United Airlines Passenger Reviews and United Airlines Customer Trip Reports

United Airlines customer travel guide

United Airlines 3-Star Airline Ranking

United Airlines First & Business Class Lounge Reviews

United Airlines Economy class seat reviews

United Airlines First and Business class seat reviews

United Airlines Passenger Reviews

United Airlines Passenger seat tips

United Airlines Aircraft Seat Maps

Airline Reviews

Airline Seat Reviews

Airport Reviews

Traveling from Phoenix to Gunnison Colorado on United is a nightmare. You have to change planes in Denver. On the trip to Gunnison, my flight from Denver to Gunnison was cancelled due to 'mechanical problems'. I had to spend the night in Denver and lost a day of vacation. Going back to Phoenix, my flight out of Gunnison was over 30 minutes late taking off. We then waited on the ground in Denver for another 15 minutes while United found a gate for the plane. The bag that I was forced to check in Gunnison was slow getting off the plane, and agents in Denver couldn't even tell me the gate for Phoenix. I ran across 60 gates when I found where I was going, and I was told I was too late for my plane, even though it was still at the gate. United didn't even put me on the next flight to Phoenix. This was the worst customer service I have had in a long time.

During the first three months of 2013, we (my wife and our 5 year old daughter) spent 2 months in the US. We made in total 8 trips with a total of 14 flights. Our main conclusion using United is that if you consider yourself an object with the sole purpose of being transported between two different points United may be a choice. But if you expect service or if you travel with children, United is a catastrophe. On long-distance flights, it is a problem to convince smaller children that the fighting, killing, boxing, scenes shown in the films either should not be watched or should be considered as entertainment. In one case, a delay resulted in problems catching a connecting flight. Asking for assistance, we received either no or confusing and contradictory information, and the service varied from being absent to being extremely unfriendly. Without fighting against it, the 3 of us would be placed separately in the plane, although the tickets for all 3 of us were bought together and that it was clear that one of us was a child of 4-5 years. We learnt to bring all kind of extra food with us to add to the little food provided by United also on long-distance flights. Many small technical details were not properly maintained. Most extreme was the case of heavy noise coming from the cabin door and that must have been well-known. The solution was to provide the passengers with ear plugs.

We paid almost $500 per ticket to go to Tampa from Chicago (we wanted Sarasota but that was $800 a ticket) and we were cramped. There was no hot water available so no coffee or tea on an Easter Sunday morning. Staff were nice and one of the flights was on time so that was good. It's just insulting to be treated as if we are cattle.

Having used same route on Continental for years, have to say that, with United it is a truly horrible experience! Having been delayed on flight into Newark, with no food supplied had to run to gate for next flight to Heathrow, sat on tarmac for over 2 hrs, no water offered, no sign of attendants. When food served it was a congealed mess, broken tray table, seats that would not recline, unhelpful and miserable attendants. Have travelled first, business and economy plus with this airline in last 3 months, it just gets worse! Will be switching!

Due to delayed flight from Chicago to Indianapolis the customer services staff got us on an earlier flight enabling us to spend maximum time with our daughter and son in law. Even having to go back and fetch luggage the next day was simple and straightforward. Of the 5 flights we took I could fault nothing.

IAH-MIA after coming in from Istanbul. Full 737, narrow aisle seat in last row of economy - bumped by everyone using toilets. Service pretty much non-existent, just a quick beverage service without even a bag of pretzels. Unhappy flight attendants then sat right behind me in the galley chatting. Cabin not walked again until just before landing, when 1 FA took a plastic bag and came down the aisle looking for trash. DirecTv offering a great feature - but not at $7.99 for a 2.06 hour flight. This is an EasyJet operation but with less charm and lower service quality.

Various flights on BOS-IAH-CUN and IAD-BOS. Economy on United is pretty decent for comparatively short people like my wife and me. Taller people have my sympathy though. Seats are comfortable enough, and drinks are frequent enough, for the price. Boarding process is comparatively painless and organised, though there is some opacity in the upgrade process - two of our travel companions got Economy Plus seats being further back in the queue. Flights were on-time. On the whole, relatively good value for the price paid, though not great compared to the European and Asian LCCs.

Paid for upgrade from economy to business class for a flight from MEX to IAD, and was seated with my wife in 1A and 1B. Decent flight, except the seats were not particularly clean (crumbs from the previous occupant's meal were still on the armrest) and one particular crew member was rather brusque and short tempered. Food served was great (pancakes and omelettes, warm cookie towards the end), crew came around frequently for drinks requests and Directv has plenty to keep you occupied. Had it not been for the couple of irritants, would have rated this flight much higher.

Hong Kong to San Francisco in Economy Plus. I had purchased the more expensive W class ticket and applied a Global Upgrade, but I was unable to get the upgrade. There is no amenity package with United in Economy or Economy Plus. No toothbrush, socks, eye shades, etc., like other airlines offer. No individual seatback television screens on United's 747-400, however, the projection television screen has been replaced with a flat screen at the front of each cabin offering a clearer picture. A hot lunch and hot breakfast were appreciated. Beer and wine is free when you cross the Pacific Ocean but not the Atlantic Ocean in Economy Plus with United (according to the in-flight magazine). Alcoholic drinks were $7 and they only take a debit or credit card. The pilot said he was required to say "seat belts" every time he turned on the fasten seatbelt sign, but the flight attendants make a much longer and louder announcement which made sleeping difficult. They never offered hot towels during the flight. My lunch arrived before my first drink.

To Hawaii and back from London. Outgoing LHR to LAX was ok, service not great, couple of the stewards be best to retire if they find their job so evidently tiresome but the food was actually very good on the flight. LAX to Maui. They stick us on a tiny 737 then an hour into the flight we get a single message from the Captain to belt up as things will be a bit bumpy! 2 hours of terrible turbulence, captain said nothing to us, not a single word of reassurance. Plane was old and for a flight longer than London to NYC far too small. Return back, Honolulu to San Francisco was the best - 767 with reasonable room (I'd paid for Premium Economy on all the flights as the configurations are just so cramped) and both Captain and service actually bordering on good. Then San Francisco back to Heathrow - a really old 747 with just the big cinema screen up. Premium Economy had suddenly shrunk from my outbound trip and the service was lamentable - English stewardess addressing us as if we were errant teenagers. Got there and got back but given choice, I will never fly United Airlines again.

Sacramento to Houston on a new Boeing 737-900. DirecTV had not yet been installed so there was not any entertainment. There are 20 First Class seats on the plane so getting a complementary upgrade was much easier than flying through San Francisco. Even Silver Mileage Plus members were upgraded. The lead flight attendant announced that the fasten seatbelt sign would stay on until the plane finished climbing and reached 35,000 feet. This took 30 minutes and seemed a bit much when there is no turbulence, so plan accordingly.

US Airways from SFO via Philadelphia to Amsterdam and Return. Ground check-n in SFO and Philadelphia was rude and slow. Few stations available. The US domestic portion of the trip had bad service, and the pre ordered meal on US domestic section of this trip was unhealthy junk food. The international section of the trip was better. US Airways makes its travelers purchase headsets for the very limited inflight entertainment choices they offered. US Airways also nickels and dimes you for your luggage.

Just flew Heathrow to Washington Dulles return in economy March 2013. I hadn't flown a US carrier for years so my expectations were low and it was just as well. The meals were the worst I've had for years. The bread roll instead of being warm was cold and individually wrapped in a polythene bag, as was the brownie that passed for dessert. No hot towel service or complimentary alcohol and the seat pitch was miserable. The attempts to save money was evident, as was the inferiority of the service compared to the best airlines in the word. However, the flights were on time and thankfully they still have only 9 seats abreast in economy class on a B777.

The boarding order has nothing to do with where you are in the plane, so there's a lot of getting up to let people through and the whole process takes 45 minutes. Once boarded there were additional delays as some of the people didn't have assigned seats or were getting upgraded, which meant additional waiting while the flight crew walked up and down the aisles with printouts of seat lists. The seats were fairly comfortable, if old. On one of the flights the lean back button was worn out that the seat didn't lock in the upright position. The TV were CRTs hanging in the middle aisle or non existent. The inflight service was the standard plastic cup of drink, without even a bag of peanuts. I'm personally never flying United again, if I can help it.

Flew round-trip from EWR to LAS. Before, they used to give you free snacks onboard, but now they don't and expect you to pay expensive prices for their snacks and meals. They also had satellite TV programming onboard too, which you had to pay for. They kept changing the times for my return flight back to EWR. On the day that I had to fly back, I checked the schedule and it said that my flight was on time, but as soon as I went through security in the airport, it says that there was a 90-minute delay with no specific reason given (the weather was fine that day too). With the facts that they don't give you free snacks anymore and delay flights for unknown reasons, I will never fly with this airline again!

My wife and 5 month old daughter flew from Denver to Shanghai. Flight from LAX to Shanghai was terrible. We paid for an infant ticket, so we'd expect a standard infant bassinet for our baby for this 15 hours flight. She was allocated a normal seat, and expected to hold my baby for 15 hours. Staff refused to help. The attitude was appalling and sometimes utterly rude. After my wife managed to swap into a seat with a bassinet mounting location by herself, the staff refused to provide a proper bassinet for her. They gave her a bag type bassinet to put on the floor. The overall experience is just terrible, this is not the only United flight we have been on during this trip to USA.

Business Class SFO-JFK round trip Oct '12. Excellent service both directions. Returning WB was fantastic. I had mid day reservation, but finished business at 5 pm the day before. At 6.15 pm I arrived at the Business/First Check In counter to inquire about getting an earlier flight, maybe first one in the morning. She asked me if I wanted to go right now, instead? I said yes! One clerk grabbed my check in bag, tagged it, and left, hand-carrying it off somewhere, while the other one motioned me behind the counter, through a door into the back area, and another door, right at the head of the Security lines. She walked me up to a TSA agent, and I was the next one through Security. At 6.35 pm I was taking my seat 10A on the plane. My bag was waiting for me at the carousel at SFO. So I have no hesitation in recommending UA!

We were to fly Ottawa Newark then on to Fort Lauderdale, 1st March 2013. Flight delayed due to problems with plane coming from Newark, delayed 3 times! When it did come in told flight cancelled as flight crew didn't have enough flight time left. Told to get baggage and re-book. Then it was changed and we could fly, boarded, de-iced then back as they were out of flight time. Service at the desk none! No offer of help, food or hotel for anyone unless you made a fuss. We were helped by an Ottawa police officer, he found us a WestJet flight out of Toronto 7am next morning. We had to rent a car, drive at 11pm at night to Toronto.

I have always had problems with United. Normally I avoid them but last month I had no other option. This experience was the worst and the last. My flight was delayed 3 hours and then finally canceled. My problem was that although I had signed up for Flight Status Notifications and received them every 30 minutes or so, they stopped after 2 hours. I only learned the flight was canceled because a friend called me. I ended up stuck in Chicago for the night because by the time I knew the flight had been canceled, there were no seats available on any airline.

My trip was a complete disaster. We flew from Tampa to Newark for a layover. I get that snow causes problems, but it's the customer service that shocked me most. Our flight got pushed back multiple times and then randomly got cancelled. I had to proceed to the customer service desk where there were 3 people working. We waited in line for almost an hour, while desk workers would stop to socialize with their co- workers that were passing by or leaving for the day. The next flight going out wasn't until the next day, of course I wasn't going to wait 24 hours in the airport terminal. They mentioned the train. They transferred my plane ticket to a train ticket, but never told me that I had to reserve my own seat on the train. We finally arrived in Providence at 8pm when I should have been there at 12.30pm. On my way home, they separated me from the person I was traveling with on the first flight. We made it to DC, our flight got pushed back for 45 minutes. We finally boarded the plane and then sat there, on the plane, for over an hour. They told us they were waiting for a connecting flight to arrive? We were supposed to be gone at 10.15pm anyway, not 12.15am? It was all a mess, and I'm disappointed. It made my experience extremely high strung and stressful.

Traveled BC, LHR to IAH supposedly on 767 upconverted to lie-flat bed, AVOD and critically for me power at seat. On boarding, immediately saw that it was obsolete 767 from 1980's with recliners, miserable loop video (which kept failing throughout the flight), and no functioning seat power. This "Bait and Switch" tactic is now commonplace with United on more competitive routes - second time happened to me in 6 months. Impossible to work on trip as planned since computer not charged, nothing to read, nothing to watch. If informed even 2 hrs pre-flight of equipment change could plan in advance. Flight attendants pleasant. Fortunately there are now many other international BC options from Houston.

EWR-LHR on one of United's ex-CO 757s. Flight was only about 40-50% full, so service was excellent. Very attentive and friendly flight attendants, on-time departure and arrival and decent food.

03/14/2013, UA 900, SFO-FRA. Old airplane. Premium economy seats uncomfortable. The central entertainment system belonged to a previous decade. The breakfast after a 10hr flight was a hot croissant, 3 pieces of melon, butter and jam. No coffee served to me! I'll never fly again with this airline.

San Francisco-Maui in first class. Older plane (757-300), with drop-down monitors, even in first class, so no individual choices of entertainment, but this didn't seem so bad, since we'd just got off a US Airways flight with no inflight entertainment at all in first class. Seats were roomy and comfortable enough. Food fine. Got there on time. No real complaints.

Well after 30 years as a UA FF member am afraid this recent trip was almost the last straw! My trip LAS-SFO- MEL was eventually LAS-LAX-MEL but not without a major delay and poor communications by UA staff. In brief the UA lounge at LAX is a disgrace and needs a new management to organise better food for late afternoon and evening travellers. Who needs so much liquor without any food just limited selection of light snacks? Many fellow passengers will relate to the poor UA staff communications when the flight was cancelled, UA839 LAX-MEL on Saturday 9th March. Shuttled to a hotel be informed at 3am there was no reservation or room available! After some persuasive conversation a room was sourced! The next day when about to board be informed by gate person "Don't come crying that hand luggage would have to be checked through due to limited overhead bin space". Well this was totally incorrect and not what one expects from senior UA staff to delayed passengers! This airline has lost its direction!

My husband and I traveled with United from Boston to Taipei with our 7 month old baby. We called a month ahead to reserve a bassinet and were told that it's not guaranteed. On the day of the flight, of course, there was no bassinet available. Flight attendants were rude, unhelpful, and there was only one bathroom that had a changing table. The food smelt bad and tasted bad. The only thing tasted ok was the cold roll on the tray. The seat is very small and tight. Overall, I would not fly United again unless I have no other choice.

Chicago-Toronto. Flight on time. Service very professional. Free mystery upgrade to premium economy. After having a bad experience with this airline over 20 years ago and swearing it off for good, I might actually use them again sometime.

Flight UA1594 Chicago to Minneapolis, as I fly at least 4 round the world trips on business this flight was one of many sections. As I always book business class I traveled on this flight in first class. Flight was delayed because of an aircraft change as I finally was able to board the plane I found it amusing walking into the cabin to find a flight crew already sitting in the best first class seats. Not a good message and image for the airline. They need a major shake up.

Flying out of Houston the incompetence started at check in and went all the way to baggage pick up. It took 1 hr 45 minutes to check in (people were waiting up to 2.5 hrs). They never bothered to prioritize check in by flight time. The person at check in gave my husband another person's boarding card. They charged $25 per piece of checked luggage! The plane was so old it had drop down shared TVs! We spent one hr on the tarmac waiting to take off and they never apologized or made an announcement. We arrived 1.5 hrs late - most carriers try to make up time in the air not loose time. Only 1 of our 4 pieces of luggage arrived that we paid to check!

Sadly did not know this flight, KWI-BAH, actually returns to KWI to then fly directly to IAD, which would have saved me the exasperating British Airways flight BAH-LHR-BWI, reviewed here. Flight was punctual, food on a 50 minute hop, friendly staff, clean and comfortable, fresh cabin. The only drawback was the slightly paranoid extra layer of security at the departure airports.

Let me begin by saying that my flight home was cancelled not once, but twice. I was rebooked from my first cancelled flight, which was a direct flight home, onto a flight with a connection. The first leg of the connecting flight was late because the flight's crew still needed to arrive from another airplane. Then upon arrival at the connecting airport, the connecting flight home was cancelled. I finally made it home 2 days after I was originally scheduled to. The staff tried their best to be helpful. But, it is obvious that for the passenger load United books, it is desperately understaffed, from the flight crews to the customer service counter. I travel by air often multiple times per year. This was my first trip with United, and it will be my last.

LAX to Brussels via Washington Dulles. All flights were on time. Planes were clean. Food was pretty good (to my amazement) on the Dulles to Brussels flights. All the flight attendants were friendly and responsive. Check in was a breeze. I hope this is the NEW UNITED and I didn't just get lucky.

I'm currently sitting in a hotel room in Chicago, stranded at O'Hare airport after a 12 hour flight from Tokyo. They delayed my 6.50pm flight from O'Hare to Grand Rapids, MI (about an hour long flight) literally 8 times, from 45 minutes to an hour each time wasting my entire day in the airport. Then they finally cancelled the flight and told me that I can't get another flight for 2 days. I will never fly United again.

We (4 of us) were booked on UA4344 on Friday morning (8 March 2013, 10am) to fly to Washington Dulles in order to catch a connecting flight later in the day to South Africa on SA208. The plane was very late due to snow and we knew we would not make the connection in time. Another UA flight would arrive and give us a real chance at catching our connection. The UA agent on the desk at this time told us (the 4 of us) to sit down as they were dealing with the situation - she was very rude. She booked all passengers going to Dulles and had no connections thereafter and never booked us on this flight. Later in the day a new UA agent took the other one's place and when she heard of our problem, she was not really in a position to do anything about it. She re-routed us to Frankfurt Germany and then to South Africa from there. I was concerned about our luggage as it was checked in already for UA4344 and on to South Africa with the original route. I was told not to worry as this would be no problem. We arrived in South Africa with no luggage and which South African Airways cannot trace using the luggage ticket provided by UA (still nothing at this stage). This is not the only incident we had with United as there was another incident on our way into the USA as well, also with no real help from UA helpdesk personnel. So if I ever have a choice I will fly any other airline, as long as it is not United.

Our 5.40 am flight from PWM on United Express was delayed for de-icing, but being the first flight out of PWM, we still had to wait for several planes in front of us. The attendant couldn't tell us anything including Gate no. for the connector flight at Dulles. We missed the 8.20 am flight at Dulles - no attendant was at the gate to direct late passengers to guest services. The best United could do was to send us back to Newark and then onto our final destination in Orlando with arrival time at 6.30pm. We were in transit for 13-14 hrs with 3 children who had been awake since 3am. There were no announcements on the plane as to what to do with late connections (there were many more people on the plane missing connections), no one at the gate to direct passengers- zero help. We missed a day at Disney, which we had paid for, and had 3 extremely exhausted children. On the return trip, United personnel couldn't get our bag checked through at the Disney desk. My husband was up at 5am to try to get boarding passes, which we couldn't get the day before because we had to pay for the checked bag first, which we tried to do with Disney guest service help. Delays in Newark without explanation, etc. Arrived home 3 hrs late. Very unorganized, inefficient or they just don't care. We will never fly United again.

Flew from Ottawa to Las Vegas by way of Chicago. Received an update on our flights 24 hours before we left stating that we would now leave 4 hours early meaning a 0230 wake up for this 0600 flight. Check-in went well, but we were charged $50,00 for a single bag. When we asked why we were being charged for our only bag we were told that United charges for all bags on domestic flights. We were totally insulted when the attendant explained that United doesn't consider a flight between Canada and the US to be International. Both flights to and from were oversold and people were bumped. No snacks offered, even on the 4 hour leg, although food for purchase was. No free entertainment was offered, even audio/radio cost!

The so-called premier "economy plus" seating is clearly and obviously shrinking. On a recent coast to coast flight, I had my knees firmly pressed against the seat in front of me, even though I was in the second "plus" row. When the person ahead of me reclined, there wasn't even room for my laptop.

On Thursday 28 February my son and I flew from Shannon to Newark on United. I must admit the food wasn't great. The staff on the other hand were most attentive. They went through the aisle with the drinks trolley three times and again with water every 20 minutes or so. Before arriving in Newark we had a roll, crisps and refreshments. The staff were pleasant and attentive. I was very surprised. For the price of the fare we paid I would definitely say that I felt we got great value for money and that I could have not hesitation in flying with United in the future.

Hong Kong - Singapore on 747-400. The check-in counter opened with 25 min delay without notice. Early check-in is not available. The check-in queues were not organised and without the usual guidance signs, staff were quite efficient and kind enough. I cannot say the same about the ticketing counter ones, who seemed always in a rush to dismiss people with enquiries, without providing the required information. Onboard, the duties of the crew are quite limited, they do not help with the luggage but when approached they are always available and kind. The seat is quite old style but bearable, food is acceptable. Announcements from the Captain were frequent and clear. Passengers were kept very well informed throughout the flight. No entertainment system but all in all a good experience.

I fly regularly for business, and I have yet to have an exemplary experience with United - they rarely reach even an average rating. I absolutely do not fly United unless there are no other options. Delays are regular and service is abrasive and adversarial. This last time I flew United, I was delayed 4.5 hours, boarded a plane and was immediately de-boarded because the airline re-routed the plane at the last minute without informing gate personnel! When other passengers and I confronted a supervisor, no answers were given except that he did not know why the plane was re-routed. I then asked for some form of compensation (airline credit or even a meal voucher) and he promptly replied that compensation is not given for weather delays! Furthermore, we were flying from San Francisco to Bakersfield in the late afternoon, beautiful weather in both locations.

ORD-MSP return. Flight out was a B737-700. No complaints at all. Very friendly and helpful cabin crew offered drinks' service at boarding and as soon as we were at altitude. IFE was fine for a 75 minute hop and nice smooth flight. Flight back was ERJ170 and quite comfortable as well. Service could have been a bit more friendlier. No IFE. Again standard flight, no issues so over all pretty good.

Allentown to Dulles to Greensboro. At the time of the scheduled takeoff, there was no plane there, and no United Staff member in the terminal. I called United using my cell, and was able to get through to a person only by using a 3rd party website that explains how to reach a person. He informed me that the flight was cancelled. Nobody had told the dozens of people waiting at the gate. I, a passenger, had to tell those people their flight wasn't happening. Finally got to Greenboro a day later, was never offered compensation. I should have paid a little more to fly any other airline. The plane we flew on had broken lights and smelt.

LGA-ORD-YYC. Absolutely terrible. The first leg of the trip should have taken approx 2 hours but we were delayed in the air, ran out of fuel and had to stop at another airport for hours without being able to get off the plane. Flight attendants refused to serve water during 8 hour trip and tried to stop passengers from using the bathroom. Second leg was cancelled and I was originally told that I could not rebook, every single flight was full forever and they couldn't give me anything. This was so blatantly a lie that I spoke to a supervisor and was only then able to get a flight 36 hours later. Every time I asked for help or clarification I was treated horribly. I will never fly United again.

Of 5 flights on United, 3 were first class and 2 were premium and economy class. Beverages in economy served once during the flight, no 'snacks', no (paid) inflight entertainment, cancelled flights, poor service, incorrect information re: baggage, unfriendly attendants (air and ground). First class - expensive for larger seats and free alcoholic drinks - no snacks, meals or inflight entertainment, loss of seats after completely unnecessary flight cancellations, refusal to rebook in first class although paid for and placed on stand by, lost luggage because of clerical error and next to no attempt to find luggage (still missing), poor service, unfriendly attendants (air and ground). Next to no attempt to rectify or work with us to find solutions. Only one ground attendant worked on and succeeded in getting passenger re-booked on a return flight but not on first class as was originally booked and confirmed. The confirmed return flights were cancelled by United for no reason. The other two first class passengers were re-booked in economy (0ne on stand-by) although first class seats were available.

If you experience any problems submitting comments on the above link, please use our general   Feedback Page