Complain about a product or service

United Airlines

United Airlines • Itinerary changes • Lost luggage • Group sales • Unaccompanied minors • Ineffective bumbling --- News • United Scraps Hike in Second Bag Fee • United Pilot Arrested for Alleged Drunkeness • United Doubles Second Bag Fee To $50 • United Pilots Want CEO Fired • United To Reduce its Fleet By 4 Percent • United Charges for Second Bag • United Pilots Contradict Carrier on Cancellations • Computer Glitch Hits United Airlines • Winter Weather Wreaks Havoc with United Flights • United Gets New Daily U.S.-China Flight • Airline Pensions Under Government Review • United Cleared to Taxi Out of Bankruptcy • United Poised To Emerge From Bankruptcy • United Prepares for Life After Independence • United Wins New Labor Pact • United Plans To End Employee Pensions • United Reaches Agreement With Flight Attendents • United's Union Deals Unraveling

United is in the same boat as American, US Airways and Delta and it is a boat that is not very seaworthy. Though United has a strong route structure it does not exactly have a workforce that knocks itself out everyday to keep customers coming back for more, as the complaints in this section show. When you get right down to it, that's the problem. It's hard to see a solution.

Denise of Elma, NY March 10, 2009

Denise of Elma NY (03/10/09)
United Airlines website states that passengers should arrive 90 minutes prior to departure for domestic flights. My husband, myself, and our seven year old son arrived at the United baggage counter at 4:30 am for a 6:18 flight. The line at this counter wrapped through all the ropes and extended through the lobby all the way to the airport entrance. This was the only airline that had a line. There were only two United employees working at the counter. We stood in that line for one hour and then stood in the security line for 30 minutes. We ran through the airport and arrived at the gate at approximately 6:01. The attendant told us to have a seat.

We thought the plane hadn't even started to board and were flabbergasted when she finally told us and the five people that arrived after us that the flight had already boarded and that they gave our seats away! No one paged us even though we had checked in 50 minutes prior to the flight departure (Uniteds website states you must check in at least 30 minutes prior to departure). She told us that it is against their policy to page people, yet as we sat there they paged people for all of their other departing flights! To make matters worse, the gate attendant told us that we should have arrived to the airport four hours before the flight because the middle of February is the busiest travel time of the year!!!! We were all told that stand-by was our only option.

After trying stand-by unsuccessfully for six hours, we found out that all United flights for that day and the following day were overbooked! David S, Uniteds supervisor, was rude and uncooperative. Andrea, who worked at the gate, was hostile and unprofessional. We ended up cancelling the entire trip, which we had been planning since September. My seven year old son witnessed this entire scene and cried when I told him that we were going to miss his Uncle Chris's wedding.

United did us a favor by refunding our money, but cancelling this trip caused my family to miss my brother's wedding.

Tom of Dulles, VA February 24, 2009

Tom of Dulles VA (02/24/09)
I recently was required to pay 100 usd to make a change on a ticket that was booked under the H class (unrestricted fare) and I believe that I should be reimbursed. You can see from the copy of all my boarding passes, they all show the y class, even though we reserved the tickets using the H class. We paid for H class, but are not getting unrestricted tickets. Thank you Tom Aman US Embassy Harare

100 usd and this may be an indication of a much larger criminal case, in which the us gov is paying more for a certain class of ticket, but they are not getting that class.

Robert of Frederick, MD February 22, 2009

Robert of Frederick MD (02/22/09)
Our complaint is also against United Airlines USA, they kept referring us to the Hong Kong office: Flight from Manila, Philippines to Baltimore Washington International (BWI) airport; was charged 44.00 checked excessive baggage fee in Manila, Philippines by Philippines Airlines, to BWI and was charged again, an additional 131.00 checked excessive baggage fee in Hong Kong United Airlines for same baggage, for a total of 175.00. In this case honesty doesnt pay; while transferring/checking-in between flights in Hong Kong, mind you we not ever went to baggage claim; United Airlines was acknowledging our checked baggage at four (4) and we acknowledged the same and that we checked an additional baggage for a total of five (5) and showed the added baggage payment receipt paid in Manila, Philippines.

The United Airlines representative charged us an additional fee for excessive baggage without even seeing the baggage, and threatens us by saying, if we didnt pay it the baggage will be removed from the aircraft. We were being honest, had we said nothing it wouldn't be an issue, but to blantly charge us 131.00 for a bags whose contents were valued at less than 50.00 is outrageous. It was our understanding paying the excessive baggage fee initially in Manila, Philippines was for the entire flight, however, the United Airlines representative said only from Manila to Hong Kong, but the baggage tag/receipt from Manila listed our complete itinerary (i.e. MNL HKG PR 0300, HKG ORD UA 0896 & ORD BWI UA 1236).

The irony of the hold matter is the United Representative in Hong Kong not ever saw the baggage and access us the outrageous fee with an I dont care personality. Pay it or leave it attitude. We believe and feel we were unjustly taken advantage of by United Airlines and this particular representative. Weve contacted the re-imbursement department? and were recently notified we would not receive a refund via, phone, have not received an official letter from United Airlines acknowledging this matter.

Samantha of Temple City, CA February 19, 2009

Samantha of Temple City CA (02/19/09)
I had a company event in Orlando, Florida and was booked initially on a US Airways flight home to Ontario, CA. I checked in at the kiosk at US Airways and it directed me to United Airlines, since it is the same owner/operator. I begin to input my information at the United kiosk and my information was not available. It said that it can look up my info by swiping my credit card, which I did. My name was in their system, however my itinerary wasn't. I was automatically forwarded to manually pick my flight and seats. I figured they didn't have my itinerary because of the airline change. I thought I was charged 93 for my flight back, but it was actually an upgrade to an economy plus seat. Never in the kiosk did it ask for an upgrade, nor did it have a record of my itinerary.

I did not find this out until two weeks later when I tried to get reimbursed from my employer. I called and complained to their customer service, but it was hard to understand because they spoke with a thick Indian accent. They said they couldn't do anything for me. I paid 93 unknowingly for a seat that I did not want and I have spent hours and the company's hours trying to figure it out.

93 for unwanted seat and hours of anguish on the phone with their customer service and stress because I don't think my company is going to reimburse me.

Debbi of Orem, UT February 16, 2009

Debbi of Orem UT (02/16/09)
I was scheduled to fly home from FL on 12/23/08, but tried to fly out a day earlier because of an expected snowstorm in Chicago where I had to connect through. I was told since I used frequent flyer miles I couldn't change, & was told it would be useless to try standby because all flights were full (my brother flew out on one of those full flights & said it was half empty). When I tried to fly out on my scheduled flight I was first met with we don't know if or when your flight will depart due to equipment breakdown in Washington, DC, followed by if the equipment does arrive we don't know if or when it will depart due to the snowstorm in Chicago, and if or when your connecting flight will leave. I asked if I could rebook & was told they would NOT rebook me on another airline because I used frequent flyer miles, & the next flight they could get me home on would arrive at 10:30 PM Christmas Eve.

I am a labor & delivery RN & was scheduled to work from 6 AM to 6:30 PM on Christmas Eve, so it was imperative I get home on the 23rd. I was able to rebook on Southwest Airlines at a personal cost of 410. An e-mail complaint to United's customer service netted me a 25 goodwill certificate. A complaint through the BBB netted me a refund of half of my FF miles, neither of which does me any good, since I had used my last 25,000 miles to purchase the ticket--I would have to fly 12,500 miles on United to have enough miles for another ticket.

I understand & fully accept weather related delays, but I looked ahead, knew there was a snowstorm coming, & tried to fly out a day early but was turned down. I didn't attempt standby due to false information. Then equipment failure delayed my flight, which was further delayed by the snowstorm. Once again I was refused an alternative because I had used FF miles, despite the fact I had been given wrong information & equimpment failure was the primary cause for delay.

The result was I found my own alternative way home at a cost of 410 in order to insure patient care at my hospital was not compromised due to a shortage of staff (it is impossible to replace a nurse on a holdiday like Christmas Eve) or a sleep deprived nursed who would have been up all night flying home.

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