The Cynical Universe

I arrived at the airport in Madison about 5 hours early. I tried to get on 1 of 5 earlier flights. No luck- ALL were oversold. Despite being #3 on the standby list, they were all over-booked. Meaning United sold more tickets than there were seats on the airplane. Profits over customer service, though, understandably!

The woman at the ticket counter was warm, with comments like “you’re not the only 100K in the world” and “we’re still oversold on all our flights but I see you’re back again”. Yes, warm and friendly customer service from United’s cheery representative. I asked about the flights to Denver and she said “that’s at a different gate”. I replied that the computer system is all the same. She passed me off to another worker- the gate agent- and he checked for me while she stood there. Then, a while later, i saw her walking to the gate with the Denver flights!! God, what a bitch.

I called customer service to see if they could help me and instead I got disconnected after they said they were transferring me to the 100K line.

All in a days work for United, making sure their 100K passengers truly feel overlooked and unaccommodated. And if you’re lucky, they’ll treat you like a nag, too.

I am going to try and update this thing more often. But I am also going to try and keep them shorter. Quick little travel tidbits, like this one, hopefully more to come.

Today I called United Airlines 100K to try and get upgraded into First Class on my upcoming flights (with MRD) from San Francisco to Honolulu. I spoke to one rep who didn’t quite know what she was doing so she transfered me to another agent. After about fifteen minutes on the phone I was told you can’t use upgrade credits when you use Mileage Plus Points for the ticket. Typical. I asked if they made exceptions for 100K Fliers. No. No, they do no.

Grades:
Friendliness - 8/10
Helpfulness - 0/10
Satisfaction - 0/10