Appreciating UA
 

I am currently on an AC itinerary. Nothing makes me appreciate UA more than flying AC.

That is all.

Couldn't agree more. I avoid AC like the plague.

What makes air canada more unbearable than UA?

Details?

Just keep reciting "PQP" to yourself and all will be well.

I suggest for starters you dial their customer service number, and come back and tell us how fast you got through.....

Then we can start listing dozens of other reasons.

It starts with IRROPs communication...

It's been exponentially worse since AC switched their booking system in November. I hear travel agents spending a whole working day on hold to try to get through to AC (and failed)

That is only if you are one of the lucky few to be placed on hold instead of being told that they wont be taking your call

A helpful gs agent stayed on the phone with me for 1h40m before finally giving up and saying I should call back later while we were working on a ticket that involved AC on the first leg. They apparently marked me as a no show for my first segment.

Air Canada and American are both definitely worse than United. The AC thing is a total puzzle. How can the flag carrier of the nicest people in the anglophone world be so crappy?

Because it's pretty much a monopoly between AC and WS in Canada, and they can get away with crappy everything, since people have no alternatives domestically. Yeah there are discount airlines now like Flair, but still not enough.

For all the negative I read about United, I have had very good experiences with them. This includes both domestic and international flights, all in economy. I even flew the ultra long haul LAX-SIN in economy. It was similar to any recent experiences I've had with medium and long haul in economy on any airline, and that includes other carriers (mostly European).

In November 2018 my wife and I were returning home from Shanghai. Our route was PVG-SFO-IAD-home, all on United/UE metal. Shortly before boarding the SFO-IAD flight, I got a notice on the United app that our itinerary changed. It turns out that there was winter weather affecting IAD operations. I believe that SFO-IAD was operating, but our connecting flight at IAD was canceled. We were automatically rerouted SFO-LAX-ORD-home. As it turned out, all flights were on time. We landed at our home airport, a small regional airport on the East Coast, about half an hour later than originally scheduled. We were impressed!

AC is awful, their "voted best airline in North America" announcement is just embarrassing.
Customer service is pathetic unless you're top tier elite and can access concierge.
At the airport, priority desks are often understaffed and most employees are just unwilling to help.

Things have gotten a lot worse after their disastrous Amadeus migration.

Living in YYC, I can't always avoid AC on UA tickets and the 200% PQP return on discount business is the only reason I book AC tickets.

People can be too nice at times.

One must also respect oneself enough to stand up for oneself and push back gracefully when warranted even at the risk of confrontation. If one is not willing to do so, one should not complain when they’re being walked over.

Say what you want about UA but for all its faults UA knows their customers can - and have - quickly turned into pit-bulls when pushed too far.