I have had terrible experiences with United over the years and swear I will never fly them again. But this last time takes the case.
I flew from LAX to Cedar Rapids, Iowa on July 2. I arrived an hour and half early for my flight. The lines were really long and not moving so I went to the self check in. It said I could not take that flight as my flight was delayed making it impossible to make my connecting flight in Denver. I had actually called one hour before I arrived and was told my flight would be on time. I was upset as I did not want to wait all day at LAX. So the very nice lady at the service phone told me I could catch a flight that would be about 45 min. Later than my original scheduled flight and go through Chicago. The trick was that the next flight going out would not be until the morning, so I would have to spend the night in Chicago. I told her I did not want to pay for a hotel there and she assured me that United would cover the cost and that I just had to go to special services when I got to Chicago. I arrived in Chicago around 11:30 PM and when I went to the special services counter she told me about they said the were closing and could not help me and sent me down to baggage claim office. There was a long line there and I was tired. The lady said she could not help me and that I would have to pay for the hotel and contact United later about getting reimbursed. She then gave me a pink slip for a discount at select hotels. The next day I contacted United customer service and they said they could not reimburse me despite the fact I had the lady's name and ID. I also tried at the airport the next day with no luck. After numerous calls for help I finally got someone who said they would give me a $100.00 coupon for another flight. I did not want this, but since I could not get the money back I took it.
Now of course that means I have to use that stupid airline again. So I book a flight to Portland from Burbank online and put in my coupon number. I get back an itinerary that is not what I booked, but is from LAX to Portland and different times. I call the customer service again (and by the way I always get their India office and have to talk to people I can barely understand). They said they could cancel that flight and I would have to rebook it. I said what about my $100.00 coupon and he said I could not reuse it. After much argumentation and persistence and calling back I got a supervisor to rebook it properly with the discount. But when I saw my itinerary it charged me the full price. I had to call again and they assured me they would give me the $100.00 credit. After two days it finally showed up. But I spent about four hours on the phone trying to get a $100.00 discount which should have been reimbursed for my hotel. I swear I will never fly them again after I take this flight and use my 66,000 Frequent flier miles. I was saving this for Australia. After that I am done. I think more people need to write their complaints and while I was on this last flight I heard many customers complain and one took my name on a list where she is writing to Congress and the FAA about this airline. They do not care about their customers so why should we care about them.
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