Another unexplainable act of compassion: United bends rules for bereaved family

What’s with the sudden airline niceness? Yesterday, I reported that American Airlines did right by one of its customers after his ticket credit expired. Today, it’s United’s turn.

Before I get to the story, let me say this: If these acts of compassion turn out to be not as random as I think they are — in other words, if American and United are now empowering their agents to bend the rules — then this is big news.

I hope they are.

I need to share a most recent positive experience with the much-maligned United Airlines customer service department.

In October, 2007, my husband and I traveled on United Airlines. During that time, four members of a family with whom we were very close were killed in a private plane crash. My 14-year-old son lost two classmates and longtime friends, a twin brother and sister; he served as a pallbearer for the boy.

In my efforts to rush home to be with my children during this time, I encountered some unnecessary airline-related roadblocks which prevented me from returning home in time for the funeral and when United customer service was made aware of the problems, they issued vouchers for future travel. I had the opportunity to utilize some of these, but not all.

Additionally, I have flown with United multiple times since then and have been issued routine vouchers for canceled flights, delays, overbooking, etc. I had not been able to use several of these and they too had expired.

Today, we received a call from the father of the deceased children and he requested that my son and husband join him in Colorado for the dedication of a playground he has had built in his children’s memory. We are one of several local families invited to participate. We couldn’t afford to purchase tickets. I contacted United Airlines, using the contact information on your blog, asking if the expired vouchers (some issued as long ago as 2007) could be reinstated so that my son and husband could fly to Colorado.

Within a day, I had a phone call from United Airlines customer service doing just that. Following that conversation, an email containing complete instructions on redeeming the vouchers arrived in my email box.

I truly believe that most customer service people want to help with legitimate complaints and requests and United did so in record time for me. I thank them for their compassion and professionalism in handling my situation.

Nice work, United.

Now — how hard was that? Like I said in yesterday’s post about American Airlines, how much did it cost the airline to re-issue the vouchers? And how much goodwill did it generate by bending the rules? It’s simple economics: the cost-benefit analysis favors bending the rules. (Plus, it’s the right thing to do.)

Do I think this could be a trend? Honestly, no. I hope it is, but I doubt it.

If word gets out that the expiration date on a voucher isn’t firm, then it could become problematic to the airlines — although I’m not sure how bad it would really be, given that redemption rates for some of these certificates are said to be less than 10 percent.

It might be nice if the customer service department were allowed to make more frequent exceptions, though. I think the positive vibes would dramatically improve customer satisfaction.

(Photo: Telstar Logistics/Flickr Creative Commons)

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

Tagged as: BEREAVEMENT FARES, FEE, united airlines

4 comments