strass

After our last experience with United, I swore I'd never fly with them again (got bumped for suspect reasons, they wouldn't pay for our hotel in NYC, terribly rude service, etc.)... but out of four flights we're taking to and from Spain, one leg is with United. We live in Chicago; they're hard to avoid.

Anyway. I should be on a plane to Amsterdam right now, with a connection to Barcelona tomorrow. However, our flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. TWO planes were brought to the gate, and BOTH had problems that could not be fixed soon enough. So now my husband and I are leaving tomorrow at 4 p.m., and we won't find out until tomorrow the details of our connection from AMS to BCN on Saturday. We are losing at least one full day of our vacation.

So now we're back at home, kind of in shock... I'm just so sad and mad, I had to write a post here! At least United paid for our cab home and back to the airport tomorrow. Tomorrow I will attempt to have them pay for the hotel we'd booked in Barcelona for tomorrow night. It's too late to get a refund.

SO frustrating... words can't describe.

Robert2533

If the flight is canceled due to mechanical problems, United is required by law to put you up in a hotel for the night and put you on the first available flight to your destination.

That said, United has a number of problems besides their enormous debt, mechanical breakdowns are not uncommon for the airline.

HappyCheesehead

Strass - I am so sorry and can understand how you must be ready to spit tacks!

I hope, after the details of the flight are worked out, that you will enjoy your trip but what a rotten beginning!

strass

They did give hotel vouchers to people, but we didn't need one since we live here in Chicago.

I'm just mad that I've lost a day of vacation. I'm actually on hold with a reservations agent right now trying to confirm our connecting flight to Barcelona. She told me it was a good thing I called, since the flight we'd want is almost full. Good lord.

strass

Thanks Happy! A nice cold beer is helping somewhat.

rkkwan

I think that's really unacceptable, as ORD is their main hub and HQ. They can't get a substitute, and can't get a plane fixed in a few hours? That's ridiculous.

Tiff

Hi strass,

I feel for you. It's just such a let down.

Here's one on me.

This was the glitch, here's to smooth sailing for the rest of your journey!

OReilly

strass, my sympathies. An awful start to your holiday. I hope the remainder exceeds your expectations and I hope you get to BCN tomorrow. Hope you succeed in getting credit for your hotel - it would only be fair!

Two interesting comments: firstly TWO aircraft had tech problems; secondly, Robert's comment "mechanical breakdowns are not uncommon for the airline".

My personal experience with Air Canada is that mechanical problems are very rare on transatlantic flights. What's happening: are UA not maintaining their planes because of financial difficulties?

DAX

I'm sorry to hear, that's very upsetting. American Airlines did the same to me last April in Dallas. First they said our plane had mechanical problems, but they eventually admitted that our plane was actually OK but was urgently needed for another destination. We were subsequently given two broken planes that were not allowed to take off even after they tried fixing them after they boarded us. They avoided having to put us up into a hotel since we were boarded into the broken planes before the 3 hour delay limit. We managed to sleep inside the two broken planes. The only silver lining I could think of is the fact they didn't let the broken planes take off.

rkkwan

Yes, planes broke down, but they can also be fixed. And being a Chicago-based airline flying a plane made by a Chicago-based manufacturer (Boeing), and can't get a plane fixed and go out? That simply mean one thing - they don't try hard enough.

In contrast, compare that to Continental, which all my family members fly often. Yes, their planes break down too, but they will try everything to get a substitute or get the plane fixed, especially for international flights. I know for a fact that they've sent flights out to Beijing and Hong Kong after mechanical problems. 7 or 8 hours delay is much better than 24 hours when something starting a vacation or having a meeting to attend.

Or if a plane broke down in Europe, they'd immediately ferry out a 757 out there to "rescue" those passengers. Again, maybe 7-8 hours late and may arrive back in the US late, but that's still better than 24 hours.

Worktowander

See, it's all about perspective. Strass's situation is a major disappointment.

The one you describe rkwan -- " if a plane broke down in Europe, they'd immediately ferry out a 757 out there to "rescue" those passengers. Again, maybe 7-8 hours late and may arrive back in the US late, but that's still better than 24 hours."

No it's not.

An extra 24 hours in Chicago, at the beginning of my vacation, is unacceptable.

A 24-hour delay in Europe? Heck, that's a bonus!







Screen name:
Worktowander


Profile

Reply:

Saraho

Sorry for your trip delay. That brings back memories of the first night of our trip several years ago . We got to spend it in Baton Rouge right across from the airport instead of in Paris!! Thanks, Delta. Three cancelled flights before we got off the ground!

miss_jens

AHH United. Yes we booked a flight this summer for our HONEYMOON using United. And it was also cancelled- we got 2 reasons the first one was bad weather in Philly made the staff go over the contracted work time sitting on the tar mac waiting to pick us up. Second reason the pilots wife was seriously ill??? Well, that threw everything in to a three day nightmare. The flight we were finally able to get on to Europe was cramped and horrible on Air France. Once we got to Florence the hotel we book cancelled us, even though we called. That is only part of the story- the whole thing takes about half an hour to tell and even though it is mostly fun and ironic now it wasn't then. We will NEVER fly United again regardless of the price! I hope you trip is wonderful and all you can do now is laugh- it will keep you from going nuts

kleeblatt

Hey! I thought they went bankrupt. Is this the result of letting it still operate?

ira

Hi Strass,

Well, the worst is over.

Bon Voyage.

kleeblatt

When Swissair went bankrupt, they were grounded. Then they started a new company called Swiss which later was bought up by Lufthansa. Swiss is finally doing OK again.

Different countries, different practices.

Clifton

That stinks. Sorry to hear that it happened strass. I'd be very upset too - I wait all year for a big trip and to lose a day of it would be worse than a financial loss. I hope you're in the air today and suspect that you'll avoid United in the future. Certainly a last choice for us. We dont fly from ORD, but rather we fly through it a lot. AA can be frustrating at times, but as they are so heavily ingrained there, it has allowed us to avoid United for several years now.

I agree with rkkwan. If an airline can't arrange a plane and crew in their HQ city, with TWO in disrepair, they're either completely unwilling to work through it or they're just not servicing the planes to begin with. I HOPE it's the former, as sad as that is. I remember sitting in Melbourne airport once waiting as Qantas FLEW IN a replacement long haul 747 from Sydney, as "ours" had been in a damaging hailstorm on the inbound. Granted, it's a smaller airline in some ways, but it was also not a plane that's easy to swap for another model (nothing else could carry as may passengers) and the circumstances was real damage, not malfunction. Qantas would have had much more rationalization for cancelling, but they planned for it, so that they didn't have to. Some airlines seem to be in the situation that they're lucky to be able to keep flying, much less have contingency plans.

RonDace

I'm sorry to hear that you missed part of your vacation. It doesn't sound like a fun start.
However, this stuff can happen to anyone at anytime. I've been on 76 United or United Express flights this year. One flight was delayed due to weather around Chicago so United bought me a ticket on Northwest to get me home that day and my flight home from Houston last week was delayed for two hours due to flow control in Chicago. Our flight to London in January had mechanical problems and United had to get another plane giving us a two hour delay. Other than that all of my flights have been on time and relatively uneventful.
Ron

sallyjane3

I am furious for you.

That said...and I haven't read all the threads so someone else may have said this already...

Every time Life throws such an annoyance at me, I strive to think, "Maybe something much, much worse was going to happen if things were not changed in some way...maybe this infuriating roadblock was put here to keep me safe."

Have a safe, wonderful trip.
s

usbeauty

I'm a United frequent flyer with no financial interest in the airline but I wanted to clarify a few points:

- United is no longer in bankruptcy and posted profits last quarter.
-While flying from a hub city improves your chances of getting on a different flight/aircraft, you are still subject to the whims of scheduling. Oftentimes, being at a hub city will work to your disadvantage, since all flights are usually completely booked and the airline will have little wiggle room to move their payload around.
-Not all planes are configured/approved to fly internationally. Most airlines don't have spare jumbo, internationally configured planes sitting around to use as backups.
- United has one of the safest, youngest and best maintained fleets of aircraft of all the legacy carriers.