Luggage & Delays
NO A/C, 110 DEGREES, AND A FULL PLANESeveral years ago I was on a business trip from Ontario, CA to DFW. I arrived at the airport with time to spare and waited for my flight. We eventually boarded--a full flight. As we were getting buckled in, I heard the flight attendant talking to a gentleman seated across the aisle and behind me. I barely caught the conversation, but I did hear the word "delay." When the flight attendant left I asked the gentleman what was going on. He explained that the flight attendant had told him that there was "weather" at DFW and that there would be a delay in our takeoff.
For those of you who are aware of "weather" in DFW, you know that it can cause significant delays. This was in the summer in California--the temperature in Ontario was around 110 degrees. We pulled out from the terminal and the captain announced that we were unable to take off due to the weather in Texas and that we'd sit on the tarmac until we could take off. Then he cut the engines (which also cut off the A/C). The flight attendants suggested we close the windows to suppress the midday sun from coming in and heating us more than we already were.
There we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours. We were given sips (seriously--less than 1/2 a cup at a time) of water and nothing more. No A/C, 110 degrees, full plane. We were sweating and it was getting rather smelly.
Finally after two hours it was announced that we were going back to the gate but that if you got off of the plane you couldn't get back on. I'm okay with that--there's no way I'm staying after those two grueling hours! I deplane (thank goodness I only had a carry on bag!) and call to cancel my hotel stay and get back to my car and drive home (another two hours in rush hour traffic).
Later that night, I got on the internet to check the status of the flight I was supposed to take. Originally it was to arrive in DFW at approximately 6 PM after taking off from Ontario around 2 PM. At 10 PM it was still in flight--circling DFW. It finally landed around 5 AM! Had I been on the flight, I would have probably been late to the business meeting and would have never seen the hotel as I was scheduled to return home that afternoon. That was one business meeting I was glad to have missed!
LOST BAG LEADS TO LOST BUSINESS
After twenty years of flying, for the first time I've encountered the frustration of an airline loosing my bag permanently! It's now been two months and there's no sign of it anywhere! It's just vanished! As if that's not bad enough, this is a slightly unique circumstance. I'm at my wits end, and at this point have given up hope of ever seeing my belongings again! I presuming it stolen in NYC. Either by Jet Blue employees, or by a thief off the street preying on the unattended baggage claim after passengers have cleared away! Either way, I suppose all my stuff has long been sold at a discount rate somewhere on the streets on New York City!
On August 26, 2008 I moved from Maine, to Berlin, Germany to work at a friend's hostel/hotel operation long-term, with no plans on coming home soon. I had two one-way tickets. The first going with Jet Blue from Portland, Maine to JFK. The second with LTU/Air Berlin flying JFK-DUS-TXL, with 200 lbs of luggage accompanying me, as well as my cat flying as carry-on bag. The Air Berlin portion went flawlessly! No problems or complaints! However, I was "screwed blue" by Jet Blue!
I checked in at PWM for JetBlue flight 603, at 11:15am to JFK. My AB flight departed at 5:45pm giving me plenty of time for delays and whatnot. I checked in with a backpack, a smaller suitcase, and a large heavy suitcase with absolutely ALL of my clothing and accessories in it! Even my socks and underwear! Plus, 2 lbs of tobacco, a 1.5 liter bottle of premium vodka, my cell phone charger, and two months worth of needed prescription medication, which I can no longer replace with my insurance because the policy ended when I resigned from my job in Maine! I paid extra for the third bag, as well as an additional $100 for the cat.
Anyway, we get to JFK not more than 1.6 hours after I check in at Portland. I'm at the bag claim when the bags come off the plane, and my first two come off, but no sign of the large bag with all the clothing and medication in it! After a while, it's clear there are no more bags, so I go to the Jet Blue Claim office, and after twenty minutes they discover it's still at PWM, but they tell me they will put it on the next flight at 7pm. Just one problem.... I tell them I'm moving overseas, and I'm on a one-way ticket with another carrier to Europe, and that flight leaves three hours before the next flight from Portland arrives at JFK with the bag. This gets their attention a bit! After a few minutes, they take a claim and get my new address in Germany and assure me they will Fedex the bag to Berlin at no charge to me, within 2-3 days! At first this seemed great, because it was so heavy, it would have cost me quite a bit in excess weight charges under Air Berlin's baggage allowance policy. So, I happily walk out of the office and off to the next terminal thinking "No problems, the bag will come right to Berlin! That's great! Jet Blue is willing to help me out that way! Surly it must cost $400-500 to Fedex a heavy bag to Europe?"
Well, I get to Berlin the next morning and send the Jet Blue agent I dealt with an e-mail at JFK Claim with a slight correction of the shipping address for the bag. I told them to postpone shipping it until I could confirm I had the address right, and they agreed. Two days go by with no reply, and no bag! By the third day, I get an e-mail stating that they cannot find the bag at either JFK or PWM. When they learned of the medication in it they put out an alert to all stations to check all unclaimed luggage. Another two days go by. No luck locating my bag! Finally, my cell phone battery dies, so I had to get in touch with a relative in Maine who's been calling and e-mailing Jet Blue on my behalf to relay messages for me. Jet Blue tells me I can spend $100 the first week, save receipts and they'll reimburse me. Not really the answer I was looking for! Two reps tell me that after a week, I can submit an application for a lost bag settlement. So I've wait another two days when I wake up to an e-mail from a representative at Jet Blue's Salt Lake City lost bag department. According to him, the claim has been transferred out of NYC to SLC. He tells me that they have no idea where the bag is, and to replace the clothing they'll need original receipts of all items in the bag! Plus they'll need all this within 15 days!
Now, I don't know about you, but I never save clothing receipts more than a week or so after I've bought clothes, tried them on, washed them, and seen they fit all right! I bought all these clothes between three months and a year ago. Most were new, never worn, bought with cash, and on top of that, fairly expensive! I, of course have no receipts for these clothes, nor could I ever tell you which stores and where I bought all of it!
Eventually after much run-around and arguing with them, after civility failed, they agree I can submit my claim with a rough estimate of all the goods in the bag. I do my best, but there was so much stuff packed last minute, that I probably missed some items? Well, they tell me my claim will take forty days to process. In the meantime I'm in a new city, far from home, and trying to get ready to start a new job within a couple of days. With the weak dollar, the $100 they gave me for the first week barely purchased me two shirts, some underwear, socks, and hygiene items! I'm completely unprepared to start working, but I push on regardless, and wait the forty days. All my belongings were worth roughly $1,600 dollars. After forty days of wearing the same two shirts, and one pair of casual jeans I wore on the flight over, and having basically no clothing, Jet Blue finally gets back to me saying they're offering me a measly $550 for the lost items! I DON'T THINK SO! So I refuse the offer, give them 14 days to reconsider and then threaten to take things to small claims. At this point they decide they need another 14 days to reconsider, all the while it's getting colder and colder out in Germany and I have no damn clothes! Let alone winter gear! So now, they've finally replied and upped their "final" offer to $1,000! Maybe that would reimburse me for 2/3 back home, but I'm in Europe the weak dollar isn't going to cut it! Not to mention all the styles here are different, not my thing, and sized for very fit and trim people. I'm 15 lbs overweight, but in Europe that's FAT, so good luck finding any decent clothes that fit without going back to the USA.
It's been two months today, and I'm debating whether to take their offer or take it to small claims. However, there's no way it's worth the money to fly back to the USA for court, only to get the $1500. That would barely cover to flight!
I use to recommend Jet Blue to everybody, and would even pay more to fly them with the major carrier's fares were priced below Jet Blue's. After doing a bit of research online it appears Jet Blue has a major problem with stolen bags and goods at JFK. I want to say I'll never fly them again, but rationally I realize all airlines loose bags. It's just the service level I've received from them in resolving the situation and finding the bag is completely unacceptable in my mind. They absolutely could care less I moved to a foreign country and arrived with almost nothing that I need to conduct daily life! I'm so fed up with the situation I wish the whole airline would die and burn in hell! So much for my loyalty! Oh yeah, JetBlue... You can keep the $100 voucher for my next flight. I don't think I'm going to be using it! How about investing in a baggage tracking system, and monitoring your JFK bag handlers with cameras since they seem to have an established problem there? Just read all the horror stories online about people having bags, and things in their bags stolen by Jet Blue staff at JFK! GO TO HELL!
Wishing you Bankrupt Soon,
Adam T. McLemore
OVERHEAD BIN BLUES
This took place quite a while ago, but it seems some things never change. In 1984 (yes, '84) my husband and I went to Europe on our honeymoon, making several stops. The last visit was to London. We were booked on British Air for the return flight to the USA. I believe the plane was a 747. We boarded the plane, and attempted to put some of our wonderful souvenirs in the overhead bin, only to find that the ENTIRE bin was taken up by one very large, very heavy suitcase. We called the stewardess over and she determined that the bag belonged to the fellow in the aisle seat across from us (we were in the center section). He smiled and said, yes, that it was his and he was bringing POTS & PANS to his relatives in the USA! After determining who the bag belonged to, the stewardess took charge of the situation by . . . walking away and doing nothing. Nada, zip, zilch. All of the surrounding bins were also full, and we had to stow our belongings under our seats . . . under the seats in front of us . . . you get the idea. Add to this, the owner of the bag was a dead ringer for Yasser Arafat, minus the head piece. I for one am now very glad about carryon limits.
U SUCK AIR
I was invited to my nephew's wedding and had great anticipation of a lovely day. My flight was delayed, and they said they would re-direct me to Buffalo. I was flying out of Tampa on (as I like to call now) U Suck Air.
I was to meet my brother in Charlotte, N.C. and continue on to Buffalo. Well, long story short, I ended up in Philly and I have never flown before unaccompanied. I did not know about finding a terminal, I was completely on my own, a wonderful woman who worked for the janitorial services in Philly accompanied me to where I was to go (I was in tears).
I approached the gate and was told my flight was not arriving for an hour and to sit back or enjoy the building. Being a smoker I went outside and upon my re-entry had to go through security again. OK, I really want to be barefoot with all the germs that are on the floor from other people. Upon my arrival back to the gate I heard over the loud speaker that my flight was cancelled. Not delayed, cancelled. I was sent to another gate where the bitch from hell works and asked if I could fly standby as I was told to do. That's when I heard the seats are reserved for people with tickets, all the while holding mine and wondering if I was going to make it to the wedding.
Now, I had to walk across a rain-filled tarmac and lift my arthritic legs up a foot. I fell back due to my carry on. After boarding there was a woman who was using my seat as a tray while she ate. She told me she'd be done in a minute, whereupon I pushed my way through as there were passengers waiting to be seated behind me. THEN IT WAS A PROPELLER PLANE AND I WAS SITTING BESIDE THEM.
At last I got to where I was supposed to be,12 hours later, and my brother had waited for me. I came out of the washroom there because my seatmate fell asleep (gas passed and all) and I dared not disturb her. And he was there, thank God.
The only thing left was for them to lose my luggage, and they did just that. I was in Toronto for 5 days wearing my sister's clothes and I had $3,000 worth of clothes left in Philly.
The wedding was wonderful and my flight back with Jet Blue was a total treat. Go Jet Blue, U.S. Air. Well, now you know why I call it U Suck Air. I got my luggage back in Tampa, another hour's drive there and back. 10/08
COMPENSATED WITH A COOKIE AND WATER
So, this is not a flight I was on but my future mother-in-law. I am getting married this weekend and my future wife's mother was to fly in last night on Delta Airlines from JFK to Denver. My fiancé and her mother were to have a special mother/daughter day of pampering. Her flight was scheduled to leave JFK at approximately 10:30 PM. She arrived at the airport at 3:00 PM as it took her 3 hours to get to the airport last time and didn't want to miss her flight for such an important event.
Due to weather and her plane being late, her flight was pushed back to 12:30 AM. OK, this happens. Then it was pushed to 2:30 AM when they finally cancelled the flight.
Delta cancelled the flight. Delta refused to offer a hotel room, so my future mother-in-law spent the night on the floor of JFK. Delta refused to put her on another carrier, which would have gotten her in Denver at least early today.
As it stands now, she is waiting to catch the next flight Delta would put her on, which leaves JFK at approximately 4:30 today and goes to Atlanta, then flies to Denver, arriving after midnight tonight.
So she has been at JFK since 3:00 PM yesterday and won't arrive until after midnight tonight. The whole mother/daughter day before the wedding is ruined thanks to Delta.
The only compensation offered was a cookie and water......and they took the water away when they had to go back through security after retrieving their luggage.
I will never fly Delta again. My future wife and mother-in-law will never fly Delta again. My parents, who live in Atlanta and have flown Delta their whole lives, plan to cancel their Delta frequent flyer Amex's and not fly Delta again. 8/08
FREQUENT FLYER'S INTRICATE ITINERARY
I am a loyal AA Platinum member - but still shop to make certain I have a good fare. Travelling to MCO last March I found a nice fare on AA which required two flight changes, but it was a Saturday so I was fine with that. The itinerary was MCI-ORD-LGA-MCO departing MCI at 1155 and arriving MCO at 2130. The first segment, MCI-ORD went without a hitch. ORD-LGA was first delayed 30 minutes before boarding, and then diverted to BWI due to WX at LGA. We arrived LGA too late for the connect to MCO. The gate agent at LGA wanted to send out the next morning LGA-DFW-MCO. I suggested she instead put me on the next flight to MIA (which was sitting two gates down delayed several hours) and connect at 0620 the next morning MIA-MCO. She thought that was a grand idea - but I had to go back through security to claim my checked luggage and re-check the bag - which I did as there was ample time before the 2330 delayed departure. Arrived MIA at about 0300 and stayed in the terminal to wait for the 0620 flight - which now showed an 0715 departure due to crew. We pulled away from the gate at 0715, and promptly pulled back into the gate to repair a mechanical - about a 35 minute delay. Again, we left the gate and halfway to the end of the runway the pilot announced a return to the gate for another mechanical. I arrived MCO at 1040 Sunday local time - about 22 hours after departure from MCI. My bags did not. My bags arrived Monday at about 1030. On the return flight I had yet again another three segment flight at MY choice as I wanted to ride an A-300 - this time MCO-MIA-DFW-MCI. The flights went as advertised and I arrived close to on-time at MCI on Thursday. My bags arrived at two different times - one arrived later Thursday night and the other arrived around noon Friday. This trip was a dream. 7/08
SHANGHAI SHUFFLE
My first trip to Shanghai was in December 2006-January 2007 and lasted two weeks. I flew on AA to and from my town to Dallas and to and from Dallas to San Francisco, then took UA to and from Shanghai. This will become relevant soon.
When I got to my local airport at some wee hour in the morning, we found it locked tight as a drum and dead silent. Luckily, we still had time to floor it to Dallas (a two-hour drive) so I could board my plane there. It turned out that my travel agent had booked the flights to and from my town to Dallas separately so my whole itinerary didn't get cancelled in the end, which was incredibly lucky for me. The kicker was that I had checked with her the day before to make sure all of my flights were as scheduled. I have written to AA (the only carrier out of my local airport) and called the airport about this, but they pretty much said I was out of luck when it comes to a refund because I voluntarily skipped out of the flight. But had I waited for them, I would have missed all of my other flights and been just plumb out of luck.
That's only half of it.
I got to Shanghai okay except one of my bags was missing. It turned out that UA never even got the bag. It was still in San Francisco. I finally got the bag a week into my trip and the airport even had it delivered to my hotel room door. Very nice! I had no complaints about that, but little did I know my trip was about to get much worse.
Shanghai to San Francisco went well, and then it was onward to Dallas. Well, at this time there was a huge ice storm that had grounded a lot of flights across the country. We waited in our 777 (they had "upgraded" our plane because of an overbooking; it was supposed to be a smaller plane) as a Super-80 took its time getting out of the gate because of the icy weather conditions. When I got in to the airport, we were informed that we would be staying in Dallas for at least three days. Of course, I was not allowed to reclaim my luggage for those three days even though I was willing to have to check it again when I was about to go home. So a few fellow travelers and I got shuttled to a Days Inn (a place which was a story in and of itself) and basically called our airline every morning, afternoon, and evening for flight status. I had a friend who lived 2 hours to the south of Dallas; I asked if he could come and get me because his town had not been hit by the ice, but then it flooded so that was out of the question.
I was getting very antsy by the third day, especially because I was only a two-hour drive away from home. I ended up staying five days because I was stubborn and didn't want to take AA's bus back (which was going on days that the Greyhounds didn't even run because of the ice) because I had paid for a plane ticket. So, after all of that, I got home and my luggage was already there waiting for me. I didn't know this, though, and waited at the carousel and nearly had a heart attack when it didn't show up. Luckily I saw it when I went to the desk, but then the SOB on a power trip behind the counter would not let me have my bags despite the fact that I showed him my passport that matched the name on my luggage tags! He said that they were too busy and that I would have to come back next week or so to pick it up. Needless to say, I objected to that, and he looked very inconvenienced when I made him walk ten feet to get my luggage and another ten feet to bring it over. I understand that the weather had messed half of the country up, but I thought that was ridiculous.
That was the last time I ever flew AA and I learned an important lesson: when flying overseas, try to stick to one airline! I stuck with UA for my second trip to Shanghai that summer and everything was fine, and I will for my next trip this December for my wedding. :) 6/08
LIVING AT THE TERMINAL
Three months ago my boyfriend's brother...call him "Tom", calls us to say he is coming to visit for 3 days. My boyfriend....call him "Jerry", hasn't seen his brother in 3 years so we are very excited. He gets a flight from Philly PA to Dubuque IA with a layover in Chicago. He leaves Philly at 6:30 AM and was expected to be in Dubuque at 9 AM. We get up and leave at 4:30 AM and leave Southeast IA to drive the 4 1/2 hours to Dubuque. As we are leaving the house he calls to say his flight has been delayed and won't be in until noon. So we stop in the nearest town and get some breakfast and do some shopping.
We get to Dubuque and he calls again to say he's in Chicago and his flight has been cancelled. Now he won't be in until 3:00 PM and its a different town. SO we drive to Iowa City and wait for the flight. At 3:00 he calls and says the flight is now coming in at the Cedar Rapids airport at 6:00 PM.
To make a long story short, we drove between Dubuque and Iowa City and Cedar Rapids until midnight that night when his flight came in. We spent $225 in gas and parking fees waiting for a flight that never came in. At 12:30 AM waiting at the terminal we discovered his bag was sent to one of the MANY other airports we were sent to. The lady at the counter had the nerve to ask why we didn't let someone know where to send the bag? LIKE THAT WAS OUR JOB! We drove home and were back in bed at you guessed it....4:30 AM. We got his bag the day he left to go back home. We asked if he could fly out of Iowa City since that was much closer than Dubuque since we had already been VERY INCONVENIENCED by the airline. They said of course not, that was not what the ticket was and there were no exceptions. That was his first and last time flying. 5/08
LOST LUGGAGE LEADS TO GRUNGE LOOK
I was invited to my niece's college graduation commencement ceremony, plus 3 formal dinners. The airline I traveled on lost my baggage. They had me go to the airport 3 different times....no baggage. We went to all the ceremonies. The relatives and friends were dressed to the nines. As for me, well I wore a pair of jeans, flannel shirt and leather jacket. No one from the airline ever apologized. Oh I got my baggage 3 days after I got home. 4/08
WATER-LOGGED LUGGAGE
This tale of frustration occurred back in the spring of 2005. I had flown from DC to Syracuse to visit family for Easter break, and my return flight had a layover in Philadelphia (where I'm originally from). I was frustrated, as Syracuse-DC is already a short flight, and Philadelphia-DC is literally less than 25 minutes from wheels up to wheels down, but it had been the cheapest option for a poor undergraduate, and I flew USAir because my miles were on the Star Alliance. My flight from Syracuse was slightly delayed due to storms up and down the East Coast, but I had a three-hour layover so it wasn't a problem. We arrived in Philadelphia without incident, and I settled in to wait for the next flight.
About an hour later, it's announced that our flight has been delayed, as the storms are closing in on Philly and air traffic has been severely affected. Being a frequent flyer, it was an annoyance but certainly not anything beyond what I'd come to expect. My fellow passengers and I kept checking periodically for updates, but the ticket counter had no information about when the flight was actually taking off. In the meantime, however, we all noticed that our luggage was being loaded onto the plane. It had also started raining at this point.
Three hours later, it was finally announced that the flight was cancelled, and that we needed to queue up to rebook. For the record, the flight was originally supposed to leave about 1:30 PM, and it was now around 3 PM. After standing in line for several minutes, I was able to get myself onto a flight around 5:30. There was no gate assignment yet so I and my fellow passengers waited at the same gate, and to our horror, noticed that our luggage that had previously been loaded onto the plane was now being taken off...and dumped unceremoniously in a giant pile on the tarmac. In what was now torrential rain. We notified the gate agents and tried to flag down a few baggage handlers that were in the terminal (it was an Express flight and so we were at tarmac level in the terminal). No one would respond, even though we were standing literally 30 feet from our bags, and I could actually see my suitcase being soaked through. At this point too, it had been announced that a ground stop had been placed on Philadelphia, and there were no planes in or out for an indefinite amount of time. I spent the next three--THREE!--hours simultaneously watching my bag remain in the luggage pile next to the plane in thunderstorm after thunderstorm, and trying to get myself onto more flights as they kept being cancelled one after another. At this point I had been at the airport for over eight hours.
I finally was able to catch a flight that left at 12:30 AM and got into Reagan at 1 AM (having spent a total of 14 hours in the airport), but I knew that my suitcase was not on the plane, having observed it STILL lying next to the original plane just before I went to the new gate. My suitcase did not get back to me until almost midnight the following day, having been very reluctantly delivered to me after much time spent on the phone with USAir. It was still soaked through when I received it. 2/08
TRAVEL TREPIDATION
I generally do my best to avoid having to "Fly the Unfriendly Skies". Two recent Flights from Hell on United only confirmed that things don't get much worse. Even if they were giving it away, I would steer clear in the future...
The night before my UA flight from San Francisco to San Diego, I received an e-mail, inviting me to check in for my flight online. I logged on to the site, only to discover through a one line message that due to technical reasons, my flight would not be operating. Instead of a direct flight at 1:45 p.m., I saw that I was now booked on connecting flights through LAX, i.e. two flights that would take far more time to get me to San Diego than the direct one that I had reserved. I called UA and asked why I had not been informed of the problem and consulted before being rebooked on flights that didn't suit me. I was told that this was because they had no contact information for me -- patently untrue since they had my e-mail address (which they used to send me the invitation to check in for my flight!) and even my telephone number (that had been provided by Expedia). I asked to be put on a direct flight and was offered flights at 7 or 8 in the morning. That didn't suit me at such short notice and when I said that was completely unacceptable, I was transferred to a lady at the international desk since I had bought my ticket abroad. She was able to find me a seat on a flight at Noon, the only available seat on a direct flight other than the ones early in the morning. While she found me a palatable solution, the delightful discovery of my changed travel plans wreaked havoc on my last day in San Francisco -- I had to cancel dinner plans at the last minute since I only discovered the change just before dinner and spent almost two hours on the phone trying to sort out the arrangements with UA. I also had to cancel an appointment the following morning since I had to get to the airport almost two hours earlier than planned.
My return trip was even more exciting. The night before my flight from San Diego to Los Angeles, I checked in online with some trepidation, wondering what surprises were in store. Everything seemed fine and I checked in for a flight that was supposed to be operating normally, despite severe rains that had disrupted travel in Northern California and that were fast approaching LA and San Diego. The next day I got to the airport well in advance and was told by the woman at check-in to just go to the gate where I would be told when I would travel. She checked my luggage on my flight, but would not tell me when I would travel, just "get to the gate quickly and speak with the agent." Apparently there were problems with the weather, but nobody explained anything and it was bedlam. The gate agent said she would put me on the next flight (a flight scheduled before mine, but that due to the delay, would leave even later than my original departure time). I asked about my bags, which had been tagged differently, and she very dismissively said that of course they would be on the flight, and stalked off. This didn't seem right, since she hadn't even bothered to see my baggage stubs, so I asked the next agent, who actually bothered to check. She said that the bags were not on the flight and they would do their best to get them on, but couldn't guarantee anything. I told her that I had an international connection out of LAX on another airline, so my bags should travel with me. She was rude when I told her that it wasn't logical to travel without my bags and said, "That's the way we do it in the U.S."
The "next flight" to LAX left even later than the announced time and was only half full. I hoped naively that this would mean that there was room in the hold for my bags. (I should mention here that we had a charming stewardess on board, who told us with barely masked glee that there would be no drink service since the flight was short and it would be bumpy. She announced a few gates for connecting flights when we arrived at LAX, but couldn't resist adding, "Don't ask me any questions, I don't have any information." By now I don't need to add that we were neither greeted nor thanked.) When I arrived at LAX, no surprises, my bags weren't there. After waiting a long time by the conveyor belt, I spoke with a UA baggage agent, who told me that they would be on the next flight, expected in 15 minutes. That there was another flight in 15 minutes surprised me, since I had just experienced first hand the chaos reigning at UA in San Diego. I asked, "Are you sure the plane has left San Diego?" The response was, "Of course, otherwise how would it be here in 15 minutes?" Needless to say, he wasn't right because a few minutes later, the monitor showed that the flight would be further delayed by another 45 minutes, so of course it had not even left San Diego! I continued to wait around the baggage area and another San Diego flight arrived and my bags weren't on it. My bags finally came on yet another flight (and no, it wasn't even the flight for which the bags were tagged) and each bag appeared on a different belt in different parts of the baggage claim area!!! So despite having left a big margin (three and a half hours) for my connection at LAX, I was now in danger of missing my international flight due to UA's utter ineptness. There was no guarantee that even if I missed my flight, I would find a seat on another AF flight later that evening. I virtually ran to the Air France terminal -- a good 15 minutes away -- but it was too late. My flight had closed and I had to pay Air France a $60 change fee.
An airline like this (if you can even charitably call an airline and not just a transportation company) that treats its customers like crap deserves every financial woe it has experienced. Too bad that U.S. bankruptcy laws allow airlines like this to write off their debts and start over again. This company should just be buried since it is incapable of functioning in an increasingly competitive, customer-oriented world. As for its employees, they should be made to work at minimum wage jobs in order to understand that their salaries are indirectly paid by their customers and that it is in their own interest to treat their customers well. 1/08
TREATED AS LESS THAN CARGO
Earlier this year, we flew from Newark to Beijing on United Airlines. Since there is no direct flight, we had to make a connection in Dulles. The aircraft came in late in Newark, and we sat on the runway in Newark waiting for the 26 planes ahead of us to take off. By the time we rushed to the Dulles gate for our Beijing flight, the door had just closed - we were barely one minute late. There were at least five of us making this connection.
United Airlines knew that we were making this connection, but decided not to hold the gate for us. We then had to stand in line for over 2 hours to see a customer service person. We were told that we had been re-booked for the next day's flight to Beijing. The airline assumed no responsibility for food and lodging - so we ended up paying to stay overnight in Dulles.
This kind of cavalier attitude towards customers is deplorable. When we purchased a ticket to go from Newark to Beijing, we assumed the airline would take us there on the day and time we planned. The airline treated us as less than cargo, because even Fed Ex guarantees that their packages get there on time. 12/07
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