016 ticket. MAN-BRU-EWR. (Man-BRU Y BRU -EWR J via plus points)

SN got me to BRU late and decided to rebook me on SN direct to JFK departing 5 hours later. Arrived at BRU and I could have made my UA connection to EWR but the UA reps were exceedingly unhelpful and there were no SN folks around to help. There were far more convenient options for me than going on SN - JFK. Including BRU - IAD or ORD on UA then EWR or BRU-LHR-EWR. All these options would have got me home earlier and not left me with a $200 uber bill home.

Ended up being downgraded to prem econ on SN. For downgrade compensation does it matter that I had an plus points upgrade?

Thank you

For a flight from EU to USA with a late arrival EU261 comes into play. The claim is made against the last airline: SN

For information-->https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...united-26.html

Seems your beef is with SN, SN as the late delivering carrier is responsible for the recovery. And EU261 compensation

Suspect you are think about downgrade compensation on UA metal due to oversold situation, would not apply here.

Your PlusPoints should have been refunded

As it was a 016 ticket, UA could have taken over the recovery but that would have been unusual as the responsibility / expense was SN responsibility.

It is hard to understand how there were no SN (Brussels Airlines) agents available at BRU

There are SN agents at BRU but whether they will assist or not is a crapshoot.

See if you can find Dirk, one of the UA CS leads at BRU. In the same situation as you with misconnects SN-UA at BRU I've several times been rebooked via IAD which leaves much later than EWR. The departure order is EWR, ORD, IAD...so move from one UA gate to the next to elicit necessary assistance.

You could also try UA CS in the USA. Last time I was stuck on the downtown to Zaventem train - this was in Oct, there were 2.5 hours of delay after breakdown between Scharbeek and Zaventem, incredible for SNCB - and I missed both EWR and ORD. I called UA 1K on the train and they fixed it for me before I needed to engage in checkin or gate agent battles, including preserving my PZ seat.

We had something happen to us at check-in with an employee that the interactions were so awful, that it led us to cancel our flights, and walk up to another airline and book the first flight out with them.

I just filed a documented complaint through Uniteds complaint system, and the only other option is writing a letter. I'm afraid they wont give it the seriousness it deserves, when they respond. Are there any other lines to complain, up the chain?

You can file a complaint with the DOT so they have a record of it as well. DOT complaints require a response from the carrier.

Here are some thoughts.
What do you want as a response?
-If you want money, then wait to see what they do, because "escalation" implies that you were not happy with the original response (and you don't have a response yet).
-If you want to be told that the employee was fired (or otherwise disciplined) you are wasting your time unless you are willing to spend money (more than $25,000) on a lawyer (and even then you might not find out - but it improves the odds).
-If you want an apology, my response is the same thing as the money - wait to see what you get.
-IF you think it is a problem which will be repeated for other customers, and if you have good documentation, and if you think UA will actually agree with your analysis, you can try to submit it as a formal complaint through their legal department (but don't expect a response - just be glad that you did a good deed for UA and for other future customers).

I would like to learn what the issue was.

A well written letter (yes, on actual paper placed in an envelope) to the CEO always gets attention.

I agree. Coming here about a complaint so egregious that such action was taken and giving absolutely no hints about what happened (or where) is quite a tease.

OK, I'll go first: EWR?

In fairness, I don't think it is a tease. The request was well phrased and asked for specific advice. Reading between the lines it is clear that the OP feels the agent did something that bothered them enough to go to a different airline. Whether or not the OP is correct in their conclusions, I think my original answer (with the later suggestions of DOT and/or physical letter) gave them a great summary of their options. As much as I hate some "hit and run" complaints which don't include important information, the OP here actually refrained from starting a fight about their veracity and left a dry request for dry information - which they received. Would I LIKE to know more? Absolutely. But, based on experience here, I am afraid that I would probably be disappointed.

OP is being smart by preserving confidentiality at this point. If this is provably egregious and embarrassing for UA, OP is likely to get a better resolution if the blogosphere hasn't already blown-up about it. If it is so egregious that legal action may be required, then OP is very wise indeed-my lawyer always warns me, "Never talk about your case in public".

OP, here is the current contact info for the C-suite:

Primary Contact
Jamey Vincent
Senior Manager - Customer Care
233 South Wacker Dr.
Chicago, IL 60606
847-427-4015
[email protected]

Secondary Contact
Bryan Stoller
Vice President, Customer Care
233 S. Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60606
[email protected]

Chief Executive
Scott Kirby
Chief Executive Officer
233 S. Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60606
(847) 700-4000
[email protected]

If you are contemplating legal action, or if the interaction would suggest that is appropriate and would deliver a better result for you, I would lawyer-up before reaching out to the company directly. A lawyer can file an injunction to preserve data, video and audio that might shed more light on what exactly happened.

Good advice. And a good attorney will discuss the merits of your case, likely costs, and chances of prevailing. You need to know all of these things before you poke the bear.