I’ve flown on many airlines in my life. The older American airlines such as Delta, United, American (now Bankrupt), Continental are known to be the worst airlines. PanAm days? no more. Maybe look to the Asian Airlines for that quality. These old flight attendants are no different in service, age, size & looks than Denny’s graveyard shift waitresses. The quality of the plane, seats, comfort are no different than a public bus. I ordered a sandwich recently, and it tasted like 7/11′s.
And it’s not a matter of “you get what you pay for”, because some of the newer Airlines – Virgin Air & Jet Blue are very impressive and majestic. But they don’t fly to as many places as the latter, nor do they have partnerships with other sister companies to help collect points. So many of us go back to the crap airlines like a dysfunctional relationship – because it’s convenient & easy, even though we kick ourselves in the ass after for doing it.
I’ve had my complaints with Delta in the past for losing my baggage for a 4 day trip in Miami as a result of a delayed flight. Not only did we not have our clothes for 3 days, my watch was stolen, and countless calls were made to the Delta customer service with a different story every time. At least they reimbursed us for some necessary items purchased.
After my disgusting experience with United Airlines this past August, I’ve forgiven Delta for their minor mistakes (in perspective). This is my letter to United Air to share with you our horrible experience, and the neglectful, heedless response:
Hi Terri,
It has been a month and a half since you’re last reply (3 months after our flight). My family & I have awaited patiently for a follow up response. It seems like your company has underestimated all the damage United Airlines caused us – Emotional Distress, Unprofessional Staff, Assault, and Discrimination. I would like to list them again if it was not clear enough the last time.
1) On 7/30, the date of our departure, we checked in the flight and received our boarding ticket. No one informed us that your flight was overbooked until we approached the counter to ask for our seat numbers 30 minutes before boarding. Both ladies working at the counter were disgustingly rude from the start, in informing us that the flight was overbooked and that they would fly us out the next day. There was no apology, or politeness. Instead, their attitudes got worse as we asked questions. Why does your airline so commonly overbook? If you have 92 seats on the plane, then you should sell 92 seats. I think a 5 year old could do that math.
What I also noticed was the other 11 people on the side who did not have a space on the plane was also Chinese. Granted this is a flight to China, half the passengers were not Asian. I don’t think this is a coincidence. Have you trained your Employees to discriminate against minorities? There are many stereotypes that believe minorities will not press charges, and will remain passive & silent. That may have been the case many times in history, but it will not be Today.
2) On 8/17, our layover flight back from SFO to LAX, your rude flight attendant forced us off the plane because of unforgiving language barriers. My sister needed a blanket because the air was blasting while we waited for the plane to take off. I politely asked her for one, she annoyingly replies “We don’t have any” in a smartass manner. I said “my sister is shivering, you don’t have 1 blanket here? She’s gonna get sick.” My dad chiming in in his choppy English “My daughter get flu”. (As in, She may get a flu). There was no room for explanation before the flight attendant, with a terrified look on her face like we brought SARS on, screamed “You guys can’t fly, you need to get off”, creating a huge scene on the whole plane. (the plane door had closed at this point, ready to take off) As I tried to explain that my sister was not sick, she rushed to the security to kick us off.
3) Carla Clay, service director at SFO, lady who escorted us off, promised us upon a doctor’s clearance, we could board again. 98$ paid for the doctor’s visit. Next flight out missed. (6 hours wasted by now) After we showed proof of clearance (which she assaulted out of my hand), she made a ridiculous excuse that with a URI (Upper Respiratory Infection), my sister was not allowed to fly. The medical staff at the airport said that is absolutely NOT TRUE, as well as the family doctors we had called. I can supply 10 more Doctor notes from accredited Doctors. A URI is nothing more than a cold, in which the Airport Dr stated via speaker they circled, ‘just to circle’ something on the paper. At this point, it was just her f**king with us.
Regardless of the clearance or what the doctor said to Carla, she refused us on board and said they would send us out the next day. There was no apology from her, or her colleague. All there was from them was attitude, and condescending tones. It was no big deal to them to waste our time, laugh and lie to our face.
4) Suit against Carla Clay for assaulting us physically & verbally.
5) Emotional distress. I had a mental breakdown at the airport trying to deal with all your staff. They were anything but professional and reasonable. I have never dealt with worse employees. Our nation is in an economic hardship. There are millions of unemployed workers that would better serve your company than those incompetent United employees I had deal with.
It has also been brought to my attention that there is a lawsuit/news article in the Chinese Daily Newspaper about a Discrimination lawsuit about a recent case where a group of Chinese people were not permitted on board because the flight had changed to a smaller plane. Plenty of Caucasians were boarded though.
First Response after my initial complaint (and the same response literally copy/pasted for the 2nd response):
Subject: RE: United Airlines CGN -Ref#: 12940185A
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2011 05:16:23 -0600
From: CustomerSolutions@united.com
To: Jackiueng@hotmail.com
Dear Ms. Ueng,
I have received your email and sincerely regret the delay in our response to your inquiry of August 17th.. Due to a high influx in correspondences from our guests, our turnaround time has been longer than expected and I apologize for any added inconvenience this has caused.
Your frustration and disappointment is understood. I was sorry to learn of the difficulties that you reported with our crew onboard United flight 872 from San Francisco to Los Angeles on August 17th. Every year United serves millions of people representing cultures all around the world. United is strongly committed to the equal and appropriate treatment of its customers. Our company philosophy does not condone acts of, and strictly prohibits, discrimination or discriminatory practices of any sort. All staff members with customer contact responsibilities receive training on equal treatment of all customers. We maintain a strong corporate commitment to a simple value to recognize, respect and support our customers and our employees.
Please be assured that when we receive reports that a passenger feels they have been discriminated against in any manner, we take the issue very seriously. Your account of the situation will be reviewed and investigated by the supervisor of the employees involved. However, please be advised that due to the confidentiality of the process, we would be unable to advise you of any result of our internal review.
Despite the negative experience, we hope to have your continued business and support. United is committed to providing a pleasant and safe environment for our customers.
Regards,
Terri Rogers
United Airlines Customer Care
You get what you pay for. I flew United Air to China because it was $1100, the cheapest compared to the standard $1400 I was finding with other airlines. Although I’m a huge fan of Budget Traveling, I am pleading to you to save yourself from stress and anger, and spend those extra hundred bucks for a quality airline.
I am so disgusted and appalled by United Air. That’s the only response we received. No compensation for the dr.’s visit, no apology, no recognition of their incompetence, nor would they release the name of the flight attendant as earlier promised. I don’t need to wish them harm, they will run their company to the ground if they don’t change. At this time in the American Economy, only the strong & quality will survive. United Airline will not. Despicable.
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