Modern Vespa

I've spent too much of my life in your sub-par airplanes getting sub-par customer service. Screw you, United.

www.loyaltylobby.com/2013/06/18/united-premier-qualification-requirement-changes-in-2014-pqds-premier-qualifying-dollars-are-coming/

Don't even get me started on United's ROTTEN service. And I'm flying United to the UK in November.

I could rant on this subject forever! I think if I measure my femur it would go all the way to Alaska and back. Flying used to be glamorous and chic now it is just a nuisance. Seats are smaller, leg room is non-existant, and we don't even get peanuts anymore most of the time. Try going from Dallas to Honolulu without any peanuts.

I noticed an immediate downhill turn in service after Continental purchased United and decided to go with the United name. Same thing when MBNA merged with Bank of America. I had excellent customer service with MBNA and have never had anything but crap service from Bank of America.

Why is it when two companies merge you seem to get the worst part of each company after the merger?

It's funny. I love Southwest Airlines. It started off as a sort of low budget airline, and yet I have never lost a seat from overbooking, there is more room in their seats than other airlines, and I was only on a Southwest Flight that took off late one time, because of weather. And I have flown them since 1985. United. I have NEVER had a good experience flying on United. The best experience I ever had on United could best be described as not quite wretched. And Overbooking is their middle name.

Same for the "new" American Airlines. Just horrible service. My aborted trip to Sheveport this spring was nothing less than horrible.

I will give a Delta good rating on my current trip to Salt Lake City, however.

I've had good flights on Delta. United is like a cattle car with wings... Complete with cows disguised as stewardesses.

I only fly southwest and now air tran domestically. The rest can die a slow death.

How evil!

I'll just leave this here.

If you start with the assumption that the airlines are poorly managed, inefficient companies wallowing in grossly inflated overhead and soaring deficits, and that the only thing they care about is putting PAYING CUSTOMERS in the seats... it kind of makes sense that they aren't going to make it easy for us to take advantage of perks and redeem 'free' stuff.

I am fortunate that my company lets me keep all the frequent flyer miles I accrue when I travel for business. But because of all the black-out dates and hidden rules for redeeming these miles for 'free' travel, I rarely am able to reap any benefit from the arrangement.

And if I do manage to book award travel, the hidden fees (airport tax, fuel tax, sucker tax, etc.) ensures it is far from free.

There really is no such thing as a free lunch.

Loyalty schemes are just another layer of administration the customer ends up paying for. Just say no.

I wouldn't say it is never worth it. It is just unreasonable to assume that they will make it easy for you.

For example, this August (i.e. peak season) I am flying business class from Tel Aviv to London and from London to New York. Then from New York to Madrid and from Madrid to Tel Aviv. I will have couple of days in London and Madrid respectively to tour around.

I used miles to book my travel, and it is costing me a grand total of $320 USD (once all the fees and texes are taken into account).

Not free by any stretch of the imagination... but not bad.

Flying first class today, aint complainig. This will happen more often with gold status. If its a days drive, i would rather take my truck then fly

I love BA, Emerits ~Oh and air france(but only for the free champagne)

Actually LOL's at this just now.

The last time I flew to London was in 2009. I flew the last day of September, and I ought my tickets in mid-July. I paid full price. Since there are no direct flight to London from Saint Louis anymore, I had to connect in Chicago. I arrived at O'Hare a bit over five hours before my flight to London. I went directly to the United concourse. I checked in the evening before and was told I would get my boarding pass when I got there, I was unable to print it out early. I got there and was told they were not giving out boarding passes yet. But as I sat and waited, a number of OTHER people came and got THEIR passes. I waited and waited. And waited. The plane arrived, the passengers got off and they let the first class passengers get on. Still I waited. As did a few people behind me. Finally they announced that the flight was overbooked and some of us might not make the flight, and would have to wait until the next day, but that THAT flight was full. But hey, if it didn't work out we could get a refund. Except, that this was a special time for me. I have always been a Mott the Hoople fan. I was too young to have seen them live the first time around. They were playing, with the original members for the first time in 35 years. I had tickets for the London shows since January. I purchased my tickets for the flight in JULY.... FULL PRICE!!!!! Do you really think that any kind of refund would be acceptable? Sorry. No. It would not. I did manage to make the flight.... Barely. Then the effing stewardess basically chucked me on the plane, literally... She slammed me theought the door and locked it right after, told me to hurry up and get into my seat, and if we were late it was my fault because THEY WAITED for ME. What outrageous bullshit. The seat was horrible. Luckily I was on an aisle, because the area between the rows of seats was too small to be able to get through without being a contortion artist. I paid about $1,300 for that flight, once they added the taxes and crap. That was in 2009 when the economy was still a mess. And THAT is how they treated customers who paid the full amount? Really????? I complained to the BBB when I got back home, as well as the FTC and every other organization that specialized in customer complaints.

When Business Weekly published their list of the top 40 Worst Companies in the US, UNITED AIRLINES Was number ONE!!! Followed by Warner Communications, Wells-Fargo Bank, and Charter Internet. All pretty crappy companies to deal with. Southwest Airlines was NOT on that list of rogue businesses.

I am going to the UK in November. I have to fly United as Delta cancelled their Cinci to London route, that I used to take. Everything else was too expensive. I really miss the days when flight travel was fun.

Don't get me started... best part of semi-retirement for me is to no longer having to board a friggin' US commercial airline 2-6 times a week. TSA is bad enough, but the airlines in general just don't give a crap about the paying customer. They deserve all the negativity that is thrown towards them. They have set the customer service bar so low.

I don't know who they use to measure seat sizes and legroom, but even many of the first class seats I've been in aren't that comfortable for a 6' 8" dude like me.

I went through a Airport Museum last week here in Charlotte to see the remains of the Hudson airliner that crashed. Very interesting indeed and one of the museum big wigs was there and we talked our way into the cabin of an old Piedmont Airlines plane (now USAirways) they have on display there and man, I loved being inside that baby. I could stand up completely straight and walk down the aisle without any fear of hitting mu noggin! Sat comfortably in the regular guy seat and the only thing I didn't care for was the ashtrays at every seat.

Well, at least we've progressed a little.

I don't miss parking my car at the airport and going through that hassle. I still have way more frequent flyer miles than I will ever use, so I'm happy to give my buddies free flights and my wife has seen Eastern Europe and Costa Rica with her niece for relatively free while I get to stay home and watch TV in my basement.

Yea Jess-I've watched cases full of my expensive camera gear get tossed by these morons more than once from the window of the plane. It just sickens me that people have such low regard for the quality of the work they do. And to perform at that low level knowing their customers are watching! I don't even want to think about what happens when the stuff goes under the terminal.

Okay, sorry. Starting to rant. Sorry. I could go on and on. Sorry.

Best airline I have ever flown. Thai Airlines from LA to Bangkok in first class. I never, ever wanted to leave that plane.

Worst airline...

Just as a heads up: if you are flying to or from Europe from/to anywhere the airlines have to abide by EU regulations. These are far greater than the nothing you get in the US.

I was delayed by weather flying out of Hamburg via Amsterdam to the US. They then booked me on the next overbooked flight in Amsterdam so I was bumped to the next day. They had to pay me then (2007 I think) EUR400 or offered EUR800 airline ticket, put me up in a hotel (very nice), pay for telephone expenses, food and an overnight bag.

The regulations have changed some since then, afaik for the better. So next time you want to fly to Europe an they give you the run around remind them that there are regulations and you know of them.

BTW, the fines that some airlines got for not complying where quite substantial in the past!

I was thinking about this yesterday. When most people fly, it is a rare occasion. They have saved money, rearranged their busy lives, etc to make their trip.

When you get to the counter or your seat, instead you are treated like the 100th or 300th person they have dealt with that day, instead of the rare/special occasion flyer you are.

It's shit. It sucks. But right now cheap tickets rule. You can thank Carl Icahn for much of that mentality. I knew cheap tickets were king when the A/C went into the Everglades in Fla. The very next day a TV reporter was interviewing people in line to buy ticket on that airline. When asked if they were concerned about safety one answered, "no, they are $15 cheaper than anyone else".

To be honest, the only perk for premier status IMHO is the free checked baggage and the priority security, and now that everyone with a United Explorer credit card can have that privilege the entire concept of 'loyalty' has gone out the window.

It wasn't all that long ago when United (along with other airlines) needed OUR assistance to bail them out. Since then it's been fees upon fees.

Can't wait until they install a credit card reader on the bathroom door.

I was at the check-in counter some time in the last century and the young lady asked me if I wanted to join their 'Frequent Flier' program. I asked her, "Does every three years count as frequent?"