Perhaps more details could help us craft a response

Thanks for your answer! I edited my response.

Customer Care contacts at United
 

Here are a couple high-level contacts at United.

If your concern falls within the purview of the DOT, the complaint form takes only five minutes to fill out, and UA is required to respond within 30 days of being notified by the DOT.

It's hard to say without knowing at least in a general sense what your issue is. If I were in your situation, the first thing I'd ask myself is "What am I trying to accomplish?" Do want to make sure a safety issue is brought to the attention of the relevant person? Do you want an acknowledgement that you received poor service (aka an apology)? Do you need a refund of miles or money that you think you're entitled to but have been unable to get? Do you want miles or money in compensation for something that happened or didn't happen? Do you want your situation to inform a possible change of policy?

Being clear on what you want, both in your own mind and in what you communicate, is key. It's much better than just venting. What you want also affects where you should direct your complaint.

@ SteveM Great advice. Makes a lot of sense to me. Thanks!

I am writing this from the perspective of someone who has spent the better part of the last 20 years in airline management, both headquarters and as an operational leader (I ran a station that had about 45 mainline flights a day - not with United though). In these roles, I was prompted to investigate or respond to complaints. Now, I'm working in another sector of the industry where I travel as "just another civilian" with a few elite statuses.

I would not recommend writing DOT as one of your first courses of action. DOT is, for lack of a better term, the nuclear option. The airline's goal is to avoid a DOT complaint. I would write to the carrier, being sure to document the timeline, and if you do not get satisfactory resolution, then to follow up suggesting involving DOT to facilitate action (rather than a threat). At my last carrier (about 11 years there), once a customer wrote to the DOT without giving us opportunity to first resolve, you were essentially dead to us as far as helpfulness. You get the bare minimum, which is going to be a written response within the prescribed timeline. Niceties that are discretionary over and above like vouchers, bonus miles, etc., aren't as forthcoming because you've gone ahead and done what those items are meant to discourage.

As anything, your mileage may vary dependent on your loyalty or worth as a customer, frequency/pattern of complaints/etc. Most complaints to DOT outside of massive travel disruptions quite frankly are about things people should have known better about in the first place, like paying for a checked bag or a flight canceled due to weather and they didn't like the rebooking. Of course whenever someone hears something they don't like or agree with, the messenger is suddenly "rude" and so forth.

As a frequent flyer, I've had more luck with the rare complaint getting the airline to resolve it without going to DOT. Even one today with Frontier... (schedule change eliminated my nonstop itinerary on day of week, online wouldn't rebook me for 2 days later, chat with reservations who collected a fare difference then hit me with a reservations agent ticketing fee, making credit card charge exceed what the agent said they were charging). I got it escalated with the carrier and have a check for the amount owed, which is only like $70, coming. I've had more compliments sent in to United than complaints but they tend to give some sort of resolution, especially if proposed something reasonable.

As an FYI on emailing executives, I'm sure everyone knows their real email address is going to be something like scott.kirby8242 to divert outside emails to an assistant or someone from customer care.

This has not been my experience with UA (or, at least, I've never known that it was, anyway). I've had to contact them twice due to UA's braindead, broken refunds process which frequently refuses a refund even when one is clearly due. I've gotten a satisfactory response -- beyond the bare minimum -- in each case.

If UA wants to have fewer DOT complaints, they should fix their broken systems.

I do agree that it shouldn't be your first response without even contacting customer care. However, the phrase "escalating" suggested to me that OP has already done that. Not knowing anything else about the complaint, I'm hesitant to suggest OP embark on what could turn into a long run-around just to prevent UA from the DOT.

Oh I agree if already escalated, and it's been stated that OP is essentially going to resort to self help to force a reply, then go for it. That's what it is there for.

I've got a sort of visceral reaction to DOT complaints given I've seen the verbatim comments of many of them. Most could use spell check or to turn off their Caps Lock. They also take just about anything... like airline A is tagged with a complaint because person meeting passenger on Airline B left their car unattended at Airline A's curbside and it got towed, and complaint goes to A because their employee tried to assist and direct to B. Or having to reply to DOT complaint from a passenger stating that my ticket counter has "too many Black agents." I think DOT thanks to a lot of media attention/advice has become a dumping ground versus a true tool for escalation and to measure true failures of an airline's operation or service. Okay, down from the soapbox.

But yes, not knowing the details of the OP's complaint, with two rounds of no resolution it is time to go to DOT. Based on context of (most) complaints on this forum, it probably is something that's both a legitimate issue and legitimately irritating to deal with.

Thanks JAXPax for your reply. What you wrote made perfect sense on a variety of levels. Based on what you and some others have said I will not file with DOT. My complaint is based on how my situation was treated and the inconsistency with what I was told by the app, gate agent and CS in the lounge on the day of travel. Incidentally all of them were professional, helpful and kind.

In brief, I purchased an award ticket to Milan and onward connections in Europe. The MXP flight had multiple delays and finally the flight was "cancelled" and a the gate agent said a new plane would be coming at 11:30PM and if we did not receive a message on the app we could not board and would have to go to CS and rebook. The 3 people I were with all received the message. I went to the lounge and was told that there was space on the new flight but they could seem to book me on that flight. Multiple CSRs tried to do this and they stayed past the 10:30PM closing time (on their own nickel) to assist me. Finally they were able to reroute me the next day on flight via Frankfurt. They also did gave me a voucher for a taxi home. the next morning I checked the UA App and I noticed an email message sent the previous evening at 10:30PM on the App that said "My flight to Milan was ready for boarding".

I wrote to customer care and the response received was the flight was cancelled and all they could offer was $200 travel certificate. I view it as I was bumped from the replacement flight and it was not a cancelation. I wrote back to customer care and asked them to escalate my complaint. I received a prompt reply from another Customercare Rep (it didn't seem like my complaint was escalated) who stated that I choose to reroute my flight so UA has no responsibility. There was no. flight the next day via Milan I had not choice but to take what the UA CS in the lounge offered.


Incidentally, the morning of the FRA flight I checked the app and it showed that my luggage had been re-routed from Milan to Frankfurt, but not onward to my final destination,. When I called UA CS I was advised to get to airport as early as possible reclaim my luggage and recheck it in on the new Itinerary. I got to the airport at 11AM for 6:30 PM flight and baggage claim would not release my luggage so I spent the next 6 hours at the airport. Of course my luggage got delayed in FRA and I received it 4 days later.

Last summer my flight from AMS to EWR was cancelled. I not only received the EU261 compensation. but received an additional 300 Euros to cover expenses. Now I realise my flight from the USA does not fall under EU261. But I feel I should receive some sort of additional compensation similar to the 300 I received for the AMS-EWR flight or a redeposit of my miles for the outgoing award flight into my milage plus account.

Any thoughts?

PS. I am not sure if this was a coincidence or a result of my complaint but on last weekend I received a text message from UA on my Cellphone, not on the App stating "you'll now receive SMS flight updates from United when traveling......Reply STOP to opt out.......

You can't be bumped from a flight that you were never on. And you weren't bumped from your original flight if you voluntarily undertook a change due to a delay, even if it ended up going out without you. Forget the email -- what did the fight status say? Did the flight actually depart that day? Did the flight number change?

The app is notoriously flaky during IRROPS.

I'm sorry they gave you such bad advice. :( There was no way that was likely to work and it was absolutely unnecessary; there's no reason that the bag needed to be in your possession in order for it to be re-tagged, assuming it had even ben tagged improperly in the first place.

Actually, that's quite surprising, not an "of course." Given that you were ticketed to your final destination, there's no reason for the bags to have been re-routed only to FRA. When you received them, did they have tags on them indicating that FRA had been the destination? Or did they have tags on them printed with your actual destination? It sounds like the problem likely occurred at FRA when the bag was not transferred to Lufthansa (LH). If you find yourself in a similar situation, I suggest checking with the LH staff at FRA and making sure that they have your bag in their system.

A $200 travel credit is in the usual ballpark for an overnight delay (I've received less). Additionally, UA should cover any additional costs in the US, such as ground transportation, food, or a hotel (they may balk if the disruption occurred at your home airport). And, for bags that arrive four days late, they will reimburse you for reasonable expenses incurred as a direct result of the delay, provided you have receipts -- so if you had to buy clothes, toiletries, etc., United will send you a check.

Hope this helps. :)

While inconvenient, your expectations are out of line with their compensation guidelines, and using your experience from AMS-EWR is not a good barometer, specifically because that was an EU261 case (and the additional 300 in expenses you were reimbursed also would have likely fallen under the purview of EU261).

What it sounds like happened, is your flight was cancelled and then a recovery segment built in, for what sounds like an equipment downgauge due to the fact they said some passenger's wouldn't be rebooked on that recovery segment. While I understand you feel like it was a "bump" that is not how the airlines nor the DOT see it, as the DOT guidance specifically carves out this situation (Aircraft Change - A smaller plane is substituted for the larger one the airline originally planned on using due to operational or safety reasons). When a recovery segment is scheduled day-of with a passenger limitation the flight is loaded with no available inventory, as a dedicated team in United's network operation center is generally responsible for handling the rebooking of passenger's onto the recovery flight which is why the lounge didn't have access to that flight. Given you later got a boarding notification, it seems you went to the lounge too soon and were eventually protected on that recovery flight. Personally I would have waited for that recovery flight to depart as it's possible and highly likely people who were initially rebooked onto it were going to change to something else due to missing downline connections and not wanting to be stranded at the connection point.

Regardless the way UA is going to look at this, is your flight was delayed and your bag was delayed. The voucher they offered generally appears in line for the delay you experienced. The bag delay you might be able to get reimbursement for reasonable out of pocket expenses, but that needs to be attached to your delayed baggage claim you opened at your final destination.



I assure you, they weren't staying on their own nickel, they were being paid for that time even if it was past closing time.

Edit: If this was 12/13 (last time I see UA19 took a cancel), then what I said above was what happened. The flight cancelled and they created a recovery segment as UA3027 on a plane with less capacity.

Makes sense and yess that was the flight on the 13th. However, there was space on the plane according to 2 agents in lounge, the just could not book me. As to asking UA to cover luggage expenses. I will just note that in 2022 my luggages was delayed and damaged it took me 9 months and 10 phone calls and scores of emails to get reimbursed on only 265 dollars

In contrast LH lost my luggage this past Xmas. After 21 days I wrote them requesting the full amount stated in I believe the Warsaw Convention. Within 5 days they wrote me back and said while they could not pay me the full amount they would issue a check of over 1,500. dollars, no itemization, no asking for receipts.

I followed the instruction from the UA gate agent, from the UA customer service reps in the lounge. Doesn't UA have a responsibility to its customers (they used to be very proactive about this, before the merger). the information is not streamlined and if you don't have the app you can't get anything and if you do have the app people say the pp is no good. Who is resposible? They would not give me a hotel and they would not pay for my return transportation to the airport the next. And I did NOT voluntarily rebook my flight, I was told I could not be booked on the flight although there were empty seats.

We really do need some sort of passengers rights. And maybe in this vein I should write to DOT.

Your advice to wait is well heeded. However, how was I suppose to know that. How is the average traveler suppose to know that? Why did UA delete all the information from the cancelled flight from the app and cover their tracks. I understand the legalize of what some responders are mentioning, but it's still wrong in my book and incredibly frustrating. Between the off-shore baggage center, customer care, and call centers no company has to take ultimate responsibility for what happens. This irritates me. Thanks though for you reply Lux Flyer

You should already have a claim open given your bag was delayed 4 days? They should be able to attach anything on to that. Unfortunately the US airlines aren't the EU airlines and they run their processes differently. UA is actually proactive in a different way in that regard, as in my experience they are usually willing to advance a small amount for interim expenses, if requested, at the time of opening the delayed bag claim.

They did more than they were required to in giving you a taxi-voucher home. If you are at your origin they don't typically issue hotels or transportation.

Empty seats on a seat map does not equal available seats. Even moreso in IRROPs as that rebooking process does not tend to automatically assign seats at time of booking. As has been previously explained, recovery flights are typically blocked for the team in the NOC that handles rebooking passengers for these types of flights. Lounge agents are not primarily reservations agents and can't see all the details. While they can assist with IRROPs they are only able to do what the system provides as options to them and can't force you on to a flight that has been blocked from their management.

No one is arguing over voluntary or not, but this is not a "bump" from an oversold flight as you keep trying to argue it is. Your flight was cancelled and a recovery segment was scheduled with an aircraft that had less seats. The DOT specifically addresses this scenario. You are welcome to write the DOT, but in my opinion (and I'm sure others will contribute too), there is nothing you have said that occurred that contradicts DOT policy or UA's own internal policies for these situations, and is unlikely to cause a substantial change in the response that you're getting.. They will likely reply back to your request via the DOT saying the same things you are being told here, "The flight was cancelled, the recovery segment was on a plane that had less seats that we eventually had seats on for passenger, however they went to our lounge agents and accepted a rebooking via FRA. We offered them a travel voucher for the inconvenience and as of now have not received any request for expense reimbursement related to the delayed baggage." (as it sounds like you haven't actually submitted anything to the baggage claim regarding expenses incurred)? "The passenger was eligible for a refund pursuant to our delayed/cancelled flight policy, however chose to travel still. Given that they received transportation, a request for a refund of that flight segment alone not to mention additional compensation on top of that is excessive and not in line with our own nor DOT regulations."

Welcome to air travel, there are lots of things that you only learn with experience, or collective knowledge shared through forums such as Flyertalk. Rule #1 in IRROPs, they are very dynamic situations and loads change by the minute between automated rebooking systems and other passengers not liking what they were rebooked on/adjusting their travel plans based on the IRROPs.

Nothing is deleted. The front end display might be cleaned up to prevent confusion, but the history in the PNR is extensive. You can't so much as lookup a PNR without there being a record of it somewhere, let alone making any changes. UA can pinpoint the exact one of their servers a change in the PNR went through if they really needed to.

Meanwhile, I've had no problems from UA w.r.t. luggage but had to file a DOT complaint against SN -- part of the LH group -- for a similar situation. So I'd go ahead and follow up with UA anyway.

Were you at your home / origin city or had you already connected from somewhere else?

If you run into this again in the future, please go to the gate. The gate agent is the ultimate arbiter of who gets onto a flight and who does not. If nothing else, they could have put you onto standby and cleared you that way.

If you're advocating for a policy change, you want to write your congressman, not the DOT. They can't enforce a rule that doesn't exist. (I do not want any EC.261-style rules in the US, but reasonable people can differ. :)

They didn't -- that's how Lux Flyer was able to go back and get it. The app shows the most recent information about a flight but the history stays around. UA isn't covering tracks.