tinypsu

Hey Folks!

I see on the SPG thread somebody "officially" from SPG responding to querries...

Do you think somebody from UA also monitors the noises being made on this thread?

lucky9876coins

We definitely have lurkers from WHQ that read and we also have many employees from FA to management that post, but of course that's in an unofficial capacity. So to answer your question, no, I doubt we'll get an official rep.

Lightman7

I think UA would be dumb not to at least have someone keep an eye on here from time to time. When you have a large concentration of customers who can communicate with each other easily, that is a force to be acknowledged. The bigger question is can UA ID you from your posts?

UNITED959

Continental has official representation like Starwood; it's so smart. UA isn't so smart.

fastair

Maybe UA as a whole may fit that, but I would be willing to bet there are a few from UA on this board that are pretty smart. At least smarter than the average poster gives us credit for.

lucky9876coins

Of course, but the fact that they don't have an official representative here isn't, IMO. I think we're really blessed with all the awesome employees we have on the board, a LOT more than basically every other board on FT, but at the same time not having an official rep that can speak in an official capacity isn't good.

Brattflyer

It's my sense that the attitude of UA's management is that the customers that deserve it (UGS,1K) are getting plenty of attention and the rest are not worth bothering with. If all customers were truly important to UA they would have had an online presence here long ago, but they aren't and they don't.

PTravel

AA had a marketing person who checked in today.

At the UA Do last fall, someone asked Barbara Higgins if UA monitored FT. She said that, though UA is very aware of FT and some people read it, they don't offically monitor the website. Instead, they have an invited on-line community (made up exclusively of 1K and GS, of course -- god forbid 1Ps or 2Ps have a voice).

ExCrew

Yeah...about this 'invited on-line' community. Anyone here belong? I can't think of website with a larger gathering of 1Ks and UGS than we have right here. Methinks Barbara Higgins is dishin' out a lil' Bravo Sierra.

So...fess up. Anyone here 'belong' to this secret society?

lucky9876coins

You're asking people to say in public whether they belong to a secret club? There definitely are members that I know of on here that belong to the online community, but I doubt they'll post about it here.

MBS MillionMiler

I was contacted by an 'official' UA management person back in 2001 about some issues I was having with United...My initial e-mail, from a united.com address said something to the degree of "We read your posts on Flyertalk about your problems..."

Got 20,000 miles out of it and a great person at WHQ to vent to for a while. We exchanged MANY e-mails about problems I was having and about travel in general--she kept asking me questions. It was nice. She was nice. Then Sept. 11th occurred--our last correspondence was me telling them that my thoughts and prayers were with her and the UA family. That was the last correspondence we had. Understandably so.

fastair

UA (just as AA/NW, DL..) all have official spokespersons who read what they are told. To have a person without detailed knoledge on every subject be an "official" person here would be asking for trouble. You know how inconsistant airlines are to begin with, and that is with trained people within a department. Now you want 1 or 2 to speak on behalf of all departments and get it right?


Many question that get asked about, such as routes /schedules /pricing/sales/inventory are all "trade secrets" and subject to DoJ & UA rules on confidentiality (antitrust laws.) An "official" voice by UA on here could very easily be brought up on charges of collusion by leaking stuff like that (and employees who have leaked things like that here have been terminated.)

That is why ofical spokespersons in highly regulated/monitored industries rarely speak without either a) being an officer and briefed on talking points, or b) being spoon fed things to say that have passed theru a corporate lawyers hands first to filter. FT is not the place for either of those (2) situations.

And we all know how 100% useful and accrate PW is...just 3 days ago, someone was complaining that their UG had cleared via reservation, but not via DM list, and PW said to use the DM list signs...so they, who are jacks of all, are clearly not masters of any.

lucky9876coins

Fastair, while you definitely raise some good points you have to keep in mind that CO, LH, and many more manage to do it. It's not about responding to every tiny issue, but instead the major announcements UA makes, serious operational problems, etc. I don't think we are looking for an Evangalist that posts 30 times a day answering every tiny question (heck, I'd have to find something else to do then).

noah

Don't forget the scale of the United forum on FT -- we post *volumes* -- much more than the majority of other boards. For someone to be on here in a realistic way would probably be a full time job.. and given what we've seen from UA customer service would only likely be able to solve some of the problems we encounter (and not in a consistent or logical way).

Don't get me wrong, I think it would be smart for UA to have someone involved, but I'm not really surprised that they don't do so officially. They're cutting every single perk, including extra bodies to represent the airline full time on FT.

VA1379

I can't find the AA marketing person. As for the United online community, I get the feeling that 1Ps and 2Ps are just second class citizens and everyone else is dirt to United's management.

I'm biased but I think Continental, Starwood, Hyatt, and Marriott have more of a customer service focus than United Airlines, which is why those 4 companies have official representatives on FT.