my first experience with United in years
 

...or maybe my second, since 2001 (referring to bereavement fare post, below).

It was pretty good! They gave AA a run for my money, in my experience this week.

I flew domestic economy LAX-ORD (flight 126, B767 and 101, B757). Checked in online and was "suckered" into upgrading to Economy Plus for an additional $44 each way which bumped me up to rows 11 and 10, respectively, and gained me an additional 5" in leg room. This was important to me because the outbound flight was a red-eye and I had a long couple of days- I needed to try to sleep. Despite the 5" extra and sitting on the aisle (my preference), the seat was still very narrow and hard- little cushioning- in particular, the headrest was not very adjustable and was up too high for my 5'7" frame. On the return flight, I was flying at 6am and had to be in to work directly after, so I wanted to be comfortable in the middle seat. Glad to have been up in row 10 and being wedged between two people, the extra inches helped.

The biggest improvement on United, IMO, was the excellent customer service- from the booking agent over the phone to the kindness and friendly nature of the FA's (yep, you read it right!)- they were all downright <b>pleasant</b>, the very reason I stopped flying UA back in '01. Clearly, the company is making efforts in this arena.

Flights were very smooth and I got to listen to channel 9 - yay!!!! Loved that. The captain was very concerned with giving us a smooth ride :)

That's my silly little UA trip report :)

Pleasant FA's &amp; gate agents can make ALL the difference in the world, especially when there are delays or other problems.

Glad you have this nice experience. Unfortunately, the common feeling in the frequent flyer world is that things haven't improved much, and the CEO is busy trying to find an airline to merge rather than to make itself shine.

Compared to Delta, which just came out of Ch 11 bankruptcy filing itself, UA hasn't used the Ch 11 to find new business or ways to grow the company. Yes, it's doing fine in the Pacific, and is growing there, but elsewhere it's pretty bad.

No/few new routes to Europe. South America traffic has shrunk. Domestic traffic is going down. They've given up New York. Their DEN hub is under attack from Southwest, their SFO hub will be under attack from Virgin America. It has not ordered any new efficient planes.

Anyways, if you decide to fly them more, pay the $299/year to get E+ access, which gives you AND a travel companion the seats. E+ is perhaps the only reason many of its customers are still sticking with them.

rkkwan: Seems to me you're talking about AA - sounds just like them. Cxl the flight from SJC to NRT; cxl KIX; cxl NGO; cxl ZRH; can't work with their pilots to get China business last year (at least they got smart and this year they are starting their efforts from Chgo).

Reminds me of Crandall days - oh ooops it is being run by his godson...

Frankly, I think United has gone way down hill. Customer service? what is that?! We used our mileage with them in May and was on the phone for 4 hours to try and get to Europe from SFO (we were 360 days out just like they say to do so it wasn't last minute stuff). We were switched around several times, had to call back a few times and when we voiced our complaint, they hung up on us! When they finally did book us, it was wrong and they had to start all over again. Luckily we got a flight on Lufthansa and it was a great flight - the best service ever. DH is a premier flyer with United and last week had the absolute worst service and flight ever. He upgraded on line and got a confirmation but when he got to the airport, he wasn't on the list and 1st class was full so technically he didn't have a seat. they had to find him a seat which was in the back and in the middle. On the way back he had a seat assignment in the premier area but the seat was broken and apparently they knew it at the gate and didn't do anything about reassinging him there. so again a hunt for a seat also in the middle in a seat that didn't recline at all. Guess we should start earning miles with someone else but Untied is so convenient for West Coast and Chicago travel.

yeah, that's just it-- AA and UA are so convenient between LAX &amp; ORD, my main hubs :)

i had a really positive experience this time, i have to say, and i truly did witness others being well-served by the FA's, too, but i clearly remember thinking (the last time i flew with UA), &quot;never again...&quot;