United Airlines

Frequent flyer here. Worst flight experience I have had. Flight was supposed to be 53 minutes long. Got 44 minutes delayed due to late arrival of the plane. After boarding 15 minutes delay due to "technical difficulties". Smallest plane I've been in. Even though I wasn't planning on checking in my backpack the plane was so small that most passengers had to give their carry on luggage to the flight attendants to pick up from the luggage claim later. After landing (59 minutes after we were supposed to) the baggage claim carousel wasn't turned on until 35 minutes later! 2 other flights' passengers have landed after us collected their luggage from the carousel next to ours and left. Finally 40 minutes after landing (which is unusual for a domestic flight at a small airport) they started providing our luggage. The only good part about the whole flight was the behaviour of the pilot and the attendant. My ride was waiting outside for an hour and a half and I was extremely embarrassed. Never again.

Recently travelled from Fort Lauderdale to Vancouver on 2 different United Airline flights. I have never complained to an airline before about leg room until now and have been travelling since 1976. If you tried to seat your pet into an area as small I think you would be answering to a higher authority. That's how bad it is folks! They actually allow passengers to recline their seats during the flights so you know the rest of the story!

In-flight service is long out the window video entertainment is endless infomercials and the last scraps of legroom have vanished into thin air. On a recent full flight from Newark to Los Angeles a new super skinny seating was encountered that climbs to a whole new altitude of pain and suffering. When reputable airlines change to slim seats the airline gets more seats on the plane and passengers get a bit more legroom but at United this would never fly. United now using Continentals short-haul 737-900s on long-haul routes has extra extra seats that don’ t quite fit. To make passable exit row clearance seats behind are compacted to even less than their typical 30-inch seat pitch on this aircraft - less than the 31-inches specified for many other flights - and much less than the 32-inches United advertises when selling economy seats. My seat had only 2-feet clear butt-to-shin with perhaps an additional 4-inch knee-high seatback thickness - probably a 28-inch pinch - or less! When the passenger in front tried repeatedly to recline - there being no extra room it was impossible. The passenger drew a cabin attendant to complain that I would not allow the seat to recline. The attendant seriously explained to me that the passenger had purchased a ticket entitling them to my leg space and may fully recline the seat. Unfazed the attendant told me that if I wanted extra legroom I should have purchased an“Economy-Plus” seat. I asked how much it would cost but there were no free seats - at any price. I explained that I did not need extra legroom just sufficient room - which they were not providing. Not reconciled to the laws of physics the attendant continued insisting that this was all my fault - that I was taking up space that I was not entitled to - and had me turn sideways putting my knees in the aisle so the seat could recline. My shoulder was now in the way of the seat. I could not turn back either and complained that the vending carts would hurt my legs even more than the seatback. Only then did the attendant finally suggest that the other passenger switch seats with their adjacent small child. For $25 a luggage bag had more space than me - and was treated much better!

My family and I flew United for the last time over the holidays. We bought tickets the previous March in order to get direct flights to the west coast and seats together. We chose to fly out of Logan - very inconvenient for us but the only airport offering a direct flight. A few weeks before our trip we received an email telling us that our flights had all been changed. Now we were leaving hours earlier getting in hours later with stopovers both ways. These flights were on Christmas day and New Year's Eve - clearly a few hours made a huge difference. Also our seats were no longer together. I will never fly United again. Customer service is terrible.

Never again will my family and I fly with United Airlines! We flew in from Sacramento to San Fran and we missed the connecting flight to Hawaii because of their delays. We had to wait 2 hours then fly up to Seattle and then to Hawaii which made a 5 hour flight over 6 hours! On the way back from Hawaii we had a flight connecting us from LAX to Sacramento but missed it once more because we were sitting on the Tarmac for 40 minutes doing nothing. There were no more flights to SAC so we had to spend the night in LA. My husband 2 sons and I are now missing work and my 2 other children are missing school. Missing the flight once was bad enough but a second one is totally unacceptable. Both times the planes we needed to get on were sitting there and we were only late by minutes and they wouldn't let us on. We missed a whole day in Hawaii because of it. Also on the flight with UN from Hawaii to LA there was no complimentary food.

London to Costa Rica via Newark. Check in was quick and efficient. flight to Newark left on time and we landed 20 minutes early. The 777 was clean well equipped and comfortable. In Flight service excellent and food and drinks plentiful and good including the ice cream and caramel that was very impressive. Transit through Newark was somewhat long but that is nothing to do with the airline. Flight Newark to Costa Rica was on time. Aircraft was a 737 of some age but the seat was fine and the crew excellent again. Food and drinks again good for a short haul flight. So my experience of United was a good experience and well worth trying as the tickets are good value and extremely competitive against other carriers.

MDT-IAD-LAS-ORD-MDT. Other than the leg from Dulles to Vegas the trip was largely a non-event. Even that leg the only real complaints I have is that it (B-737) was fully booked and the WiFi system on the plane was spotty. I do not recommend paying for the on-board WiFi systems until you've spent some time in the 'complimentary' area to make sure the system is working properly. The MDT-Dulles leg was a 25-minute trip not especially worth discussing. The Embraer 145 is a nice little plane the single-seat arrangement on the one side of the cabin does make a nice opportunity to get both a window and aisle seat. LAS-ORD was aboard an older 757. Seats were more comfortable than the 737 but in-flight entertainment was limited to basically an old Discovery Channel program on overhead CRTs. On the other hand it was free so I guess you get what you pay for. This plane was also fully booked but got lucky with a smaller woman in the center seat. ORD-MDT was aboard an A-319. Seats were comfortable. Inflight entertainment was available over a wi-fi connection to my tablet. Worked like a charm. Large selection of programming. Plane was about 80% booked and I got lucky with an empty center seat. On all 4 legs cabin crew was attentive and reasonably pleasant. Flights were on time or at least close enough that I had no trouble making connections. Notes: Bring a tablet or something to occupy yourself with. When the in-flight entertainment is right it works well. When it's not you'll be twiddling your thumbs without some way of entertaining yourself for hours. Do use the United app. Having the boarding pass on the smart phone - and getting all the necessary updates through the app - made things easier. It worked reasonably well. When traveling within the US (on any airline) don't go non-stop coast to coast. 5 hours on a fully-loaded plane is miserable (and lets face it they're all close to fully loaded today). An hour layover in some place in the middle is now a welcome respite and no longer a nuisance. Be prepared for delays. Stuff happens on every airline - mechanical and weather. My reading of the other reviews complaining about United strike me as largely problems that every airline is guilty of in some way shape or form. It is simply the reality of airline flight in 2014. Airline travel just isn't what it was 20 years ago when the planes were half full so there was more room and the cabin crew was not so rushed.

Flight 914 from CDG to MCI with connection at Washington Dulles on Jan 14 in Economy class. The product featured by United is sub-standard. Of course ageing aircraft in the main leg (767) is clean and well maintained and this is the minimum you can expect from one of the largest airlines in the world. Check-in boarding operations baggage everything ok. Seats are standard. VOD is poor with very limited options and not user friendly. The music program was out of order for this flight and films not plenty. Besides on individual screens maps are not detailed and this system is less advanced than 20 years ago (I am not joking) in Asian companies. Also flight information is given exclusively in feet inches miles just if the metric system does not exist in the rest of the world! Regarding meals they are almost edible. We had chicken with some sauce (more sweet than sour) a large salad with a too smallish cup of dressing (good) and a kind of sponge cake pompously christened crumble – wrapped in a cello paper printed European quality but made in Alabama. All in a very small slippy tray complimented with picnic cutlery (100% plastic). And of course passengers have to pay 7.99 $ for one beer. Ridiculous. By the way a sandwich (not bad) was served before landing but do not expect more than water between meal and snack. Fruit juices ice creams and other open bar is a dream out of reach at United. Attitude of cabin crew very professional (attendants have apparently about 20/25 years experience) working efficiently but not cheerful (friendly skies really?) in very bland uniforms which could be copied from Railways of the 70’ Being familiar with Asian and Middle East airlines I find United well below what you may expect from such a large corporation.

United Premium Economy is a gamble it seems to be directly dependent on the type of aircraft you are flying. On a 777 the seats are nice and spacious the services (seatback entertainment) are premium and you can really feel the extra legroom making the extra charge totally worthwhile. On a 747 the opposite is true I had more room in Economy on an Airbus than I did in Premium Economy on a 747. On the 747 I couldn't even fit my very small backpack under the seat in front of me and what little legroom I had was obstructed by a large piece of plastic. The aisles were noticeably narrower as well which made every beverage service an exercise in getting smacked with a cart (not fun on a 13 hour flight). I did notice there was an extra seat in every row on the 747 which is probably were all that extra room went. Also relying on the old school movie screens meant that even if you were trying to sleep a bright light was shining in your face. On the bright side as always the crew were nice courteous and professional. Long story short though? If you're going to spring for the Economy Plus make sure you're on the right type of plane it makes a big difference.

I flew to London on the so called "Dreamliner". United is so bad they have now changed out the seats in coach to the same tiny seats for short commuter flights. United plus is not a better seat or service just more leg room which is the least of the issues unless your over 6 feet tall. Beer and Wine are now $7 each! They are free on European airlines with more comfortable seats. I used to be bothered when they cancelled direct flights from Houston to Paris. Now I don't have to chose between United and Air France!