This post starts out describing a bad customer service experience I had, then turns my whining into five things you should think about in your library.
First, for the story:
I spoke at New York Public Library a few weeks ago. After my presentation, I decided to show up early at the airport, so I could work on some writing projects (as in a book – stay tuned for more on that one).
At the United Airlines ticket counter, I went to the self-service EASY CHECK-IN counter. One would think that by advertising the counter as EASY CHECK-IN, that it would, in fact, be EASY CHECK-IN. That was not the case.
I received my plane tickets just fine – that part actually WAS easy. But I was there 4 1/2 hours early, and the EASY CHECK-IN machine apparently didn’t like that – it wasn’t set up to check bags that far ahead. Unfortunately for me, the person behind the counter wasn’t much better than the EASY CHECK-IN machine!
I explained my problem (I wanted to check my bags early). Pretty clear, right? Instead of addressing my problem, the Counter Guy simply pointed me to the REALLY LONG LINE for normal ticketing, and said “go stand in that line, and see if they can get you on an earlier flight.” WHAT??? That’s not what I needed! So I re-explained that I already HAD my tickets (I showed him) and said again “I just need to check in my bag… ” In a “most patient” tone (you know, that “you must really be a dumb customer but I’m still supposed to be nice to you so I’ll talk louder and slower” tone), the Counter Guy restated that I needed to get in the REALLY LONG LINE to see if they could put me on an earlier flight, and that was all he could do for me!
ok…
So I headed over to the REALLY LONG LINE. 45 minutes later, when I finally reached the Counter Lady at the end of the REALLY LONG LINE, I explained my problem again (I just want to check my bag). In a very helpful voice, the Counter Lady said “you know, you didn’t need to stand in this line for that.” (admittedly, I knew she’d say that, but by this time I realized I wanted to blog about the stupid process I had to go through, so I held out).
I told her that the Counter Guy at the EASY CHECK-IN counter said I had to stand in this line to get my bag checked in early. So what did the Counter Lady do? She simply rolled her eyes in the general direction of the Counter Guy, and then helped me with my real problem (someone finally took my bag – yay!).
And now for the library part. What’s the moral of this story? I have a couple:
1. Labels are useless if they don’t match functionality. In this case, the EASY CHECK-OUT line wasn’t easy. What are your labels? What do you call your library’s self-check-out machines? How about labels on your website – do they match functionality? Ex – Advanced Search… is it really more advanced, or does it just have more options? How about “Named Areas” of your library? Do you have a reading room, or “The Nathan B. Rezznick Room for Discovery?”
2. Train your employees (or, don’t be Counter Guy)! In United’s case, two employees standing within 15 feet of each other handled one pretty standard problem two different ways. Do your reference desk staff and your circulation staff do this? How about your IT staff vs public service staff? You should all be on the same page.
3. Do something about the problem. At United, when they realize there’s a problem, they roll their eyes at each other. Hopefully, later on someone chatted with the Counter Guy about customer service, procedures, etc. At your library, when a public computer doesn’t work right… do you roll your eyes at the PC Technician, or do you work with him/her to fix the problem?
4. Make sure staff and customers use the same thing. I’ll hazard a guess that the upper management at United have never actually had to stand in their own ticket line for 45 minutes (or even used the EASY CHECK-IN counter). When customers need a book, and ask your reference staff for help, do they use the the same front-end public catalog the customer uses, or do they use the staff, back-end version? Certainly the staff version provides more options and possibly more information. But how will staff really understand the customer search experience if they don’t use what the customer uses?
5. Be the best library in the world. Seriously. Make being the best library in the world your goal, and then figure out how you can achieve that goal within your time, budget, and community. With that mindset you can’t NOT improve something, and who knows? You just might achieve it!
unitedairlines
customer service
I feel your pain, David. What if someone wanted something from Counter Guy and didn’t have 45 minutes spare to stand in the wrong, long line?
In my library, we have “Counter Guy” IT staff located at a prominent desk. They are not employed by the library and don’t have the customer service training, culture and support to be like Counter Lady. I confess to eye-rolling in their direction – and doing what many other library staff do and trying to troubleshoot problems ourselves so that we don’t send them to the IT counter.
Students perceive the IT people as “the library”. I wonder whether Counter Guy worked for “Baggage Services” and Counter Lady worked for “Ticketing Services”. IMHO, the overall culture of the parent organisation (the university, the airline) needs to be so strong and customer focussed that pockets of the organisation can’t develop their customer service skills so disparately.
I feel your pain, David. What if someone wanted something from Counter Guy and didn’t have 45 minutes spare to stand in the wrong, long line?
In my library, we have “Counter Guy” IT staff located at a prominent desk. They are not employed by the library and don’t have the customer service training, culture and support to be like Counter Lady. I confess to eye-rolling in their direction – and doing what many other library staff do and trying to troubleshoot problems ourselves so that we don’t send them to the IT counter.
Students perceive the IT people as “the library”. I wonder whether Counter Guy worked for “Baggage Services” and Counter Lady worked for “Ticketing Services”. IMHO, the overall culture of the parent organisation (the university, the airline) needs to be so strong and customer focussed that pockets of the organisation can’t develop their customer service skills so disparately.
The FAA mandates that bags can not be accepted prior to 4 hours before scheduled flight.
Kim – thanks for pointing that out. Upon poking around some, here’s what I found. The FAA website doesn’t say anything about how early you can check in luggage (unless I missed it), but United’s website does – yup – four hours is the max.
My complaint is still valid. Why didn’t Counter Guy or Counter Lady simply tell me that? If Counter Guy had told me about the 4-hour thing, I would have hung around for about 15 minutes, then checked my bags again. Instead, he sent me to the wrong place and wasted my time.
Kim – thanks for pointing that out. Upon poking around some, here’s what I found. The FAA website doesn’t say anything about how early you can check in luggage (unless I missed it), but United’s website does – yup – four hours is the max.
My complaint is still valid. Why didn’t Counter Guy or Counter Lady simply tell me that? If Counter Guy had told me about the 4-hour thing, I would have hung around for about 15 minutes, then checked my bags again. Instead, he sent me to the wrong place and wasted my time.
David,
Thanks for showing me this post… I love how you took this bad experience and turned it into a learning experience.
I hope my readers do the same.
It’s sad, remember when flying used to be fun?
Stephanie Weaver
http://experienceology.blogspot.com/2007/05/letter-i-wish-i-could-send.html
David,
Thanks for showing me this post… I love how you took this bad experience and turned it into a learning experience.
I hope my readers do the same.
It’s sad, remember when flying used to be fun?
Stephanie Weaver
http://experienceology.blogspot.com/2007/05/letter-i-wish-i-could-send.html
David
Your experience is consistent with the overall lack of interest in and delivery of customer service in this country. In the airline industry, as passenger loads have increased significantly in the past year, service has gone down and airfares have gone up.
I had another “bad” reservations experience with United which I chronicled on my blog, The Brand Man Speaks, that you might enjoy reading. It was both “resolved” but “not resolved” as United offered a solution without addressing the real problem…somewhat like your experience.
Eli Portnoy
David
Your experience is consistent with the overall lack of interest in and delivery of customer service in this country. In the airline industry, as passenger loads have increased significantly in the past year, service has gone down and airfares have gone up.
I had another “bad” reservations experience with United which I chronicled on my blog, The Brand Man Speaks, that you might enjoy reading. It was both “resolved” but “not resolved” as United offered a solution without addressing the real problem…somewhat like your experience.
Eli Portnoy
I agree – that’s one interesting story, Eli – and a bad customer experience to boot. For my readers, his story is here – http://theportnoygroup.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/05/travel_alert_un.html
I agree – that’s one interesting story, Eli – and a bad customer experience to boot. For my readers, his story is here – http://theportnoygroup.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/05/travel_alert_un.html
hi david,
i read ur problem i have worked with ua res in india we are getting so many call sayin that ua service is not good the customer care agents are not at all helpfull its mistake to take with ua agent on phone. i just want to say problems do happen but its not good to blame the whole company and agents for this it was a bad day for u that u met up with wrong agent so does it happen on phone
hi david,
i read ur problem i have worked with ua res in india we are getting so many call sayin that ua service is not good the customer care agents are not at all helpfull its mistake to take with ua agent on phone. i just want to say problems do happen but its not good to blame the whole company and agents for this it was a bad day for u that u met up with wrong agent so does it happen on phone
I am an employer who was trying to get my employee back to work in LA. He couldn’t make the original return flight so I called United Airlines to change it. I should have checked with my employee beforehand on the particulars but thought I understood his timetable. I made a reservation for a 4pm return on the wrong day. I called the airlines back within 5 minutes and had to pay again. Let me backtrack. The original roundtrip ticket was around $180. To make the change it cost me $234. Five minutes later it cost me another $234 because of POLICY!!!!!! So, what originally was a $180 roundtrip ticket suddenly became a $648 ticket. I felt I had no other alternative because it was the SAME flight only on a different day. I was so frustrated and would like to have cancelled the whole thing but had already paid them $414 and needed to get my employee back to work. Hindsight is definately 20/20. I realize now I should never have agreed to pay the additional $100 just to talk to an agent regarding my flight change. My point in writing this is I have atleast 12 employees working in Los Angeles and all want to come home. They will be flying home but NEVER will they be flying home on UNITED AIRLINES. It’s funny how for example SOUTHWEST AIRLINES will change your flight changes at anytime and that is who I will(am) using from now on.
I am an employer who was trying to get my employee back to work in LA. He couldn’t make the original return flight so I called United Airlines to change it. I should have checked with my employee beforehand on the particulars but thought I understood his timetable. I made a reservation for a 4pm return on the wrong day. I called the airlines back within 5 minutes and had to pay again. Let me backtrack. The original roundtrip ticket was around $180. To make the change it cost me $234. Five minutes later it cost me another $234 because of POLICY!!!!!! So, what originally was a $180 roundtrip ticket suddenly became a $648 ticket. I felt I had no other alternative because it was the SAME flight only on a different day. I was so frustrated and would like to have cancelled the whole thing but had already paid them $414 and needed to get my employee back to work. Hindsight is definately 20/20. I realize now I should never have agreed to pay the additional $100 just to talk to an agent regarding my flight change. My point in writing this is I have atleast 12 employees working in Los Angeles and all want to come home. They will be flying home but NEVER will they be flying home on UNITED AIRLINES. It’s funny how for example SOUTHWEST AIRLINES will change your flight changes at anytime and that is who I will(am) using from now on.
AS TRAVEL AGENT I BOOKED TWO FLIGHTS FOR CLIENTS FOR WHICH I NEVER RECEIVED CONFIRMATIONS AND RECEIPTS. I CALLED 5 TIMES TO HAVE UNITED SEND THEM TO ME AND AFTER SPENDING 20 MINUTES EACH TIME TO GET THRU THE PRELIMINARY QUESTION NONSENSE, IT STILL WAS TO NO AVAIL – NO CONFIRMATIONS.
(dlk: edited out what looks like personal info…)
AS TRAVEL AGENT I BOOKED TWO FLIGHTS FOR CLIENTS FOR WHICH I NEVER RECEIVED CONFIRMATIONS AND RECEIPTS. I CALLED 5 TIMES TO HAVE UNITED SEND THEM TO ME AND AFTER SPENDING 20 MINUTES EACH TIME TO GET THRU THE PRELIMINARY QUESTION NONSENSE, IT STILL WAS TO NO AVAIL – NO CONFIRMATIONS.
(dlk: edited out what looks like personal info…)
Having read the bad comments about United Airlines on this web site, I was not very optimistic when I recently wrote them to explain the problems I had encountered when I was booked on one of their flights from Boston to Rapid City via Chicago last month. I thoght you should know that their Customer Relations Dept. not only apologized to me for what occurred that day but also sent me a $150.00 Discount Travel Certificate towards a future United Airlines flight. This Certificate is valid through October 8 2008.
I thought you should be informed of the excellent outcome of my complaint to United Airlines.
Having read the bad comments about United Airlines on this web site, I was not very optimistic when I recently wrote them to explain the problems I had encountered when I was booked on one of their flights from Boston to Rapid City via Chicago last month. I thoght you should know that their Customer Relations Dept. not only apologized to me for what occurred that day but also sent me a $150.00 Discount Travel Certificate towards a future United Airlines flight. This Certificate is valid through October 8 2008.
I thought you should be informed of the excellent outcome of my complaint to United Airlines.
My grandson, a Marine home from basic training, and I were at Detroit Metro as he was returning to San Diego. The attendant at the curb told us the airline charged $4.00 to check in the baggage, and we should also leave a tip for him. I paid a total of $5.00, but was not comfortable with the situation. I called United and found out he is a scam artist. So, travelers, beware!! He was at a desk in front of the doors that allowed you to enter the building. 1-15-08
My grandson, a Marine home from basic training, and I were at Detroit Metro as he was returning to San Diego. The attendant at the curb told us the airline charged $4.00 to check in the baggage, and we should also leave a tip for him. I paid a total of $5.00, but was not comfortable with the situation. I called United and found out he is a scam artist. So, travelers, beware!! He was at a desk in front of the doors that allowed you to enter the building. 1-15-08
when you try to talk to a manager in reservations about United airline tickets, you are speaking to someone in India who has a horrible command of the English language. I was in the middle of booking a ticket on line. When I went to pick my seat for the return flight at a price of $320 round trip, it kicked me out of the United web site. I logged back in with my FF number only to find that same flight had now been boosted $200 dollars more. I tried to call the 800 nmuber and the only repsonse was, I am sorry but there is nothing we can do about it. That is the price. I ried to call them 3 times and discuss the problem. United has lost me as a loyal customer. I was a Premier Gold flyer up until last year when they screwed me over then. I thought I would try them one more time. Now I use SWA for less money and no ticket hassel issues. United does not care about their customers. I was a Premier Gold flyer for several years. I will not fly them if I dont have to. That includes my overseas travel.
when you try to talk to a manager in reservations about United airline tickets, you are speaking to someone in India who has a horrible command of the English language. I was in the middle of booking a ticket on line. When I went to pick my seat for the return flight at a price of $320 round trip, it kicked me out of the United web site. I logged back in with my FF number only to find that same flight had now been boosted $200 dollars more. I tried to call the 800 nmuber and the only repsonse was, I am sorry but there is nothing we can do about it. That is the price. I ried to call them 3 times and discuss the problem. United has lost me as a loyal customer. I was a Premier Gold flyer up until last year when they screwed me over then. I thought I would try them one more time. Now I use SWA for less money and no ticket hassel issues. United does not care about their customers. I was a Premier Gold flyer for several years. I will not fly them if I dont have to. That includes my overseas travel.
Hi
The above comments confirm my experience of United. I have been 1k for 7 years (but don’t cry for me) and have found them to be completely bi-polar. That is, I have had the very best custoner service, and the very worst. For the most part the bad experienes have been at their hubs : ORD, IAD, LAX & DEN where complancy is probably part of the equation. (However today at LAS overtook them all where I had what has become known in the business travelling fraternity as a “United Day” – I could have driven home faster and cheaper !)
My recommendation is do not fly UAL from or to one of their hubs, the competing airlines have a bit more skin in the game, such as Frontier from/to DEN.
Ultimately though is does depend on the counter guy / gal you have the fortune or misfortune to meet on the day… My 10 cents worth
Hi
The above comments confirm my experience of United. I have been 1k for 7 years (but don’t cry for me) and have found them to be completely bi-polar. That is, I have had the very best custoner service, and the very worst. For the most part the bad experienes have been at their hubs : ORD, IAD, LAX & DEN where complancy is probably part of the equation. (However today at LAS overtook them all where I had what has become known in the business travelling fraternity as a “United Day” – I could have driven home faster and cheaper !)
My recommendation is do not fly UAL from or to one of their hubs, the competing airlines have a bit more skin in the game, such as Frontier from/to DEN.
Ultimately though is does depend on the counter guy / gal you have the fortune or misfortune to meet on the day… My 10 cents worth
I’ll have to agree with the bad service from UA. My dad just got back from Korea and his flight was delayed an hour but for some reason his luggage was shipped on time. He arrived at LAX at about 12:15pm only to find that his luggage was not there. He filed a claim report and the so called “customer service” representative told him that his luggage would be delivered to a given address by 7pm but it never arrived. He then called customer service again and they told him that the baggage would be delivered by 9pm,he waited till 9:30pm and his baggage still did not arrive. Being tired of waiting for his baggage at a location in Los Angeles, called customer service again and told them our house address so that his baggage could be delivered there. The customer service representative once again told him to wait a few hours. 11:20pm and still no baggage! My dad then had me call customer service AGAIN and they told me that there was an urgent delivery to San Diego and the delivery guy just left San Diego and would deliver the baggage to our house around 2-5am! what can we do? we have to get the baggage so we have no choice but to wait, but man i never thought that the service could be so bad. how does something that was supposed to be delivered at 7pm be pushed all the way back to 2-5am? why is the delivery guy in San Diego at 11:20pm at night when our luggage was suppossed to be delivered by 7pm in a location in Los Angeles? i know there’s nothing that i can do about it as long as we get the luggage, but i just felt like i needed to let the public know about the bad service at United Airlines. I write this not in slander of United Airlines, but in hopes of somebody reading this story that can do something about the service. Thanks for letting me write on your page.
I’ll have to agree with the bad service from UA. My dad just got back from Korea and his flight was delayed an hour but for some reason his luggage was shipped on time. He arrived at LAX at about 12:15pm only to find that his luggage was not there. He filed a claim report and the so called “customer service” representative told him that his luggage would be delivered to a given address by 7pm but it never arrived. He then called customer service again and they told him that the baggage would be delivered by 9pm,he waited till 9:30pm and his baggage still did not arrive. Being tired of waiting for his baggage at a location in Los Angeles, called customer service again and told them our house address so that his baggage could be delivered there. The customer service representative once again told him to wait a few hours. 11:20pm and still no baggage! My dad then had me call customer service AGAIN and they told me that there was an urgent delivery to San Diego and the delivery guy just left San Diego and would deliver the baggage to our house around 2-5am! what can we do? we have to get the baggage so we have no choice but to wait, but man i never thought that the service could be so bad. how does something that was supposed to be delivered at 7pm be pushed all the way back to 2-5am? why is the delivery guy in San Diego at 11:20pm at night when our luggage was suppossed to be delivered by 7pm in a location in Los Angeles? i know there’s nothing that i can do about it as long as we get the luggage, but i just felt like i needed to let the public know about the bad service at United Airlines. I write this not in slander of United Airlines, but in hopes of somebody reading this story that can do something about the service. Thanks for letting me write on your page.
The days of enjoying traveling are for sure GONE. On Flight 59 United on Thursday May 29, 2008 leaving Kona, Hawaii 10:10 AM for a 5:44 flight we sat with the seats in front of us leaned back on top of us we could not get in or out of the seat to go to the restroom – the reason for this position was the seats were so close together we could not put our knees straight out in front.It has been five days since this flight from hell and am still having problems with my right hip due to the position I had to sit for so long, the Airlines can count them selves lucky people are not getting blood clots having to sit in this position for the length of the flight, I want to talk to someone from United regarding this flightl
The days of enjoying traveling are for sure GONE. On Flight 59 United on Thursday May 29, 2008 leaving Kona, Hawaii 10:10 AM for a 5:44 flight we sat with the seats in front of us leaned back on top of us we could not get in or out of the seat to go to the restroom – the reason for this position was the seats were so close together we could not put our knees straight out in front.It has been five days since this flight from hell and am still having problems with my right hip due to the position I had to sit for so long, the Airlines can count them selves lucky people are not getting blood clots having to sit in this position for the length of the flight, I want to talk to someone from United regarding this flightl
It must be great to complain about the airlines because they can be easy targets. I have had terrible experiences at hotels, hospitals rental car counters, computer customer service etc… the list goes on and on. The fact is that the airlines as in many other industries, customer service can be improved, but flying is still a difficult, & highly regulated industry. Weather, traffic, airport capablity and other variables can quickly cause many problems most travrllers may not even consider.
It must be great to complain about the airlines because they can be easy targets. I have had terrible experiences at hotels, hospitals rental car counters, computer customer service etc… the list goes on and on. The fact is that the airlines as in many other industries, customer service can be improved, but flying is still a difficult, & highly regulated industry. Weather, traffic, airport capablity and other variables can quickly cause many problems most travrllers may not even consider.
In this day and age of airline problems… customer service should be KING… when it isn’t it sure makes me think about EVER traveling with that airline again. I had a nightmare experience with WestJet in Canada… they didn’t care…details on my blog.
In this day and age of airline problems… customer service should be KING… when it isn’t it sure makes me think about EVER traveling with that airline again. I had a nightmare experience with WestJet in Canada… they didn’t care…details on my blog.
Yep! I agree ! UA Service is bad. Recently I have travelled from Sydney to LA and the flight delayed for 4 hrs in Sydney due to some tech issues. I always allow for people to have bad odd days but the crew didn;t even serve water to the passengers. I having a nap whilst dinner was being served and when i woke up they didn’t care ask me if i need something to eat ( I woke up when they are rolling the trolley trying to pick up the litter from prviously served dinner); Of course I missed my flight in LAX.
Yep! I agree ! UA Service is bad. Recently I have travelled from Sydney to LA and the flight delayed for 4 hrs in Sydney due to some tech issues. I always allow for people to have bad odd days but the crew didn;t even serve water to the passengers. I having a nap whilst dinner was being served and when i woke up they didn’t care ask me if i need something to eat ( I woke up when they are rolling the trolley trying to pick up the litter from prviously served dinner); Of course I missed my flight in LAX.
Yes UA sucks. I have been a loyal flyer for years and the last trip was a nightmare. My luggage was already at my home airport when I was told my flight was cancelled. How did that happen? UA has resorted to lying to its customers. I am a business traveler and they won’t have me for a customer any longer.
Yes UA sucks. I have been a loyal flyer for years and the last trip was a nightmare. My luggage was already at my home airport when I was told my flight was cancelled. How did that happen? UA has resorted to lying to its customers. I am a business traveler and they won’t have me for a customer any longer.
The inference from your experience is really nice – Good thought!
I love this point “Labels are useless if they don’t match functionality”. Many times I wonder whether my application really does an “advance search!!”
The inference from your experience is really nice – Good thought!
I love this point “Labels are useless if they don’t match functionality”. Many times I wonder whether my application really does an “advance search!!”
I had a disgusting and horrifying flight from Sydney to San Francisco few days ago. I believe was served a Gnocchi which was not only bad in taste, but RAW. It was heated fairly warm in the microwave that the Gnocchi got stuck to the plastic. It was also sticking in my mouth. I decided not to finish my meal as it would make me ill. I must say, I enjoyed eating salad, which I wished I had more of as I was starving several hours later. I had got served half a cup a water and when I asked for more, I didn’t get served for 45 MINUTES.
I was on the last seat, so I could hear and see everything around me. I was sitting on the last row of the aircraft. Later on during the flight, the air attendant had come around to offer water, which was nice?! I had some water as he walked passed my seat and off he went to the other side to offer water to the other passengers sitting on different aisle. As he came back towards my side, one of the passengers who was sitting few rows ahead of me was sleeping had woken up and asked for water.
The air attendant walked passed my seat and started mumbling and showed his anger towards the passenger. I was VERY surprised by this as their job is to assist us and make our journey at ease.
I ONLY had tomato and spinach as the scramble smelled and also got stuck to the plastic as it was WARM too much in the microwave. Again, had to wait for water for a while and later they told us there is NO DRINKING WATER ON THE PLANE. My fellow seat passanger asked for orange juice, they gave him sip worth of orange juice and said, “THIS IS ALL THEY HAVE LEFT.†They also ran out of ICE!
To top all this up, passenger sitting next to me received scramble eggs, which were GREEN IN COLOR. Now that is what I call a disgusting and terrifying flight.
I been having nightmares….i dont want to fly back to OZ with them. anyone suggests anything as my rights as a passenger?
Thanks guys…And please remember NOT to FLY UNITED AIRLINES!
I had a disgusting and horrifying flight from Sydney to San Francisco few days ago. I believe was served a Gnocchi which was not only bad in taste, but RAW. It was heated fairly warm in the microwave that the Gnocchi got stuck to the plastic. It was also sticking in my mouth. I decided not to finish my meal as it would make me ill. I must say, I enjoyed eating salad, which I wished I had more of as I was starving several hours later. I had got served half a cup a water and when I asked for more, I didn’t get served for 45 MINUTES.
I was on the last seat, so I could hear and see everything around me. I was sitting on the last row of the aircraft. Later on during the flight, the air attendant had come around to offer water, which was nice?! I had some water as he walked passed my seat and off he went to the other side to offer water to the other passengers sitting on different aisle. As he came back towards my side, one of the passengers who was sitting few rows ahead of me was sleeping had woken up and asked for water.
The air attendant walked passed my seat and started mumbling and showed his anger towards the passenger. I was VERY surprised by this as their job is to assist us and make our journey at ease.
I ONLY had tomato and spinach as the scramble smelled and also got stuck to the plastic as it was WARM too much in the microwave. Again, had to wait for water for a while and later they told us there is NO DRINKING WATER ON THE PLANE. My fellow seat passanger asked for orange juice, they gave him sip worth of orange juice and said, “THIS IS ALL THEY HAVE LEFT.†They also ran out of ICE!
To top all this up, passenger sitting next to me received scramble eggs, which were GREEN IN COLOR. Now that is what I call a disgusting and terrifying flight.
I been having nightmares….i dont want to fly back to OZ with them. anyone suggests anything as my rights as a passenger?
Thanks guys…And please remember NOT to FLY UNITED AIRLINES!
Valid compalint, but please don’t be an naive. Every airline, auto rental company, hospital, resturant, retail store, supermarket, school, government agency etc… have idiots in their customer service department. If you disagree, I feel sorry for you.
Valid compalint, but please don’t be an naive. Every airline, auto rental company, hospital, resturant, retail store, supermarket, school, government agency etc… have idiots in their customer service department. If you disagree, I feel sorry for you.
The FAA mandates that bags can not be accepted prior to 4 hours before scheduled flight.
try waiting in line for 5 hrs just to get a hotel voucher after united cancels your flight… for the second time in a week.
This was the worst customer service + flight experience that I have ever had. I had a UA 6334 flight to Philadelphia through Chicago. Since the flight was delayed, my first flight from Des Moines to Chicago was changed to “AMERICAN AIRLINES” that arrived @ Chicago, a few minutes earlier than the initial flight to give me a better chance of not missing my connecting flight to Philadelphia. But the American Airlines was canceled and the rude person at the gate desk there didn't even bother to attend to concern of being rescheduling through the initial flight that was delayed (ie UA 6334) as I knew for sure that flight was available within a few minutes. When she finally took her own time to attend to me, she simply said that she cant do anything as UA was my primary carrier and I had to go to them. She wouldn't even guide me with the gate or where i had to go!
Finally on reaching the UA gate, I met the meanest lady ever who wouldn't even listen to me and kept me waiting in the line until the long queue of another flight was over and my Flight took off without me! She was irresponsible, rude and least bothered about helping me out and was like “the only thing I can do for you is reschedule you to a flight next day”. She spoke as if she was doing me a favor by even doing that and said that “i was American Airline's responsibility! While the other mean lady at American lady told that “you are United Airlines' responsibility”. So finally my trip was delayed by a day. I was left stranded at the airport that night! She didn't even help me with my compensation/stay for that night. I ended up paying double for that trip by paying for my overnight stay+cab to and fro to airport twice and facing mean, lazy irresponsible customer service agents tossing off their responsibilities and losing a day off my vacation! And when I asked her if I could speak to someone, she was like if you have a problem, go online and say what you want! How mean!
At the end of the day ,
I lost money in hundreds!
I lost a whole day off my 3 day long weekend trip!
Was left stranded and frustrated alone in the airport!
PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM “UNITED AIRLINES' as well as “AMERICAN AIRLINES” if you want to have a peaceful, safe trip with responsible, profession customer service!
On a good note, on my way back I traveled by Delta Airlines flight which also got delayed/canceled due to mechanical problem) But the professional and responsible people at the Philadelphia Delta gates booked me on to 3 different flight with the option of getting me out there at the earliest possible and also gave me a $100 voucher for the inconvenience caused!
Now that's the difference between responsible & reckless!
This was the worst customer service + flight experience that I have ever had. I had a UA 6334 flight to Philadelphia through Chicago. Since the flight was delayed, my first flight from Des Moines to Chicago was changed to “AMERICAN AIRLINES” that arrived @ Chicago, a few minutes earlier than the initial flight to give me a better chance of not missing my connecting flight to Philadelphia. But the American Airlines was canceled and the rude person at the gate desk there didn't even bother to attend to concern of being rescheduling through the initial flight that was delayed (ie UA 6334) as I knew for sure that flight was available within a few minutes. When she finally took her own time to attend to me, she simply said that she cant do anything as UA was my primary carrier and I had to go to them. She wouldn't even guide me with the gate or where i had to go!
Finally on reaching the UA gate, I met the meanest lady ever who wouldn't even listen to me and kept me waiting in the line until the long queue of another flight was over and my Flight took off without me! She was irresponsible, rude and least bothered about helping me out and was like “the only thing I can do for you is reschedule you to a flight next day”. She spoke as if she was doing me a favor by even doing that and said that “i was American Airline's responsibility! While the other mean lady at American lady told that “you are United Airlines' responsibility”. So finally my trip was delayed by a day. I was left stranded at the airport that night! She didn't even help me with my compensation/stay for that night. I ended up paying double for that trip by paying for my overnight stay+cab to and fro to airport twice and facing mean, lazy irresponsible customer service agents tossing off their responsibilities and losing a day off my vacation! And when I asked her if I could speak to someone, she was like if you have a problem, go online and say what you want! How mean!
At the end of the day ,
I lost money in hundreds!
I lost a whole day off my 3 day long weekend trip!
Was left stranded and frustrated alone in the airport!
PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM “UNITED AIRLINES' as well as “AMERICAN AIRLINES” if you want to have a peaceful, safe trip with responsible, profession customer service!
On a good note, on my way back I traveled by Delta Airlines flight which also got delayed/canceled due to mechanical problem) But the professional and responsible people at the Philadelphia Delta gates booked me on to 3 different flight with the option of getting me out there at the earliest possible and also gave me a $100 voucher for the inconvenience caused!
Now that's the difference between responsible & reckless!