UNITED Airlines: Disgusting! A new low for me

[JSACKS 0]

Today I gave up trying to work with UNITED to fly me and my family of five from IAD to EGLL for a summer vacation. They wanted $6,000 for coach seats for us all and could not assign seats or guarantee seating in some way for all five of us on any of 8 or 9 flight options I explored with them. I've had it with UNITED on their Atlantic flights and am going to take my business and hard earned dollars elsewhere. Sad: I've been a Mileage Plus member for 26 years and been in Premier since 1987.Interestingly, I can fly to Orlando with UNITED for $140 per person and I thought about that instead. Y'know, for $140 a person, you can afford to run the risk of some cr@p happening like being bumped or delayed an hour or two (or three or five). Why? Well, you pay a low price, it's a risk for the low money.But to pay $1,200 per person for a trip to London (and be trapped in coach for 7-8 hours) and be told baldly that your family might get bumped and that seats are unassignable until you get to the airport, well, that's just a bit too rich for me.Business class and First Class is for millionaires only these days. Those rates just keep rising and rising and are impossible. Meantime, it's the folks in coach who suffer most. The airlines don't give a #### about those customers and about basic human comforts. I sometimes think that airline management just views coach pax as "Untermenschen" (sub-human, like cattle or cargo).I am kind of amazed and sorry that so many other folks actually accept this state of affairs and cave. Well, I guess I'm guilty of caving too for many years. But I've had it now. And maybe I'll just get to stay home more if that's the price.(I wonder if anybody from UNITED is reading this....)JS

[Guest PARADISE]

Sorry to hear about your experience with United. This may not make you feel any better, but my folks flew from IAD to EDDM last year on Lufthansa. They were told the same thing about not being able to make guaranteed seating arangements until they checked in for the flight. They are both in their late 70's and wanted to sit along the isle seats since "old" people usually have to go to he bathroom more often and they didn't want to disturb passengers by crawling over them. Lufthansa's reasoning for not offering guaranteed seating was that if they did that and everybody wanted to sit in row 12, for example, that they would upset more passengers that way than offering seating on a first come first choice basis. Anyway, they got to the airport early and got the seats they wanted.But you're right, airline customer service has declined tremendously in the last few years. People used to look forward to taking a trip by plane, now most dread it. Not the actual flying part of it, but all the rest of the B.S one has to go through to get to the destination. And they said that de-regulation would be a good thing:-lol John M

[Guest CRJ700FO]

With fuel prices where they are, $1200 is a good deal. There are many options going to london which keeps the price lower.All that, but still the CEO collects his millions and millions coming out of bankruptcy. They treat their employees like crap and this translates to the poor service.

[JSACKS 0]

Not true. It's not a good deal for no seating. The pricing is all fake anyway. "Click here for a $267 ticket to London" an ad says, and by the time you've finished inserting your dates and the taxes are added, it's...$1,200. And still no seat. No assignable seats. And there ARE seats on several of the flights but they are no open for assignment. Why? Because UNITED likes to overbook everything and keep you on standby.Would you be happy to pay $6,000 for standby seating with your family?What sane person can accept this disgusting state of affairs? These kinds of business practices should be illegal and prosecutable on the grounds of misrepresentation and fraud. The whole industry is one massive fraud and lie.As for the CEO, well, it's beyond words that any of those people collect anything at all for their "achievements." American management and marketing practices, and "free market" policies and philosophies, are ruining the industry globally and turning it into a huge aeronautical dumpster.Oh, for the good ol' days of PanAm and BOAC when flying was flying and being a passenger meant something, even in coach.This venting has been 25 years in the making.JS

[JSACKS 0]

Paradise:Thanks for your post. I don't feel like a madman alone now. Too many folks rationalize the appalling state of affairs and help to keep this industry going when we know all too well that it should be blown up totally and re-built from the ground up.JS

[Mace 1,902]

>>All that, but still the CEO collects his millions and millions>coming out of bankruptcy. They treat their employees like crap>and this translates to the poor service.You know, if I were CEO of an airline, I would not be that greedy. I would also fly coach (hopefully anonymously?) on my airline every once in a while just to see how things were going.Then after the flight I would thank the flight crew and see if they recognized me. :DRhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian