United Airlines

United Airlines needs serious work on maintenance pilots and air crew. I fly (or used to up till now) about 6 times a month for the last 6 years. I can count on 1 hand the number of flights that actually left or arrived on time. There were crew issues (I sat at the gate with the plane present for over 1.5 hrs waiting on a crew from another flight to show up). There were maintenance issues (we are on the plane which was late showing up in the first place supposed to leave at 8.50 plane shows up 9.20. Load the plane by 9.40 sit at the gate because main door would not indicate sealed until 10.15 then cancelled flight. Wait over 12 hours for a new flight). Pilot issues (plane late arriving again after 2 hour delay pilots get on load plane plane pulls out of gate then returns to gate. Pilots leave flight their hours are up. Time used while sitting at gate on phones not flying). If I'm late by 1 minute the door shuts can't get on the plane ok my fault. I sit waiting for over 12 hours because the plane has issues suck it up not even a sorry.

My husband and I went to Cozumel from Dallas and back with United. The night before out flight I tried to check in and on one of our flights the only way to get to claim seats was by paying 40$ per person. Ridiculous as I had booked the flight months ago. Departing there was a 40 min delay due to "lack of personnel" but as we were boarding the pilot came on saying there was no reason for the delays and that the crew were all there. On the way home the same issue of not being able to claim seats without paying. Then on the way home we had a delay once again from Houston to Dallas. The first delay was due to "awaiting aircraft" and it was 50 min then we boarded the plane 15 mins late due to delayed customers then a final delay of 45 min due to operations. Absolutely ridiculous especially as I paid 100 dollars more for an earlier flight.

Flying on this United Express service Embraer RJ 135 from Houston to Nashville was a very claustrophobic experience. Being 190cm when I walked in I had to seriously bend over for the ceiling is very low. The 2-1 seating configuration is a good indicator of how small and narrow the cabin really is. All-in-all felt like flying in a cigar tin can. These regional jets are not my favourite yet they seem to be getting more prevalent in the United network.

First class on this new 737-900 seems to have more leg room than what I recall from the old first class. Add to that the comfy seats and the experience is quite OK. This 3+ hour flight from San Francisco to Houston had a much improved service - the United staff finally seem to be having some fun and are proud again of their airline. It shows. Besides the service the meals have also improved. There are more healthy choices such as a salad with grilled chicken and fresh toppings chicken wrap and the likes. And then there are those sumptuous warm chocolate cookies that they serve at the end. This flight had not IFE so I resorted to using my iPad and paid for the very inexpensive inflight wifi service. I was shocked how great the wifi onboard worked and for only $2/hour. This is a game changer.

I only had two to three on-time flights from April to June out of more than 10 flights. My flight from Chicago to PVG got cancelled after sitting in the cabin for more than 3 hours in July. Yesterday my wife and son took same flight (UA835) and got delayed by 5.5 hours. UA staff on board were very rude. I will never fly United Airlines.

I have been flying JFK to Dulles now for 4 weeks on the Friday 2.29 departure. It has never left on time and is generally 1 hour late. On Friday 8/8/14 it left 3 hours late. On two occasions the problem has been mechanical. One time because we needed to put more fuel on as we were given a new flight route. 140 mins longer than originally planned. I guess we were cutting it close before the re-route. All in all it is a bad flying experience. Their tag line should read "you would be better off driving".

Gate agents are rude flights constantly delayed with no regard to connecting flights and mostly for "crew availability." Our most recent disaster was trying to get home to KC from San Antonio. First flight delayed putting us in Houston an hour after our connection was to leave. Had to call to find another flight since they offered no alternate options. Once in Houston the flight out was delayed twice due to "awaiting aircraft" a third delay due to "crew availability" and at 10pm was finally cancelled conveniently due to "weather." Which of course relieves United of any lodging responsibility even though the initial delay which caused this fiasco was fully their fault. Was traveling with my 11 year old son had no access to our luggage and ended up with a $361 airport hotel bill. They did finally do one thing right in the end that I have to give them credit for when they rebooked our cancelled flight for the next day they put us on Delta.

My wife and son took United Airlines this summer back form China and transfer in Newark airport. The connection flight and last flight of the day was cancelled due to thunder storms. During the time they waited for their next flight United Airlines did not provide any accommodation they has to sit in gate area seats the whole night until next day. A horrible experience.

Completely disorganized unfriendly and the least bit helpful. The customer service from the second I came into the airport in Toronto were so unwelcoming. After printing out my boarding passes at the kiosk with no help (Sunwing kiosks had assistants walking around assisting people) struggled with a kiosk and then headed to the line to check bags in. The girl at the desk just seemed so unimpressed and was very cold towards my family and I. Upon going through customs it was very disorganized and very little help was offered while at the receipt kiosks. While going through baggage check the man checking our carry ons was telling everyone that passed that our flight was cancelled. Mind you the smartphone app said the flight was on time early actually. We then got into the waiting area there was just a sense of panic going on and nobody knew what was going on. A flight attendant came and confirmed it was cancelled. Maybe 10 minutes went by and another flight attendant came by and said it was in fact running on time and not to worry. All in all very disorganized and unwelcoming. I've always flown with Sunwing and I guess next time I won't be travelling with United.

I have had several problems with UA over the years and tend to avoid them but recently I had no good option other than to travel with them from SFO to Dulles round-trip in economy class. The return flight on a 757-300 was horrific with turbulence for hours. The pilot never really commented on it other than a brief "It's bumpy so I've turned on the seat belt sign". I am only 5' 2" and 105 lbs. and I was unable to sit without my knees hitting the seat in front of me. There was no in-flight entertainment at all. I will continue to avoid flying UA at all costs even though they have a hub near us in SFO. My past grievance with them concerned their small seats rude flight staff and last-minute flight cancellations back-to-back with other overbooked flights. While turbulence is turbulence it was handled very poorly.