United Airlines

United has recently changed its airplane (routing from PVG-ORD) from a 777 with personalized on-board entertainment in economy to a "new" 747 was shared projection screens. Also they recently changed their US/Asia route to also require payment for alcoholic beverages for those not in business or first-class. Travelling from China to the US quite often the 13+ hour flight seems even longer now that I have no control over what I can watch and no free drinks to "shorten" the travel time. In addition to these new changes the United crew has always been less than pleasant. It seems that the passengers are an inconvenience and I have heard the crew yell at each other on more than one occasion. Given the above I have changed my frequent flier membership to another Star Alliance airline and avoid flying United at all costs. It's just not worth the pain when flying that far and that long.

London - Newark June 14 2014. I used my miles to purchase a ticket back to New York last month and was a bit nervous because I hadn't flown with United in a while and wasn't sure how the quality would be. Luckily it was better than I expected! The entertainment was pretty old and barely usable unless I wanted to go deaf by turning up the volume to its max. Since I wasn't using it flight crew asked me to swap with a couple who had a broken machine which I did. The crew member then forgot to give me my drink skipping my row completely until I reminded him. I was a bit annoyed but you know staff get busy and flustered. I enjoyed my flight smooth and got home safely so cannot fault it. One thing that made me smile is that an older crew member who witnessed me giving up my seat and then getting my drink forgotten thanked me personally and talked about how the crew really wanted to encourage good experiences for everyone. Anyway I quite liked the flight so well done United.

Ever since Continental merged with United it has been downhill. My flights are repeatedly delayed for various reasons but mainly due to technical issues because they have so many old planes still in service. On my most recent flight my flight was delayed for five hours. The plane did not show up for three hours due to 'weather grounding' which was totally false because the weather was fine in Houston even if there were thunderstorms it would not have grounded for three hours. Then we were boarded and the pilot mentioned they had technical issues. I still do not understand why they would board an entire plane before knowing if/how long it would take to repair everyone sat in the plane for two hours until they were finally able to fix and take off. We were told to contact United for 'compensation' due to the trouble and I was offered $50 (only because I have status otherwise it would have been $25) due to our inconvenience. Apparently a new policy just instituted to give you even less because in the past for something similar I received $100 and $150. They do not even care anymore about customer service so I am moving onto another airline.

We booked a flight from SFO to LAX on United and a separate flight from LAX to Europe. Layover in LAX was supposed to be 5 hours - but rather safe than sorry is what I thought - and sorry we were to be: Upon entering the aircraft doors closed we were informed of a minor delay due to traffic restrictions. A while later a technical problem was added to the mix and they promised to keep us informed. It kept going on like this for a while until about two hours later we were released from the plane and tried to get on the next flight. After a total of three hours the ticketing agent kindly re-booked us on a Delta flight to LAX. We landed just in time to possibly make it on our next plane but the surprise was that our baggage was still on the original plane. So we had to wait even longer in LAX re-book the flight till next day find a hotel and so on. I asked UA ground crew if they could offer assistance with any of it hoping my star alliance gold card might come in handy. It certainly did not. The essence of this trip is: You are most welcome as a client as long as you pay and shut up!

Economy-plus from EWR-HKG. Staff at the airport were very friendly and in-flight were pleasant. For a 16 hour flight I was dreading the experience as I am 6'6" tall. The seat was actually reasonably roomy and thankfully the middle seat of three was vacant. The idea that United now charges for alcoholic beverages on even such a long haul flight really sets them apart from their competition in a bad way. The food was probably the worst I've ever had on an airline and that's saying a lot. Entertainment options were fine but the remote control at y seat did not work and the touchscreen worked only badly. Watched one movie and then slept. Overall though I felt as though I was flying on a budget airline and I wasn't! United step up your game!

This is the second time I have flown United. The first time was without incident. Great trip just lots of stops. This time however the plane I was getting on in Albany was late arriving and thus we were late taking off. This resulted in our flight arriving in Newark too late to catch the connection flight. Not only was I now delayed a day but I was told by the airline that I would likely have to travel to LaGuardia by bus or taxi but they would not cover the cost. This is insane. Also the airline did not seem to have any thought of giving a discount. I purchased a service and the service was not provided. In any other industry I would not pay for this. This will be the last time I travel with United. I will pay the extra money and take a more reliable airline.

Flew YYC-IAH yesterday on B737 and have to say nice flight mainly because of the class of service and the nice crew on board. Plane interior had seen better times and looked a bit outdated. Delay almost made up during flight. The friendly skies are much more friendly in Business than in Economy and unfortunately the gap between the 2 classes are way too big. In the future I hope United will shine some friendly 'skylight' towards the back of the planes to really earn the friendly sky status for all classes.

I booked a "direct" flight from Berlin Germany to Newark NJ USA and instead of being direct once we got to the airport we were told the airplane would be stopping to fuel up in Maine (obviously not for our flight but for the one after ours). Furthermore having made this trip from Germany/USA several times with other various airlines in comparison United has old planes and less amenities. Lastly there was no way to request a special meal from their website I looked and looked but the meal option was continually grayed out and ended up having to call customer service - another inconvenience.

We scheduled a flight from Dayton OH. to Boston with a connection going to Boston in Newark and another connection flying back with a connection in Chicago. Not once did we depart on-time. Newark was a disaster. We had our flight cancelled obtained a second flight but the customer service rep never suggested we try to get an earlier standby flight. Nobody called us from standby until I questioned the boarding attendant minutes prior to takeoff but managed to get onto the plane only to sit on the runway for over an hour because of a backup radio malfunction which ultimately caused the flight to be cancelled. After 7 hours we made it to Boston. Going home we arrived in Chicago and again on United's commuter connection we had another 2 hour wait while something on the plane was fixed. Service was poor especially in Newark where there were two hundred people waiting at customer service to rebook and two reps staffing the computers talking on a phone and letting a plane load of customers wait. Bottom line is that I almost could have driven to Boston from my home in Ohio and not lost much time.

I am appalled with the way I was treated by this airline. My connecting flight was canceled and no other accommodations were made for an entire flight. When I was told that I would have to stay at the airport for 10 hours for the next available seat my only option was driving to my final destination. The staff had no answers to my questions. When I went to get my baggage I was told it would be about 2 hours before my 1 suitcase would be brought to the carousel. The woman at baggage claim did not follow through and my suitcase was sent to another airport. I had to drive to get my bag from the other airport. I received nothing but frustration for all of the airlines mistakes. Terrible start to my vacation and I will never book with United again.