Flying United for the first time, and nervous about it.
 

I recently went looking for tickets from DFW to Chicago. As I am on a budget, I always go with the cheapest priced ticket, unless it is AirTran, they need to be at least $25 cheaper than anything else to make me fly through that mad house called Atlanta Hartsfield. Well did my search expecting ATA or Vanguard to be the cheapest. Much to my suprise United was the cheapest by $20, so I booked them with much trepidation since United's reputation for service is in the dumper (Heck there's the untied.com website just for people to air their complaints about United). I did get a paper ticket, but was also wondering what I should do to make sure that my trip does not become a disaster. Any thoughts or suggestions (besides using a travel agent next time).

Gee, I guess I'm lucky. I fly United all the time to Chicago and have had no problems. Be aware that the complaints always get more publicity that the "non-complaints" do. <BR>I've had baggage delayed a couple times (not United), have had planes cancelled (again not United). And yes, I've complained (about all of them, I guess!). Hey, it's part of the travel experience.

How much do you travel, Travelling Man? <BR>I've flown probably 2 dozen different airlines over the years and frankly, after awhile, the 7 largest US lines all start to look a lot alike. Of course Southwest has a bit of a different 'attitude', but there's no MAJOR difference among the others IMO. <BR>Now if you want to disssect things a little further, you'll find that Howard's point is key. People seldom crow about great service to others (do you see a groundswell of support nationwide for Midwest Express, (which is so far above all other US airlines in service that they should have their own special category))? No. People speak up when they're mad and they want to gripe. <BR>Trends? Yes, I think there are more complaints about Northwest and America West and TWA than AA/Delta/UA. USAir seems to vary. But even these trends vary over time. <BR> <BR>Summing up: United is my favorite non-Midwest Express US airline. They screw up as often as American and Delta and a little less than some others. No guarantees for the perfect flight. But you'd be really making a mistake to actively seek a different airline because of whatever hearsay you've come across about their 'reputation for service being in the dumper'. <BR>By the way, it is my opinion that service has been heading toward the dumper at all airlines, all car agencies, most hotels and most restaurants for several years now. United doesn't buck the trend. Just sliding down hill with the pack.

True enough on those points. Definitely agree with you on Midwest Express, though I think the main reason for their lack of notoriety is because of where they have their major hub operation. Let's face Milwaukee will always be down a few rungs from Chicago in the eyes of the travelling public, and I speak as one who lived there for 4 years. BTW, if you ever get the chance to try Legend Airlines which is based out of Dallas Love Field. The planes are DC-9's retrofitted to only have 56 seats (to get around federal restrictions) so their seats are actually wider and have more legroom than even ME. Plus they get their food created by chefs of high class restaurants in the DFW area like Sipango, and they have a private terminal at Love. They fly to Dulles, Vegas, and LAX. They've forced American to start a similar service with redone Fokker 100's to LAX and Chicago.

I don't think there's much difference among the biggie airlines myself. For United to have "more" complaints than the others is not such a big deal - The difference in actual numbers could be very slight, and from what I've seen, is. I've had good and bad service from all of them, United no different than the rest!

I fly United quite a bit and have never noticed any difference compared to other major airlines, except ones I hate that are worse (ie, USAir). It's just a couple hours flight, how much service do you want, what are you really expecting, anyway? I don't usually check luggage with them, though. I have had a LOT of time delays on United Express (which is a subcontractor, forget its name) and their planes are awful IMO, some of the worst of those small ones, but on the regular United fullsize jets, nothing seems that unusual to me. One thing I find funny about that survey is that I think America West was rated very low and I've seen people complain about them on BBs but I always take them when possible and consider them a million times better than USAir on the route I frequently fly (Wash DC-Columbus OH). To me, America West seems one of the best airlines I've flown, so there you go. I myself will do a lot to avoid a layover at the St Louis airport (TWA's hub) as that airport is really filthy and awful. Anyway, assign from some flight cancellations from United (at Columbus OH airport, they have a real problem there), I did have United lose one of my reservations once, so there you go. Apparently the reservation clerk on the phone (I reserved direct) just didn't enter the info correctly and in fact gave me a confirmation number that didn't even fit their style. So, I had no reservation on a Xmas eve flight and could not get another one at the last minute and I didn't even get into trying to argue them into giving me the APEX fare as they should have (they didn't offer) as I decided to bag them and just drive, I could do that. But, if you already have a confirmed ticket, I don't think there's anything else you can do. Also, United's coffee sucks; they are so cheap, it's not that hard to make decent coffee. But, that's a small thing and I've noticed a lot of airplanes have terrible coffee. So does Delta.

I agree with Howard too. The only thing that I can say about United for sure through is that at O'Hare they definitely have the longer luggage <BR>wait. If you aren't checking in luggage I doubt that you will even notice the difference. I just had my ATA flight cancelled and was left high and dry for 2 days in NYC - LaGuardia. All American and United were cancelled everywhere because of weather and planes not being able to come in from the Midwest. It's part of the travel picture. If you do it a lot - it's bound to happen. I absolutely loved AmericaWest (been to <BR>Phoenix and New Mexico several times on this, as on SouthWest) and have heard people really down it. So I guess it <BR>really is what you, yourself have experienced. I do think that a lot of the big guys are really almost exactly the same.