My wife's father recently passed away in Mazatlan, Mexico. His last wish was for my wife (his oldest daughter) to tend to his very modest estate. We have no illusions of ever actually gaining anything from this; my wife and I agreed it was the right thing to do, in her father's memory — even though we barely get by, have a special-needs child and no money for travel.
Thus, my wife purchased tickets to fly on United — from SFO to Los Angeles, on to Mexico City and finally to Mazatlan — in order to make a necessary appearance in court for her father's estate Thursday, May 25 at 9 A.M.
What has happened since then has been, quite frankly, the worst ordeal of our life. It has left my wife hysterical, in tears, without money or food, stranded in Mexico City (NOT Mazatlan) — and, worst of all, not a single person from United has offered to help in any way, despite repeated, repeated, REPEATED attempts from both of us the past 24 hours.
We are not an affluent family.in fact, purchasing these tickets left us destitute — I literally have $18 on which to support my two children the next four days. (By the way, I have worked TWO full-time jobs, 80 hours a week, for two years to support my family.) And because of United errors, we now have to find a way to make this trip AGAIN!
Here is what has happened:
1. As planned, my wife flew from SFO to Los Angeles on Wednesday morning, May 24, arriving at LAX in plenty of time to catch flight 979 to Mexico City. Once there, she was supposed to have about a two-hour layover, then catch her flight to Mazatlan.
2. Once at LAX, my wife was informed that the pilots for flight 979 were running way behind schedule. They finally arrived, more than two hours late!!!
3.By the time the pilots for flight 979 arrived in Mexico City, her connecting flight to Mazatlan had already left!!!
As a result, my wife, already emotional and under stress because of her father's passing and the court appearance for his will, was now left stranded in Mexico City WITH NO MONEY, no way to eat (she was supposed to eat with relatives in Mazatlan beginning Thursday night) and no way to make her scheduled court appearance on Thursday morning!!!
So far, it's been bad enough. What happened next, I believe, borders on the criminal.
A United representative at Mexico City named Enrique (he refused to give his last name) told my wife, and others, that since it was United's fault that they missed the connecting flight to Mazatlan, they would be given rooms at the hotel at the airport. My wife asked if she could please have money for a meal; she got no response. (Over the course of the next 16 hours, she asked at least five more times for a meal voucher — again, never a response. Nothing but blank stares.)
She was put up in a hotel at the airport. Her description of the room was it was small and next to an alley that seemed to be "filled with drug dealers and whorehouses." I spent much of the night on the phone with her; she was crying and couldn't sleep because of the stress and, frankly, the hunger. (She had $20 for emergency uses to last her throughout the trip and didn't want to spend it all the first night on food. Again, she was supposed to be eating with relatives in Mazatlan!)
This morning, Thursday, May 25, she left her room early and went to see United representatives to beg for an earlier flight than the 8 P.M. Flight they had put her on. (And, again, to try unsuccessfully for a meal voucher.) She was told, quite rudely, that nothing was available. She kept trying. Finally, they found one seat for her on another airline at 1 P.M. (As of this writing I'm not sure if that has happened or not).
United told her to walk across the terminal, a good five-minute hike. She did, only to find out United had sent her to the wrong place. So she walked back. United sent her back again, this time to the correct place. The airline told her there was a $15 fee for changing her ticket and United should pay for it. So my wife, who has a very painful knee injury, walked back again. United, very rudely, told her no and sent her back and said "Tell them not to charge you." So my wife walked back again. And, she was sent back to United again.
Meanwhile, from my end, I was calling every phone number I could find, trying to get help for my wife.By United's own admission — I repeat, BY UNITED'S OWN ADMISSION — it was UNITED's fault that she was left in this situation.
I begged customer service to contact United in Mexico City to arrange for a meal voucher for my wife. And this, I believe, is the most amazing part of the story thus far.
"I'm sorry, " the customer service rep said, "we are not authorized to speak with them."
I couldn't believe it. "You are United, " I said. "United is in Mexico City. So what you're telling me is... United is not authorized to speak with United???"
She said yes, that was true. I asked to speak to a supervisor. He repeated the scripted answers ad nauseum, even though I begged — BEGGED — him, asking "Look. It has GOT to be easier for you to find a number for United in Mexico City than me. Please give me that number, or any number, to get help for my wife!" He refused. He said it was a different department and he couldn't help me.
"Your wife needs to go to the United people in Mexico City and ask for a voucher, " he said.
"SHE HAS — FIVE TIMES!!!" I said. "And they refuse to help her! Am I supposed to send her back for a sixth time?" The supervisor seemed unmoved, saying "I'm sorry. They need to help her. We can't."
I made several other calls, sent several other e-mails. Nothing. No response, other than canned, cookie-cutter "We are so sorry to inconvenience such a valuable customer!" responses.
Most insulting of all? Everybody kept offering me a $100 voucher "for my next United flight."
How can you insult my intelligence this way? Airline fares go up and down more than this every day. And I wouldn't travel with United again if it was the last flight out of a burning airport.
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