United Airlines Rant!
 

Last night I finalized our airline reservations for Kauai in July. Suffice it to say, the family is pumped up!

One bit if an annoyance, however, that I would like to share and hear comments on was a strange policy United brought to light which made absolutley no sense.

Flying from LA directly to Kauai, they booked all 5 seats in the same row (Row 21). Obviously, we are okay with that and were happy. On the way back, they had the seats scattered. Well, this was not going to work since we are traveling with 2 8 yrs old girls. So my agent looked online and found 5 seats, together in row 12. She called United and was informed that "those seats" were not available at the fare I paid! Huh? It was still in coach.

Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? Fortunately, my agent complained and we did eventually get seats close to one another (3 in one row, 2 in the row behind) near the back of the plane.

Yes, that's not unusual. Everytime I book a flight and select my seat, there are certain seats that are blocked off for Elite or Premium status customers (United may have different terminology, but same idea). I would guess that's what happened in this case.

United has economy plus seating. Maybe that's where the 5 seats were.

I've seen stranger things happen ... but even so ... all passengers depart & land at the same time, and some 8 yr olds fly without parents at all, so I fail to see the concern about 5 seats together. Were you on separate flights I could understand.

It is not uncommon for airlines to reserve the front of coach for the more expensive coach tickets. Sometimes you get what you pay for!

I agree that some seats are reserved for elite frequent flyers, but in most cases, children are placed next to or near parents. I would rather have you sit with your child than me! LOL

When our children were younger, this would happen to us on occasion. We simply informed the airline agent that we were traveling with children and if possible, they were able to either place us all together or split us up. In any case, there was always a parent with a kid, even if we were not all together.

The fact that some 8 year old children travel by themselves is totally irrelevant. A parent and their child should be able to sit together -- geez.

Yes. Very common. A friend and I were planning to fly on the same flight. We were online at the same time, choosing our seats. She had seats "available" to her that were not available to me. I used to fly weekly and no longer do. I booked an open aisle seat on the row ahead.

We asked to be seated together when we checked in. The flight was oversold so no changes were available.

Once on the plane there was no problem switching my aisle seat with another passenger's middle seat :-)

Availablity of seats are based on fare status and frequent flyer status. I'm glad a human was able to intervene so the kids aren't traveling alone.

When I did a lot of flying in the past, UA issued me Premier status (I don't know if they still have it) for more-than frequent fliers. One of the perks was that you'd have one or two empty seats next to you on the plane.

I can understand your frustration, as I have flown with my children when they were both little, and my poor girl had to sit separated from me and buckle up for takeoff before we were able to switch seats.

We had the same issue with our Hawaii trip. I just kept calling back to see if they could place us together and they were eventually able to do so.

American did the same thing to us on our trip to Florida last year. Actually, we started out together but they changed our routing twice and moved us literally all over coach. The last routing was so horrible that I asked if we had the right to request a change and they said that we did. They put us on a route with better connections than our original flight and we ended up sitting in just two groups.

It is a good thing that you have seat assignments. Those w/out assignments often get bumped on overbooked flights - and it seems like they do overbook on those popular destinations.

Row 12 is probably in Economy Plus: 4-5 extra inches of leg room between rows, kind of like a premium economy section (without any other benefits except the extra room). These may only be pre-reserved by United Premiers and up, Star Alliance Gold/Silver, those who have purchased a year's E+ pass, or people paying certain higher economy fares (M, Y, B).

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,1314,00.html

In case you are not able to do this before you fly, here's a trick a flight attendant told me years ago:

Once you get on the plane, go up to the child's neighbor and say, "my child gets very airsick on planes. Would you mind terribly sitting in seat xxx so that I can attend to her"?

Works every time!

lcuy,

BRILLIANT!! <am now storing in my memory bank>

Thank you to everyone who willingly switches seats so families and friends can sit together when they are not given seats together. My 8 year old probably could sit by himself, but that's part of our family's fun -- we like to be together (and I'm sure most people don't want to sit by a little boy anyway).

I have to sit beside my husband and I am not over 8 years of age lol...
lcuy, Brilliant :D

Duh..I <b>am</b> over 8 years of age. Hard to believe, but it is true ((F))

Catbert and ms_go are absolutely correct.

Those are &quot;economy +&quot; seatings on UA. Unlike other domestic airlines that simply block the front rows of coach for elites, UA's E+ has additional legroom. They will never get the end of it if non-elites (or those who didn't pay the $299/yr access fees for E+) get those seats preassigned.

Now, at the airport, if there's still room up there, they may move you up. But definitely not for pre-assignments.

Somehow it was United's fault that you got spun up when your agent didn't understand that she was trying to get you a product (E+ seats) that you didn't pay for. But it was your agent that saved the day by getting the 3+2 seats.

I recently flew in E+ and they also gave us champagne and some extra snacks that were &quot;surplus&quot; from first class, hence it's positioned right after first class. I bought a last minute ticket, must have been a M,B, or Y fare.

This Economy Plus designmation on United seems to be a problem. We had seats for family of 4 booked on USA flight Boston-Denver this summer. Somehow, pre-selected seats disappeared and we also ended up split up - to us, no big deal, but annoying.

Two ended up in middle seats of Economy Plus without extra fee and 2 others ended up in middle seats in back of plane. There was a definite difference in comfort and room in 2 different seating types.

Our kids are teenagers, who have traveled alone - so different issue than 8 year olds. But I have to admit I was a little suspicious about how our seats disappeared and we ended up in these rotten seats. Flight was full, equipment did not change, flight number the same - got me wondering if they needed better seats for higher fare customers or more elite FF travelers after they had preliminarily assigned us seats.

It really is true that air travel has become the equivalent to bus travel of several decades ago.

I'm surprised that your travel agent didn't understand that the seats she &quot;found&quot; were in Economy Plus. She must not have very much experience with United. I don't see this as a United problem.

Not surprising given the lack of caring by United about customers. My recent experience with United and their so called &quot;customer service&quot;, located in India and staffed with the most inept worthless people I have ever had the misfortune to talk to, I will never spend another cent of my money with United. I will pay more on any other carrier to avoid them and thier lack of concern. It is obvious that they had no reason to continue to exist and it is also obvious that even though they are out of bankruptcy they will fail again. The best thing that could happen is for United to go out of business so we tax payers no longer have to bail them out. United is a poor excuse for an airline.

Oh and one more rant....Orbitz is also worthless and has a customer service department almost as bad as United. Not suprising since Uninted is major owner of Orbitz...neither one will ever receive any of my business again.

Oh, Curt, please....your taxes are going to support a LOT of airlines..you're just mad because United wouldn't give you that upgrade!

This is somewhat related to the E+ discussion.

At the recent meeting between frequent flyers and the CEO and President of Continental Airlines, a question was asked about offering something like UA's E+.

The answer is a David Spade/Capital One &quot;NO!&quot;. They said that most people will not pay more for legroom (AA's MRTC is a good example), and that UA's E+ adds way too much complexity to the fare/seating problems. They are more interested in providing the most consistent product to everybody, instead of having to explain to everybody why this FF got E+ upgrade, while another did not.

And some of longhaul now has 4 classes. CO and others are sticking with 2.

Dear Intrepid - it has nothing to do with an upgrade. It had lots to do with UA taking away assigned seats that were in a nice mid-plane location and moving the location to the back of the plane next to the toilets without any input from us. The real issue is that they have fired all English speaking employees and place all the customer service in India, and that operation is staffed with marginal English speakers that have no concept of geography of the US and in general just read from canned scripts in response to any question.

Curt - You can't use Delta either, as most of their call centers are in India as well.

Curt, your comments are making me laugh. The fact that the call centers are located in India is pretty much irrelevant. There are plenty of marginal English speakers in the U.S. that have no concept of U.S. geography. I'm amused that you complain about paying taxes to support UA, and then complain about them moving jobs to India. Don't you think that's probably because it's cheaper for them, which means less of a tax burden on yourself?

As for me, I've never had to call customer service for any airline. But I don't think I'd bother to do so if I just wanted to complain about my seat being moved. Maybe if those types of calls were reduced and they were able to deal with more pressing issues, they could afford to pay higher wages and attract more skilled English speakers for you.

I'm with those who don't see this as a United problem. The 5 seats in a row were in Economy Plus, the passengers got seated in economy. The agent made the mistake by misleading the OP as to fare classes.

The issue isn't whether a family should be seated together, but whether they can bump up a fare class to do so. How exactly does this differ from my paying for economy, only finding middle seats available there, and wanting a seat in Economy Plus because aisle seats are available there?

BTW, the last time I flew United trans-Atlantic, I selected an aisle seat months in advance, only to find it occupied when I boarded. A couple flying with their child wanted to sit all together, so one parent just took my seat. The FA put me in a middle seat, but it was in E+. It seems like a fairer resolution than putting the whole family up there.

Weasel well your name fits

I also think all efforts should be made to keep younger (under 12) children with a parent.

As an aside, I was recently on a AA flight, which was full. The fight attendant put a four-year old child in the seat next to me. I was given explicit instructions that this child was my responsibility in case of an emergency.

Also, the child's mother was holding an infant on her lap, so when the little girl had to use the toilet, I accompanied her. I wasn't forced to help the little girl, but I got her to the toilet and waited by the door until she was finished, and walked with her back to her seat. Her mother was grateful, but I slightly resented being put in this position.

&quot;I was given explicit instructions that this child was my responsibility in case of an emergency.&quot;

I think that's pretty outrageous. If the airline couldn't jiggle things to put the child next to the parent, that should not be the responsibility of whatever passenger happens to be there. If anything happened, the airline would not have a legal (or moral) leg to stand on by saying they &quot;volunteered&quot; a stranger to take responsibility.

BTW, although posters seem to be thinking that that OP's kids were originally seated all alone, is that true? There were 3 other people in the party, so it could be that each kid was seated with one parent, but not both parents. That's a different situation, isn't it?

This whole &quot;problem&quot; of family not getting seats together is all caused by US airlines handling out pre-assignments. Well, I have to say in general it works pretty well, as most airlines shut down the feature once a particular threshold of percentage of seats assigned is crossed; after that, the seats are only assinged by airport staff on day of travel so that chances are 5 people traveling together won't have 5 middle seats, all scattered.

Those 5 may not be able to sit altogether, that's for sure. But the alternative is to do what many European and Asian airlines do - i.e. no seat pre-assignemnts. You get what you get at the airport. Is that what people want? And shouldn't the people who commit to purchase a ticket earlier be awarded the choice to pick their seats sooner?

I agree KT, that's absolutely shocking. With all the news items about sleeping women traveling alone being fondled by perverts sitting next to them there is no way on God's green Earth I would allow my child to be &quot;assigned&quot; to a stranger!

I agree KT, that's absolutely shocking. With all the news items about sleeping women traveling alone being fondled by perverts sitting next to them there is no way on God's green Earth I would allow my child to be &quot;assigned&quot; to a stranger! Kane, I hope that woman bought a lottery ticket when she got off because it must have been her lucky day that her daughter was seated next to you!

Actually, I wasn't thinking so much about the stranger being a danger to the child as about making a stranger responsible for caring for the child in case of emergency. Either way, though, it's pretty outrageous.

KT,

In my situation, the flight attendant said that even if the child could sit next to her mother, the mother already had responsibility for the infant she was carrying on her lap. In other words, in an emergency situation, she could not help both children.

Even if she sat beside the kid you'd be responsible? Huh? Did they also suggest you accompany her for the rest of her trip in case there was an emergency in the street, on a bus, etc. because she wouldn't be able to handle two kids? I never realized when sitting next to one parent with two children that one of the kids was my responsibility, not the parent's.

Okay, I was the one that started this so I will make a few points.

First, realizing that getting 5 seats together could be a challenge, I purposely booked 5 months ahead of time. If this problem came as a result of my procrastination, then it would be an issue I created myself.

The seats that were originally offered were spread as 3 singles throughout the aircraft and one pair. Not a big deal if it were 5 adults traveling or even adults and a few teenagers. But this was 3 adults (one 81 yrs old) and 2 eight yr old girls (my daughter and her friend). So, do I put both girls together as the pair or do I choose which one was to sit with an adult? Mind you, the parents of my daughter's friend are very good friend's of ours and are entrusting us for a week with their child. So how would it look if I had their child sitting alone? By the same token, I would not have my child sit alone either and I don't think it would be wise to have them sit together. For one, safety and for the other, it simply it is not fair to the passenger sitting next to the child or children. Any person that thinks 8 yr olds sitting alone is no big deal is simply idiotic or does not have children. The fact that &quot;8 yr olds fly alone all the time&quot; is a whole other subject that I can rant about under a different thread.

With all this said, it appears that although my agent did a good job getting us close together after the initial problem, she did not know about these Economy + seats. However, the person from United my agent talked to could have also explained the situation and offered the seats in the Ecomny+ section for an additional cost. She did not. All she said was &quot;those seats were not available at that fare&quot;. Too bad as I may have taken her up on the offer. But what is done is done. Live and learn. Hell, we are going to Kauai, we have our seats and we are happy!

I do think this policy is silly. Based upon the responses, it appears that it definitely creates booking problems.

Thanks for the education!

In all likelihood, when you get to the gate they will be able to arrange for you all to sit together.