|
Re: Why are United SO Crap ?
United are fine if you don't travel as a coach-roach ;)
Heading back home from Tokyo - boarding in half an hour - onto a relatively new United 777-300ER if the flight home is similar to the one out here, I'll be very satisfied. Sitting in the back - on any airline - is no fun. If you want creature comforts in the air, buy biz or above - or persuade your clients to cough-up, which is what I do. |
Re: Why are United SO Crap ?
Originally Posted by Awesome Welles
(Post 10209543)
Sitting in the back - on any airline - is no fun. If you want creature comforts in the air, buy biz or above - or persuade your clients to cough-up, which is what I do.
Why when the word bus!ness is typed does BE turn it into a dodgy hyperlink...? |
Re: Why are United SO Crap ?
I've flown domestically 8 times r/t in the past 10 years but the staff was "not helpful" and they gave you an attitude that you were bothering them. I work in customer service so I'm pretty sensitive to someone being busy or just frazzled, but the workers had real attitudes.
With the new tarmac rules the canceling and changing times or flights was crazy too. If they say the flight will be delayed an hour, don't go off for an hour. They might change it again to board sooner and you will miss it. |
Re: Why are United SO Crap ?
Originally Posted by civilservant
(Post 10209516)
Most of the legacy mainline carriers are still really struggling under the weight of increasing fuel prices - particularly the likes of Delta who are still flying 40 year old ridiculously inefficient DC9s and MD80s. From what I can see I'm not entirely convinced the RyanAir model would work in the US, due to the long distances (few rotations a day, lower utilization of airframes) and the hub and spoke model being prevalent.
Not a significant number when they have 773 aircraft in the fleet. Overall the average age in the Delta fleet is only 16 years old. The MD-88's are not what I would called ridiculously old either, this variation only went into service in 1986, and clearly Delta feels they serve a purpose in the fleet. Have to remember as well Delta is receiving a large number of 717's from Southwest in the coming years, and they are a relatively young and efficient aircraft. The thing is many US Airlines simply have huge fleets and cannot replace their aircraft quickly and have to get maximum use of the aircraft over the life of the aircraft. Ryan air for example only has 275 aircraft, easyjet only has 191 (per wikipedia). American has 617 in the mainline fleet and 281 at American Eagle. United has 700 or so. Southwest has (including subsidiary Airtran) have 698 aircraft. The US Airlines also have a huge and competitive domestic market where price is valued over service. Passengers in the US have chosen and spoken and have demanded low fares over better service. |
Re: Why are United SO Crap ?
Originally Posted by dlake02
(Post 10208949)
I had the fortune of traveling to Vancouver (great place - friendly people, more European "feel" and lovely to hear French and English being spoken) this last week.
My first experience of Canada was superb - dulled by my second experience of flying United on "internal" flights. I flew SFO T3/YVR - the contrast between the appallingly rude, stupid and surly staff at SFO, the complete lack of facilities at an airport that British Rail in 1973 would have been proud of as an station and modern, clean, elegant YVR was stark. Couple with the fact that United fleeced me for $25 for a bag at SFO without so much as a smile, that the queue to check-in at SFO was 50 mins and NOTHING at YVR, that the gate at SFO looked like something out of the third world and that once on board, it was obvious that passengers are quite frankly a pain to the flight attendants who really just want a good chin-wag for 2 hours with their mates plus on a 2-hour flight, there was one small soft drink and no food, not even to pay for. I flew London/Barcelona with EasyJet a couple of weeks ago - nice, friendly staff that really couldn't do enough for you, modern airports both sides (LGW North and BCN), cheap (MUCH cheaper than I've ever seen any fare for here). Is it me, or is the US airline industry in need of a massive kick up the Bishop Brennan ? There appears to be no low-cost - granted there is SouthWest, but where is the equivalent of the 19-quid fare Ryan Air, FlyBe and EasyJet often advertise ? Why can't Ryan Air or Stelios come here and introduce some true competition into this quasi state-run mess ? Is it obvious to the US government that all the US-owned carriers would be out-of-business in a few days if real competition and service was introduced ? I thought the "land-of-the-free" was pro Free Trade - or is that only if it is loaded in THEIR favour ? They tried to charge us $1700 for a lap infant (in business). They lost one bag on the way out. They lost two infant car seats (yikes) on the way back. So yes, they are CRAP. My husband spent a LOT of time on the phone with them trying to sort out the problems and this was part of their excuse. It turns out that the Continental Systems wouldn't work with the United systems, so all systems had to be downgraded to Continental version which was a few iterations behind United. There is an upgrade on the way but it's late and should be ready by Jan. I still don't believe it would have solved our problems but that was one of the reasons they gave us for our issues. |
Re: Why are United SO Crap ?
Originally Posted by jackattack
(Post 10210682)
We just flew to the UK and back (with a stopover in Boston) with United and it was a bit of a disaster. We were flying with one kid and twin newborns so it was never going to be a dream of a trip but United made it much worse.
They tried to charge us $1700 for a lap infant (in business). They lost one bag on the way out. They lost two infant car seats (yikes) on the way back. So yes, they are CRAP. My husband spent a LOT of time on the phone with them trying to sort out the problems and this was part of their excuse. It turns out that the Continental Systems wouldn't work with the United systems, so all systems had to be downgraded to Continental version which was a few iterations behind United. There is an upgrade on the way but it's late and should be ready by Jan. I still don't believe it would have solved our problems but that was one of the reasons they gave us for our issues. Like I said earlier it is CO masquerading as UA. It is CO computer systems, which includes the reservation systems, half the time the c/s agents can't see upgrade inventory which the customer can see online. Plus it is COs management who were always number crunchers who never saw a value in customer service. Been flying UA across the pond for 18 years and UA ceased to exist March this year, it's now everything that was bad about CO. Still there is a bright side, they just charged me $1268 each for two business class tickets to LHR, and insist when I queried it that they had taken the upgrade service fee and that the tickets are fully paid for. It's fully ticketed and we have seats 1A and 1C, go figure. :thumbsup: |
Re: Why are United SO Crap ?
Originally Posted by lansbury
(Post 10210710)
Still there is a bright side, they just charged me $1268 each for two business class tickets to LHR, and insist when I queried it that they had taken the upgrade service fee and that the tickets are fully paid for. It's fully ticketed and we have seats 1A and 1C, go figure. :thumbsup: While standing at SFO trying to check in for the outward portion, the check in chick told us it was $1700 for the lap infant (my husband was in business class thanks to a strategically timed work trip). We protested and said that the other infant only cost us $50. Anyway, it took her about an hour on the phone and every 10 minutes, the price went down about $300! we cut her off at about $800 since we were worried about missing the flight. We told her we would contest the price once we got to the UK but the charge never appeared on our credit cards. :thumbsup: |
Re: Why are United SO Crap ?
Originally Posted by Jsmth321
(Post 10210615)
The US Airlines also have a huge and competitive domestic market where price is valued over service.
Passengers in the US have chosen and spoken and have demanded low fares over better service. |
Re: Why are United SO Crap ?
Originally Posted by Yorkieabroad
(Post 10210866)
I don't understand this bit - do you mean the US domestic airlines are providing cheap but crap service because thats what the customers want? I'd say its the other way round...I can fly UK-Europe cheap with crap service, but in the US I get the crap service without the cheap flights....Maybe its just the routes that we fly, but I've never really found the dirt cheap flights here.
Ryan air isn't exactly known for good service, and how much does that cheap ticket cost after all their fees? Take away Ryan Air and Easyjet, how many airlines are offering dirt cheap fares? In the US you have Spirit for dirt cheap fares, and to a lesser extent Allegiant. Overall working in customer service sucks, employees are not paid well, and not treated well, which also leads to poor service. Employees have no incentive to provide good service when their company creates a poor working environment. More and more airlines contract out the customer service work, they might have airline uniform on, but at many airports they are close to min. wage employees working for a 3rd party who likely pays close to min. wage, little or no benefits. |
Re: Why are United SO Crap ?
I wouldn't get on any of the 'cheap' regional airlines anyway. Worse maintenance, less experienced crews, generally older equipment = more crashes. Haven't 90% of the fatal crashes in the US over the last 10 years been regionals? I'll pay more and fly with a major thanks.
|
Re: Why are United SO Crap ?
Journalist visits United recently and gets the inside scoop on how they handle certain problems and service issues.
I'm sure it's all spun in favour of United, but thought as we were discussing the airline it might be of interest to someone. |
Re: Why are United SO Crap ?
|
Re: Why are United SO Crap ?
Airfare in the US is far from expensive, and yes passengers here dont want to pay for better service, so the airlines cut service to offer what the passengers want, cheapest price possible. Few airline passengers care what airline they take, majority shop by price and time. Ryan air isn't exactly known for good service, and how much does that cheap ticket cost after all their fees? Take away Ryan Air and Easyjet, how many airlines are offering dirt cheap fares? In the US you have Spirit for dirt cheap fares, and to a lesser extent Allegiant. I have a choice of 8 flights a day with Easyjet from LGW, an equal number with RyanAir, 4 from Monarch. Or BA/Iberia at LHR, EasyJet and RyanAir at Luton and Stanstead. Book now for November and it's #19 each way with EasyJet - add #10 for a bag each way. Take a typical equivalent US route where fuel is essentially free, labour is cheaper, planes are older - SJC/SAN. The CHEAPEST is $100 each way if I book ahead with SouthWest. From SJC, I get a choice of SouthWest or SouthWest. I can schelp up to SFO for Virgin America, but their base price starts at $166. United want $440 return And then you have to pay for a bag. (BTW, Virgin America is EXCELLENT - as is SouthWest - they are just over-priced). So, US airlines are charging MORE for LESS service than their EU counterparts. I've always found EasyJet to be very good - I don't want frills, and they don't provide it, but they do provide a cheap price, regular service on a very young fleet. Employees have no incentive to provide good service when their company creates a poor working environment. More and more airlines contract out the customer service work, they might have airline uniform on, but at many airports they are close to min. wage employees working for a 3rd party who likely pays close to min. wage, little or no benefits. Frankly, it would be better to allow full and open competition and let a few of these hopeless airlines fail. I don't think the employees are a problem - the flight attendant on SouthWest last night liked my "accent" and started chatting to me about how she had worked for United for 25 years, left to join SouthWest and had never been happier. Close some of these behemoths and bring in full de-regulation. It's a market ripe for the picking... |
Re: Why are United SO Crap ?
Originally Posted by civilservant
(Post 10211646)
Quite like the sound of: United's 787 cabins will hold 219 passengers, outfitted with 36 seats in "BusinessFirst" that convert to lie-flat beds, with 72 seats in premium economy. The 111 remaining coach seats are standard coach-class seats. http://www.sevenstarsandstripes.com/...Class-Seat.gif |
Re: Why are United SO Crap ?
I don't understand this bit - do you mean the US domestic airlines are providing cheap but crap service because thats what the customers want? I'd say its the other way round...I can fly UK-Europe cheap with crap service, but in the US I get the crap service without the cheap flights....Maybe its just the routes that we fly, but I've never really found the dirt cheap flights here. Crap service on United is NOT fine if you've shelled out $356 each way SFO/YVR (a 2 hour flight served by United or Air Canada who appear to be a code-share with..... UNITED ! and no-one else) |
| All times are GMT -12. The time now is 12:23 pm. |
Powered by vBulletin: ©2000 - 2026, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.