United Airlines

United Airlines staff at the airports and on the plane were polite and efficient. The smaller Embraer jets are nice for the single traveler, as they're designed with a single seat on the right side, so you get both window and aisle. The extra leg room in economy plus seating is worth the extra expense ($30-$45 on the segments I flew). The seats themselves are adequate, but not comfortable. This is an industry wide problem, and not in any way unique to United. The biggest disappointment is the WiFi service. From previous experience, it seems to work very well on their Airbus fleet. The Airbus fleet usually does not have tv screens in the seat backs, so the WiFi service on those planes comes with a library of movies and TV shows to watch. This works very well if you've got a tablet or some other device to watch them on. The Boeing portion of their fleet is another matter entirely. The more recent planes have the TV screens in the seats. There's a basic program that runs during the flight, but if you want to watch anything else, there's a fee. The WiFi service on the Boeing aircraft also seems to be spotty at best. It hasn't worked at all on 3 of the 4 segments I've flown in the last couple months. The Embraer planes fly the short routes. I have yet to come across one of these with WiFi service or a seat back screen. But, given the flights I've been on have only been about 90 minutes, this isn't a big problem. Bottom line: bring a tablet or small computer and download a couple of movies on it first.

Tampa to Manchester via Washington with United Airlines. Travelled from UK and allowed baggage was 23Kg. Checked into Tampa for return flight and female assistant informed me that I was 2lbs overweight with my luggage. She said allowance was 50 pounds (ie 22.67Kg) and I had to remove 2 pounds before suitcase was accepted. She was totally disinterested when I informed her that I had travelled from the UK at 23Kg and why was that not accepted here in the USA to return to UK. All she could say "2lbs must be removed". I asked could I pay for excess and she said yes it would be 100 dollars and I agreed to pay. She then said no, it is 200 dollars and at this I said I would not pay for excess of 2lbs. I took my suitcase away, this I found to be embarrassing and removed excess. I was most upset to have to carry this 2lbs around with me all the way back to the UK. I only had one handbag for cabin luggage and this was probably about 5Kg - about 13 Kg under what I was allowed to take onboard!

Slightly old looking plane were my first impressions, but we departed on time and arrived in Manchester 30 mins ahead of schedule. United Airlines cabin crew were great, and provided great service. Drink services and complimentary beer and wine. Spirits were charged at $7 each! I was shocked at this. It seems a Like a budget airline to me. I'm told this is the same for other US airlines. All long haul flights I've done with Emirates, Air France, KLM have all been included. The card payment machines weren't working of which couldn't buy duty free and couldn't accept cash. Inflight screen wasn't brilliant but worked well and had to be rebooted once.

On this United Airlines trip, I had 2 stops each way then final on a round trip. The flight portion from PDX to DEN, the Captain / First Officer were, but the wifi did not work, and I was needing to get work done. On my return flight, MCI to DEN, the hostesses were very rude. DEN to PDX the wifi did not work again, but they were pushing to sell Direct TV. If the wifi did not work, then why would I take a chance of swiping my credit card to attempt to watch tv? The flight was delayed from MCI to DEN due to the plane setting overnight and frost had built up on the wings. Well, if you know it's 20 degrees outside and you have a 6am flight, would you not de-ice the plane before everyone boards to prevent delays? I almost missed my flight change from DEN to PDX because the flight was delayed due to frost. When I complained at PDX on my return part of the trip, I was told "sorry, maybe it'll be better next time" - seriously "maybe" was their best answer. If they would have said, I will let my supervisor know, or what can we do to make things better, would you like to file a complaint, etc would have been much better than, "maybe". What happened to Customer Service, or we value you as a customer?

United Airlines has become my least favorite airline to fly. This trip did not exceed my low expectations. The first leg of the trip was cancelled because of "crew issues." I appreciate the ticket agent being able to re-route me via AA to DFW and then to Denver and then to my city in Montana. But on each leg of the trip, the United sardine can was the same as it always has been: uncomfortable seats placed too close together accompanied by minimal service.

We flew United Airlines from London Heathrow to Washington in Business class. Check in at T2 was good, plenty of questions for security then helpful check in agent giving advice. Lounge was excellent - good quality food and drink. Although a long walk from check in, the lounge was very close to the boarding gate. Cabin crew were London based and were attentive on boarding and throughout the flight. Pushback delayed due to traffic at LHR, very windy and bumpy take off, and a long northerly route to avoid winds made us a little late into IAD. Boeing 777, with backward and forward facing seats - we had 9J/K. Coats had to bestowed in overhead bin - no wardrobe as on some other airlines. Seats comfortable and would have allowed sleep. No real problem in getting access from window seat over a reclined adjacent passenger. Food good both in quality and quantity - for mains I had a curried chicken breast, my wife a steak. Wine was offered with explanations, I chose the New World Pinot Noir. Water topped up often and so was the wine. Cheese course was generous, and ice cream was good. Entertainment was ok, plenty of films, decent screen size and sound quality. Bottle of water before lights out. Lavatories were cleaned and ok. Prelanding meal looked good - I only had fruit and a juice so didn’t partake. Landed at midfield terminal and so had to face the mobile lounges to get out to landside. Immigration was fast, and relatively friendly, bags were pretty much already there on carousel, and customs was quick. So issues at all - service and comfort on a par with LX and LH fights.

Honolulu to San Francisco on United Airlines. What a disaster - after a dated useless lounge and staff, the aircraft was delayed 6 hours, only to board a dated poorly equipped Boeing 757. The first class seats (1A) are extremely uncomfortable. No entertainment system, they claim Wi-Fi that never worked. Horrible food accompanied by non-existent service. One of the worst flight experiences I have ever had.

Unacceptable customer care. My elderly parents missed their connecting flight in Chicago. United Airlines cancelled next flight that goes to the destination. My parents had to wait till next day afternoon to catch a flight. United Airlines didn't have courtesy to offer a decent hotel for these elderly folks to stay overnight. I would not recommend this airline to anyone.

My 90 year old father flying United Express out of Houston to Jackson had his tickets marked needing assistance due to lack of mobility and being in a wheelchair. He had Air Serv attending him, but after asking about boarding 4 times he was left at the gate. This almost happened the year before but I as his son was at the gate and finally got the United agents to board him when they were just about to close the door. In reporting this I telephoned United and finally got someone on the phone. They said I would have to talk to a CRO at the airport. I talked to 3 people at the airport terminal and they said I would have to talk to the CRO at the gate. I got to the gate and could not determine who was a CRO. I went to the gate (Terminal B gates 1-11) to ask the security United agent if this was the right gate. She tried to answer, but with a large amount of food in her mouth could not speak and was spitting it everywhere. Really good way for personnel to be. I finally got my father on the plane and went to the Customer Service Counter. Told I had to do things online as they management will not talk over the phone. One agent did say on the sly to contact the Federal agency over airlines for help. Another agent on the sly said they just don't have enough people working to help the volume of customers they have. It seems the staff working recognize the problems, but the airlines does not. If I had a better choice I would never fly United again and I have flown them back as far as the Continental days when they were a real service oriented airlines. If you have elderly I would suggest going to the gate with them. I will never allow my 90 year old father to go alone or anyone else young, old or need special care as United and AirServ do not care about the people they are working for.

Second flight with United Airlines this week from YUL to IAD. Ground service was expedient and the team was polite. I used the self-serve kiosks and had my ticket in a matter of seconds. We boarded on time and left the gate quickly. The plane was a little old but the seats were very comfortable. The seat arrangement was single seat on the left side and double seat on the right. For quick, short haul flights United Airlines seems to be an okay carrier from my experiences thus far.