United Airlines
Reviews and Complaints

Last March, I bought a ticket to fly from Denver to Ft. Meyers, Florida for Christmas. I booked the ticket on CheapTickets. It included three segments on United (two of which were code-shared with USAir) and one on Continental. My credit card bill showed United billed for the ticket ($592.80), with a separate charge ($4.99) for CheapTickets.

In the months following, I received a few itinerary changes from CheapTickets and United, all for minor time changes for the United flights. One or two involved new flight numbers; each time I called United for new seat assignments. I received an email confirmation of the entire itinerary from United on August 9 and an e-ticket receipt from United for all four flight segments issued on September 21. In October, CheapTickets sent two more change notices for the United flights, with no change to the Continental leg.

On December 18, 48 hours before departure, I received a notice from CheapTickets of another unspecified itinerary change. I immediately called CheapTickets, and after some confusion on their end, they discovered that the Continental flight had been cancelled. CheapTickets contacted the airlines and told me neither Continental nor United would "protect" me, and CheapTickets wouldn't do anything to get me to my destination, either. So two days before my trip -- on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year -- a ticket I'd bought nine months earlier was useless and my trip cancelled.

I spent more than six hours on the phone (mostly on hold) with United, Continental and CheapTickets. I discovered that the Continental flight actually had been cancelled on August 9. Continental claimed they'd notified United at the time. No one could explain why United sent me a written confirmation of the original Continental flight the day it was cancelled and again the following month, or why it took them more than three months to notify me of the cancellation. Continental said they couldn't offer an alternative flight because they no longer served that route. Even though United had issued the ticket, they wouldn't reroute me because the cancelled segment was on Continental. United found flights to get me to my destination, but only if I paid an additional $1600. The only alternative they offered was to refund the price of the original ticket, which I had no choice but to accept.

I was incredibly frustrated and angry. I contacted United's "Customer Care" group about the last minute cancellation notice and United's refusal to reroute me to my destination. The reply was somewhat incoherent, much in broken English, and included an apparent "stock" response to itinerary change complaints. "We do our best to minimize schedule changes but when they do occur, we arrange for your alternate flights as close as possible to your original itinerary. I am sorry your itinerary was not satisfactory for you…and look forward to your future travel with United." Since this didn't address my situation, I sent a clarification and received another jumbled response. Finally, I asked to be put in touch with a supervisor. The rep refused, citing "policy reasons beyond our reach."

I contacted United's local office in Denver. Their response addressed the details of my situation and was much more coherent, but they still wouldn't take responsibility. United blamed CheapTickets for not notifying me of the Continental cancellation and said "United could only protect you from Denver to Ft. Meyers on Continental because of the way the fare was calculated point to point. In order to change your routing, this would have required a refund of the original ticket and to start over." I don't understand how United can issue a ticket that includes a segment on another carrier, collect the fare, incorrectly confirm that segment even after it's been cancelled, fail to notify the passenger of the itinerary change for more than three months -- yet takes no responsibility to protect the passenger for that itinerary.

I booked our tickets on Continental. I used our Chase Continental One Pass credit card so that we would not be charged for our two bags. The outbound flight was fine. When we checked in for the return flight, which was on United (even though we had booked through Continental), we had to pay $25 per bag. We complained to the agent, who brought in a supervisor who told us that United does not honor Continental's fee waiver. I understand that when companies merge that there are going to be problems. However, that is not my problem. I want my $50 back from United. I have written to them. I will update this posting with their response. I hope somebody from United reads these posts, because this is really lousy customer relations.

I had a very disappointing call with the Continental Elite Priority Line yesterday and want to put in writing that the attitude from a Cust service manager; Ms Brooks from the Houston Regional Office was incredibly rude and unacceptable, it is upsetting to me how an otherwise great airline can have such bad eggs on their team. In short; I called to make a change on a reservation that had been made for 16 members of my family about 29 hours before the call. It was an error on our end in that the ticket for myself was incorreclty booked for the return one day later than it needs to be. Both my wife and I called in on the speaker phone and very politely explained the situation and knowing about the 24 hour change policy asked for the ticked to be changed and if they could wave the $150 exchange fee.
I have been a Platinum member at Continental for the last 6-8 years with almost 1 mil lifetime miles, and we were hoping for a swift and fair solution to the change request. Unfortunately, after having being bounced around for a while between representatives that could not answer or make any decision, we ended up with Ms Brooks, who we found to be quite rude, sarcastic and non-service oriented. She started out not even pretending to want to listen or discuss the request, but went straight into a rampage that this was the company's policy and that it didn't matter even if we had called 1 minute after the 24 hour policy. From her we clearly received the message that they had a booked reservation and didn't care about anything else than the payment.
Not being able to receive a waiver on the change fee isn't the end of the world to me, but the behavior experienced was so rude and obnoxious that being one of Continental's top customers, it really makes me wonder how much they really care about their customers, I generally like the airline and it is a shame that some can ruin so much for others. JU621908

Just wanted to share my lovely flight experience with everyone. Since Continental feels like there is nothing wrong with sitting next to a dog barking (no, not yapping, full on barking) I thought I'd post this truly wonderful experience. Cliff notes...

Woman next to me had a dog under the seat. Didnt realize until we took off in which the dog didnt stop barking for 6 hours, non stop. No, this was not a dog for any type of disability, for that Id be sympathetic and wouldnt complain. When I called Continental to complain, it was like I was a bad person. I am not an animal hater. I have had and currently own pets. However, I wouldnt be so rude as to take my pet across the country on a plane without sedating. And, no, this is not the same as a crying baby (as I have a child as well. And, there was no where to move since EVERY FLIGHT is always booked solid or overbooked. So, would it be ok for me to play a movie without headphones on level 10. Or maybe blast music for every row to hear? Or, maybe every hour set my alarm to get up and scream? I couldnt sleep, I couldnt concentrate to read, even with bose soundless headphones. I just was fuming for 6 hours. Continental, shame on you for allowing this to happen and doing nothing! I am a frequent flier, this is no way to treat your elite fliers.

Jeffrey A Smisek... you are the President and CEO of Continental. How about you sitting in coach on a coast to coast flight and listening to dog barking. Would that fly for you? Maybe then you would change your policies.

I booked my flight in January, 2017 for May 20, 2017. The flight was from Newark international airport to Las Vegas McCarran Airport. My ticket and my friend Erica's ticket were booked under the same reservation with the same credit card.
Two days before the flight, we went on the website to confirm the flight and to see if we could book our seats next to eachother. The website said that Erica's ticket has been cancelled.
We immediately called up Continental's customer service number and were both on hold for over 45 minutes (by this time it was approaching midnight). The customer service representative said that Erica's flight was cancelled online and the only way to get her back on the flight was by paying the current day's price of the flight (over $800, we paid $288 originally). They would not even give us the credit for what we already paid, that was lost, and the only thing they could do is waive the $200 cancellation fee.
Neither of us cancelled the flight online. I asked to speak to a manager. The manager was EXTREMELY rude (named Robin Morris) and told us that the reservation was split, and that my flight was still booked, but Erica's was cancelled. She kept insisting that it was us that cancelled it, and accused us of lying. She said "either she doesn't go, or you pay the $800 to get her back on the flight". When I asked if there was anybody higher up that I could speak to she said she was the highest up. (by now it is past 12:30).
After Erica, Erica's father, and I all tried calling customer service to get this issue resolved with no success, we decided to go to Newark airport to see if there was somebody we could speak to in person. On the way to the airport, I decided to give it another shot by calling Continetal Customer Service again. The lady I spoke to then was the most fishy out of everyone. She listened to the details of my problem and then put me on hold for about a half hour while she looked into it until she came back to the phone.
She said that Erica's flight was cancelled a month prior to when we called, and that mine was also, but that somebody named Michael called up the day before and reinstated me on the flight. I asked if my card was charged anything extra, and she said no. (Michael is my boyfriend, and a joint member of my Continental onepass account) Michael never called them up. I asked why they couldn't just simply reinstate Erica's flight like they did mine, and they said we would have to pay the difference (at this point, 2 hours later the flight was over $1000).So i said, "so you're saying the flight went from $288 which we paid originally to over $1000?" and she replied "Yes." which i knew was a lie because my sister was travelling the same day as us on a Delta flight, and had wanted to switch on to flight but didnt because it had been over $800 the entire week before the flight.
I asked why I wouldn't be notified about all of these changes taking place to our flight and they insisted that they sent emails that were received by my email address. (I only received emails with specials from continental.com and my onepass statements because i am a Continental debit card holder)
I finally had my boyfriend call and he spoke to a nice gentleman who put Erica back on the flight with no problem, but by this time it was past 3 am. I had all of my finals the next day and was up all night. But in any case, I dont understand why they did it for Michael and not me or Erica, when he had nothing to do with our reservations. He could have been a terrorist, stalker, or serial killer, and they wouldn't know. I fly with Continental about 3 times per year and I am extremely concerned for my safety and security. I was up all night and it was one of the worst customer service experiences that I have ever been through. Something must be done to their website to ensure the safety of their online customers.

After an hour plus delay, due to reported flt control delays in SFO, we boarded the plane . After taxing to runway, the pilot said they would have to return to terminal due to low oil indicator on a generator. This would be a short delay(he said) Afte a 1/2 hr he said they could fly with this problem, but they kept working on it(I guess) because the plane remained at the terminal for another hour plus. After 6 hours of delay from original takeoff time, the flight was cancelled. No help was offered for alternate flights and the staff at the counter was only a single rep. Two others who had been there left because their shift was up and no backup was provided. After a while a "supervisor" showed up and said there were 7 reps downstairs (meaning going thru TSA again if a flight was found) when in fact only 4 reps were there and two were handling normal business. No extra service provided. This has to be the worst case of customer service and indifference I have seen in a long time by any business. Communication as to the situation would have allowed earlier arrangments for flights to have been made. 8 hours in an airport is not the way to spend a day.

arrived at airport on july 19th only to find out expressjet (run by continental was going to be so late my connection in houston would be missed.Employees had no answers to how i would be taken care of in houston upon landing nor my staying an extra night in omaha.decided to stay in omaha with no help from continental, came back next day the 20th.was told at the check in 40 minutes before departure that the plane was on time(an outright lie).got to gate 19 only to find out the plane was 10 minutes late with a delayed sign(not an employee in sight). once plane arrived so did employees.was told oh you have plenty of time(another outright lie)and was treated rudely.it was a madhouse scene once we arrived in houston as we were told to go to the front of the plane to disembark or wqe would miss our connection.the worst airlines ever!

I am really concerned about roundtrip airfares from Fresno California to Burbank California.

I have family members in the Los Angeles Area and I would like to spend an afternoon on one of my vacation days visiting my family members and return back home on the night time of the same weekday.

In able for me to do this I need to pay $1090 just to leave Fresno in the early afternoon to Burbank and to return to Fresno in the late evening on the same weekday. I do not think this airfare is an appropriate fare. I think this airfare represents a scam and a form of fraud. I have just contacted the Office Of The Inspector General in reference to this airfare.

The airline who quoted me this round trip airfare was United Airlines/United Express.

I am not made of this kind of money and I would greatly appreciate it if somebody from this organization could email me ard refer me to a resource to help get these airfares lowered. Could you please refer me to a legal investigator to get me pointed in the right direction?

Thank you

John McCullough
Fresno, California

As you may have guessed, I have had a major issue with United Airlines as of late. In fact, United Airlines has made an awful family tragedy even worse for me.

My name is Matt Kent and I currently live in Chicago, IL. I graduated college in 2008 and just over 1 year later, cofounded a small education and brokerage business. I have been working incredibly hard to build ever since, taking home very little pay as I try to make this venture successful. This summer I was on a mission trip in Buffalo, NY where we where we repaired over 50 houses for an economically depressed community. On the final day of that trip I received the terrible news that my grandfather had passed away. The funeral would be held on Long Island, NY in a couple days, so instead of taking my group's bus back to Chicago, I decided to spend the 12+ hours of travel heading straight there. Of course this was a nerve-racking situation, but I eventually made it out there to be with my family.

As it turns out, the funeral arrangements were made for the following Wednesday, which happened to be the same day I was supposed to fly United Airlines to Tampa, FL for a summer 4th of July vacation. I immediately realized that I was not going to make this flight out of respect for my grandfather and our family so I called United Airlines to see if they could help me out. This is where things got really bad...

The United Airlines representative calculated the cost of transferring the ticket to fly out of Kennedy, LaGuardia or Newark airports. They informed me that this would cost anywhere from $460 - $700. Of course this was out of the question so I asked if I could give up my ticket from Chicago to Tampa, allowing them to keep the money I paid for it and resell it (major win for them). This way I would still take the return flight home with my significant other who was going to take her flight from Chicago to Tampa on the allotted day. They were quick to inform me that if I did not check into the Chicago flight, I would automatically lose the return trip. I felt like I had been kicked in the chest. I was already facing a tough situation, and all United Airlines could tell me was that if I could not make a flight out of Chicago on the very same day that we were to bury my grandfather in New York, I was out of luck.

This situation told me that United Airlines would rather have me take my business elsewhere than work with me to their benefit. In other words, they turned their back on a person in need and instead of helping, United Airlines, chose to lose me as a customer forever.

Thus, after 4 hours on the phone and every angle tested, I had no choice but to book additional tickets from New York to Tampa and then from Tampa to Chicago. I paid $380 for this trip (obviously not with United Airlines).

I have had a very pleasant stay in Tampa and as I sit in the airport now reflecting on this situation, my girlfriend sends me a text message stating that at least 1/3 of the seats on her flight were empty. She will arrive in Chicago at around 5PM, but instead of being with her, I will sit in this airport, then in Charlotte and arrive home around 11:15. United Airlines incompetence as it pertains to this situation has not only cost me almost $400 extra, but will force me to travel 9 hours (instead of 3) on the final day of my vacation.

At this moment, I advise family, friends and acquaintances against flying United Airlines for any reason. This situation was unpredictable. Things happen, but if my situation is any indication, United Airlines cannot and will not work with you.

As a business owner, I understand situations like these. I understand my responsibility to take care of my customers especially in situations like this. This was handled irresponsibly, but I do believe that businesses can right their wrongs and will be sure to update this post if any measures are taken, but in the mean time, please consider this situation when booking your next vacation.

It started with United canceling our 6:00am flight to Miami, during spring break week. They basically said "good luck", I was the first one in line so I was able to get them to put me on a Delta flight later in the day, we arrived into Miami late evening (loosing the first day)...but that is when the problems really started.

Below is the e-mail that I sent to United...they sent me an e-mail saying it wasn't their problem...

I made a reservation through United for a hotel in Fort Lauderdale, for the Avalon Waterfront Inns. We arrived late on 3/20 because our United flight that day was canceled...when we arrived at the hotel, it is absolutely filthy. It looks nothing like the photos on the internet. The person at the front desk was new (his first day), he walked us to a room, but couldn't open the door, we walked back to the front, he got the person at the hotel next door (tropic cay) to help and said they were upgrading us. We went to the room and it was terrible, very old couch with stains all over it, several blinds were missing, the room furniture with dirty and beat up.

We said the room was unacceptable and they agreed to give us a room at the Tropic Cay, so we went there and that room was as bad or worse...we flipped on the lights and cockroaches scattered, again room was beat up and dirty. We canceled he reservation and left. The guy at the front desk said that he didn't blame us and that he would not suggest anyone to stay there.

I cannot believe that you even have this hotel available to book rooms through United, if you saw this hotel...I am sure you would never put one of your customers there.

So, now it is well after midnight, when my wife, son and I have to find a hotel somwehere in Ft lauderdale during spring break. We drove aound looking for hotels, stopped at more a dozen and finally got into a Marriott courtyard at 3:30am...yes, AM and had to pay $170.00 for one night.

I tried to call your customer service number but it is closed late at night and on Sundays, so I am nowt in a La Quinta hotel and paying close to another $100.00 tonight.

I had 55, 000 points remaining so I booked the residence inn in Plantation florida.. I don't have enought points to book through the rest of my vacation until I work this out with United, plus I should not loose the points that I used to book the avalon...

I took a Continental flight from Ontario, CA to Houston, TX, my final destination being La Guardia, NY, with my wife, and a year old baby. When I arrived at La Guardia at noon, the baggage containing baby care items--almost all of what we brought on for our baby to survive winter, food, clothes, gifts and memorabilia-- was missing. We were callously told by Continental baggage staff to wait until arrival of the very final flight of the day from Houston at midnight. We waited for extra two hours for our luggage until the next flight came over from Houston. There came no luggage. It was February and the weather was windy and nippy cold. There was only one or two seating areas at the airport, near the building entrance, far from the baggage claim areas. Cold wind blew in when the building entrance door opened, while we were waiting. Our baby started to sneeze and blow his running nose. We felt totally uncared for and abandoned: "There are so many Continental flights from Houston. So what?" Continental staff also yelled out loud at my wife, "Why didn't you put his boots on the baby?"
We also noticed that there were left a quite number of luggages unclaimed for on in-coming Continental flights. There was also a few people lining up at Continental service window at La Guardia--small and stuffy--upset with whatever had happened to their luggages, including a pet owner who had to borrow a pair of scissors from a Jet Blue service window, Continental's neighbor, to cut a plastic belt to open her pet cage. We heard Continental service staff slight the pet owner, saying, "You can go get one from Jet Blue". The pet owner was crying when she was finally able to open the cage for her pet.
We checked into the hotel, at loss over what we had seen and heard. We called Continental's delayed luggage "resolution" center, as had been told to. A woman by the name of "Kathy" or "Cathy" came on the phone, saying, "You called us three minutes ago...It takes one hour and half to clear once the luggage arrives at the airport". "K(C)athy" also told us that Continental would also sue us. We were totally mistified and dumbfounded.
We decided to seek an opportunity to speak with a supervisor, if there was any. We were told that there was no supervisor. After making a few attempts, however, there finally came on the phone a female supervisor. We asked, "What if we already lost our luggage, instead of its being just 'delayed'?". The supervisor told us, "I don't care about 'what if's...Do as I tell you". She then slowly and sarcastically told us what phone number to call--[protected]--the same number we had been calling over and over. She snapped off our conversation, and hung up saying, "I really need to go. Good day". We felt insulted and infuriated.
We also heard a number of other angry verbal exchange in the background while on phone with the "resolution" center. The "resolution" center has an automated option to press for baggage missing over 25 days. 25 days! Continental still has no record of checking in our luggage at all, anywhere, anytime, up to this date. Continental initially told us that the baggage would be coming in on the next flight, and, if not, would be delivered to our hotel: "Don't worry. We deliver it to you. So don't call us". This never happened. We still have no news at all about our baggage after checking out of the hotel one week ago, where we stayed for one week. Everytime we call [protected], all that we ever hear is that there is no "update". No update is an update.
Continental also told us that they did not "guarantee" luggage delivery at the time the passenger disembarked their airplanes. We were also made to wait for one hour to speak with their busy "Customer Care", only to be rerouted to the same "resolution center". We were told, "You are in a wrong department". It is annoying to hear the "resolution" center ask, "What can I do for you today?" Do what? You lost our luggage! Get it back! It is also annoying to hear repeated use of "sir". You do not mean it!
We had to spend our own money to replace lost items. Cost of flight, of course, will not be reimbursed.
This was an inauspicious flight to begin with. The service counter agent at Ontario discourteously told us to remeasure our carry-on baggage, whining about waste of paper over some baggage labels that their own machine printed out. The carry-on was of legal size. The agent also tried to have us remove some contents into the baggage that has now become lost. Thank God we did not do so.

I was charged $175 for checking my surfboard (ca 7 feet in a padded travel bag) from Honolulu to San Francisco. To add injury to insult, my board was severely damaged en route--cracked ("flexed") across the deck of the board about 2/3 up from the tail, and the tail smashed as well. I used to grumble about the $50+ charged in years past, but $175 is excessive. Surfboards are indeed unwieldy, large and susceptible to damage, but they are also comparatively light and damage (particularly the kind of damage my board sustained) is easy to avoid. The UA representative at the baggage claim told me that I could not file a damage claim with him, stating that the only venue for this was online. He claimed that the damage was not UA's responsibility despite charging me $175 for this "service." And despite numerous phone calls to UA in the aftermath of this BS--each ending with a promise from the UA representative that someone from UA would be getting back to me to help me resolve this issue--no one has responded.

Mileage Plus customers are treated like second class citizens. I travel frequently for work, but my organization's policies do not allow me to accumulate miles. So most of my miles come from purchases. My complaint is about the few number of available awards seats, the number of miles needed and the customer service when booking and making changes to awards tickets. It's as though I am trying to get something for nothing when in fact Miles Plus is UNITED's program and not my personal work around to paying. Miles Plus customers are in fact United's best customers, simply by the nature of the program. Hey United, try thinking of us in that way.

I had a ticket for a flight out of Chicago (Ohare) to Los Angeles (LAX) on a Sunday night. I got to the airport to find out that the flight had been overbooked and I was placed on a "confirmed awaiting seating assigments" list. Unfortunatly not enough people missed the flight, or volunteered to give up there seats so I was bumped off the flight. In this process of waiting for my seat I was confronted with rude employees, who didn't care to explain the situation to me. I am only 19 years old and I have never had this occur, I was very confused, and no one cared to help me with my questions. I tried explaining that I had school the next day and medication I needed to take in my luggage, yet the staff waited to tell me that I didn't make it on to the flight after the plane had already taken off. They got me on a flight the next morning, then told me I could choose between $575 or a free round trip flight. The rep told me that taking the $575 would be smarter, so I did. He then said United would put me up in a hotel room and pay for transportation there. I live with my family and wanted to go home so I asked for transportation money instead. The representative calculated how much a cab fare would cost to my town, and came up with $25 each way. He then gave me two $25 vouchers, one for the way there, one for the way back to the airport. I have no idea how much cabs cost and believed what I was told, and accepted the vouchers. When I arrived home the cab fare was $80, I was beyond mad. I am a college student who is very low on money, I can not afford to pay for OTHER PEOPLES MISTAKES. I had to take a cab to the airport the next morning which cost about $80 again. I talked to several people at the airport and all they told me was basically that since I had accepted the vouchers that there was nothing they could do about it. They also told me that since the economy is so bad that they can only give out $25 vouchers, and that I could call customer service but they would just tell me the same thing. How on earth is a hotel room and transportation equal to two $25 vouchers? When I got to LAX I had to get another cab since the person who was going to pick me up the night before had to work now. All these cab rides costed me around $250, once again, I am a college student who has very little money. So basicaly United screwed me over, I was unable to fly out on Sunday night, I missed school on Monday, I could not take my medication and now have to see a doctor to try and somehow fix this, I had to pay $250 in extra cab fares, I didn't have my clothing, mediciation, and other things I needed that were in my luggage which was on the plane, I was faced with several rude employees and I wasted hours of my time waiting at the airport. I will never fly United again and hope those of you reading this will choose a different airline as well.

If I had received a little bit of compensation for my mutilated luggage that I got back from Continental Airlines I would have forgiven them for the cardboard sandwich with melted cheese that I got during my four-hour flight back from Houston.

I looked over at the packet of hot sauce that came with the meal. I remembered my brother telling me how he carried a bottle of hot sauce while in the military because anything with hot sauce is edible. To Grin and Bear It is how he often described his time in the Marines. If only I liked spicy I could grin and bear I ate my desert instead.

To grin and bear is apparently something that Continental Airlines promotes and expects from their customers.

Continentals even got this customer service phrase thats pretty catchy, There is nothing I can say that will make you happy.

After the continental rep (we will call him little man) said this regal phrase I wanted to respond with, there is nothing you can say that will keep me from taking the wheel that was ripped off of my luggage and smacking you with it.

But, I digress

So, isnt that a long way from the customer is always right? But, the pendulum swings back- all the way back.

We have been left at the end of the tarmac, paying for extra luggage, terrible food, horrible customer service, delayed or canceled flights and sometimes we have to sit next to people who have a little to much junk in the trunk.

This is what its come to. As we struggle in a hopeless economy, with cost of living cuts, where my management gives me a title instead of a merit raise- my yearly evaluation is coming up at work and I just got crowned Director of Marketing and Community Relations.

Can you smell what the rock is cookin? We have no choice but to grin and bear because we are just lucky to get a flight that gets somewhere on time without having anybody plant a bomb in their shoe, or open an emergency exit. And, arent we lucky just to have a job in this economy.

So, cant I come home from my Costa Rican trip Yes, I was in Costa Rica and stayed at the Four Seasons for a work conference that my boss paid for. But, dont judge- this is the reason I didnt get violent with little man.

I left the Continental Counter and my brother would be proud- as he would grin and bear too. But, is it weird that I imagined pouring hot sauce all over little mans Continental head?

*In Continentals defense, they did give me an actual explanation: Continental only compensates for luggage when they tear the actual suitcase- meaning my wheel was not part of the actual suitcase. Continental said the wheel was an addition to the suitcase. However, my wheel did not come separate from my suitcase. In fact I have never seen a suitcase without wheels?

Where do I start. I would have to start by saying the United Airlines will not work with anyone when it comes to being able to switch a name on a ticket when someone is unable to travel. I was no longer able to travel on a vacation that a friend won thru her place of employment. The vacation was booked in October and when the vacation got closer I was not able to go. She had a fiend that was able to go on the trip with her and so all we needed to do is change the name on the ticket so her friend could go. All they kept on saying is I can offer you a refund to use towards a different flight. As you might see here it was not my trip won and not a ticket for me to use if I was not able to go. They said they would give me a $150 voucher if I cancelled the ticket to use at another time but the ticket was for $500. Yeah big deal on that ticket. I just dont understand how a company this big wont work more with their clients. Lets see how many people can read this and decide for there next vacation to not use United. I think it is funny how something for $500 they will risk where they could lose more then that by people not using the airline.

I booked round trip flight (UA 0334) from Minneapolis, MN to Chicago, IL for my family. However, my wife decided to stay home with our 15-month baby instead of taking chances with airport delays due to expected snow storms in Midwest region. I called the Customer Service line and requested that the ticket of my wife be cancelled. I was told that if I cancell one both of the tickets would be cancelled. Then I told the persona that I do not want cancel my ticket but only that of my wife. He said he could cancel the tickets and then put me to a flight that was leaving one hour after my original flight. Moreover, I inquired about what would happen to my returned flight on Sunday. He assured me that since there were seats available in that flight; he would rebook me the same flight. I said OK. He asked me about my credit card information. As soon as I gave the credit card information, he hung up the phone. I received an email from United Airlines confirming the cancellation of the previous ticket (Confirmation no: S6MHW8). I waited the next email for my new reservation. It never came. I contacted the customer service center again. They told me: there was reservations for me and worse there were no seats available in other flights for the day. I asked them how they could cancel my ticket without securing me first for another reservation. They ridiculed me. Because of their accent, I asked them where they were located. They said in New Delhi, India! I requested to talk to a manager but they would not do. I was and still very frustrated with United Airlines. I had to cancel my hotel reservation with penalty because there were no other flights from any other Airline for such a short notice.

By outsourcing customer service to New Delhi, India, United Airlines may save some money but I assure you that the customer satisfaction is going to go downhill. Instead of hiring customer service professionals with traditional American courtesy, United Airlines decided to do on the cheap---outsourcing customer service to untrained, rude, less paid, Third World employees! Is this worth the price? I am a very, very unsatisfied customer. United Airlines ruined my holiday! Customers: stay away from United Airlines. I normally fly with Northwest/Delta but this time I made a huge mistake and I paid a very heavy price.

For 6 years I have avoided flying on United Airline s. In 2001 I was booked on a flight out of Denver to New Orleans. My 26 year old daughter lived in New Orleans and had suffered a brain anuerysm and was dying. I borded the plane with my son, hoping to get to New Orleans before she was gone. We got on the plane and the announcement came over the plane speeker that they could not take off because the plane was to heavy and there was a problem with the landing gear. I went to the front of the plane hysterical and begging them to put me on another fllight. The other passengers in the plane heard my conversation with the crew and many volunterred to get off the plane so we could take off. The plane finally took off a hour late. When I got to the hospital my daughter was declared brain dead and I had to give them permission to turn off the life support. After that trip I have never flown on UNITED AIRLINES again. Until Last Sunday September 23. My husband who is recovering from heart surgery and I flew UNITED to seattle to go on a Alaskan cruise. We flew out of Colorado Springs and connected in Denver. As usual the flight out of Denver was delayed for over an hour and over booked. We got to Seattle at 9:30pm instead of 8:15pm, but we were ok, we had given ourselves a extra day in Seattle just in case.

We went on our cruise and we were returning home on Sunday Sept 23. We had a 5:40am flight out of Seattle. When we arrived at the air port the UNITED counter line was packed. My husband and I proceeded through the line with our 3 bags. When we got near the front of the line a man was standing there near a scale and tellling people to weigh there bags. If the bag weighted over 50 pounds they were told to go to a area next to there counters, open there bag and redistribute the contents to get the over weight bag under 50 pounds. If they could not do that there was a $50 charge for over weight. These people were on the floor crawling around with ther e bags open in front of everyone in line. To me it was the most humiliating thing I have ever seen. Well my husband and I get to the scales and one bag weights 55pounds and the other weights 63 pounds and I had to lift them on to the scale. The man tells me to go to this area and open them and re distribute the weight into a third bag that was full of our purchase from our cruise. I asked to talk to a supervisior. After a few minutes she came with a attitude, I told her the bags had the same things in them as they did when we left Co. springs and that no one said anything in the springs. She said to me well they weren't doing there job, and its your choice you can redistribute the weight or pay the charge. I explained to her that there was no where to put the items that all the suitcases were full and that I would not be humiliated crawling on a airport floor to do that even if there was room. She said well that is your problem and walked away. My husband was so upset he said we will pay the hundred dollars, forget about it. I will NEVER fly UNITED airlines again. EVER.. They are the most un helpful un caring, crummy airline in the world and I will never buy a ticket and I will bad mouth them in every airport I enter.

United has the absolute worst reservation system. The phones are manned by rude, non-english speaking people. I have tried many times to deal with them, but not one ever seems to want to provide the customer service I expect. They do not 'go the extra mile' for the customer and refuse to bend on checking different dates/airports etc. Unfortunately it has come to the point that when I call, if I get a 'non-english speaking' person, I hang up and call back until I hit the jackpot! It is absolutely ridiculous that everything needs to be outsourced to India, because its 'cheaper'. Actually there should be a separate heading on the automated attendant that says 'to speak to an english speaking reservations agent, please push 5 (or whatever number)' I have often said that I am charged $15 to speak with a person, why don't you charge me $20 and give me someone who WANTS to work with me and WANTS to provide me some customer service.

I am a premier member, and I am treated like I am a low life, who doesn't deserve to speak with them! And please believe me, I have written many letters of recommendation to United when indeed I have gotten the customer service I expect.

A couple weeks ago, I had a flight booked and paid for on Continental from NY to Tel Aviv. I arrived at the airport and I was told that I did not have a seat on the plane and it was over sold. The ticket woman was actually very pleased to let me know there was a good chance that I miss my flight (and parents anniversary) that night, despite the fact that I paid $1, 300 for a reservation.

As a frequent flyer, I have seen many oversold flights but never have I seen someone forced off the plan who did not accept the airlines offer. Unfortunately, Continental did not feel it was their responsibility to up their offer ($700) until someone accepted. So, they made a conscience choice to maximize revenue (by overbooking) and expect consumers like myself to pay the price. Not sure how management signed off on this but it should be criminal.

After speaking to more disgruntled Continental Airlines employees, I discovered that this was common on the NY to Tel Aviv flight and the employees had actually informed corporate but no changes had been made despite many frustrated customers forced to go home rather than fly to Tel Aviv when scheduled.

I sent a similar letter to Continental Airlines a couple weeks ago but received no response. Plus, I just tried to use the $700 vouchure and was told that it must all be used at once (where all other airlines allow you to deduct the value of the flight booking from the vouchure). So, I now have to book an international flight (which I likely won't) to get the full value of the $700 which didn't nearly compensate my troubles to begin with.

Thanks Continental Airlines, your commercials could not be further off (keep your pillows and blankets and get me to where I pay for when I book it for).