United Airlines

Chicago to Austin with United and they gave away my "confirmed" window seat, and stuck me in middle for an almost 3 hour flight. Person at gate counter was beyond rude and flat lied to me about assigning a window seat to another economy passenger right in front of me. I was the 2nd person at gate, a full hour before flight and was told just because my reservation had an assigned seat, that it wasn't guaranteed. (What is the point of making advance reservations?) Some airlines seem to have forgotton about customer service and the fact our money keeps them in business. I will not fly with them again.

Rating would be 0 out of 10, if this was allowed. We left home at noon on Thursday, with an expected arrival time in Greensboro of 6:45pm Thursday - tickets for a concert Friday night. In Toronto, we pulled away from the gate on time, and sat on the runway for over 90 minutes, with the pilot telling us periodically that there was "bad" turbulence in Washington, and we'd be advised as soon as he heard anything. After 90 minutes, he turned back to the gate for refueling without having heard anything more. Some passengers were able to get rerouted immediately but the ground crew told us no issues - if there was bad turbulence, our connections would be backed up too. After 45m on the ground we went back out and eventually landed at Dulles. But our connecting flights had all left, so waited another 45m to get an alternate flight (Friday at noon). CSR said the issue was air traffic, not turbulence, so not their problem that we haven't any place to stay here and an expensive, paid-for hotel room waiting for us in Greensboro. After being questioned more insistently, the CSR grudgingly gave us a voucher that got us a discounted (not free!) hotel room. Back to the airport today - at 10:30, 11, 11:30, the board still showed our flight as "on time". After the scheduled boarding time of noon came and went, checked with the gate agent - flight is now delayed to 3pm. We can only hope, since if they cancel it (the flight isn't full) and put us on the 5pm flight, we won't make Greensboro in time for the concert. I'll hopefully never fly United again. Ultimately, we could have driven in the time we've spent in airports so far, and probably could have driven from Washington to Greensboro in the time we've spent at the airport today.

Tokyo-Narita to Boston Logan via Chicago O'Hare. I was returning from a study abroad trip to Japan and it was taking forever to board the plane and get into the air. Seats on the old Boeing 747-400 were uncomfortable and there was so little space for me to stretch out my legs. There was no inflight entertainment except for one big screen that showed movies. Food service was okay, I enjoyed the chicken katsu curry they served. Flight delayed a bit at Chicago, but when we were finally boarding, the flight was full so they had to take carry-on bags and stow them with the checked luggage. Pretty disappointed that United Airlines couldn't find a way to fix that problem. Flight was really crowded so I felt squished in and couldn't move that much. In total, I wouldn't fly with United Airlines again.

I flew HNL back to LAX on 26 February on a Boeing 757-300. A nice touch on initial welcome onto the plane was being offered a cup of coffee. I had paid extra for an exit row seat and there were 2 passengers next to me. The flight attendant advised that the next block of exit row seats in the back cabin were all vacant if we wanted to relocate. The flight left HNL on time and arrived in LAX early. The crew were friendly and courteous. My only criticism was as this was a 7:00am departure, there wasn’t really any breakfast options or a meal service available on this flight. Luckily I had breakfast in the United Club lounge before departure.

Chicago to London Heathrow with United Airlines. First of all, getting on the aircraft was very simple and quick. There were surprisingly few people on the flight and after we went to the seats we were assigned to, we were allowed to move and spread out. Most of us were able to have an entire row of two to three seats to ourselves which greatly enhanced the comfort of such a long international flight. We were warmly welcomed and I could see the safety demonstration well. The food and drink service was efficient and often. The assortment of drinks was welcomed, and so was the snack. The dinner, as expected in economy class on an airplane was not the best, but it did include gelato which was a treat. They provided newspapers and magazines as well. However I could never figure out the entertainment system, nor the wifi within the airplane. The darkening of the cabin was timely, the restrooms were very clean and actually relatively spacious and well lit. The staff was curtious. As well as they were helpful with special assistance when needed.

Shanghai to Chicago. The flight itself isn't bad - it's efficient and direct. But, right after you board with your group, and they scan your ticket, they will lead you to a Second Checkpoint. This checkpoint will relieve you of liquids. Note that since you've already gone through the airport security which removes all liquids, everything they take from you was bought or filled right there in the secured area of the airport. And this includes liquor bought from duty free. On the flight water bottles are passed out twice for most of the cabins (during the 15 hour flight), but the poor souls back in economy have to Pay to get water. I have to assume this second checkpoint policy is about extracting more money from you both in concession sales and duty free.

I flew United Airlines from Paris CDG to Raleigh, NC, via New York. Terrible experience. The flight was delayed two hours at Charles de Gaulles. An unplanned refuelling stopover was added at Bangor because of strong headwinds over the Atlantic. Arrived in Bangor in the evening, around 7pm. Stop was supposed to be a matter of 45 min but the crew announced there was a mechanical issue and a mechanic had to intervene. Waited for mechanic in the plane for two hours. After two hours were told to disembark because finally, the crew could legally not fly anymore. Were told to go into the terminal. Waited there for about three hours after which we were told we would do our immigration clearance in Bangor. Did immigration clearance but were then told to basically sleep over at the airport as our plane would only take off at 9am next day. So basically, all passengers slept on the floor at Bangor airport till the next day. Avoid United like the plague. That airline is just awful. Rating other aspects of the airline low as the plane (757) is old and cannot understand why they fly it between Paris and NY if it can barely make the distance non-stop.

This was my fourth time flying with United Airlines and it was the best experience I've had with them. The plane had a new seat design that offered a little more comfort than the previous flights. The seats also had power outlets. The inflight entertainment was not very good. The entertainment consisted of the TV playing the same video the entire 4 hour flight and the only way to change the channel was to pay $6. This was a huge disappointment to other flights I have taken where United offered free movies and some TV shows. Overall though I was pretty impressed with United and their staff.

Las Vegas to San Francisco with United Airlines - non-existent customer service. Airport staff said call toll free number, phone agent said talk to airport staff. When I ask the phone agent to hold on so she can talk to airport staff to stop the circling they hung up and transferred to staff in the Phillipines. I had vowed years ago to never to fly United and I will remember from now on.

I flew United Airlines from Los Angeles to Honolulu on an early flight on an old Boeing 777-200, but the plane was clean and PC Tablets were available to take advantage of inflight entertainment. I paid for an exit row seat and it was well worth the money, as space was not an issue. The seats were close to the lavatories but this was never an issue. There were two meal runs on this 5 hour flight and a good selection of food, plus hot options available. The aircraft left LAX on time and arrived in HNL a head of time. The crew were attentive, efficient and friendly. Between meals, glasses of water were offered on a frequent basis.