Perhaps I’ll Give Them Another Try

December 14, 2010 | Uncategorized

I used to enjoy flying United Airlines but stopped a few years back when they got into financial trouble.  The last thing I wanted was to be marooned someplace if the company went bankrupt.

But today United surprised me.

About a month ago, after cashing in US Airways frequent flyer points for a trip from Washington to London, I was surprised to see that they booked me on United. Well, I thought, if nothing else it would be a good opportunity to see the current state of affairs on UA.

On the day of my departure from Dulles, things seemed to be going well until about an hour before departure when an announcement was made that the flight was delayed. From that moment on things continued to go south at a pretty good pace.

The initial announcement was followed by another, and then by another and, well, you get the idea. At the 2+ hour mark we were then told we would be departing from a different far-flung gate. Once we arrived at the gate — which I had begun to think was in Siberia as I walked and walked and walked – it was then announced that this 777 was a different configuration from the previous, so many people would have to be issued new seat assignments and boarding passes.

Making matters EVEN worse, there was only one agent doing all of this, all the while yelling into the phone for reinforcements. She was getting a bit testy trying to handle nearly 300 irate passengers alone. Thank God the Calvary finally arrived from the front of the terminal.

We finally departed almost five hours late but managed to make up a few hours in the air. Then, about 20 minutes outside of Heathrow, the purser announced that to show its appreciation for our patience United would like us all go to its website for a gift.

I didn’t know what to expect when I finally went to the site just a few minutes ago, thinking perhaps UA might dole out a few frequent flyer miles or a menial discount for a future flight.

So I was surprised when I was offered my choice of either a $250 discount, or a 20% discount, on a future flight. Along with their appreciation came a nice emailed note from their customer relations person.

Despite the mess that ensued in Dulles they handled the whole situation rather well, so perhaps they are turning themselves around now that they’re merging with Continental.

Keep it up and you may see me back there in 25B again. Or, possibly, up there where they’re serving the free cocktails.

Jim Ferri