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Not So Friendly Skies
updated: Jul 13, 2012, 8:35 PM

By Edhat Subscriber

I have a flight early tomorrow morning and United Airlines Online won't let me check in. I called the number they provided and talked at length to a computer.
It finally transferred me to the cue to talk to an agent. The message says the wait is 50-60 minutes and they continually play messages to you at high volume while you wait.

Has anyone else had this happen with United? How do they stay in business with service like this?

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 297355	2012-07-13 08:45 PM
Yes. Every time I've had to reach them. Their customer service is horrible.
KENDOVIEJO	2012-07-13 09:07 PM
I haven't tried to reach customer service since the merger, but in 2010 I had a very helpful United agent work with me for well over an hour to find a way to use my Mileage Plus miles and my wife's Mileage Plus miles for two business class award tickets to Australia. Even though the website said no award seats were available anywhere near when we wanted to travel, she was able to book us on a combination of United and a partner, Air Canada. I was very impressed with the service and very grateful for the help.
COMMENT 297366P	2012-07-13 09:39 PM
Deregulation of airlines and most other businesses has not been good in providing better service, but perhaps prices are decent. It's what the populace wanted however - to get government off our backs.
COMMENT 297370P	2012-07-13 09:53 PM
UAL is the absolute WORST of all airlines customer service & even trying to get a "live person" on the other end of the phone.
MESARATS	2012-07-14 12:33 AM
Since they merged with Contenential it has been horrible. The computer systems have been so screwed up it is beyond bad. I have been 1k with United for years an that doesn't help Llately with cancelled or delayed flights I can wait on the phone for a hour and then have to tell them what flights are available to rebook. A tip that sometimes works on the phone, when they give you a option of domestic or international take the international
COMMENT 297383P	2012-07-14 12:34 AM
Try 1-800-225-8900 I have status with them and this is the number they gave me never waited longer than 5 minutes and that was during a busy period. When they ask for your FF number just say don't have it thru prompts until it transfers to a agent.
COMMENT 297389	2012-07-14 06:21 AM
I agree with Mesarats. I had a similar experience with UAL in June. Their own agents have to call for tech support when re-booking cancelled flights. Nobody seems to know what to do.
COMMENT 297392	2012-07-14 06:35 AM
Booking flights is better than flying United, and both are really poor. Only an emergency will see me on a United flight again.
COMMENT 297424	2012-07-14 08:01 AM
The only time I've had to wait longer than 30 seconds to speak with an agent on American has been when there was a major crisis that overwhelmed the system (ie blizzard).
COMMENT 297433	2012-07-14 08:31 AM
I'm a 1k flyer and generally get treated ok. The folks at the back of the bus seem to get crapped on regularly. And I can only imagine the horror of being a United employee or retiree if this is how they treat customers. Delta is probably the best domestic airline for service, but I stopped flying them when they cancelled the direct SBA-SLC flight. I find the United iPhone App to be fantastic. But anything is better than the POS United website they implemented after the Continental merger.
COMMENT 297436	2012-07-14 08:37 AM
Your flight # might be a "code share" with another airline. If that's the case you might experience problems with self-check. I agree UAL is a poor in customer service. It took them more than 4 months to settle a damaged (destroyed) piece of luggage claim we had.
SBALAX	2012-07-14 09:08 AM
We are an "Ex-Con" family -- one of us worked for Continental for over 40 years and now works for s-CO (subsidiary Continental) of UCH (United Continental Holdings). Most of the problems that customers (and employees) are experiencing are coming from the switch to a single computer system. United did not own Apollo so the switch was made to Sonic/Shares, the Continental owned system. If you get a former Continental employee there should be few problems. United employees are having a tough time adapting to the different system in spite of quite a bit of training and tech support. Hopefully things will smooth out with time. From our side of the fence we see things becoming more and more "Continental" than United both on the ground and in the air.
COMMENT 297460	2012-07-14 09:14 AM
I believe the outsourcing of United customer calls to a third world country call center is my biggest source of frustration. Very polite operators, but very ineffective. Sorry, but it's true.
COMMENT 297494	2012-07-14 10:34 AM
I'll add the next voice of frustration to the long list. SBALAX's points are very well taken, but my experiences with United in March (and ongoing) have been unimaginably poor. My main complaint is that they do not respond, you can't get anyone to handle a complaint. Currently I am trying to reach their "customer service" people--who their agents don't even have an internal phone number for--via my travel agency AAA, but not even AAA can get a response out of United. The bottom line is there has been a decision made at the top to make customer service United's lowest priority, and all we can do is refuse to tolerate it and fly elsewhere.
COMMENT 297564	2012-07-14 12:53 PM
I refuse to fly United . . . ever since they treated me and my mobility issues like a hunk of trash and used a commercial fork lift (with no safety railing) to get me into a plane! Check out untied.com (just flip the 't' and 'i') and you will discover a whole world of people unhappy with UAL.

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