Please see letter below to united airlines. All the information of my complaint is in this letter. Horrible experience.
Dear Oscar Munoz (CEO of united airlines),
I want to start by saying I am very angry and disgusted for the distress and anxiety that I have experienced with your company. I plan to go to any media outlets I can with my story, and have my lawyer subpoena every call that I placed to United mileage plus in the last 6 months. FYI: our trip was from Chicago, Il to Athens, greece, with a stop in Zurich, Switzerland and return was the same, Athens, greece to Zurich, Switzerland and Zurich to Chicago, IL. (Flight lx7 and lx1830) and (flight 1843 and lx 6-correct booked flight and issue being between lx 6 and lx8). Please note: at the airport I had all my emails and correspondence for my travel but that was not good enough for united or your so called Swiss alliance that are just as disputable then united. I am taking action against Swiss as well for there customer help desk attitude and comments and harsh attitude towards me, after I was already having a panic attack along with trying to keep my 2 crying, screaming scared kids calm for what United did to me yet another time. This experience was very physiologically damaging for my family. If you have children, then you should understand that they know and sense everything. Nothing should have been surprising to me at that point in the airport due to having 6 months of on ongoing issues with my tickets due to your A+ systems, but again I was going to be stuck in a foreign county (Zurich) for hours with 2 children and 2 strollers, and on a flight for 10 hours by myself with no help. Really??? This is what you do to people. I'm very sick over this.
I will start from the beginning to give you the history of how this horrific encounter with you guys began. Note: The icing on the cake was not until I (- woman) was suppose to be stuck with no
Options in a foreign country with my 2 young children (4 and 2 years old) and 2 strollers, as my husband and moth n law were booked on a flight with a different connection then me and my children, which I was deleted from within the the 15 hours it took me from pre check in and to get to the airport (note I confirmed all of us on correct flights after my husbands ordeal) Note: my husband was deleted off the connection flight as I checked in the day before, and after hours of fighting, he was rebooked, and as I got to the airport, me and my children were then deleted.
Great customer service...
Anyway, it started within 6 months ago when my husband and I decided to take our children to greece. We had almost 4 free tickets thru mileage because of my husband trusting your miles card for over 15 years. (Great way to treat ur loyal customers). As we booked we were short of the return flight for one of us. We decided to book my husbands return flight under my fath n law's miles. We confirmed the flights looked good, and the seating was available for all us. The lady on the phone said let me book you and the children, and right away we'll book your husband. I told her we better be on the same flight, she says it should be fine. We'll we booked, and then the flight was gone for my husband. I was furious. I called and called till I reached someone in the United States (a supervisor) they tried to fix the ticket for our return, and was unable too. She assured me that it should reappear because there is seat availability, and to try again in a few days, it will be free of charge to change it. I then told her to note that In the system so I wouldn't have issues. Those few days were then hell as well as I had to think about this (again my time, heartache, and money). I finally saw the flight reappear, so I called right away, they went to rebook and tried to charge me. I explained it was suppose to be waived, and they wouldn't hear it. So I called over and over again till I found a supervisor in the United States that fixed the ticket free of charge (again my time, heart ache and money for fixing your system errors).
We'll, hurray for us we're all on the same flight as a family, confirmations on emails printed and ready to go. We'll this didn't last long did it??? Confirmations I guess mean nothing to u or your star alliance Swiss???
For a month straight, I called every week to confirm everything was perfect on my flights before departure. I was told yes, everything looks confirmed... NOT... instead u waited till I got in a foreign country to play with a families life including a big part of there health, and most of all jeopardized my children's health because of everything we encountered at the airport scrambling to fix your mistake yet again...
After a month long stay out of the country, I went to check in for our return flight about 17 hours before. Mind you I had plans to visit last minute family I had not seen. My plans failed which is not fair, due to your airlines yet again (my heartache, time, and money). I used my phone bill to call Swiss and then united because I was unable to check my husband in. We were on separate confirmations goin back. He was deleted it said from the system. I started by calling Swiss and they told me to call united where the ticket originated because he is not on the flight back with his FAMILY. Two and a half hour after dealing with these tickets for the thousandth time, they recooked my husband on the flight back with us.
I then confirmed all of our flight information, including my moth n law's, everything was suppose to be perfect. Far from it.
My family and I arrived at Athens international airport 3 hours before check in. Once we got up to the line, I was told me and my 2 kids were deleted from the flight, and need to leave our connecting flight 3.5 hours later then my husband and moth n law (lx8 instead on lx6 which I was always confirmed on from the start). My seats were there, why couldn't Swiss (your star alliance) put me back on the flight? I'm dealing with them as well, don't worry. Your star alliance must not mean anything because the lady at customer service wanted no part of talking to u guys, she also told me to call united, it's not her problem. Really??? What does star alliance mean? U obviously don't work together, instead you leave families in foreign country's to fend for themselves, treating them like a piece of trash. Great customer service. What to do next, with 2 screaming scared children because they were told that they will not be traveling with there father or grandma, just with there mother, which last time I checked only has to hands, but was expected to push 2 strollers with backpacks and carry ons through an international airport, then sit in another international airport for 3 hours to wait for a flight they were never even on, and in the end fly 10 hours on top of that without help. R u guys for REAL? And you think I'm ignorant and not going to tell my story? You put me and my family thru the ringer. By this time it was about 30 min before boarding. Thank goodness I had a phone card on me (again my time heartache and money) to call united mileage. I begged the man at united to connect me straight thru to mileage, and what he due, connected me to wait 30 min instead on the phone. I had 39 min on my card. What does that mean I had 9 min to get my situation resolved by myself. I begged the agent to do his job, he asked to talk to Swiss, that was a bust. He was confused, therefore he got a supervisor. They had to change something in there systems again. Swiss showed me that we were deleted from the flight. It was taking to long, my card ran out. At this point the plane was boarding, and closing check in. We gave up. As I stood there shacking, red a as a tomatoe, having an anxiety attack, (on the verge of a nervous breakdown) and trying to calm my frantic kids, God answered our prayers, and we got news that they were able to check us in with the rest of our family. Wow... how can you put people through this? We ran to thru security, through the airport, and were last to get on, but we made it.
In conclusion, this was one of the most horrific experiences of my families life. As for my children, this is nothing that they ever deserved for as young as they are. United and Swiss put our family in jeopardy. This is uncalled for. My anxiety level is sky rocket just writing about this days later. I immediately wrote your complaint department as soon as I got to the United States. It has effected me with my sleep and health at this point. I have not heard anything back as of yet. I am writing to you to make you aware of what your company is doing to people over and over again. You would think after being in the media so often, you would have fixed your glitches, obviously not. At this point your airline owes me a lot. We did not ask for this. I will wait to hear back from you to tell my story yet again.
Thank u,
Maria Christofilakos
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Sent from my iPhone
