KevinB

Spent lots of time on the phone last night with the reporter from the New York Times...

I still haven't heard anything yet that makes me think that I won't be going to Paris.

Seems to me like the airline doth protest too much....

KevinB

naxos

Shame on UAL. The cost of doing business on the internet may well be increased diligence of the work the subcontracting web company performs for UAL. This costof this scrutiny probably far outweighs the decrease in costs incurred by having customers purchase on line vs. through CS agents on phones or at CTOs. IMHO it is not different from placing a print ad in a newspaper- The UAL position that the mistakes made by thier web support company are not the responsibilty of UAL is clearly wishful thinking as well as the worst kind of customer service. The unauthorized charges surely cross the line between error and fraud. UAL CS just took a nosedive- and right after their campaign to win back customers.

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naxos

Shame on UAL. The cost of doing business on the internet may well be increased diligence of the work the subcontracting web company performs for UAL. This costof this scrutiny probably far outweighs the decrease in costs incurred by having customers purchase on line vs. through CS agents on phones or at CTOs. IMHO it is not different from placing a print ad in a newspaper- The UAL position that the mistakes made by thier web support company are not the responsibilty of UAL is clearly wishful thinking as well as the worst kind of customer service. The unauthorized charges surely cross over the line between error and fraud. UAL CS just took a nosedive- and right after their campaign to win back customers.

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Tango

The next time I make a mistake with United by not giving them the exact spelling of my name or I mixed up the departure/return date, will I be able tell United that this was a Mistake and they should correct it for me at no charge?

Is there a double standard here?

fallinasleep

I agree completely that UA has goofed here and should be proactively making goodwill gestures to the buyers of these low fare tickets. Unilaterally charging folks higher fares on their credit cards is outrageous.

On the other hand, had UA contacted the buyers within 24-72 hours that it was an error and that they were making a full refund, I see no reason why UA should have to honor the fares. The argument that the buyers had no idea that this was a mistake holds no water with me. Anyone who can navigate the mediocre united.com site and actually make a purchase is a fairly sophisticated user of the Internet. Savvy users of the Internet know that mistakes happen and this was clearly the case. Also, anyone buying the ticket after reading this thread would have had a clue that this was a mistake as well. Flying to Paris from SFO for $29 r/t doesn't make sense. In first (with an SWU) or in coach. Sorry.

The shame of it all is that UA could have easily corrected this problem with some phone calls, especially if only a 150 or so tickets were actually sold. I think UA can afford to take a hit of about $30,000 (which is what I estimate the loss revenue would be) if they really wanted to. Instead, now they may or may not have a PR problem, while the ticketholders may or may not have a problem down the road when they want some courtesies extended by UA or MP (a notation in their records as a trouble maker would not surprise me...)

cordelli

There's no such thing as a $1,000 bill in circulation anymore, you could never get one back from a teller at a bank, if you did it would have to be counterfit. He could at least have gotten that part right.

Where do you draw the line on fares? I can fly to Eurpoe for $99 each way plus taxes, says so in all the advertisements (and I'm going tomorrow for that matter). Is that a mistake, was it supposed to be $299 or $199? Can they agree to my ticket at the $99 and then a couple of weeks later say nobody can expect to fly to London for that price, lets charge them more? If $99 is valid, then would $89 or even $49 be? It's not up to me to guess what is valid or not (who was it TWA last year, show up in a bathing suit at JFK and fly to the islands for free?), it's up to them to test their system, have checks in place to say any fare under thirty eight cents needs to be manually checked, etc.

Airlines have been known to give away trips from time to time, this could have just as easily been a marketing move to see how fast something online could spread as it was a mistake, sell 150 of them and cut it off. Lots less expensive then a few focus groups would have been to see buying habits of their customers.

wormwood

UA says in their press release they have contacted people who got these fares and offered them 'options'...Funny, no one has contacted me. Anyone else still holding an ETicket that has had no contact from UA.......

unagi1

I received a call from Sue Kwon of KRON-TV
here in SF this morning, in response to
my communicating this thread to their "Contact 4" consumer advocate program.

I am meeting with her this afternoon to
show her my E-tix receipt showing the fare
as well as the UA 016-xxx ticket number.

Her story will probably be on KRON evening
news.

rxziebel

Can someone post the relevant text from any story that airs on this subject for those of us who don't live in the Bay area but are interested in where this leads? Thanks!

wormwood

is there any reason to believe United's handling of this, not just the original mistake, but the blown response (they have NOT contacted all customers) could expose them to a class action?

Unagi1: Please be sure to tell the reporter there are many of us who have not gotten contact of any kind from UA

RichLond

Well this story was discussed on WTOP radio in Washington this morning and Bloomberg just splashed a headline quoting from the WSJ story.

And more amazing it was brought up today before a staff meeting as casual discussion. Although the press coverage has leaned to UAL it will not be long before UA looks MUCH worse. I bet they will honor the fare within the week.

rich

wormwood

is there any reason to believe United's handling of this, not just the original mistake, but the blown response (they have NOT contacted all customers) could expose them to a class action?

Unagi1: Please be sure to tell the reporter there are many of us who have not gotten contact of any kind from UA

kokonutz

Sorry folks!! Seems I made a Mistake. I had expected each of you to pay me $1 for each post I make here on flyertalk!!!! Although when you first signed up for Flyertalk you were told in writing that reading flyertalk posts would cost you nothing, no "reasonable person" could have expected that I'd be sharing my unique brand of wit, wisdom and ignorance for free!!!!

I'll be charging each of you $1493 (and Rising)...Either your credit card has already been charged and/or an invoice is in the mail.

Now stop trying to cheat me and thank you for your loyalty!

UA_Eagle

I think they have almost no choice but to do so. I sincerely hope this was the mistake of a single PR/Accounting/Management person and that UA management will overrule this person and make up for it somehow (like free upgrade or vouchers or something). This is no way to treat customers (status or not).

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UA PremExec (2001)

unagi1

RichLond -
With as you say, the press leaning toward UA so far, I wonder which way the NYT guy will spin this when his piece comes out, since he says that he also was able to buy a ticket to HKG for <$30 during the promotion.