Another United Airlines debacle

[caulfield12]

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/united-airlines-g...topstories.html

[RockRaines]

United f***ed over my family and I on our trip two weeks ago. I immediately cancelled my credit card and transferred all points. I'm never using them again.

[Steve9347]

And this, my friends, is why you hire lawyers. She'll get a payday.

 

"I didn't want [Taizo] hurt, especially," Yamauchi said, explaining why she did not argue with the flight attendant. "I, of course, feared my personal safety, with everything I've seen with United Airlines. I didn't want to see anybody get hurt."

Yamauchi claims holding 25-pound Taizo in her lap during the flight caused her to temporarily lose feeling in her legs and left arm.

[Dick Allen]

I was with my dog in Dallas last week. It's supposed to be $125 each way for the dog. United never charged me. Let me board with the first group. Also let me change my flight for no charge. It was delightful.

[southsider2k5]

And this, my friends, is why you hire lawyers. She'll get a payday.

 

"I didn't want [Taizo] hurt, especially," Yamauchi said, explaining why she did not argue with the flight attendant. "I, of course, feared my personal safety, with everything I've seen with United Airlines. I didn't want to see anybody get hurt."

Yamauchi claims holding 25-pound Taizo in her lap during the flight caused her to temporarily lose feeling in her legs and left arm.

 

In all honesty this is how you SHOULD handle things like this.

[Chisoxfn]

United f***ed over my family and I on our trip two weeks ago. I immediately cancelled my credit card and transferred all points. I'm never using them again.

What happened?

[Steve9347]

In all honesty this is how you SHOULD handle things like this.

Oh, completely agreed.

[greg775]

United f***ed over my family and I on our trip two weeks ago. I immediately cancelled my credit card and transferred all points. I'm never using them again.

What happened? When you get a chance please tell us. I feel flying United and American is scary bad. Don't like any aspects of it. And Delta.

[greg775]

In all honesty this is how you SHOULD handle things like this.

You mean the passenger? I disagree. She has lost feeling in her arm from having to hold the child for 3 hours. She paid for the child's seat. I think you owe it to yourself to speak up. You paid 950 for the ticket for the child. It's unacceptable for the airline to not fulfil the transaction and let the kid fly in their own seat. I tell you. If this ever happens to a passenger, the passenger has to make it clear to the moronic flight staff that you WILL be going to call the TV stations as soon as you get off the flight. You will be posting your story all over social media and you will be difficult. You can make a stink and be polite.

 

If I misinterpreted your post, my bad. But I feel like this was not the way you should handle things like this because you the customer are getting royally f***ed. You are out 950 bucks and you are injuring yourself holding the BIG child 3 hours and possibly endangering the child's life.

 

I also am very surprised the passenger who was seated next to the mom didn't offer to leave. I know we all have to get home, but ... clearly the passenger heard how he got the seat; there's a 2.5 year old kid squirming in the seat next to you for 3 hours. I mean, give up your seat to the kid and get off the plane. I thought United made it clear it was changing its policy to have the flight staff be able to solve situations like this using common sense. How could an entire flight crew and pilots think this was the correct outcome? How the hell did they get the kid under the seat belt on mom's lap? I thought we all had to be strapped in properly before the flight took off. I can't imagine one seat belt making it over the lap of a kid and a mom.

 

That's my take. That United gets a Fat F and should lose in court over this one. Mega damages.

Edited July 7, 2017 by greg775

[RockRaines]

What happened? When you get a chance please tell us. I feel flying United and American is scary bad. Don't like any aspects of it. And Delta.

Got to the airport on time, checked in but needed to check bags. Their system showed they needed to check us in manually when we did it at the automated kiosk (even as a premier member). They shuttled us from kiosk to line to kiosk to line until we finally got to the right person and since it was 25 min before the flight they told us our baggage wouldnt make it so they had to bump us. Mind you they literally wasted 40 minutes not knowing what the hell they were doing. The next direct flight was 14 hours later or we could take a connecting flight which added about 12 hours onto our travel time. With a pregnant wife and a toddler, this was pretty much a disaster, and of course they already threw our bags on the belt so we couldnt do much but comply. Of course they still charged us for the baggage fees. I actually found a nice lady in customer service that corrected several errors like having all of us in a different row, not having the correct connecting flight and for some reason the moron at the front had changed our return flight to a connecting flight.

 

The funny part was our bags DID make it on our original flight, and we would have made the plane easy since we all have pre-check. So when we got to our destination 12 hours later our bags were sitting in the united office....with nobody in sight. The office was closed so we had to wait another hour for someone to come and get us our bags. It was an unorganized s*** show from start to finish and nobody seemed to want to do anything to help other than the one lady in customer service. Thats the last bit of business they get from me.

Edited July 7, 2017 by RockRaines

[caulfield12]

I'll just say this much.

 

Our son is one month older and weighs a full eight pounds more. My 60+ year old wife's grandmother has held him in her lap for longer periods of time than that, and she weighs about 90-100 pounds.

 

So this whole idea of grievous injuries to the woman holding the baby is undoubtedly an exaggeration, but they could have simply looked at the original itinerary...his boarding pass that had him assigned to an actual individual seat, her credit car/payment record or invoice, etc.

 

I have a feeling deep down she knew not resisting and then going after the airline (publicly, after flight was over) was the best strategy, and that's how it's playing in the media, to her advantage. In the final summary, United really screwed up, but they already comped two free tickets or refunded all her money...not to mention the fact proving criminal/civil damages and injuries would be incredibly difficult. Her leg was painful or fell asleep? How much is that actually worth in a court of law?

Edited July 7, 2017 by caulfield12

[RockRaines]

I'll just say this much.

 

Our son is one month older and weighs a full eight pounds more. My 60+ year old wife's grandmother has held him in her lap for longer periods of time than that, and she weighs about 90-100 pounds.

 

So this whole idea of grievous injuries to the woman holding the baby is undoubtedly an exaggeration, but they could have simply looked at the original itinerary...his boarding pass that had him assigned to an actual individual seat, her credit car/payment record or invoice, etc.

 

I have a feeling deep down she knew not resisting and then going after the airline (publicly, after flight was over) was the best strategy, and that's how it's playing in the media, to her advantage. In the final summary, United really screwed up, but they already comped two free tickets or refunded all her money...not to mention the fact proving criminal/civil damages and injuries would be incredibly difficult. Her leg was painful or fell asleep? How much is that actually worth in a court of law?

Pretty sure I would have made a bigger stink about it, since the kid should have had the seat.

 

lost in this is why didnt the guy with the same seat, or who was given the kids seat, volunteer to take another flight?

[caulfield12]

Pretty sure I would have made a bigger stink about it, since the kid should have had the seat.

 

lost in this is why didnt the guy with the same seat, or who was given the kids seat, volunteer to take another flight?

 

I guess we'd have to know that he was fully aware of the circumstances?

 

That weight and age, he was close enough to being barely under 2 that it wouldn't be obvious at all to a non-parent. Most Chinese think our biracial son is actually 3-4. Nobody ever guesses 2, which is cutoff for your own seat.

 

Japanese babies tend of be smaller...or, in this case, Japanese American.

 

 

And yeah, there's no way I would have let it go after being charged. I would ask to speak with supervisor and diligently present the 3-4 different methods of proving the seat belonged exclusively to our family.

 

We also don't know how much United made in profit by selling that additional last second ticket? Or was he simply on stand by and hoping to get bumped to an earlier flight? And for what reason? David Daos's primary argument was not to miss the one day a week (Monday) he was allowed to see patients and basically earn a living. He would have had to fly the following day, not later Sunday.

Edited July 7, 2017 by caulfield12

[Jenksismyhero]

Pretty sure I would have made a bigger stink about it, since the kid should have had the seat.

 

lost in this is why didnt the guy with the same seat, or who was given the kids seat, volunteer to take another flight?

 

Why didn't United tell the stand by guy, tough luck buddy, she bought the kid a ticket in advance, you didn't. You lose.

 

Or why didn't United ask for volunteers to take a different flight? Oh yeah, because they're extremely greedy.

 

I feel for the mother. I have a 5 and 1 year old. We've flown numerous times with a baby/toddler. Being on a flight for 3.5 hours WITH the extra seat is brutal enough. Having to occupy that toddler in between your legs/on your lap, alone, would be a nightmare.

 

I can't believe that United's corporate office hasn't put out a company wide memo in the wake of this ongoing PR nightmare to go overboard in assisting customers to make tough situations right. You know that passengers and the media are waiting to post another "United sucks" story. Why allow it? Offer up free tickets or multiple free tickets to give the kid a seat and prevent yet another news story.

[pettie4sox]

Why didn't United tell the stand by guy, tough luck buddy, she bought the kid a ticket in advance, you didn't. You lose.

 

Or why didn't United ask for volunteers to take a different flight? Oh yeah, because they're extremely greedy.

 

I feel for the mother. I have a 5 and 1 year old. We've flown numerous times with a baby/toddler. Being on a flight for 3.5 hours WITH the extra seat is brutal enough. Having to occupy that toddler in between your legs/on your lap, alone, would be a nightmare.

 

I can't believe that United's corporate office hasn't put out a company wide memo in the wake of this ongoing PR nightmare to go overboard in assisting customers to make tough situations right. You know that passengers and the media are waiting to post another "United sucks" story. Why allow it? Offer up free tickets or multiple free tickets to give the kid a seat and prevent yet another news story.

 

When you think you're bulletproof, these things will continue to happen. People are still flying their airlines, they see these incidents as no more than a hiccup.

[Jenksismyhero]

When you think you're bulletproof, these things will continue to happen. People are still flying their airlines, they see these incidents as no more than a hiccup.

 

I'd be interested to see how their financials look over the last 6 months compared to other airlines. I think this stuff has an effect. I've never had anything but great experiences with Southwest. Even when their system f***s up, they've dealt with it in an acceptable way to try and make it right. I seek out Southwest before looking anywhere else, and if I have a choice between flights, i'm willing to pay a little more. Can't say the same about United. I steer clear. I did before this stuff, but now i'm for sure not going to deal with them unless I absolutely have to.

[knightni]

I'd rather have a two year old on my lap than get beaten senseless and drug off of the plane.

[Dick Allen]

I'd rather have a two year old on my lap than get beaten senseless and drug off of the plane.

I don't know, having a 2 year old traumatized watching his or her parent beating and dragged might be more than worth your while when the final figure comes in. The supplemental payout for it, should more than cover the child's therapy.

[LittleHurt05]

I'd rather have a two year old on my lap than get beaten senseless and drug off of the plane.

 

I'm not so sure about that, it depends on the kids. Lap child flying is no fun.

[greg775]

Got to the airport on time, checked in but needed to check bags. Their system showed they needed to check us in manually when we did it at the automated kiosk (even as a premier member). They shuttled us from kiosk to line to kiosk to line until we finally got to the right person and since it was 25 min before the flight they told us our baggage wouldnt make it so they had to bump us. Mind you they literally wasted 40 minutes not knowing what the hell they were doing. The next direct flight was 14 hours later or we could take a connecting flight which added about 12 hours onto our travel time. With a pregnant wife and a toddler, this was pretty much a disaster, and of course they already threw our bags on the belt so we couldnt do much but comply. Of course they still charged us for the baggage fees. I actually found a nice lady in customer service that corrected several errors like having all of us in a different row, not having the correct connecting flight and for some reason the moron at the front had changed our return flight to a connecting flight.

 

The funny part was our bags DID make it on our original flight, and we would have made the plane easy since we all have pre-check. So when we got to our destination 12 hours later our bags were sitting in the united office....with nobody in sight. The office was closed so we had to wait another hour for someone to come and get us our bags. It was an unorganized s*** show from start to finish and nobody seemed to want to do anything to help other than the one lady in customer service. Thats the last bit of business they get from me.

This is a true horror story. My gosh.

You know, I know there's no way you folks could have carried on, but as a single traveler I almost ALWAYS cram it all into a carry on cause just one story like yours is too many for one lifetime. I know you couldn't carry on with a wife who is pregnant and a toddler. You have to live an incident like yours to appreciate how bad something like that is. Travel is exhausting any way (sure it's FUN when you get there finally and get your rental and get in your hotel) but when there are travel snafus and WHEN THE AIRLINE is the cause of the snafus, my gawd it is frustrating.

Glad you are holding it against United. It's all we can do is boycott airlines that screw us over. I said on here Southwest has been my favorite BY FAR, yet a buddy of mine tells me a SW Airlines horror story from a few weeks ago. I'm not a fan of travel, just a fan of what happens when you get to your destination up until it's time to go back to the airport for the return flight home.

Thanx for sharing your disaster story. Hope your pregnant wife wasn't too stressed.

Edited July 7, 2017 by greg775

[greg775]

It's really almost depressing to read these reviews about United. I realize if your trip is "OK" with no real problems you are probably not apt to post a review but wow. It's almost embarrassing this is an American business.

 

https://www.yelp.com/biz/united-airlines-sa...isco-2?start=20

[Dick Allen]

It's really almost depressing to read these reviews about United. I realize if your trip is "OK" with no real problems you are probably not apt to post a review but wow. It's almost embarrassing this is an American business.

 

https://www.yelp.com/biz/united-airlines-sa...isco-2?start=20

Unless I had just an awful trip, I wouldn't ever think of putting a review on Yelp about an airline. I'm guessing most people are the same. United has some problems, but they all do. Some stuff should never happen, like what happened to Rock Raines, but it happens elsewhere as well.

[greg775]

Unless I had just an awful trip, I wouldn't ever think of putting a review on Yelp about an airline. I'm guessing most people are the same. United has some problems, but they all do. Some stuff should never happen, like what happened to Rock Raines, but it happens elsewhere as well.

The United horror stories are starting to frighten me, though. I get a queasy feeling about boarding one of those planes ever again especially after reading some of the Yelp stories. I hate checking luggage nowadays cause I feel like that's the last time I'll ever see that stuff and that's no matter the airline.

If anybody sees a link to a big but not huge duffel type bag, with a big stronger material than the duffel you put your basketball equipment in, send me a link. My trusty carry on is getting old. I've even packed for Hawaii trips with my trusty duffel. I'd have to be one of those folks who carries on actual luggage, that's a pet peeve of mine, those 'big' carry on luggage things that allegedly are carryons.

Edited July 13, 2017 by greg775

[Chisoxfn]

I flew United last week (not my usual airline...I typically fly American when prices are similar...cause I have the most points with them). Flight was fine (same as with any other airline).

[caulfield12]

http://nypost.com/2017/07/19/family-tossed...er-kicked-seat/

This one was JetBlue...hard to know the real story here, seems there are two quite conflicting sides, logic says that she was at least 50% responsible, if not moreso.

 

No picture of husband, but he has an obvious Islamic-influenced name.

Edited July 19, 2017 by caulfield12