16
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UA’s policy is worse than the UA@RDU agent or even the UA UAM service provider in EWR. If it weren’t for UA’s UAM policy, the teenager would have been better off and made it to Stockholm without this drama, the UA employee at RDU wouldn’t risk being in trouble for being customer-friendly, and this incompetence of UA@EWR wouldn’t have taken place with this teenager.
The UA agent at RDU is possibly in trouble for doing the customer a favor that goes above and beyond corporate policy, but the real problem is UA’s UAM policy and UA’s UAM’s service at EWR.
A UA agent providing extraordinary service to help a customer shouldn’t be punishable, especially not when charging the regular fee for the service on behalf of UA. The problem is UA’s UAM policy and UA’s choice for lowest-price vendor for UAM service at EWR.
The UA agent at RDU is possibly in trouble for doing the customer a favor that goes above and beyond corporate policy, but the real problem is UA’s UAM policy and UA’s UAM’s service at EWR.
A UA agent providing extraordinary service to help a customer shouldn’t be punishable, especially not when charging the regular fee for the service on behalf of UA. The problem is UA’s UAM policy and UA’s choice for lowest-price vendor for UAM service at EWR.
Last edited by GUWonder; Jul 2, 2019 at 9:42 am
Jul 2, 2019, 9:52 am
#17
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UA’s policy is worse than the UA@RDU agent or even the UA UAM service provider in EWR. If it weren’t for UA’s UAM policy, the teenager would have been better off and made it to Stockholm without this drama, the UA employee at RDU wouldn’t risk being in trouble for being customer-friendly, and this incompetence of UA@EWR wouldn’t have taken place with this teenager.
The UA agent at RDU is possibly in trouble for doing the customer a favor that goes above and beyond corporate policy, but the real problem is UA’s UAM policy and UA’s UAM’s service at EWR.
A UA agent providing extraordinary service to help a customer shouldn’t be punishable, especially not when charging the regular fee for the service on behalf of UA. The problem is UA’s UAM policy and UA’s choice for lowest-price vendor for UAM service at EWR.
The UA agent at RDU is possibly in trouble for doing the customer a favor that goes above and beyond corporate policy, but the real problem is UA’s UAM policy and UA’s UAM’s service at EWR.
A UA agent providing extraordinary service to help a customer shouldn’t be punishable, especially not when charging the regular fee for the service on behalf of UA. The problem is UA’s UAM policy and UA’s choice for lowest-price vendor for UAM service at EWR.
Jul 2, 2019, 9:53 am
#18
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: BOS
Programs: 1MM, UA 1k
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there's a lot more to this story than is being told here. I've tried to get my kids on UM flights with a domestic connection and was told no, a thousand times, no. Plus, this kid is supposedly smart enough to not need UM, but manages to get on the wrong plane, with the wrong airline, and doesn't realize until he's been seated? Lastly, the TweetMom (and sister[!?!] knows for certain his boarding pass was never scanned, and he received a duplicate? Huh?
Jul 2, 2019, 10:14 am
#19
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All that is needed to know what went on is already out here.
UA@RDU agent provided extra-policy customer-friendly service for the UAM fee, and then UA’s low-cost provider of UAM service at EWR messed up things (by directing the teenager at EWR to board the wrong plane) due to UA@EWR UAM service provider not being detail-oriented enough to direct the passenger to the correct flight.
The EWR-DUS gate agent messed up too by allowing someone to board the EWR-DUS plane without the passenger’s proper boarding pass (info) for the flight being loaded and filed.
The teenager is the one who helped saved himself from being sent to Germany. And it was SAS@EWR that made things right for him. I am sure he almost certainly would have done better on his usual summer trip to his grandparents if UA policy wasn’t to collect UAM fees for 14 year olds with parental authorization to travel alone. Traveling by air alone as a 14 year old is safer and easier for some kids than taking the local subway and trains domestically.
UA@RDU agent provided extra-policy customer-friendly service for the UAM fee, and then UA’s low-cost provider of UAM service at EWR messed up things (by directing the teenager at EWR to board the wrong plane) due to UA@EWR UAM service provider not being detail-oriented enough to direct the passenger to the correct flight.
The EWR-DUS gate agent messed up too by allowing someone to board the EWR-DUS plane without the passenger’s proper boarding pass (info) for the flight being loaded and filed.
The teenager is the one who helped saved himself from being sent to Germany. And it was SAS@EWR that made things right for him. I am sure he almost certainly would have done better on his usual summer trip to his grandparents if UA policy wasn’t to collect UAM fees for 14 year olds with parental authorization to travel alone. Traveling by air alone as a 14 year old is safer and easier for some kids than taking the local subway and trains domestically.
Last edited by GUWonder; Jul 2, 2019 at 10:23 am
Jul 2, 2019, 10:18 am
#20
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Something they were not expected to do; delivering inbound pax to random foreign airlines in another terminal is completely out of scope. They should only be delivering from the UA inbound flight to the person waiting for the kid landside.
Jul 2, 2019, 10:32 am
#21
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And in the era of smartphones, of readily available internet and of audio and video connectivity on the go in the hands of most traveling teenagers, the UAM policy needs a fix more than UA@RDU agent.
Jul 2, 2019, 10:52 am
#23
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Jul 2, 2019, 11:27 am
#25
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: London
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So...question. How is the kid going to get home? United doesn't offer the service connecting FROM another airline's flight either. I guess given the media scrutiny they'll find a way, but.
Two people were really at fault here: The mother for not understanding that it impossible to fly a child to an international destination via a connection (United or otherwise), and the agent at the origin who didn't simply reject the booking because there was no way to accommodate it. The policy requires a designated person for the child to be handed off to, presumably this was entirely missing since SAS doesn't require it.
What I also don't understand is, how is this not surfaced well before the mother gets to the airport? United has the ages of everybody who flies, so why don't they flag this earlier than check-in?
Two people were really at fault here: The mother for not understanding that it impossible to fly a child to an international destination via a connection (United or otherwise), and the agent at the origin who didn't simply reject the booking because there was no way to accommodate it. The policy requires a designated person for the child to be handed off to, presumably this was entirely missing since SAS doesn't require it.
What I also don't understand is, how is this not surfaced well before the mother gets to the airport? United has the ages of everybody who flies, so why don't they flag this earlier than check-in?
Jul 2, 2019, 11:40 am
#26
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What about all the other pax on the Dusseldorf flight who ended up delayed 1+ hour because of the need to return to the gate? It's like all the pax on the flight where one of two brothers boarded the UA flight LA-Tokyo instead of the ANA flight, leading the plane to turn around after 2+ hours in flight.
Jul 2, 2019, 11:44 am
#28
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My guess is that the mom knows her son is more than capable of flying alone, figured UA-SAS was best routing, and found some way to evade the restrictions initially, and then UA decided to "ensure the minor's safe passage" by enforcing its policy.
I don't doubt there are 14 yo. who need UAM treatment. But I'd guess that a much larger number don't need it, and UA's policy ends up with bad outcomes like this one.
Last edited by drewguy; Jul 2, 2019 at 11:55 am
Jul 2, 2019, 11:47 am
#29
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SAS policy (https://www.flysas.com/en/fly-with-u...panied-minors/) only requires UM for children under 12, and will actually let 5+ year olds fly without the service if they are traveling with someone over the age of 16 unlike UA which requires 18+. Many airlines are similar to the SAS requirements which make sense to me. UA is simply following an american mentality of CYA that these restrictions have been tightened in the past 10 or so years. UA also charges twice the amount so they definitely don't see this as a courtesy service.
Jul 2, 2019, 11:55 am
#30
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SAS policy is completely irrelevant when the mother chose to book a UA flight.
UA knows they can't deliver on a more complicated UM situation, they wrote their policy to reflect what they think they can do. The agent in RDU took it upon themselves to put an out-of-policy obligation on the EWR staff; it's fine if the RDU agent wants to go above and beyond themselves, but they shouldn't be putting obligations on other stations to deliver something out of scope.
UA knows they can't deliver on a more complicated UM situation, they wrote their policy to reflect what they think they can do. The agent in RDU took it upon themselves to put an out-of-policy obligation on the EWR staff; it's fine if the RDU agent wants to go above and beyond themselves, but they shouldn't be putting obligations on other stations to deliver something out of scope.