recent flight in economy, terrible seats, trouble with snacks/preorders
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: PDX
Programs: AS MVP, HH Diamond
Posts: 2,561
recent flight in economy, terrible seats, trouble with snacks/preorders
first UA flight in a year, red eye on 738. Seat pitch and recline were abysmal and seat was hard as a rock. Fairly brutal overnight. Par for the course? Definitely worse than AS.
Had trouble with snacks. Received email about preordering. Attempted to do so, could not complete transaction. was able to enter and save credit card info associated with Confirmation code. In air they said I needed UA app and could find no evidence of me having saved cc. Don't take cc on board. Thus, no snacks. Kids not happy. Dumb system, too gimmicky and too unreliable.
I chose UA for my Amex airline in 2022 because of this planned flight, unable to spend any money on snacks (much less hundreds of dollars) so looks like I'll be buying TravelBank funds for a future flight. So would like to resolve these problems before that day arrives.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Had trouble with snacks. Received email about preordering. Attempted to do so, could not complete transaction. was able to enter and save credit card info associated with Confirmation code. In air they said I needed UA app and could find no evidence of me having saved cc. Don't take cc on board. Thus, no snacks. Kids not happy. Dumb system, too gimmicky and too unreliable.
I chose UA for my Amex airline in 2022 because of this planned flight, unable to spend any money on snacks (much less hundreds of dollars) so looks like I'll be buying TravelBank funds for a future flight. So would like to resolve these problems before that day arrives.
Thanks for any suggestions.
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2006
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Your experience was bad, but if it’s any consolation, it’s a bit of an outlier. United has become very good (and is getting better by the day) at extracting money from customers. If you follow the advice given, it should work next time.
#4
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: San Francisco
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It is an "outlier" if you are not a regular UA pax. I am and pretty much know how to navigate the system after literally decades of flying with them. I have the app and have CC info loaded in to it (for better or worse). But I have heard multiple similar stories from friends and family that are not regular UA users, don't fly with them to have the app, or just don't want to deal with it for the occasional UA flight they take. Last year I had friends fly out to KOA on the DEN flight to visit me, not a short flight and they ran into the same issue, no food no beverage, I think they eventually threw a bag of pretzels at them. I can see not taking cash any more but not accepting a card in the air I personally believe was a bad but perhaps an unfortunately necessary move. I would add that my pre orders still get routinely screwed up and again this is from a somewhat knowledgeable UA pax.
#5
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Bellingham/Gainesville
Programs: UA-G MM, Priority Club Platinum, Avis First, Hertz 5*, Red Lion
Posts: 2,808
first UA flight in a year, red eye on 738. Seat pitch and recline were abysmal and seat was hard as a rock. Fairly brutal overnight. Par for the course? Definitely worse than AS.
Had trouble with snacks. Received email about preordering. Attempted to do so, could not complete transaction. was able to enter and save credit card info associated with Confirmation code. In air they said I needed UA app and could find no evidence of me having saved cc. Don't take cc on board. Thus, no snacks. Kids not happy. Dumb system, too gimmicky and too unreliable.
I chose UA for my Amex airline in 2022 because of this planned flight, unable to spend any money on snacks (much less hundreds of dollars) so looks like I'll be buying TravelBank funds for a future flight. So would like to resolve these problems before that day arrives.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Had trouble with snacks. Received email about preordering. Attempted to do so, could not complete transaction. was able to enter and save credit card info associated with Confirmation code. In air they said I needed UA app and could find no evidence of me having saved cc. Don't take cc on board. Thus, no snacks. Kids not happy. Dumb system, too gimmicky and too unreliable.
I chose UA for my Amex airline in 2022 because of this planned flight, unable to spend any money on snacks (much less hundreds of dollars) so looks like I'll be buying TravelBank funds for a future flight. So would like to resolve these problems before that day arrives.
Thanks for any suggestions.
#6
Join Date: Oct 2009
Programs: UA 1K, Hilton ♦ , Hyatt Carbonado, Wyndham ♦, Marriott PE, "Stinking Bum" elsewhere.
Posts: 5,001
It is an "outlier" if you are not a regular UA pax. I am and pretty much know how to navigate the system after literally decades of flying with them. I have the app and have CC info loaded in to it (for better or worse). But I have heard multiple similar stories from friends and family that are not regular UA users, don't fly with them to have the app, or just don't want to deal with it for the occasional UA flight they take. Last year I had friends fly out to KOA on the DEN flight to visit me, not a short flight and they ran into the same issue, no food no beverage, I think they eventually threw a bag of pretzels at them. I can see not taking cash any more but not accepting a card in the air I personally believe was a bad but perhaps an unfortunately necessary move. I would add that my pre orders still get routinely screwed up and again this is from a somewhat knowledgeable UA pax.
In these days of "tap-to-pay", etc., it seems ridiculous not to have a back-up onboard payment system.
Last edited by zombietooth; Dec 21, 2022 at 1:37 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: PDX
Programs: AS MVP, HH Diamond
Posts: 2,561
thanks for the info, good to know I was not just being dense. Not sure I understand not taking cc at POS, all other airlines do that and it seems to work well - talk about a captive audience! In our case led to lost sales so sort of a head scratcher.
At any rate I'll get the app for my next flight and hope the cc info successfully stores.
At any rate I'll get the app for my next flight and hope the cc info successfully stores.
#8
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Houston
Programs: UA 1K and Million Miler, *A Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, Hertz Five Star,
Posts: 1,301
There are multiple announcements in the gate area before boarding to get the app etc etc. so whether a long time FF or a newbie there really is no excuse.
having said that the fact they can’t take cards in flight is a bit much in todays age.
having said that the fact they can’t take cards in flight is a bit much in todays age.
#9
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Bellingham/Gainesville
Programs: UA-G MM, Priority Club Platinum, Avis First, Hertz 5*, Red Lion
Posts: 2,808
as a paying customer, being required to install a company's bloatware on my personal device to extract further service for which i've already paid is insult to injury. That is one excuse. Remove the bloatware elements, provide for free download inflight, and it would be better.
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: PDX
Programs: AS MVP, HH Diamond
Posts: 2,561
having already followed their emailed instructions at home to add a cc to my reservation, whatever announcements i heard at the gate it didn't register that I needed to start an entirely new process (download the app, create a MP account, add a cc?) and that what I'd already done was insufficient and useless.
#11
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Houston
Programs: UA 1K and Million Miler, *A Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, Hertz Five Star,
Posts: 1,301
as a paying customer, being required to install a company's bloatware on my personal device to extract further service for which i've already paid is insult to injury. That is one excuse. Remove the bloatware elements, provide for free download inflight, and it would be better.
#12
But to defend UA Management (which I rarely do these days...) they do have a bit of a but to crack for a backup system. Do you:
- issue 25,000 credit card readers to FAs? That's a heckuva cost for the occasional pax who wasn't able to make things work, AND you have to hope the FAs thought to bring it into the aisle and not stashed away in their luggage.
- Put one card reader on each plane? Those who have flown UA long enough can probably tell you the horror stories of the HID times. No one knows it's broken until midflight, and not every location has sufficient time/hardware/manpower to switch out. One broken reader causes problems for multiple segments.
Coming from a person who has to detail the steps multiple times a day (in other words, I'm no fan of it myself...), there really isn't a great solution.
One can always ask the FA during boarding to check if the saved CC is on file, and have time to download app/input CC info if not. Also, I'm not 100% certain, but I believe there's a way to add CC info to a reservation in flight, sans app via the website?
#13
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Bellingham/Gainesville
Programs: UA-G MM, Priority Club Platinum, Avis First, Hertz 5*, Red Lion
Posts: 2,808
At first glance, sure.
But to defend UA Management (which I rarely do these days...) they do have a bit of a but to crack for a backup system. Do you:
- issue 25,000 credit card readers to FAs? That's a heckuva cost for the occasional pax who wasn't able to make things work, AND you have to hope the FAs thought to bring it into the aisle and not stashed away in their luggage.
- Put one card reader on each plane? Those who have flown UA long enough can probably tell you the horror stories of the HID times. No one knows it's broken until midflight, and not every location has sufficient time/hardware/manpower to switch out. One broken reader causes problems for multiple segments.
Coming from a person who has to detail the steps multiple times a day (in other words, I'm no fan of it myself...), there really isn't a great solution.
One can always ask the FA during boarding to check if the saved CC is on file, and have time to download app/input CC info if not. Also, I'm not 100% certain, but I believe there's a way to add CC info to a reservation in flight, sans app via the website?
But to defend UA Management (which I rarely do these days...) they do have a bit of a but to crack for a backup system. Do you:
- issue 25,000 credit card readers to FAs? That's a heckuva cost for the occasional pax who wasn't able to make things work, AND you have to hope the FAs thought to bring it into the aisle and not stashed away in their luggage.
- Put one card reader on each plane? Those who have flown UA long enough can probably tell you the horror stories of the HID times. No one knows it's broken until midflight, and not every location has sufficient time/hardware/manpower to switch out. One broken reader causes problems for multiple segments.
Coming from a person who has to detail the steps multiple times a day (in other words, I'm no fan of it myself...), there really isn't a great solution.
One can always ask the FA during boarding to check if the saved CC is on file, and have time to download app/input CC info if not. Also, I'm not 100% certain, but I believe there's a way to add CC info to a reservation in flight, sans app via the website?
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Dec 22, 2022 at 10:08 pm Reason: merged consecutive posts by same member
#14
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Houston
Programs: UA 1K and Million Miler, *A Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, Hertz Five Star,
Posts: 1,301
when it makes calls to at least 4 third party url's when using the app, that is the very definition of bloatware.
you really think UA isn't able to have a terminal or inflight device capable of connecting via it's wifi? if people's app's can do it, the airline could do it. or is their wi-fi really that bad
you really think UA isn't able to have a terminal or inflight device capable of connecting via it's wifi? if people's app's can do it, the airline could do it. or is their wi-fi really that bad
#15
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David