<p>Its nice to know some United customers have had good experiences. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been us. DH was checking in online this morning for our evening flight to bring D to school and discovered our seats had been reassigned and unassigned. We went from a row of seats together to being separated with two of us without seats. DH was able to find seats but we are still separated. Never should’ve happened in the first place.</p>
<p>Mainelonghorn: We had that experience with my D’s flights home from school at least twice; what I usually do is get on the phone 14 days before the flight and “BEG” someone to assign her a seat…I use the “she has been cancelled so many times, that she has real anxiety before she comes home from school” card…it has worked (and isn’t a lie, actually)…</p>
<p>lilmom: sounds like a pattern here??? exactly what happened to us…
Check to see if they changed equipment; that’s probably why you were bumped out of your original seats…</p>
<p>Sounds like the airline is overbooking by leaps and bounds so to speak, given the refusals to assign seats. If there were a way to boycott and take business to a different airline, I would bet they would get the message about customer service. Unfortunately for many, 1 or 2 particular airlines are all that is available for their area; there simply are no alternatives.</p>
<p>"I thought the computers wouldnt let them schedule impossible connections, but apparently not, as it also happened to my other son – "</p>
<p>Honolulu to JFK, connecting in San Francisco. Leave HI 2:30 PM, arrive CA 11:15 PM. Walk to the gate for our connecting flight … a red-eye scheduled for 12:30 AM. The agent at the gate shakes her head. “Your ticket is for yesterday’s flight.”</p>
<p>Nowadays I check times and dates v-e-r-y carefully.</p>
<p>Oh my, NewHope. The airlines did that?? Yowza.</p>
<p>My s’s connections were like 20 min apart on different concourses. Dont they closed the doors 10 min before the flights depart? Each time they told him they already gave his seat (and his gfs seat) away, and booked them on much MUCH later flights that made them miss the event that night. Sheesh. They knew full well they couldnt make the connection. </p>
<p>This and the above rant are about Delta, not United.</p>
<p>^ At least that story had a happy ending … the red-eye was sparsely booked, and the gate agent rebooked us for free “as a courtesy.” My point was that we booked all four legs of the trip … two out, two back … at the same time with the same airline, and the airline computer system happily booked an impossible flight combination.</p>
<p>What post had a happy ending? If you are referring to mine, they arrived 8 hrs late and missed the first day’s events :(</p>
<p>^ I meant my computer-glitched Hawaii episode ended happily. Many, many other airline flight issues have ended badly. (At the top of the list was a flight to the Midwest to present a paper and chair a conference. Booked for Saturday, arrived Tuesday night … Conference was Sunday - Tuesday. Saw a lot of America those four days.)</p>
<p>For the person who said the airline wouldn’t deliver delayed luggage to Key Largo - we had a delayed suitcase flying into Miami, and it was delivered to our hotel in Key Largo the next night. Although it was only delivered after I called their customer service number repeatedly. I was re-routed to a customer service agent in India, who would begin asking me what was in the suitcase. “Clothing for a young girl.” “Is there a floral skirt?” No, there are no skirts. “Is there a black skirt?” NO THERE ARE NO SKIRTS! Finally I told them that in the outside pocket their was a windbreaker with the name of D’s dance studio sewn on it. 15 minutes later they called back to tell us the suitcase had arrived in Miami airport 15 minutes after we left… 20 hours before my last phone call.</p>
<p>Something has happened to us TWICE this summer that drove me nuts. Partway through boarding they’ll announce that all the overheads are full and all other bags must be gate-checked. But we got on the plane, sat near the back, and saw at LEAST a half-dozen EMPTY overhead compartments be closed by the flight attendants prior to take-off. The gate agents would say the gate-checking was complimentary, as if they were doing us a favor. But what if you have something fragile or valuable in the bag that you are intentionally carrying on the plane? I guess in part I should blame the people who put EVERYTHING in the overhead and nothing under the seat in front of them. If it won’t fit under the seat, I don’t bring it. I never have to worry about having room in the overhead bins.</p>
<p>I guess in part I should blame the people who put EVERYTHING in the overhead and nothing under the seat in front of them. If it won’t fit under the seat, I don’t bring it. I never have to worry about having room in the overhead bins."</p>
<p>I never check anything. That way I never have to worry about them losing a bag, something gotten stolen out of it, or waiting days for them to deliver it.</p>
<p>But you are supposed to only be able to bring a briefcase or purse onboard, and a suitcase, putting the suitcase in the overhead and the smaller item under the seat. Theoretically if everybody did that, and put the bag wheels out like they’re supposed to, there should be adequate room.</p>
<p>I find that if you board early and only bring carryons, you never lose or have to check your bag. Then again, we are flying the kiddos to college this week and checking many bags…will they all be there when we arrive?</p>
<p>When I walk past airline luggage claim offices in airports and see a large pile of bags stacked outside, I often think “Gee, I wonder what happened there?” Owners of those bags are probably thinking something different …</p>
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<p>I usually use my backpack (a reasonable sized one, not one of those massive 10 day hike ones) when I check a bag, and have given up on putting it in an overhead bin. I’m 6’2" and can really use as much legroom as possible, but I’ve had that thing smashed more times than I can count by people that just throw their suitcase with wheels up there and CRAM it in as hard as they can without looking if there’s anything else. Also, more suitcases need to have a handle on the bottom so people will actually put them wheels out.</p>
<p>What has happened with airline security and luggage? I thought that after 9/11 checked bags were supposed to be on the same flight as the passengers…we have found that this is not always the case. On several occasions, while waiting to retrieve luggage from carousel, and luggage is nowhere in sight, we have proceeded to the claims office only to discover that bags have already arrived. Keep in mind, I am thankful that bags arrived, just thought that security procedures dictated a different scenario. Also, this is not the result of missed flights, etc. These instances have occurred when flying the correct flight and on time. Also, we have not been late to the baggage claim carousel, either. Now, when we cannot locate bags quickly on carousel, we always check the claims office.</p>
<p>Flying…you gotta love it!</p>
<p>notre dame Al, once we flew out of Boston to London. Since we live in Maine and can’t predict how heavy the traffic will be on the 100-mile trip, we allowed lots of time and got to the airport VERY early and checked our bags. When we got to London, the bags were nowhere to be found. It turned out they had been sent on an earlier plane and were stuck way in the back of a storage room. So even arriving EARLY for a flight can cause problems!</p>
<p>I can understand that…I am thankful when bags have arrived early. Just thought that security procedures dictated bags were to stay with passengers on same flight. I don’t think I like the fact that my bags might be on a different flight…I would like to feel that security measures are up to snuff when flying. This makes me wonder about security, but I guess this is a topic for another discussion.</p>
<p>[10-year-old</a> girl flying alone on United left stranded at Chicago airport - Overhead Bin](<a href=“Travel News: Destinations, Airlines, Travel Deals & More | NBC News”>Travel News: Destinations, Airlines, Travel Deals & More | NBC News)
A 10-year-old girl flying as an unaccompanied minor from San Francisco to a summer camp in Michigan was stranded in Chicago when the third-party service hired by United to meet her “forgot to show up”</p>
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<p>Four hours later, Phoebe did end up making it to Traverse City safely, only after the Klebhans appealed to a United employee who was a mother herself.</p>
<p>Just another example of United’s customer service…</p>
<p>I haven’t read the whole thread but here are two recently flying stories - </p>
<p>Three weeks ago flew to Germany using United/Lufthansa. All flights departed and arrived on time. Very enjoyable experience!</p>
<p>Flew to NYC this past weekend on Delta. 8 am Friday flight was cancelled via automated phone call at 6:30 pm Thursday night with no explanation - later found out it was due to “maintenance”. Called Delta to reschedule and was put on a “call back list”. THREE HOURS AND FORTY MINUTES later we were called back!!?!? New flight was to leave at 11 am on Friday. Spent most of the day at the airport as this flight #2 was delayed, delayed, delayed and finally cancelled due to weather. We live 100 miles from the airport so we had to spend another night in a hotel (which Delta did cover). Flight #3 was scheduled for 6:50 Saturday morning. We missed an anniversary dinner and Evita performance with our family on Friday evening. Missed a museum exhibit and lunch on Saturday. Flight #3 departed and arrived without issue. Flight home at noon yesterday- taxied away from the gate on time, then the pilot came on saying we were returning to the gate for “mechanical issues” resulting in a 2 hour delay. Won’t be flying Delta again unless I absolutely can’t avoid it!</p>
<p>Haven’t had trouble with Delta yet and I fly them a lot. However, last year for our 25th anniversary, we plunked down a large amount of $ for a long weekend vacation to Punta Cana on Jetblue. We had great seats on row 5. Plane was only half full when I booked. Two weeks before the flight, I went to check the flights times and I saw that they had moved us from row 5 to the very last row on the plane. Further, the fare had dropped by about $200 p.p. I called and they had the nerve to tell me that my original seats were preferred extra leg room seats and I could have them back at a premium fare. Well I went mad crazy. Why was I able to book those seats in the first place. Now the original fare I paid was equivalent to the premium fare that would be required for those seats and I would still have to pay more! People who paid less than I did, had better seats. It did not make sense. I went on a complete rant and then I said the magic words. " I will be sick all over that plane if I ride in the back". As soon as I said that the rep stopped arguing and put me on hold. I really thought she was going to hang up on me. Finally, she came back and apologized that she did not know I had a handicap and she put us in the very first row at no additional charge. Huh. Ok I took it, but it might be a while before I book a Jetblue vacation at a premium price.</p>
<p>On a positive note, I had to recently change a flight for my daughter on Southwest. I called dreading to hear all the fees, etc. The rep, gave me some options and also directed me to check the web only fares, which were actually better and there was no change fee at all. I almost fell off my chair from happiness. Think I will fly Southwest more often.</p>
<p>I saw that Patsmom.
[they should tell their customers they outsource their service for Unaccompanied minors](#<a href=“United Airlines Lost My Friend's 10 Year Old Daughter And Didn't Care - Bob Sutton”>Bob Sutton)</p>
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<p>It makes you wonder how many times this happens that we never hear about.</p>