United Airlines

San Francisco to Chicago. When you pay $95 annually for a Mileage Plus Explorer credit card, you're supposed to get one free checked bag for flights purchased using the Mileage Plus card. Don't believe it! When United changed the credit card number because that card was apparently compromised, United refused to allow one free checked bag, because the credit card we had at the airport did not match the card used to purchase the tickets (which had since been cancelled). It's a sneaky way for United to get an extra $50, but it's also a clear violation of its policy.

United Airlines from Los Angeles to Newark, and very comfortable business class seats on the older Boeing 757-200 used on this route. Food adequate, good service. Lounge at LAX inadequate - very full even at 6am. Flight left and arrived on time despite significant adverse weather conditions on the East Coast

United Airlines from London to Orlando return via Washington Dulles. Flight from London was prompt, seats allocated at check in. On getting to Washington, our flight to Orlando was delayed by 5 hours! Unbelievable. To add insult to the injury, the airline did not even announce the reason nor did they apologise. Rather, the announcement was for volunteers to check in their hand luggage as the plane was completely overbooked. They also requested for volunteers who would offer up their seat since they oversold ticket! The flight back from Orlando was much more horrible, flight was delayed from MCO and this almost impacted on the connecting flight at Washington. No seats were allocated at check in, we had to wait and wait as they kept increasing the duration of the delay of the first leg of my journey. Went to the customer service who didn’t deem it fit to apologise, but said there should still be 40 mins for the connection and she can’t promise there won’t be any further delays. Plane arrived eventually and we now fell on another queue at the boarding gate to get checked in for seat allocation. This delayed the flight much longer. So in all, we had to thrash the first boarding pass given at check in without seats, and got another boarding pass by the boarding gate. On landing at Washington, we had to race out of the aircraft and onto the other gate as there was no plan for the plane to wait and we couldn’t afford to miss the flight as there was no other flight to London by United. And we still had to obtain another boarding pass with seats at the boarding gate. They were unable to sit us together because the attendant said she has been calling our names and we were not there. ‘How would we be there when our first leg was delayed?’ was my question, she works with United Airlines and should have seen that the first aircraft hadn’t arrived. So she almost gave our seats out if not that we were lucky to have reached the boarding gate within the few minutes prior to departure. With the horrible customer service experience, it was obvious those guys can leave us unattended if the plane had left for London. Flight attendants were horrible, attended to us as if they were told to go fight on the plane.

Got the early flight from Houston to San Jose, Costa Rica. Unfortunately, United Airlines does not offer special meals on First Class for some of its international flights, thus had to settle with some cold cut fruit and croissant for breakfast. Seats were alright, entertainment system was slightly below average. Service was good. Lounge was ill equipped in food and beverages for an international flight even though there was space to sit.

Panama Tocumen to Houston on United Airlines. Got into the 3:30 pm flight. Being a vegetarian, I did not get any food on a 4 hour flight flying in First Class, because of United's policy of serving special meals only on select flights. Had to settle for the "Tapas Box". Did not have an entertainment system onboard and the seats were pretty old. Service was alright.

This review pertains to the Customer Service Reps at the United Airlines counter in Omaha. I realize that when a flight gets cancelled, the result is usually panic, confusion and frustration. However, being in customer service, I felt that there are other ways of alleviating the stress of their customers. While I was in line for over an hour, I watched one rep point and yell at the customers, one after another. I overhead her tell people that she's heard it all, vacations, family gatherings, job responsibilities. She showed absolutely no empathy for any of the customers with their concerns. She didn't refrain from just yelling at customers, she shared the same love with the employees. "I only have 2 hands, you'll have to figure it out on your own". I felt so bad for everyone that experienced the "help" of this woman. This woman was the supervisor! It's a wonder why the other employees didn't feel the need to provide good customer service. It was simply, the flight is cancelled, we can get you there on the 2nd. That wasn't an option for us and they didn't provide any other solutions. Except another rep did suggest that we take the Amtrak down to Texas to catch our connecting flight. After hours of sitting in the airport trying to come up with a solution. We thought, how about driving to Denver? So we reluctantly went back to the counter to inquire on flights. Thankfully! We spoke with a male agent who was efficient and polite as possible, he booked our flight with a smile. It was reassuring that he took the time to explain to us the procedure. We left knowing that we had another option. Ironically, while waiting in line for our confirmation, I saw the supervisor walk by with a smile! However, the smile was because she was criticizing someone for duct taping the top of a water bottle. She was shaking her head and name calling. But from afar, one would think she actually liked her job. I am hesitant to ever fly United again. Constant cancellations and delays. According to Supervisor lady, it's always due to weather. When in actuality, it was due to the fact that they had no crew due to the 8 hours wait time. If they weren't short staffed, the weather excuse would not exist. And Supervisor lady would have to come up with another reason to point and yell at people.

United Airlines from Dubai to Dallas Fort-Worth via San Francisco. Checking in on a fully paid itinerary, I was told "you have a seat but your children don't" - really? After 1 hour 45 minutes, we finally got boarding passes. The food from Dubai was less than good, but the main issue was the lack of food. 16 hours inflight, we were fed at hour one, and again at hour 14.5hrs - the "snack" offered was a tiny gross sandwich. We were totally unsatisfied by the offerings. Never have I been so hungry on a flight. To add to that, on the Washington to Dubai flight all food offerings inflight were spicy, and not a single pre-order meal was acceptable for a vegetarian child!

Cancun to Chicago with United Airlines. Boarding was swift and even though we left with about a 20 minute delay, the pilot managed to land in Chicago about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. The service offered in economy met expectations, and the service went by without any incident. The plane was almost completely full so it was a loud trip but nothing United can be blamed for. The only minor complaint was that they started handing out the immigration papers quite late in the flight which led to some stress, but otherwise it was a solid performance. Credit is given where credit is due and United certainly deserves credit for this well structured and good flight.

United Airlines from San Francisco to Washington Dulles. Wonderful business class. Food was great. Service was pretty bad, with the usual forced smile and sarcastic flight attendants. Seats were amazing and comfy, but flying backwards was a little funky. TV's were huge and filled with movies. Loved the aircraft.

Seattle to Phoenix via San Francisco was just a horrific experience. United managed to screw up the most basic thing - scheduled 2 flights on the same gate with one aircraft. By the time they resolved the issue, I missed my connection in SFO and had to get the next flight which was 4 hours later. The worse thing is the United Airlne employees acted as if it was our problem to figure out how to get to our destination. It was just horribly frustrated. It was no better on the trip back to Seattle. The flight from Phoenix to SFO was 75 minutes late and the flight SFO to Seatte was 90 minutes late. The whole trip was a nightmare. I don't usually write review, but this unpleasant experience with UA was so significant that I thought I should share. It is no wonder that UA ranks the worst in customer satisfaction. And UA is proudly stand up to the reputation.