Christa Southworth’s husband spent part of last year embedded in Iraq as part of the Army’s Human Terrain System, a program that pairs anthropologists and other social scientists with combat brigades to help tacticians in the field understand local cultures. He booked a United Airlines flight home last spring for the birth of his second [...]
UNITED AIRLINES
Marko Grdesic contacted me in April because Travelocity owed him $4,747, but there was no sign of the money. I assumed a polite inquiry would shake it loose. Wrong.
In yet another sign that the government has adopted a “get tough” approach in dealing with the airline industry, the Federal Aviation Administration today proposed near-record penalties against two airlines for safety violations.
Mary McInnis-Efaw buys a package to Hawaii through United Vacations. But when the price of her ticket falls by $733, United refuses to offer her a voucher for the fare difference. Is it allowed to do that?
You wanna see my frequent flier card? I’ve got your frequent flier card right here.
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.
A few days ago, a Transportation Department official bristled when I suggested that its recent fines against airlines were little more than warning shots. It turns out the DOT isn’t done making its point.
And now an update on an interview I published last week with United Airlines regarding the viral video controversy, United Breaks Guitars.
United Airlines, according to Green America a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to creating a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.
Chou recently experienced a family tragedy. Just two weeks before his wedding day, his father died unexpectedly. He had to postpone his wedding and honeymoon in order to take care of the funeral arrangements.
Seen the hilarious new music video “United Breaks Guitars” yet? United Airlines has done a mea culpa on the luggage-vaulting incident, and even asked the Canadian country music group Sons of Maxwell for permission to use the clip as a training video. The song “struck a chord with us” an airline spokeswoman said. But good customer service isn’t about responding to a viral video with a sense of humor, as United did. It’s about the little things, like Irena Temple’s ruined photos.
United Airlines and US Airways lead the pack, according to the Transportation Department, charging their customers $78 million and $66 million, respectively. (The figures on the chart are for the first quarter of 2009, and are in millions.)
You’d think reports of superior customer service from an airline like United would be random — a one-off for a carrier that consistently gets inferior scores. Maybe not.
One of the secret loopholes that most air travelers don’t know about is the 24-hour grace period. Airlines like United will allow you to cancel your itinerary for a full refund if you find a lower fare within a day. But how do airlines define “day”?
There’s been an interesting question raised by an earlier post about Southwest Airlines’ lost-and-found luggage debacle. What role, if any, did yours truly play in retrieving the passenger’s bag?
When the nation’s third-largest airline stops taking complaints by phone, what does that mean? Yesterday’s news that United Airlines would shutter an Indian call center that took compliments or complaints after a flight, telling customers to send a letter or e-mail instead, has a lot of air travelers scratching their heads. I count myself among them.
This is Ken Darling with his mother, who has late-stage Alzheimer’s. He won’t be able to use the United Airlines tickets he bought last year because he had to move her from a resident care facility into a hospital. Darling wanted to apply his non-refundable credit of $1,121 to book another flight, but given his current situation, that’s also impossible.
One of the presumed silver linings on the dark cloud of airline fees is that if a company charges for a service, it’s responsible for a higher level of care. But at least one airline doesn’t feel that way.
Look up “absurd” in the dictionary, and you ought to find Lily Poon’s incomprehensible ticketing experience with United Airlines. The carrier charged her just $60 for her ticket. But it wanted more than 20 times that amount for her infant son’s fare.
