I was very pleased with UA at ORD, on the ground service. My DH took ill while we were sitting on a flt that was scheduled to fly to SJU within a matter of minutes. Ground personnel took great care of us... DH ended up over night in hosp, but UA got us a first class flight to SJU two days later. Our bags were waiting for us when we landed at SJU. They made it there on the original flt out!! UA kept them for us. We were pleased with the service we got. I will continue to fly UA and the star alliance partners.

simpson care to tell us what year this was? Based on my recent experiences it surely didn't happen since UA has started it's death spiral.

Curt, you were nostalgic for TWA on that other thread. I enjoyed, and miss, TWA even though they were getting a bit ragged at the end. They had free upgrades for silver elite level flyers.

Was happy when AA bought them and my FF miles went from a program with Royal Jordanian Airlines, Air India, and a couple of others to the excellent AAdvantage program with Japan Airlines and Qantas and many other good partners.

I am coming to the conclusion that most airlines today, in coach, are at best tolerable and if you arrive safely on the same day you intended, they consider their job done.

Most of us who fly more than a few times/year have had an experience so annoying on an airline that it heads our own personal list of most hated carrier. Some of it is route-specific (son just flew on a Savannah-Atlanta route of Delta-affiliate that has a 30% on-time record). Because of financial issues, they all stink, and personnel seem as unhappy to be flying as the passengers.

At this point my expectations are so low on any carrier that I just try to deal with it. Most of my travel is for pleasure - my poor husband who travels on business and tries to meet tight schedules - that would make me crazed.

Curt - I hope you get over this soon. Everyone has a story to tell and then they move on. Try living in DFWland where you get only one choice and that does not and will not include SW.

Thank you BeachBoi, I should have been able to figure out what EQM meant but I couldn't. I appreciate your answer.

Viaggio, I left a post for you on the Europe Board..I am so happy for you that you were able to get the tickets for the opera at LaScala.

And to not hijack Curt's thread..I use to fly a lot from SFO to Santa Barbara on United. United got worse and worse. Cancelled flights, obviously because they did not have as many passengers on one flight as they wanted so cancelled that flight and made those passengers wait for the next flight 2 or 3 hours or more later, sigh.
I gave up on United but may start trying them again because of some flights I will need to take from SFO to Santa Barbara. It seems better than flying SW from Sacramento to Burbank.

Curt

This just happened Dec '05.

Well - I did not want to fly United but we needed to bring our new born baby home to Australia and could not get ont the Qantas flight. They move us to United (which we were not happy about) but to be honest United were fabulous - our new baby needed oxygen and that was prearranged and when we came to board the Captain came down to see us and said that plane was not moving until we were happy that every thing was ok - yes I am sure they did not want a fatality on the plane but service was exceptional and even in Sydney organised for us to leave the plane before everyone else and then even ensured we had our connection organised. Very impressed - was in coach

Summarizing a few of the positive points brought up in this thread:

1) Southwest doesn't fly to Maui, but United does (I think that Southwest doesn't go anywhere in Hawaii, but I could be wrong. United also flies to Kauai, Oahu, and the Big Island.

2) If you regularly fly between ORD and BOS, then United has the best schedule and price.

Want to go to Wyoming? United/UX flies there to Jackson Hole along with Cody/Yellowstone, Casper, and maybe other places in Wyoming. And you actually can get FF award tickets to fly there (you might not need a passport for Wyoming, but you will need a Visa) to go skiing. And/or you could use your miles for a trip to the Caribbean.

3) If you are flying between SFO and LHR then apparently United has a good schedule and good prices. The FF program, which will get you to Armenia, is apparently good enough to make up for the legendary bad attitude of UA FAs.

4) United has frequent scheduled flights between SFO and SBA. There are 7 to 9 scheduled nonstop flights every day plus a couple of connecting flights. Maybe too frequent if they cancel flights. That makes the schedule unreliable. That is a good reason for not flying a particular airline.

LoveItaly, I am not sure I understand. You used to fly SFO-SBA a lot but were not happy with cancelled flights on that route. So you switched carriers when you started flying to other destinations. Now that you are flying to Santa Barabara again you will use United. Why, if the schedule is unreliable? You could fly AA, connecting at LAX. Or fly USAir/America West connecting at Phoenix.

Hi Mrwunfrl, I am sorry my post was confusing (probably to busy thinking about Viaggio's tickets for the opera at LaScala, sigh).

I use to live in the SF/Bay Area. I also flew from SFO to Santa Barbara, which was very convenient. But United cancelled so many flights I would end up spending hours waiting for the next flight (either going or returning home).

I moved and I know live in the southern end of the Sacramento Valley. The Sacramento airport is fairly close and easy to get to. Southwest flies from SMF, but the closest airport to fly into in S CA is Burbank. I than have a long and expensive shuttle ride to get to the Santa Barbara area and the same thing of course when I fly home.

Sooo, I guess I will try United again. I will go to Vallejo, take the Evan's Airport Bus (they provide great service) to SFO and fly via United from SFO to Santa Barbara.

However, I haven't checked the Santa Barbara airport website recently to see what other airlines fly into to Santa Barbara from either Sacramento or SFO.

Any suggestions are more than welcomed.

Hi Love. I mentioned other SFO options earlier, including AA and US connecting flights.

United, America West, and USAirways all have connecting service between Sacramento and Santa Barbara. United would fly you from Sacramento via SFO or LAX.

But you'd want to avoid SFO-SBA or SMF-SFO-SBA on United because of your previous experience.

Curt.......on the airline forum we tend to avoid the phrase "Death Spiral".
8-)

Thanks mrwunflr, as soon as I know the exact dates I will be flying I will check out US Air and American West from SMF. I have never flown with either of these airlines and so never even thought about them. I appreciate your suggestions and help! Take care.

Frankly, I am not suprised that service has suffered at UA. Their employees have been hammered under the recent bankrupcy ... those "lucky" enough to still have their jobs have taken huge cuts in pay and benefits, lost their pensions and still live with the threat of job loss hanging over their heads as the cutbacks continue even out of bankrupcy ... of course meanwhile the top execs enjoy higher salaries and bonus's ... frankly I doubt they will survive in the long run. I suppose that's what you get when you hire an oil man to run an airline.

I really feel for UA employees-they've been through a lot. Haven't been on UA for 11 years. But we are flying LAX-PHL in two weeks. I chose UA because it offered a direct, non-stop. Not looking forward to 5 hours w/o a hot meal but we have already perused the packaged snack page and will hope for the best!

daph, why suffer? You can get yourself a really nice picnic from a gourmet deli the day before -- great cheese, grapes, apples, nice French petit pain, some good smoked meat -- put it in a lunch bag and take it to the airport. As long as you avoid mayonnaise and raw meat, it should survive a couple of hours. The people eating granola bars or gross crackers and processed Amurkin cheese will be so jealous.