| This response is completely condescending and missing the main points on Newark obstacles on reaching her gate, my issues with the fees to begin with for seating using my Premier points, the rudeness of the gate personnel, the additional fees and my overall dis-satisfaction.
It has been a good run for you, but I will be taking my business elsewhere. Make sure that the people who care about UAL's bottom line understand the financial ramifications of this slap in the face. While it makes no difference in the large scheme of the annual report, I am sure that I am not the only one is, has, and will be following this path to your competitors.
UAL's pettiness has led my to spend over $1000 on other carriers for my travel in September alone:
Frontier confirmation XXXXXX for $281.50
Airtran confirmation XXXXXX for $331.50
Delta confirmation XXXXXX for $232.00
Jetblue confirmation XXXXXX for $367.40
Hell, I even took the Amtrak this month for $230.00
I have tolerated a lot over the past 15 years, but this is the last straw. $75 is a joke after charging me $150 in fees for using Miles I spent tens of dollars of dollars accruing.
--- On Fri, 8/26/11, CustomerSolutions <CustomerSolutions@united.com> wrote:
From: CustomerSolutions <CustomerSolutions@united.com>
Dear Mr. Parsons: Your email concerning the problems Ms. Lam experienced at Newark Airport just arrived on my desk. Please excuse our delay in responding. You say that she arrived Newark about one hour before her flights 3PM departure time, and was through security at 230PM but arrived at the gate after her flight was ready for departure. In order to try to maintain an on-time schedule for all of our guests our gate agents begin their final procedures 30 minutes prior to departure. At this time, reservations for those passengers who are not present in the gate area 30 minutes before departure are cancelled. This is why we require passengers that are checking luggage to arrive at the airport at least 90 minutes before departure. While our goal is to provide a smooth, hassle-free experience when you do business with us, from what you describe we failed to meet your expectations. What we strive to do is make every attempt to provide you with competent and courteous service. I am truly sorry for all that occurred to Ms. Lam. Regardless of the reasons for the inconvenience, our Gate Agents certainly should have done more to acknowledge the situation, to be empathetic and to better assist her. Your letter has been given to our Newark Operations Management so they can understand how their actions impacted her travels. Your request for reimbursement of the $50 rebooking fee is appreciated; however this fee was processed correctly when her ticket needed to be re-routed due to her late check-in. Your disappointment is understood. While I cannot refund the rebooking fee, I have included this Electronic Travel Certificate as a goodwill gesture. The certificate may be redeemed on United.com; details are below. We understand that air travel isn't always easy, which is why we continually focus on improving our products and services. Thank you for contacting United Customer Care. Regards, William Trent
United Airlines Customer Relations Ms.Lam - $75 Certificate *********************************************************
$75 CERTIFICATE TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
*******************************************
United Airlines Customer Care
Goodwill Electronic Certificate
$75
-----Original Message-----
Received: 8/18/2011 12:59:12 AM
OK, we really have a problem this time. Regarding the flight I paid for with Miles (confirm ZZZZZZ), Ms Lam was scheduled to fly out of Newark to Fort Wayne, via Chicago, on United flight 649/6252 at 3PM to attend a Showing that Friday for a close friend and his funeral on Saturday. The cab dropped her off at terminal C (the airport signs indicated terminal C for United Airlines) an hour before departure. She was through security by 2:30pm, was directed to shuttle bus to terminal A for the departure gate, and got off the first shuttle bus as directed by the driver for her gate. She could not find her gate and had to search around for personnel to help and was directed to get on another shuttle bus.
When she finally arrived at her gate, she was asked to wait aside while two female UAL employees processed seat assignments at the United A16 gate counter. They continued calling people to the counter and processing tickets and proceeded to board people in front of her and then closed the ramp door. She was told the flight was full and to wait further as they closed it out. They closed out the flight she was supposed to be on and conversed in what sounded to be of a personal nature which lasted about 25 min. She asked to be rebooked on the next flight to Fort Wayne or a nearby airport. She was simply told there were no more flights to Fort Wayne. No further help was given as they walked off out of the terminal gate area. There were no United agents in the area after this point.
She was completely distraught and called me. I had to leave my friend's grieving family and work with UAL personnel for about 30 minutes over the phone to just get her to Chicago that night and then arrange transportation for her so she could at least make the funeral the next day. On top of the lack of assistance and downright rudeness displayed by the gate personnel, I was charged a $50 rebooking fee!
If I am ever going to do business with United again, I need to receive a generous apologize for the unnecessary time and fees that this experience cost her and myself. All I wanted to do to begin with was to fly Ms. Lam to a place to pay her final respects to a man whose life was taken early. The last minute flight costs were extremely high, but that was true of all airlines. I cannot complain about that, but all the additional, unnecessary costs of rebooking, traveling to/from the airport and the time of rebooking and rescheduling need to be compensated.
I await your response. From: CustomerSolutions <CustomerSolutions@united.com>
Dear Mr. Parsons: We value your feedback regarding the $75 stand-by fee and having to
purchase Premier Seating for another passenger that was booked with your
Premier Miles. From what you describe, we failed to meet your expectations for
providing good service. Please accept my sincere apologies. Rest
assured that we want to do everything that we can to ensure that your
travel needs are met. We understand that air travel isn't always easy,
which is why we continually focus on improving our products and
services. As you are a Premier Flyer, your feedback is especially valuable to us.
Please know that I have forwarded your comments to the appropriate
management team to be used to identify service improvements essential to
your needs. We know we can't take your business for granted. We must earn it and we
will work harder to do just that. Regards, William Trent
United Airlines Customer Relations
-----Original Message-----
Received: 8/11/2011 2:42:01 PM
Subject: Web Request for Customer Relations Message type: Email Customer Relations Complaint Response required: Yes Please inform the decision-makers that their poor choice of customer
service costs them a lot of money each year from myself and many others.
The $75 standby fee is just thievery when there is no compensation for
delays. But, the topper for me is that I get charged for Premium seats
if I buy a seat using Miles for another passenger. If I am using Miles
to make any purchase, those are Miles that I accrued through tens of
thousands of dollars being spent on your airline and the ticket should
be treated as Premier, no matter the person's name on it since it comes
from my account.**I will achieve Premier status for the 15th year
running, but barely make it each year. You want to know why? Because
these nickel-and-dime policies infuriate me and cause to to fly on other
airlines all year long. As long as you are ok with me giving you the
minimum, then fine. But, you are sacrificing thousands and thousands
more dollars each year by me going with competitors out of spite. I hope
the $39 that I paid for a Premier seat - when I had NO choice to book Ms Lam
into another seat (confirm ZZZZZZ) and the $75 I paid to change
flights to get to Chicago early so I could go to a friend's wake is
worth losing a hundred fold that over the rest of my flying lifetime.**I
am sure that there are a great many that practice travel as I do. Great
business sense there, guys. Mr William Parsons | 
