United Airlines

The seat space is so small I could not pull down the meal tray, which probably didn't matter much since United does not provide a meal on a 9 hour flight from Chicago to Honolulu - not even a bag of peanuts - everything is pay as you go. I have never had a good experience with them, but they have many routes locked up these days. I would avoid them at all costs. Also, it used to be if you had a Chase Mileage Plus card you did not have to pay for the first bag - not any more - you have to have the Explorere Card.

I'm an American living in London. I travel often to the US to visit family. The last two times (the only times) I've used United Airlines over BA, I've regretted it. Both times, the plane was severely delayed. 1st time was delayed to the next morning and the second time 4.5 hours due to mechanical failure. Both flights were also overbooked and both flights had poor service with no smile. Never again.

United Airlines is the by far the most disorganized flight service I have ever been on. The first flight when I needed to come back to a military base, they booted me off my flight. When I went to the new flight that I was supposed to be on they tried to tell me my ticket was no good and tried to boot me off again. It took me pulling specific paper work from the military to get onto the flight. Now for my flight tomorrow, I had booked a reservation probably 5 months in advance. However, once again they somehow didn't have my reservation. When I called the airline sent me to a automatic robot thing that was no help at all. It wasn't until the supervisor actually went in and reinstalled my reservation. I'm sorry but I don't think you can just hit delete on a reservation that has been made 5 months in advance. United airlines is the most frustrating and disorganized joke of an airline and unless I am planning to use my ticket voucher, I plan to stay as far away as possible from this airline.

Mexico City to Melbourne via Houston and LAX. Worst airline I have ever flown and I am not the type to leave negative reviews. Firstly our flight from Melbourne to LAX boarded on time but then we sat on the tarmac for 4 hours due to 'computer failures'. Finally we took off, and an enormous amount of water poured through the aircraft ceiling and landed on a passenger near me, soaking her completely. We missed our connection from LA to Mexico City and were put on another flight. On the way home things really got bad. We had booked a flight from Mexico City to Melbourne with one connection in LA. We received an email from United saying they had changed our itinerary to Mexico City - Houston - LA - Melbourne, with no explanation. There were also very short transfer times in each airport. Of course, we missed our connection in Houston (where we were also instructed by United to pick up our bags and recheck them, which was ridiculous given the timeframe), and then were put onto another flight from Houston to LA, which gave us 20 minutes in LA to make our flight to Melbourne or else we would be stuck there for another day. When we asked if we would be provided with a hotel, we were told "Sorry, none of this is our fault". We rushed and somehow made the flight to Melbourne in 20 minutes, which was incredibly stressful. Arrived home thinking it was all over, and they had lost one of our bags. Worst customer service given the repeated inconveniences.

Anchorage to Taipei via Denver and Tokyo returning to SFO. This itinerary was a comedic failure of customer service on United's part. While confirming flight status with a United Rep in the Philippines the rep was constantly mixing up past, present, and future tense. I was not going to get off the phone until I understood my itinerary changes. Frustrated, she screamed at me for not understanding and disconnected the call. On the return flight from Osaka to San Fransisco an elderly lady next to me couldn't use her in-flight entertainment and it was stuck on a program she found disturbing (it is fixed into the seatback). She was ignored by flight staff repeatedly and I had to assist her for the duration of the flight. The cabin crew pointed at my tattoo and asked if it was Jewish (it's not, but who asks something like that). A glass bottle of whiskey broke in my bag and it was returned to me at SFO in a clear garbage bag with a booze puddle at the bottom. The staff didn't help, but just said "We aren't responsible for this" and set it at my feet and walked away. No napkin. No "Hey I know this stinks but here is a trash can where you can pick the broken glass out of your clothes." No, "We can't take responsibiliy for the breakage but we are really sorry this happened." Just "Here" I boarded my next flight the following day in whiskey-soaked clothes. Anchorage to Denver, I mistakenly sit on the wrong side of the isle boarding and the stewardess told me "Remember, just like elementary school, A, B, C, D" which is an inappropriate way to talk to an adult. Overall customer service was careless at best, actively rude at worst. I will not put any more miles into their frequent flyer program and have cancelled my credit card.

I flew from San Diego to Chicago to fly to Buffalo. First, they cancelled my flight to Buffalo. I reached Chicago at 4am. They gave me the next flight at 10:47 so I waited for 7 hours. Then everything started after. They kept changing the time for departures for 7 times, adding 15 minutes each time. And that woman at the desk. - kept saying thanks for your patience. I will never fly this airline again.

I called United to book a one way flight from LA to Dallas, but the person I spoke with could not speak English very well. After repeating, again and again the date of travel, this person finally managed to check the schedules and found a morning flight. I listened carefully, without interruption, to the flight times and flight numbers. United's agent said, "OK, sir, I have you booked on flight XXX from LA to NY to Dallas. Can I have your credit card information please? I thought it strange that a United flight would travel across the USA to NY, turn aound and then fly to Dallas. I asked the agent if there was a more direct flight available and he replied, "No." I then said to the agent, "Why is it necessary to fly first to NY and then to Dallas." The agent replied, "Sir, this is our schedule. A short lay over in NY and then to Dallas International." Dallas International? I lived in Dallas for many years, and always knew the airport as DFW/Dallas Ft. Worth. Are you talking about Dulles International (not Dallas) in Washington, DC? The United agent replied, "Yes sir, of course." I said, "No thanks," and hung up the phone. I was seconds away from giving this United agent my credit card information for an incorrect flight because of his inability to understand English. Last week I again telephoned United and was again connected to an agent with less than perfect English speaking ability. I hung up the phone. When I spend hundreds of dollars, if not thousands, on a particular product I become more cautious. And when I have trouble communicating with a vendor about such products because of a language issue, then I become wary and concerned that my questions and/or instructions will be either misunderstood or ignored. Find another vendor. United needs to understand that it's employees become their public image. And employees that cannot communicate properly will give the public a bad impression of United. United apparently does not understand that poor communication means poor customer service. And poor customer service always means a loss of business. Another issue is trust. It is my choice where to spend money, and with whom to travel.

I must be insane. I keep giving United Airlines a chance, expecting its service and commitment to getting a flight to take off on time right. And it is always the same. Incoming flight late for some undisclosed reason, various mechanical failure like light out, toilets not working, etc. Been the same poor customer service the past 10 years. United is a joke and not a funny one. How about a 2% refund for every 10 minutes the flight is delayed.

First Class on United Airlines from Frankfurt to San Francisco. The First Class cabin is on the main deck in the nose of the aircraft. The flatbed seats are very comfortable and there is plenty of storage space. The food served and inflight service were excellent. Although not as refined as Lufthansa First class or the Swiss First product, I would rate the United First Class product a solid A. The stewardesses on this flight were outstanding and their attention to detail came as a surprise.

I originally flew out of Portland International Airport to Denver. The flight attendants coming from PDX were great, very friendly, courteous and respectful of all those flying. However I had a connecting flight from Denver to St. Louis, that was delayed by 2 hours due to maintenence issues. That's fine I know things like this happen and am always prepared! However the boarding attendant in Denver told everyone over speaker that they had been dealing with the issue for 3 days. My question is if you have had a broken down plane for 3 days don't you think you would consider finding an alternative solution to this problem prior to your booked flight checking in? So we get on the plane, fine we had a bit of delay still not angry except for the attendants with nasty attitudes! The only person that was halfway decent on this flight was the lady handing out the snacks! I was rudely asked to put my clutch under my seat that was safely strapped around my body with my personal contents inside (it's smaller than an ipad) that I wasn't asked to "stow away" on my previous flight. And an elderly man was refused the bathroom after we had been sitting at the St Louis airport for 10 minutes and had another 20 to wait because even though our flight was delayed 2 hours they still weren't ready for us to land which is crazy to me to think, you would think you would get more on top of it United. I guess in the end you get what you pay for.