Gate agent hell at ORD- UA meltdown? (Resolved 8/31)
 

UA66 arrives ORD two hours late due to diversion to MSP for fuel (weather issues in Chicago). Nothing UA can do about that but my flight out left before we arrived. Problem #1, agent meeting UA66 tells us just head to that gate for our original flight to MSN even after telling her it's not on the monitor anymore.

So we head to the gate and sure enough that flight is long gone. So we head to the gate for next flight out and that begins my absolute worst UA experience ever. The flight is oversold and after taking my brother on the standby list he says that's it, he has no more time to put anyone else on standby (about 20 minutes before flt time).

I call UA on the phone; nothing they can do. The agent tells me everything is sold out through tomorrow and I just have to go to the gate for next flight and hope.

Meantime I get a call from my brother who is sitting on UA5831 telling me to get back to that gate because the plane has many empty seats. Great! So we're back at the gate, ask to get on the plane, and he ignores us and several others while making last-call announcements because so many haven't shown up (not a surprise due to all the delayed flights). He then tells us he cannot put us on the plane because United says he has to get the plane out on time. I nicely (and while disbelieving I was nice) explain that he's got a plane with empty seats and everything to Madison is sold out until tomorrow. He just closes the door and leaves.

I call 1k line again, they confirm no space on UA or anything else and suggest what I'm already doing... getting on standby for next flight. While there my daughter sees the guy from the prior gate talking with another agent and referred, I kid you not, to the b___h and dick (his exact words) who wanted to get on his plane.

Yes, I know this guy isn't a mainline employee; what should I expect, etc. Truthfully, I don't know what I should expect anymore. I have fired employees for less than that.

Great, I've created my first totally whiny FT post. But geez, UA failed me big time today! If that first agent had bothered to look at her monitor and seen the first flight was gone we would have arrived at the next flight before the guy stopped taking standbys. Mistakes happen. But attitudes, policies and procedures this morning melted down here. Currently playing standby roulette.

What could UA do to make me feel better about what's happened? I can't imagine. It wouldn't have anything to do with e-certs though.

Still stuck at ORD- (note- see this post for a general summary of how things finished)

(Added 8/11/10 8:34am On reading this post- please read it exactly as written, nothing more, nothing less. I said the agent referred to "the" b____h and dick" who wanted to get on the plane. My daughter did not engage the agent in conversation, no chance of that as she was quite frightened and stressed by the ordeal. I have no doubt whatsoever that the agent was referring to the flight he had just boarded, but I cannot be certain he was referring to us. I recognize that this is an extremely inflammatory post and that my "transparency" causes it to be read a bit differently than most similar posts. But I have gone through each of my posts several times before hitting the send key, in an effort to be as absolutely accurate and un-embellished as possible. While I now question whether I should have provided the level of detail that I have, allowing the various parties to be subsequently identified, I have not edited out any details that I have posted. Are my best interests, United's best interests, and fellow passengers and FTers best interests best-served by providing such level of detail? The events played out so unbelievingly (to me) that I felt detail for the sake of accuracy and fact-checking was required. --Mike--

(Added 8/14/10 1:03am- I've drafted a letter to send to ua here-. Just need to figure out who to send it to.)

(Added 8/16/10 7:51pm- I sent the letter, via email, to 1KVoice late last night. Got the routine auto-response saying it will take 5 days to get back to me. That would be faster than the last two emails to 1KVoice, at 13 & 8 days each.)

Finally got response from UA on 8/31; see last page of this thread.

That was definitely not the behavior you would find from the most professional men and women in in the industry. I guess the merger cannot happen fast enough.

:D It was bound to happen...

Sorry for your troubles. I agree with you though. You never know what you're going to get with UA/UAX nowadays..

Sorry to hear that - what a mess!

Gate staff are/should be able to see that other passengers will misconnect and accept more passengers on standby... the key being having a proactive attitude!

I'm not sure what you mean about him not being a mainline employee, all the gate staff in ORD work directly for United Airlines.

Luckily the weather should be bad all day, so hopefully you can get out! Best of luck!

I hope you have the name of that GA. I have had several problems with GAs at ORD and have taken the time to call Customer Relations and personally discuss their customer unfriendly behavior. These are the type of frontline employees who drive business away from UA.

I've had many similar incident at ORD. Is it the Traffic department, or Flow, or something like that at ORD, the one that orders planes out, even when there are empty seats and passengers are on late arriving UA flights and already running for the gate? WORST PEOPLE IN THE BUSINESS. They hide in the basement and will never be held to account for their treatment of customers.

On the other hand, you do realize you could have driven to Madison in the time all this took you, right?

Seriously, gate agents are all mainline employees? Did not know that. But I was too hasty putting blame on things being UX anyway. Ice had some great experiences, creative problem solving, at UX airports.

I'll also mention that Christine H at the counter for our next standby attempt is an angel. As nice as the other person was rude. And no I don't have the name of the rude and dispassionate guy but if UA wanted to track him down, they could. I've already given enough info in this thread for any UA lurker to run him down.

In ORD, its all mainline. Smaller stations and I think Denver are regional carrier employees, with some exceptions.

I guess with the unions its incredibily hard for UA to effectively deal with their employees in such situations, and they are so bound by union rules that I think creative problem solving goes out the window.

Like I said, a proactive approach on that agent's part could have gotten many more passengers on that flight, thus helping the customers and providing relief from the rest of the flights having loads of standbys.

Sorry for your troubles...that blows big time. Nothing like knowing ahead of time you're heading into a gauntlet and hoping for the best, only to experience the worst.

Playing Devil's advocate for one second (cause its fun ;) )...is it possible that the UX flight that your brother was on went out with empty seats due to weight/balance issues? Just thinking that might've been why, especially if there was weather/warm temps/ etc. Not that it would excuse the shoddy attitude from the GA though.

Best of luck getting out of there. Safe travels (and don't eat too much RCC cheese).

Posting on this board is not a substitute for personally writing UA about your experience.

Yep. But after a red-eye and with questionable weather, driving remains an option but I'd rather check out bus options.

+1

But I assume we are talking real live snail mail letter, given the current situation with 1k voice. Generic customer service address or someone in particular?

Van Galder is the bus service up there- one-ways 27$; nxt one leaves @11AM, then 1PM. Departs from shuttle center across from the Hilton. Good luck!

That part alone warrants a letter to WHQ, IMO.

A well-drafted, concise (use bullets rather than a drawn out narrative) snail mail is often more effective than an e-mail to 1K Voice, which is often not answered anymore.

The on-time incentives have really made gate service poorer. Case-in-point: On a recent flight from EWR, the FA's (who were awesome the whole flight) are really doing their best to get carryons stowed to avoid having to gate-check. As standbys are being processed, they count space and find 8 spaces for bags left. The FAs tell the GA -- 8 spaces left, 6 seats. We can accomodate all bags (they say this twice).

When the standbys get to the plane, they drop their bags. GA had told them, no more overhead space, in order for plane to leave on time, you will need to gate check. FA hears this from a pax and tells them it's wrong, they have space, feel free to get your bag and we'll fit it in an overhead. GA proceeds to get mad at FA and tell her "I'm putting this delay on you."

Sure enough, when I get to DEN, I check the flight status of my previous flight and .bomb says "Scheduled 5:34pm, Actual 5:35pm Delay due to crew" Really?