<p>I’ve been a long time United flyer - normally 200,000 - 300,000 miles a year. As a result, I have been their highest status for many years. </p>
<p>This merger has really changed things for me - a completely different way of doing business - this is not the United I used to fly. I think of it like the “New Coke” - a definite downgrade. </p>
<p>I blame it in large part on the executive management team (which largely is ex Continental) who are using the merger to select the most cost effective practices from both airlines - e.g. which pillow cost less - Continental didn’t have pillows, let’s do that or which reservation system - SHARES is cheaper, who cares if it doesn’t scale and if the user interface is something out of the 1970s, lets use that.</p>
<p>To heck with customer experience. :(</p>
<p>The result is that it’s causing me to begin flying other options such as American and Delta. Blows my mind that after 20 years of flying and more than 3 Million real air miles that United doesn’t seem to care - but they don’t. Neither option is great - but “New United” isn’t either.</p>
<p>“Blows my mind that after 20 years (Company ABC) doesn’t seem to care (to keep me as a customer) - but they don’t.”</p>
<p>Many companies have trod that path over the past few decades. It’s very sad. (And yes, I’m old enough to remember when United was arguably the finest airline in the world.)</p>
<p>Fly Southwest whenever I can and will drive up to 4 hours to avoid another airline. They have only once “lost” my luggage, but it was my fault due to a very late check in. Several other times that I checked in late, my luggage made it, too. </p>
<p>I never book a tight trip (when I absolutely have to be somewhere) on any airline other than Southwest. If they don’t go there, I leave extra time. </p>
<p>We fly to Europe at least once a year, and I just pick the best price and cross my fingers. They’ve never lost my luggage, but H has been stranded several times (once for 8 days of a 14 day trip!) Fortunately, when we were traveling with small kids, the airlines were a lot better.</p>
<p>This year we tried Air Canada from the Midwest to Europe. It was pretty good, and I esp. like doing immigration and customs in Canada where the lines are MUCH shorter. H had difficulty on the way over because they let a rowdy drunk on the flight who had to be removed when they had already left the gate. Have also had good luck on Iberia.</p>
<p>“I’ve been a long time United flyer - normally 200,000 - 300,000 miles a year. As a result, I have been their highest status for many years”</p>
<p>With that kind of mileage, you should be able to get a status match with American and Delta in the blink of an eye. With Delta diamond status, at least you’ll get free club and generally upgraded, top customer service if you have a problem. I’ve had a couple of flights get messed up, and they have rerouted me quickly, even on other airlines. Then given me 10K airmiles as an apology.</p>
<p>Woah this is scaring me. Sorry for hijacking the thread but this is sort of relevant. I am an international student and will be flying Delta JFK (NY)- RIC (Richmond) after 2 international flights with Emirates. I will be checking in 2 x 50 lbs baggage. Someone mentioned lost + damaged baggage etc. Can I have more details on that?</p>
<p>Emirates is a good airline. I would find out what is your luggage allowance from JFK to Richmond (domestic) to make sure you will not need to pay for excess luggage. You will need to get your bags at JFK to go through custom, then recheck those bags again. I wouldn’t worry that much about lost and damaged bags. One time when it did happen to us, they delivered our bags to our home next day. Just keep your luggage tags and take any valuables in the carry on (electronics, jewelry, important documents).</p>
<p>Busdriver: For now I’m trying out both and will ask for the status match next year - too late in the year to earn status for 2013 on the new airline - and status matches are one time only. </p>
<p>Complicating factor is that I live near a small regional airport where United Express serves it extremely well with 10 flights a day to three different hubs. Delta doesn’t fly here at all and American has two flights a day. So switching also means, for the most part, moving to a model of a two+ hour drive before and after every flight.</p>
<p>bluelovexD: I wouldn’t worry about your baggage. I fly literally hundreds of flights a year, always check my bags, and seldom have any issue other than a late bag perhaps once or twice a year. Two tips to minimize risk: </p>
<p>1) Get to your originating airport early - three hours before flight time IMO - so that there is plenty of time for your bags to make the flight. </p>
<p>2) Double check the baggage tags when they are printed out - make sure that you know all of the airport codes for your route and that the tags reflect the route you are taking. E.g. Let’s say you are going from Dubai - London Heathrow - New York JFK - Richmond . Your tags should read DXB - LHR - JFK - RIC . Once or twice a year I see that my bags have been erroneously tagged - usually short tagged meaning that they are not tagged all the way through. </p>
<p>Also completely agree with oldfort - nothing of value should be in your suitcase - no electronics, money, papers, jewelry. I’d also say aim for 47 lbs on the weight per bag - scales do vary and you don’t want to be repacking at the airport.</p>
<p>@oldfort and scualum. Thanks a lot for your input! I wonder how strict is US customs when I recheck baggage, coz opening the checked bags up AND closing them again would be a pain I only had carry on last time and they checked every single item in that suitcase.</p>
<p>Also, God forbid, what should I do if the baggage is lost or damaged?</p>
<p>and @scualum for the tagging thing, I will definitely make sure of that. I flew Richmond-Atlanta-Dubai last time and Delta made me check in my carry on at the gate of the airplane coz they ran out of space and the woman wrote Dubai on the tag as DUB instead of DXB. I only saw it way later (the bag reached anyway fortunately) but I was flabbergasted she didn’t know the code for such a prominent airport :/</p>
<p>Recheck or not rechecking doesn’t matter. The way it works is that all baggage from the flight will come out at JFK as the first point of entry into the US. You go through customs there - where getting inspected is luck of the draw (unless you have agricultural products or drugs in your baggage in which case the dogs will point you out - simply put don’t bring those items.) Then, after you get through customs, you either drop the bag at the recheck belt or you walk out into NY.</p>
<p>“Complicating factor is that I live near a small regional airport where United Express serves it extremely well with 10 flights a day to three different hubs. Delta doesn’t fly here at all and American has two flights a day. So switching also means, for the most part, moving to a model of a two+ hour drive before and after every flight.”</p>
<p>Ugh, that’s a pain. No big deal if you don’t have to do it very often, and your mileage is accrued on international flights, but if it’s frequent trips, that would really make it a tough choice. I would have to be extremely annoyed to switch.</p>
<p>I am in the same boat as SCUalum living near a great easy to use regional airport. You get spoiled not having to drive 2 plus hours at the end of a trip or getting to leave for the airport an hour before your flight if you are doing carry on. In our case we never have to worry about traffic getting to the regional and the security is quick. We used to use American or Delta when they headed directly east from our city but both have cut back to just shuttle service to LAX. United on the other hand will get us to San Francisco or Denver without going through LAX. Alaska will fly us direct to Seattle or Portland. US Air to Phoenix. The big change I have noticed in recent years is that it used to be cheaper to drive to LAX and fly but now so many airlines codeshares or don’t charge a premium for flying local. Flying local saves on parking and most of all it saves on time and reduces the stress of travel.</p>
<p>We bought United tickets months ahead of time for my husband and son to fly to Denver for a ski trip. I noticed they weren’t assigned seats and called to ask about it - “Don’t worry, they will be assigned seats when they get to the airport.” Ha! They were BUMPED! Their trip was delayed by a day, and it was already a fairly brief visit.</p>
<p>While they were out there, I called and demanded that they be assigned seats so they wouldn’t get bumped again. It took about an hour, but the seats were finally assigned. Now I get very nervous whenever I buy tickets and don’t get seats right away.</p>
<p>I actually won’t buy flights where I don’t have assigned seats before I purchase. Once, upon recieving my reciept in the email, I didn’t have seat and I called to cancel the flight. They assigned me seats right then. They blah blah blahed. But, I just said, “let me stop you right now. I want to cancel the flight now unless I am assigned seats.”</p>
<p>I only fly united or star alliance. But, I used to also fly American, and don’t even get me started. I guess it’s the lesser of all the evils for all of us. For us, United has a hub at OHare. If I book early in the am, they NEED the plane wherever it is going and so we always leave. Then, all the planes need to get back to Chicago for the next day, so we always get home.</p>
<p>Pleasantly? Hah! I’ve heard a rumor that air travel used to be amazing at one time. Seems to have gone the way of Mceverthing Mcelse.</p>
<p>I have flown so much in my life all over the world and have never had a bag lost. Delayed quite often, but never lost and always delivered to me, even hours away from the airport.</p>
<p>Booked American Airlines early last year for daughter’s graduation. Called back a few months later to go out a day earlier. Got the confirmation email. In June and 24 hours before departure got an email from American to do the early check-in. While trying to check-in, got a message in red letters stating it can’t be done until at the airport. Got worried, so called American and the online rep confirmed my reservation and seat but said I need to check in at airport. </p>
<p>At airport, ticket agent told me I had to pay an additional $800 because the reservation was not confirmed when I had the online rep change my outgoing flight.</p>
<p>To make a long story shorter, I had to argue with 3 different agents including a supervisor for almost 45 mins before they agreed that it was American’s fault. It was the online agent that screwed up. Luckily, I had arrived at the airport 90 mins early and did not have to check luggage. If I had been cutting it close, the flight would have left before a resolution.</p>
<p>What gets to me with all of those airlines is it is never their fault, it is always the consumer’s fault. They could over book and cancel flights, but if we do, we get hit with 150 change fee. With the computer system in place, why should it cost 150 to change flight? </p>
<p>When it comes to cancellation due to weather, it may not have anything to do with where you are departing and where you are going, more often than not it is where the plane is coming from. With that in mind, why couldn’t airlines have few spare planes for when there is weather or mechanical problems? I know that would cost airlines more money, but the reason we fly is because we need to be some where on time.</p>
<p>My s missed every flight and every connection on an overseas flight because their initial flight was late and then delayed and the crew had mandatory rest and they couldnt get a new crew fast enouugh. They could have gotten him a different way up to NY (the had ALL DAY) to catch his overseas flight with my DH, but noooo, the rescheduled him to different cities and to different international arrival cities, all of which got screwed up (including booking a connection that they KNEW was too tight and he couldnt make) and caused him to be up for 36 hrs straight. They insisted he check his carry on (no reason for that) on the overseas flight and then wouldn let him board the next flight he rushed through to get to because the bag wasnt there yet. It gets worse, but its makes my blood boil just to think about it. I thought the computers wouldnt let them schedule impossible connections, but apparently not, as it also happened to my other son-- no humanly possible way to get from one gate to another (different concourses) in time to make the connection even if the flights were on time. So Older son had similarly awful esperiences with missed connections and all day travelling. He and his gf missed the first day of younger s’s graduation because of this garbage.</p>
<p>My most recent experiences w/United: We flew with carry-ons only in the spring, for free, using credit card points. On the way back, via Newark, that leg was overbooked so they asked for volunteers to give up seats. We were given $500 vouchers each for future travel, overnight accommodations and $40 vouchers each towards food. They agreed to put us on the last flight out the next day, which gave us one evening plus one day to enjoy Manhattan. On the flight home we were given the slightly upgraded coach seats with more leg room. A month later I used the voucher to travel and was unable to get a seat assignment for the trip home. The night before the return flight my seat assignment was a middle seat near the back, but by the time I arrived at the airport, it was miraculously changed to a window seat with extra leg room near the front. I was using the boarding pass on the smart phone, maybe that’s why they were able to switch my seat? In any case, I was happy.<br>
Despite the above positive experience, I don’t see any advantages to any of the airlines. But, Air France is pretty cool because of the food.</p>
I only had carry on last time and they checked every single item in that suitcase.</p>