More Fun With United Air

[jyl]

In NYC. Flight LGA-ORD then ORD-PDX tomorrow (Thursday). Get email from United, LGA-ORD flight cancelled due to expected storm tomorrow. I call my assistant, please get me another flight home. She tries to rebook me online, United's site won't process the change. She calls United and is on hold for two hours. Finally I get out of meetings, open my laptop, navigate the email links to United's special circumstances rebooking site, and get a flight Friday to Seattle - nothing available to PDX, but I can always get a shuttle SEA-PDX. Assistant is still on hold. United's call center was completely overwhelmed. And their email links are not navigable by smartphone. Unless you had a laptop available you were screwed.

Same day, a colleague has his flight home from Florida on Delta cancelled. Assistant gets Delta on the phone, no problem, rebooks him through SFO to PDX.

One airline fails where the other passes.

I get that United can't control the weather. I don't get that they can't staff their call center adequately when they know exactly how many flights they are canceling and thus how many passengers will be trying to rebook. Total fail.

(Yes, assistant could have been more web savvy. But the fail was United's.)

[BRPORSCHE]

Boy does this sound all too familiar. Happened to me a few weeks ago in BTR.

Get your assistant the MileagePlus 1-800 number. MUCH faster number.

[Gogar]

Do you have the United and Delta smartphone apps?

The Delta one is pretty great; the United one is getting better. I don't know if you can rebook on the United app but the Delta app is pretty good at it.

[RWebb]

hit the food trucks

[gsxrken]

United / Continental shouldn't have happened. Less flights to less airports now. Witness last weeks news that Cleveland is being dropped as a hub.

I am stranded in Chicago at the moment- all United flights canceled to Newark even before the storm hits there. But they don't release the ticket for you to rebook on another carrier that was still flying there. So rebooked on United for tomorrow at 2PM which is when the storm will be in full tilt... That flight will be cancelled too.

[jyl]

Hmm. Now I'm worried if my Friday am flight will be cancelled.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by jyl

Hmm. Now I'm worried if my Friday am flight will be cancelled.

I was in San Diego this week speaking at a conference...had a flight out to Dulles this morning.

Can ex.

United did a good job of calling about the cancellation and 20 minutes later I was with a real human on the other end of the line.

No flights into Dulles from SD or LA until Friday night or Saturday morning. We tried every hub and other airline. Zippy.

Worked a flight from Las Vegas early tomorrow morning. Called Hertz, rented a C250 and had a GREAT drive through the desert today, Death Valley, back roads, beautiful.

Coming out of Old Spanish Trail south of Pahrump, followed a really sweet SC Carrera down 160 into Vegas: Deep blue, historic Nevada tag...Pelican?

[jyl]

Yup, Friday (tomorrow) flight was cancelled.

Unable to rebook using the online system, what the heck is wrong with them. So I called, only 40 minutes on hold, United is really improving their game ha!

Rebooked on a EWR-SEA flight on Friday, same day. Hopefully that one will go out. I see that the new flight is already delayed 3 hours, not sure that is a good sign.

[flatbutt]

'tis a good time to be close to retirement. I will not miss business travel.

[Don Plumley]

I flew in and out of NYC last week. Was lucky, took the Redeye in, just a bit delayed. My flight out was on Friday which was a clear day. Was able to use the storm to change my departure because of a meeting change without charge. There is also a great benefit to being able to call the Plat (or quiv) desk, they get stuff done for you and keeps my brand loyalty.

[atcjorg]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

I was in San Diego this week speaking at a conference...had a flight out to Dulles this morning.

Can ex.

United did a good job of calling about the cancellation and 20 minutes later I was with a real human on the other end of the line.

No flights into Dulles from SD or LA until Friday night or Saturday morning. We tried every hub and other airline. Zippy.

Worked a flight from Las Vegas early tomorrow morning. Called Hertz, rented a C250 and had a GREAT drive through the desert today, Death Valley, back roads, beautiful.

Coming out of Old Spanish Trail south of Pahrump, followed a really sweet SC Carrera down 160 into Vegas: Deep blue, historic Nevada tag...Pelican?

well at least I hope you enjoyed the wx

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by atcjorg

well at least I hope you enjoyed the wx

I love San Diego. I was stationed at North Island for five years...actually owned a house in Coronado.

I'd have camped out until Saturday but my wife may have taken umbrage

[atcjorg]

How could you move away from Coronado, a true gem for a place to live, if it didn't cost a million bucks for someone's remodeled garage lol. I just squeeze in a round of golf over there when I can.

[jyl]

United just cancelled that flight and automatically rebooked me on a flight MONDAY. Their main reservations number is not even letting you hold - says all operators are busy, please call back later - I had to call a different number just to be able to hold for an operator. Holding now. What is this secret Mileage Plus number?

So aggravating. Amazing to me how many flights are being cancelled

https://flightaware.com/live/cancelled

Not sure what to do to get home before next week. I could rent a car and drive to Dulles but lots of flights being cxl'd there too.

The United smartphone app does not do rebooking as far as I can tell. And as far as United's online systems go, since I have been automatically rebooked on a flight that is not currently cancelled, I'm not even getting the option to rebook. (Never mind that I'm actually trying to get to PDX not SEA.)

[gsxrken]

Yep. My 2PM was cancelled as expected, now booked on late Friday.
Will have cost me almost three days more than planned.

Try 800-421-4655

Originally Posted by jyl

United just cancelled that flight and automatically rebooked me on a flight MONDAY. Their main reservations number is not even letting you hold - says all operators are busy, please call back later - I had to call a different number just to be able to hold for an operator. Holding now. What is this secret Mileage Plus number?

So aggravating. Amazing to me how many flights are being cancelled

https://flightaware.com/live/cancelled

Not sure what to do to get home before next week. I could rent a car and drive to Dulles but lots of flights being cxl'd there too.

The United smartphone app does not do rebooking as far as I can tell.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by gsxrken

Yep. My 2PM was cancelled as expected, now booked on late Friday.
Will have cost me almost three days more than planned.

Try 800-421-4655

You're stuck in Washington DC, right? Is train or drive an option?

[jyl]

Rebooked to a SUNDAY flight to EWR-SEA. Nothing available from any New York area airport on Friday or Saturday. This will have cost me, too, three full days. Including Valentine's Day, the long weekend, and a planned trip to visit my elderly and perhaps fading mother-in-law . . . oh well.

[Seahawk]

3 am in Vegas. Just got bounced to a SUNDAY flight. On hold waiting to talk with someone.

I am seriously considering just driving back.

[jyl]

The funny thing is, I'm here in NYC, and from what I see the city is not getting any severe or unusual amount of snow. Maybe 6" yesterday, then normal rain, not freezing rain. The higher-traffic streets were pretty clear, I mean wet bare pavement. Icky to walk in with mounds of wet slush and pools of dirty melt, but car traffic was moving just fine. It was 36F in the afternoon.

This feels like a standard winter storm. Granted I haven't lived on the East Coast for a long time.

I'd love to know what about this storm has fouled up the US air travel system so badly, with appx 6000 flights canceled yesterday. A friend's wife flew out of Newark yesterday and she said all but two outbound flights were cancelled (I suspect that is for her airline, not for the whole airport ).

[VINMAN]

Snow like this was never a big deal here in NYC. Now for some reason it causes mass hysteria and chaos.