What's up with United? Does anybody know?
 

Has anybody traveled on United lately? They've been canceling flights with little warning and leaving folks stranded or with missed connections. It's been going on for at least a month. We're supposed to fly United and Lufthansa in two weeks to Switzerland and I'm getting pretty worried about making all our connections. Anybody know what's going on behind the scenes at United? Is it affecting Lufthansa, too? Any suggestions to help avoid missing connections? I'm pretty stressed out about it, so any info is much appreciated.

Normally, the pilots can volunteer to work overtime, but they aren't doing so at the moment because their union contract is being renegotiated. <BR> <BR>So United is canceling some flights. But I've heard that they're canceling mostly the short-hop commuter flights and trying to give as much advance notice as possible. <BR> <BR>If you're booked on a Lufthansa flight that's got a flight-sharing arrangement with United (i.e., your ticket says Lufthansa but you'll actually be on a United plane), then you would be affected if the United flight is canceled. <BR> <BR>Have you checked United's website to see if they're canceling this week's departures for the same flights you're taking? If they are, I'd call United and ask them what they suggest. Depending on your tickets, you might be able to switch your connecting flights to give you more of a cushion. <BR> <BR>Good luck!

We just flew from Atlanta to Phoenix and return, connecting through Denver. <BR>No troubles. So I cannot shed any light on the problem.

I wonder if this is an industry-wide problem. We were booked on Delta for our recent trip to Italy and they rescheduled our departure and re-entry flights several times, including twice on the day we left! This was very frustrating and a huge inconvenience, causing us to spend our last night in an airport hotel, but we felt we couldn't really complain since we were flying on miles. <BR> <BR>Hopefully you won't be stranded without a flight. I'd be interested to know if this is a result of airlines having trouble dealing with increasing numbers of travellers, tickets booked online, etc. <BR> <BR>Good luck!

As far as United is concerned it was a pilot shortage problem a few weeks back. As far as industry wide, alot of cancellations are caused by the Air Traffic Control system ran by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). FAA costs the airlines MILLIONS of dollars each year because of poor management with tax dollars. The FAA is still operating with 1960's and 70's technology in many places because they can't even manage to implement new programs with new equipment. The entire way of controlling air traffic is out dated. This is your tax dollars at work. The public needs to realize whats going on within the FAA. Can you beleive that the air traffic controllers just received on average a 30% pay raise! At the bigger airports they make $118,000 dollars a year! The FAA had to move funding from important programs and equipment maintenance to cover the controllers raise. It's simple- poor management!

Worst airline in the world. Bar None.

FYI - I spoke with our travel agent since posting this question. She suggested we cancel the leg of our United flight from our home town to San Francisco and just drive straight to San Francisco to cath our flight to Switzerland. She said United has been canceling and delaying so many flights that we might not make our connection in SF. It's kind of a hassle, but I'd rather be a little inconvenienced than miss my flight. Hope this info is helpful for someone else, too.

Wendy - <BR>I've been asking the same thing lately. <BR>I've always liked traveling United. Being that I live in Chicago, which is United's main hub, it has always been great. Lately, though, flying with UAL has been a crapshoot. You just never know if you have a seat, if the plane will even arrive, if you'll ever see that long awaited vacation. I'm not sure if you can blame it on the pilot slowdown. If that is truly the case, then they're not saying so. Even domestically, the service stinks. It makes vacation time more stressful than relaxing. And with gas prices so high here in the midwest, driving isn't a much better option. <BR> <BR>I do hope they (United) get their act together soon. I'm tired of delays, cancellations and excuses, as I'm sure everyone else is. <BR> <BR>

I have heard about problems only through this forum (other than pilot contract issues). We flew United from LAX to Paris and back (leaving 5/26 and returning 6/15), and our travelling companions returned on a differnet day, and none of us experienced any problem, other than a slightly delayed departure from Paris. So it's not a pervasive problem, at least as far as I can tell. LAX-to-Paris service is new, which means it might be getting priority treatment to build local awareness. Dunno otherwise.

I have "premier executive" status with United (excess of 50,000 miles per year) I have been flying them weekly out of O'Hare. I've had disasters the past 4 out of 6 weeks. Friday my flight was delayed 3 times and after spending 3 1/2 hours at O'Hare the flight was cancelled altogether (reason given: crew). I was rerouted (very inconveniently) but finally made it home 7 hours late. I have since decided to book only with American Airlines. They seem to have their act together (for the most part) and have given me much better service. My only United experience during 2000 has been with domestic flights so can't speak for their European flights.

Tom, by all mean leave United but please please don't switch to American!!!! They are, IMO the WORST airline I have ever flown. Don't switch to them unless you can live with the following: <BR>1) Don't bother with getting frequent flyer miles unless you like wasting time on something utterly useless! <BR>2) Don't consume too much fluid when travelling between Los Angeles and Heathrow since they don't dump the waste from the lavatories in L.A ( too expensive, we were told). Then when ALL the lavatories back up and become unusable... just try and get into the ones in Biz. Class... felt like being in Steerage on the Titanic, older folk and children crying to use the restrooms and evil cabin crew who would not let them ,even though the toiletts backed up 3 HOURS before we landed!!! <BR>3)Being in an airline that ranks among the poorest in on time performance. <BR>4) Waiting 75 MINUTES on hold to change a reservation ( I actually started to doze off on my sofa) <BR>5) An airline with one of the worst customer service records in the business. Do they even read those letters I sent? Don't know, they've never once responded. <BR>6)Very unhappy employees who seem to go out of their way to make people feel uncomfortable..Including one pilot who decided to land during a storm for hours, causing the air masks to fall from overhead... putting passengers at risk and then FINALLY diverting to another airport. <BR>Now, my opinion is based solely on personal, horrid experience with American Airlines, I am sure that someone will write after me telling what wonderful experiences they had on AA. I respect that, I just record what happened to me, and would not be a proper Fodorite if I didn't put my experience out there, to warn potential victims!

I've been flying United almost exclusively for years and have been happy with them (I'm a premier member). Recently, though, things have changed. Two days ago I was delayed out of San Francisco because only one flight attendant was there at the time they needed to board and they said they needed to have at least three at pre-boarding. We departed 30 minutes late while we waited for the crew. The day before we were delayed almost three hours out of John Wayne to San Francisco while we waited for the plane to arrive from Denver. Last month I was delayed out of John Wayne to San Francisco three hours and would have missed my connection to Paris except that the flight to Paris was seven hours delayed, and almost canceled because, "they couldn't find a plane." Several months ago I was stuck at San Franciso twice in one week -- once for three hours and once for six hours due to delays. Granted some of it is due to weather which they cannot control. In any event, I'm terribly disappointed to see this happening. Usually I have patience, but the long delays are starting to get to me. Oh, yes, I stood in line for 45 minutes this week in San Francisco (Premier line) waiting to check in.

Well, I guess I should say something nice about United. It's through them I've been traveling and visiting wonderful countries and contributing on this board courtesy of their frequently flyer points. Thank you, United Airlines.

I have flown United, American, Delta, Continental, SouthWest and TWA over the last few years. My experiences have been both good and bad with all of them. United has been no better or worse. Wendy - be prepared for delays or cancellations by bringing food and water with you and a good long book. Think positive thoughts and have a great trip.

Tom, I agree--don't switch from UA to AA! I have NEVER met any ruder, nastier ground staff than I experienced at the American terminal at O'Hare last month. They even resorted to rolling eyes and snide remarks about passengers in their native Spanish! That is really rude. When all of us are so disatified with the airlines in general, why aren't they forced to improve? I guess as long as some passengers are willing to go for the low fares, we will all have to put up with terrible service. I don't think we should blame the airlines--they are just poor dumb animals after all--blame the low fare seekers who feed them.

Poor dumb me. All of these years I thought I was a savvy shopper, and now I learn that my preference for low airfares has singlehandedly caused airline customer service to go into the toilet. <BR> <BR>I don't have much of a theory about why service is so bad, but I have one little idea. Perhaps service in the airline industry is no better or worse than the service from other businesses with limited competition. You know, companies like the phone company and power company have been known to brush off customers as well. Also, in the airline industry, the consequences of a customer service problem are really awful: lost luggage, delays, missed flights, people being stranded for hours on runways, etc. The consequences of customer service failures in certain other industries are perhaps less dire. So I'll confess to not being thrilled at the prospect of more mergers in the airline industry. <BR> <BR>Personally, I have been mistreated by every major carrier except Southwest Airlines. Maybe I don't fly them enough.

For our vacation travel, we avoid United and American both. On occastion, my husband has to fly from LAX to No Cal and had been using United Shutle. He recently had an interesting experience. He logged online and attempted to book ticket. Site would not accept this, because there was not enough spaces for his credit card billing address. (It is something like johndoe c/o my company) <BR>They told him he could come in and pay cash and pick up ticket, no thanks! So, sigh, I guess it is back to the cattle cars of SW (but at least they get you there ontime and with good service). <BR> <BR>For domestic USA, prefer Continental. For overseas, it varies upon destination but often fly foreign a/l.

I was on a United plane which was supposed to go from DC to Amsterdam (#946) on May 10. We sat on the plane for 6 hours before it was cancelled due to weather. (At least we were still at the gate and had not yet taxied.) Of course that's not the fault of United and certainly nothing compared to other horror stories I've heard. The part where it gets close to criminal, though, is what happened after we were herded off the plane at 10:30 pm: <BR> <BR>1) We had not been fed. No food was provided until several passangers got ugly; then, they wheeled the prezels & sodas from the airplane. That ran out in matter of minutes. The Dulles food service places were all closing their gates just as we were exiting the plane. <BR> <BR>2) There were only 2 agents at the gate to assist in rebooking/rerouting. I'm sure most people left without being able to make arrangements that night. <BR> <BR>3) The P.A. system at the gate was broken, so very few people heard what the agent was saying. <BR> <BR>4) One agent was heard to say, "You need to call the United customer service line, because we honestly don't know what's going on." <BR> <BR>5) As we were leaving Dulles to catch a cab ($60) to a friend's house (we were told that all hotels in Northern Virginia were full), we heard an announcement saying that the bags from Flight 946 were on carousel 3. This was after an agent had told us just 30 minutes earlier that our bags were tagged and were going to Amsterdam, and that the personnel who load and unload the baggage had been sent home. <BR> <BR>OK, now that I've written my letter to United, I hope someone there is reading. <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>

We just returned from Italy and had terrible experience with Delta. When we got to JFK returning from Venice, 15 flights, including ours had been cancelled. Our friends who were traveling to JFK to meet us on the way out to Venice had their flight cancelled before they could even leave Richmond. They missed an entire day of our trip. Their flight to Richmond returning was delayed and then called on time after all. The gate was closed when they realized what was happening, and they were not allowed on. The real problem with all airlines is that they have our money in their hands, and we are at their mercy. It's not like we can just not pay for bad service!

I've had the worst experiances on United, but to be fair a lot of them where on United Express. I was flying approx 70,000 miles per year and have tried all of them. My best experiances were on Northwest and American. Certainly different from some of the above comments. I hear that Continantal has really improved the last 2 years but have not had the opportunity to try them. <BR>