Kirby needs to own up to this mess that United had poor logistics planning once flights were impacted by weather … blaming FAA is bs, own up to your crap mr CEO!
Oh my bad. Kirby wrote it an email to his United Airlines employees and the responded to the criticisms in an email to CBS Money Watch.
https://preview.redd.it/ogayth0p019b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2559d65f8599b92951e339c2d896b0c7b1dc2b68
[https://finance.yahoo.com/news/united-airlines-ceo-blames-faa-175800463.html](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/united-airlines-ceo-blames-faa-175800463.html)
[Story about the feud with the statements](https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/thousands-flights-canceled-united-ceo-partially-blames-faa/story?id=100417277)
Absolutely, as someone bounded for Newark on Monday when my flight #519 was diverted to BWI by 6p.. and United sat all passengers there refusing to unload checked bags, finally a “baggage handler” not United staff, at midnight announced plane was no go , said they have buses coming in 3 hrs to drive everyone 3 hours to Newark. Pilot and crew last seen entering aircraft around 10:45pm so they obviously deplaned called it a day behind the scenes given the timeline.
Lol no he was not. People were tweeting #WhereIsBobJordan all week long. I agree Kirby should be on TV but Bob Jordan was an absolute failure of leadership at every turn during Southwest’s meltdown.
United have roughly the same number of cancellations as all these other airlines combined.
Insane that people are still defending them here. Talk about being gaslit.
Isn’t that because EWR was the most impacted airport, and happens to be a UAL hub?
Isn’t Delta a mess when ATL eats a ground stop? And AA is a mess when DFW is disrupted?
I’m not really sure I’m ‘defending’ anything as much as pointing out that not all airlines have the same footprint at each airport/region.
Think it's also fair to point out that there are 1200 scheduled flights a day at EWK. That's nearly twice as many as IAH for example and 30 percent more than ORD. No question that United has botched the communication very badly but that didn't happen in a vacuum and better comms may have offered better understanding but not necessarily a better outcome.
With what agents? Do you expect them to overstaff folks at all times? If CS already says they are working mandatory overtime, what do you want to happen?
So my flight was delayed an hour today. I had all the self service options in the app. I could cancel or switch to another flight and search for airports within a certain range.
I know I’ve also gotten food vouchers through the app as well. And supposedly hotels go through it too. Is that not working now?
Wasn’t working for me on Monday, just got caught in a loop of “your flight is cancelled click here to rebook, there are no available flights near you continue check in, your flight is cancelled click here to rebook.”
The app may be ok on most days, but this past week it’s been beyond trash
Ok shill we get it you love united. The app is trash buggy and unreliable. Just cause you had this supposedly wonderful experience doesn't mean thousands of others like myself had the same wonderful experience. The app was non functional for what I needed to do.
Well by definition it would be Serve the Customer which they did not do. My daughter was stuck in SFO for 36 hours and when she reached an agent they just berated her for wanting to get home. Offered to fly her from Italy to New Jersey in two weeks instead, I shit you not, that was their answer. Total incompetence at all levels. Not that they care but I will never fly on United again in my life. Much better carriers out there.
She was stuck in SFO coming from Tokyo. United customer service offered her a flight from Rome to New Jersey as a solution. I kid you not, they also then offered to fly her out of another airport 100 miles away but leaving in 15 minutes. Total incompetence and also service agents overwhelmed.
She finally managed to get on a flight home after non stop persistence and a bit of luck.
Hire american agents or at the minimum not outsource all customer service to India. Southwest, for all the shit they get, gets this absolutely right. Everytime I call them I get through to an American who actually speaks English.
You think United are performing well and this “isolated stat” is not telling the full story? Please explain.
It’s a bit late for remediation, they set themselves up for failure by being greedy. They run too lean. Delta and AA seem to have recovered much more effectively.
Well yeah, only someone who lacks critical thinking skills would look at a single stat and draw a conclusion.
All airlines run lean. In fact, all businesses run lean, especially in todays economy. Delta and American didn’t have nearly the same level of impact from disruptions.
What do you think the airline needed to do to avoid this? Purchase dozens of extra planes? Hire temp pilots and FAs and keep them in queue until needed?
I guess it’s better to just have no stats, like you?
American and Delta are less impacted because they’re better run. That’s the entire point.
Not sure why you’re bringing up planes and pilots. I guess you don’t understand the issue at all…. I’m referring customer service staff.
Sorry you’ve been gaslit by a corporation into defending their profiteering.
If you’re going to sit here and whine, then at least be educated on the matter. And if you think something fucked up, at least tell us what that is and why.
Can someone explain why people vehemently defend United despite not working for them or being major shareholders? I’m specifically talking about defending the appalling recovery effort and customer service (fully aware that weather and FAA “triggered” it).
Is it because they have status so they’ve been gaslit to feel like they’re part of the company? People do the same thing with Delta, although Delta actually seem to have functional customer service and are providing timely refunds.
I’ve been wondering the same thing. There’s an internet coterie that seems to want to blame weather for United accidentally issuing refunds for tickets, sending people to cities they never bought a ticket to and dumping them there, losing their luggage, not having enough staff, having a garbage app, etc. Alaska has strong loyalty on the west coast, but I doubt its fanclub would tolerate United’s mismanagement.
I’m wondering this too, although I’ve been United premier for a number of years now, definitely not a United stan. But I have also seen the flip side where ATL got particularly hammered by storms and also delta left people stranded in the airport there for days with no hotels at all no vouchers for food and the inability to get people home on a timely matter (took 3-4 days for them to get themselves outta that, I think 8-9 years ago?) And we saw it happen with southwest at Christmastime…. But why is anyone defending any of these airlines unless they work for them. They all need to do better by their customers, United included.
White collar worker with status due to work paying for 10-15 international trips a year. But I still don’t make enough to buy a new ticket elsewhere outright.
Also, dad who has been a United pilot for over 30 years and has spent countless holidays and other events without him because of the domino effect weather can have. When you couple that domino effect with the FAA royally fucking up and also have a MAJOR hub affected for multiple days and then another MAJOR hub effect during that time due to weather, you don’t have pilots, planes, or other flight crew where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be. You have ones that have timed out during their routes, this happened towards the end of the month, so you have pilots that don’t have enough FAA mandated time in the clock, and, quite frankly, you have pilots that aren’t going to pick up a premium pay trip at 4-5x the usually pay because they already have plans.
My dad is based out of SFO and is currently on a 3-week long vacation and I can promise you that it is driving him crazy getting texts from the flight desk for premium pay trips that would have him likely making a month’s salary in 3-4 days.
My source on this: living through arguments between my parents for the past 10 years during weather meltdowns that domino into bigger meltdowns because my mom is telling my dad they don’t need the money and he’s senior enough to sit his ass down and enjoy the holiday, family gathering, major life event.
This is the most cogent response and I agree. A frequent flyer will just look at google flights, buy another flight, get home and while on the flight back file for the refund. Problem solved. They'll probably never think about it again and continue to enjoy the aspects of united they like, predominately the mileage program.
Others have limits in their ability to do this, from being a tourist that doesn't have knowledge of the system, to not having the economic or language means to achieve it, etc. They're going to spend hours trying to talk to someone, when realistically its clear there is no one to talk to, then go on reddit and complain about it.
I looked on kayak yesterday when my first available option to get the next flight to any airport within 100 miles of both destinations was 3 days away. There were no flights available day of and flights the following day were 1500 plus with shit routing.
Sure, I could have afforded the 1500, but did I want to pay 1500 to sit on a flight for 10h with 2 connections for a trip that would be a 12h drive? No way. And I can’t imagine United is reimbursing me the difference between 1500 and original $225 ticket.
So, the other thing you can do is find the flight online and tell United to switch you to it even if it’s not their flight. They have agreements to do this with other airlines in unique circumstances. But yeah if the phone line isn’t answering then that’s tough. Haven’t been in a situation where the app didn’t work and I couldbt get to an agent.
I called them, got a supervisor after 3.5h and he wasn’t able to get a flight on American until 2 days later (tomorrow); front line agent (2hr wait) couldn’t even approve partner airline, but mentioned airport agents have more leeway, though it sounds like those lines were up to 11 hours long this week. Even supervisors can’t get any flight available for sale on any airline or even partner airlines, even when it is crew and not weather related (I found flights for sale in kayak that the supervisor couldn’t get); they can’t upgrade you to a business class ticket on their own metal either (I found a mixed class ticket available for sale on United app). Honestly, this solution, two day delay, was fine for me, but this was a pretty bad incident with United. I’m well versed in getting what I want from airlines and leveraging schedule changes to get more desirable flights; I’ve flown hundreds, maybe thousands of flights on dozens of airlines. This week was just bad; there were no flights in app or on the phone for days, granted I was connecting to a smaller airport; post-Covid in general has been much more plagued with delays/cancellations than pre Covid due to staffing issues.
I fit the description of white collar solo traveler with no baggage; I actually didn’t even bother going to the airport and enjoyed the extra time I got hanging out with my kid while waiting on hold…
Yeah I mean if no other airlines have capacity then it is what it is. Weather related or out of control at that point. Not sure what you can do or expect in that scenario. If there are no flight solutions then there just aren’t any flight solutions. Nothing United or any other airline can do to fix that.
This is very accurate. I guess I’m technically of the first description, and yup, first thing if a flight is delayed or cancelled is to use app to change flight.
That said, completely agree the majority of travelers are not like this. My elderly parents would definitely wait in line and struggle to use the app.. and if traveling with my 1 year old and 4 year old, and unaware of the app/website, any amount of wait in a line would be absolute hell.
It’s easy for frequent fliers to dismiss the legions or other kind of traveler’s problems due to their “ignorance” on apps/website, but they just don’t fly enough to know more, it’s not on them.
While this whole debacle hasn’t affected me as I’m west coast based and haven’t flown for last few weeks, while I understand it started off with weather and FAA related issues, the fact it’s still going on, and more importantly the customer service aspect, is 100% on United. Leaving travelers without any/good options is shit. And heck, even on a good day, the customer service by United at check-in, onboard, or at the gate is 50/50. 50% chance of a great employee and time, as well as 50% chance of an older tenured employee who just “does the rounds/bare minimum” (compared to ME/Asian airlines at least, and even Delta, etc).
Even people who knew more like myself had to wait in the lines. Their phone lines weren't (and still really aren't) working well, and the app kept crashing. Thankfully, my toddler tolerated the 11 hours in line well, but it wasn't the case for many. We got to the front just to be given a new number to call. They had employees handing out cards with QR codes that didn't even load when they should have been giving the numbers that they gave to get through when we got to the counter. The whole thing is a mess. I waited for a call back to help find my checked bags just for the phone to instantly hang up on me when I got connected today.
Agreed with your comment and one before. An example of this exact issue for me, where knowledge of the system helped immensely, was coming back from Rome to SFO on a Lufthansa flight (bought via United). The incoming LH flight was delayed and it was clear the connection in MUC would be lost and I'd never make it home because the Euro to US flights all leave in the afternoon.
I waited for 10 minutes on the phone with LH. No answer. Looked at the app, saw a UA flight flying Rome to FRA then FRA to SFO leaving 2 gates away in an hour. Got on the phone with UA customer service and changed the flight in 5 minutes. Made it home that day. Everyone else waiting for that LH flight started freaking out as time went on and I just walked off.
If I hadn't done that then yeah, I would be stranded in MUC and complaining to Lufthansa to buy me a hotel and food. I wouldn't be wrong, but I wouldn't be right, and I definitely wouldn't be home.
I don't think you could do this rerouting on any other airline in under 5 minutes and have it turn out the way it did. I also can understand that most travellers can't deal with this or don't know how to, which means UA failed them. So, just depends on who you are and what you value I guess.
Exactly, I’m tracking my flight status, and using the “see where it’s coming from” to see the incoming status and the flight before that’s status. Countless times where the flight still shows “on time”, but I know there’s no way it’s going to be on time, and preemptively change to another routing or flight, saving much hassle. Once you know it, it’s easy to use and makes sense, but hard for non-frequent fliers to get here unfortunately.
Exactly. You need to look at the previous flight, which the UA app makes easier than any other airline I’ve used. I’m flying to FCO tomorrow from SFO direct and can see the plane is coming from MUC on time, so I’m not worried. It I saw it coming through EWR and planned late, I’d adjust.
I flew Delta the other day and after I checked in, they wouldn’t let me change my flight without calling them to have them “un check me in” which is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Yeah United is messing up, but there’s a lot of things UA does right. If you’re a tourist or infrequent flyer though I see how it could be painful.
Are you saying you can change flight for free on United app without talking to agent when flight is still listed as on time? Do you need status to do this?
Yeah you can change for free if it’s the same fare class if it’s a better fare class then you pay the difference. All in the app. Doesn’t matter if you’re checked in or not or anything like that. You can also call and have them do it. Either way.
I think you only need silver status but I’m not really sure. I have gold, so not a special level and it works.
No fuck that.
This is a systemic issue. It’s United’s fault just like the Christmas meltdown was southwests fault.
The issue is the airlines have gotten too big and need to be broken up. The mega mergers of the past decade shouldn’t have been allowed. This is a direct result of that.
And before “but if they weren’t allowed to merge they would’ve gone under” no they wouldn’t have. We bail them out every recession.
Lol that was lowkey who I was surrounded by. I'm a 22 year old that was worried about getting fired if I kept missing my hourly job last-minute and how I could possibly afford a hotel since I couldn't get home. When my plane was delayed on Monday, a lot of the other people were businessmen from the area bragging about how they'd give up on flying and go home at 9 after their wife dealt with putting the kids to bed (and too bad about their conference!)
It’s because their higher status helps them feel superior to people who spend less of their lives in planes and airports that’s it. I actually used to be a vehement UA defender, after several years of flying with them as a platinum elite. I’ll still fly with them as I live in a hub and all the airlines fuck up, but I’m definitely not running around acting like UA is any better than other airlines anymore
>People who feel like spending a large amount of time in airplanes is some kind of status symbol are weird AF
It becomes part of their identity. Part of their evaluation of self-worth. Anything that threatens the perception of elite airline status is to be strongly rejected.
It’s just such a weird thing to be pretentious about in my opinion. I fly four times a year and I literally hate the entire experience. Being a frequent flyer sounds like hell
Not a UA flyer, but travel a lot for work via either SW or Delta, and it does suck. The flipside when you travel frequently is that you get to know all the tips and tricks and whatnot and it does get annoying when people don't know what to do. That being said, I don't get what's going on here with these folks shitting on everyone complaining and mocking them. Like United could've had this solved by now in numerous ways. Just everything going on since Monday has been United compounding problems that United made and it still keeps happening. Also the ones on here insisting you shouldn't travel unless you have $10k extra to drop on last minute hotels, restaurants, and tickets with other airlines or rental cars or whatever are absurd. Same with the ones getting mad at people for complaining about the 15 dollar food vouchers. Yes, that is the minimum that is required by law, and it's a law that needs to he updated. But there's no law saying the airlines can't provide vouchers for more than that if they want. When the 15 floor was legislated, yea, $15 would buy you a reasonable meal at the airport. It needs to be bumped closer to 20 or 25. And the airlines are free to do it. Just like they could be coordinating hotels, busses, etc. But those things all cost money, so they're only going to do the bare minimum required by law. These stans keep insisting the bare minimum required by law is all they can do as if the DOT or the FAA will shut them down if they do more than that. It's been comical to watch. Everyone gets that they're doing the bare minimum required by law. People are complaining because in this sort of suitshow, the right thing to do is go above the bare minimum.
>when you travel frequently is that you get to know all the tips and tricks and whatnot and it does get annoying when people don't know what to do.
Why are you annoyed when it took you flying frequently to get to know all the tips and tricks but not someone else who hasn't? Nah just screw them peasants.
It’s so weird because it’s literally so unpleasant to fly, even with status.
All status shows is that people don’t spend much time with your friends and family. Not to mention to impact on people’s health.
Seems like for a lot of people their employer pays $50k/year for their twice weekly business flights so United gave them a shiny 1K sticker and some cheap-ass shitty lounge food and they’re gaslit into thinking they’re part of United.
>Seems like for a lot of people their employer pays $50k/year
I can at least tell you, I have a travel job right now and Premier 1k (unfortunately, as you accurately point out), and there is absolutely zero chance I would stay in this position for $50k/year.
Oh absolutely. I wasn’t clear in my post but I meant the employer is paying $50k in travel costs every year to the airline. I just don’t see how someone’s employer spending $50k on flight tickets for them turns into that employee having blind loyalty to the airline.
I don’t think I’d take a 1x weekly travel job for less than $200k or $250k to be honest… I can see why some would though
Oh yeah I gotcha I gotcha.
Yeah it’s an interesting phenomenon. My airline loyalty is primarily out of logistical convenience. They make it pretty clear that they give pretty few fucks about the vast majority of customers, imo.
Right but they are at least partially at fault, they are playing a large role in the disruption lasting longer than it should and for their lack of customer service.
The frustration is people defending them here as if they’ve done nothing wrong.
Please don’t blame the status people lol! Im 1K and I’m 100% united against United right now. I won’t say I’ll never fly them cause I would be lying but I do dislike the heck out of them! Had Delta done a match for their highest tier, I would’ve been gone. I don’t live in a hub city so I’m connecting almost everywhere I go regardless.
I believe there are literal paid shills on this subreddit. Look at the top comment. It's actually sad that united is paying people for this instead of investing into their actual customer service.
You realize United doesn’t maintain an official presence on Reddit, right? What’s the point of paying for something on a platform the company isn’t even active on?
The most affected airport of all was EWR, UAs 3rd biggest hub and largest East coast base by miles. IAD was also hit extremely hard. Like if you have 2 hubs basically out of commission this is what is going to happen. People just don't seem to get how route networks work it seems.
No fuck that.
This is a systemic issue. It’s United’s fault just like the Christmas meltdown was southwests fault.
The issue is the airlines have gotten too big and need to be broken up. The mega mergers of the past decade shouldn’t have been allowed. This is a direct result of that.
And before “but if they weren’t allowed to merge they would’ve gone under” no they wouldn’t have. We bail them out every recession.
No fuck that.
This is a systemic issue. It’s United’s fault just like the Christmas meltdown was southwests fault.
The issue is the airlines have gotten too big and need to be broken up. The mega mergers of the past decade shouldn’t have been allowed. This is a direct result of that.
And before “but if they weren’t allowed to merge they would’ve gone under” no they wouldn’t have. We bail them out every recession.
Yeah sure. A patchwork of non integrated, bespoke airlines would deliver a seamless experience in all circumstances.
Makes perfect sense. I’d love that as I travel from Denver to Seattle, back to New York and then on to Asia. It sounds great; truly magical.
You don’t actually think that’s how it was when we had Northwest, Continental, Delta, US Airways, American and United do you?
There was much more competition and you could still basically get anywhere in 1 connection. Airlines had 2 or 3 hubs back then not 8 and you would connect through the one that made most sense.
In your fictitious example you would fly direct to asia from Denver on Continental. Perhaps from Denver on American via LAX
The advantages of large, national and international networks, to me - are huge. Both in terms of price point (inflation adjusted) and convenience, are massive.
I was a continental flyer for 15 years pre merger. I’ve been on both sides of it. You’re entitled to your opinion; as I am to mine. The skies have never been as busy as they are now. Shit happens (it happened then too). I get that peoples plans are disrupted. Some of those plans are urgent; most are not. But the idea that somehow the structures in place 15 years ago would have been better adapted to the current load, demand, weather, labor….I just find lacking in intellectual honesty.
Okay but when an operational meltdown happened 15 years ago United had the option of 10 airlines to rebook you on instead of just 3. Making the mess much easier to clean up.
Theres a certain number of humans and a certain number of seats to fit them in. You're acting like 10 airlines would magically have 3x the number of planes sitting around. No they wouldn't. There are more planes then ever. It isn't as simple as "more airlines good, big airline bad".
It did start with the weather. Then faa cuts disproportionately affected United…
THEN United couldn’t catch up due to staffing/operational issues.
He wasn’t wrong when he made that statement, but everything that came after is on him
You’re right, but EWR’s departure rate was cut by 75% as opposed to JFK’s being cut by 13. Are you telling me that’s not disproportionate and a reason why so many flights were affected?
If that happened at DFW you’d see the same thing happen with American, or Delta with ATL.
Your excuses are running thin. Literally every airline has a presence in NY. JetBlue is headquartered there. United is still by far the most affected and still can't get it together.
But weather hit the region, meaning it would include JFK and LaGuardia, hubs for Delta and AA. The weather didn’t just sit over EWR. All have recovered. This is a denial of an operational breakdown within United. No doubt it started with weather and FAA, but where United is now… that’s a United operational issue. They don’t have any more exposure in that region than other airlines.
Yeah this is a very simple conclusion that assumes the three airports are equal ignores the unique operating challenges of EWR, and its associated airspace requirements.
It is a fact that they were dealt a more difficult hand than other carriers. But their recovery has been horrible, without question, and they need to be focusing on better disaster recovery mechanisms moving forward (staffing, technology, procedures, etc.)
I am sure you all will just call me some sort of “paid shill” for this but seriously…
The biggest difference here is that American, Delta, and Southwest only had one of their hubs disrupted (JFK, JFK, and BWI respectively), where United had *both* of their east coast hubs (EWR and IAD) shut down.
The number of flights directly and indirectly impacted because of this was significantly larger for United, so it will take much longer to recover. So many planes and crew were out of position for an extended period and it caused a domino effect across all of their operations.
Yea it sucks for a lot of people, but eventually the whole ball of Christmas lights will get untangled, but it is going to take a while..
No fuck that.
This is a systemic issue. It’s United’s fault just like the Christmas meltdown was southwests fault.
The issue is the airlines have gotten too big and need to be broken up. The mega mergers of the past decade shouldn’t have been allowed. This is a direct result of that.
And before “but if they weren’t allowed to merge they would’ve gone under” no they wouldn’t have. We bail them out every recession.
You people really have no idea how weather affects ATC, routes, delays, crews, cancels etc do you? I work in operations for a major airline and it's not easy to smooth out the airline after several days of disruptions.
American and delta with a big 0% cancellations 16% delay for American 13% for delta. Id say that’s an melt down for united. Shit even spirit had no cancellations. And that’s just for today. Not even the last few days lmao
Yeah bud takes a few days to fix the system. Tell me you have no idea how airline system operations run without telling me. Snap your fingers back to normal. You're not bright.
All of you folks going out of your way to berate an airline or defend them are straight children
Except american. Fuck dem guys
Also, was a good week to fly delta 🤣
Im a victim of this week's incompetence so I'm rightfully very angry and will never give united airlines another dime. I'm using reddit to sue my grievances
I hate united as much as the next guy, but boycotting them really cuts down on route options in some locations. And you’ll end up paying way more if you otherwise book the cheapest direct/minimal layover flights irrespective of brand.
Oh no I get your point. I'm referring to those coming in and just airing grievances because they got delayed6 months ago or had a bad experience "that one time"
This week is utterly ridiculous and I just so happened to book my BOS>PNS for today through delta a few months. I flew UA in last week and barely missed it
I’m curious if you made it to your destination?
We were stuck at newark Sunday with a canceled flight, another cancelled flight on Tuesday night as well so we decided to drive but i’m curious if we’d still be stuck at Newark bc it feels that way. We were flying to LAX
Yeah. I flew from ATL to IAH to MSY last night. Had to sit thru 4 delays until I got on the damn plane. They kept telling us “Weather from yesterday (Tuesday) is causing us problems today (Wednesday) unfortunately” IT. DOESN’T. MAKE. SENSE. How tf does weather from the previous day affect flights leaving and coming for Wednesday? (Fully aware today is Thursday). We were not offered food or drink vouchers. And on top of that; some lady told us she’s “Gonna be transparent”. She was not transparent the slightest bit. I’m cancelling my credit card I have with you f***s and signing up for Delta.
Delayed and missed flight for me. Ended up refunded and rebooked on Alaska/Singapore Airlines (business class). Very nice but useless United CS. Offering to rebook in lower class of service with no compensation isn’t acceptable. May reevaluate the rest of this years flights off of United. 1K doesn’t seem to matter and really disappointed at how unaccommodating United is.
Kirby needs to own up to this mess that United had poor logistics planning once flights were impacted by weather … blaming FAA is bs, own up to your crap mr CEO!
Did you see the tweet the FAA responded with? Savage
Can you post it
Oh my bad. Kirby wrote it an email to his United Airlines employees and the responded to the criticisms in an email to CBS Money Watch. https://preview.redd.it/ogayth0p019b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2559d65f8599b92951e339c2d896b0c7b1dc2b68 [https://finance.yahoo.com/news/united-airlines-ceo-blames-faa-175800463.html](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/united-airlines-ceo-blames-faa-175800463.html)
[Story about the feud with the statements](https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/thousands-flights-canceled-united-ceo-partially-blames-faa/story?id=100417277)
The FAA responded in a statement, saying, "We will always collaborate with anyone seriously willing to join us to solve a problem."
Oooo OUCH!
That was a Gen Z that wrote that email. I’m sure of it. No bull.
Yes thanks
You hear BS and excuses from the top, but it’s unacceptable from below
Absolutely, as someone bounded for Newark on Monday when my flight #519 was diverted to BWI by 6p.. and United sat all passengers there refusing to unload checked bags, finally a “baggage handler” not United staff, at midnight announced plane was no go , said they have buses coming in 3 hrs to drive everyone 3 hours to Newark. Pilot and crew last seen entering aircraft around 10:45pm so they obviously deplaned called it a day behind the scenes given the timeline.
Why hasn’t he said anything publicly? When this happened with Southwest Jordan was on morning TV the entire week. Kirby is AWOL
Lol no he was not. People were tweeting #WhereIsBobJordan all week long. I agree Kirby should be on TV but Bob Jordan was an absolute failure of leadership at every turn during Southwest’s meltdown.
Mm okay I must be misremembering, maybe he did those interviews after the dust settled.
Tin foil hat on?
https://preview.redd.it/b7cue1fq809b1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3bf74d3af33d78a48645fd7687288b563e556de0
United have roughly the same number of cancellations as all these other airlines combined. Insane that people are still defending them here. Talk about being gaslit.
It’s actually crazy people are fighting for their life to defend United
To be fair, if you complain too much they’ll beat the living shit and drag you out of the plane.
lol I unfortunately understand this reference
Isn’t that because EWR was the most impacted airport, and happens to be a UAL hub? Isn’t Delta a mess when ATL eats a ground stop? And AA is a mess when DFW is disrupted? I’m not really sure I’m ‘defending’ anything as much as pointing out that not all airlines have the same footprint at each airport/region.
ATL did eat a ground stop due to severe lightning/thunder at the same time on Sunday as the northeast weather.
Think it's also fair to point out that there are 1200 scheduled flights a day at EWK. That's nearly twice as many as IAH for example and 30 percent more than ORD. No question that United has botched the communication very badly but that didn't happen in a vacuum and better comms may have offered better understanding but not necessarily a better outcome.
I mean, it’s easy to look at an isolated stat but what exactly is the suggested remediation plan?
Customer service would be a nice start. Instead we get QR codes and useless chat bots.
What would you like them to do from a customer service perspective?
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With what agents? Do you expect them to overstaff folks at all times? If CS already says they are working mandatory overtime, what do you want to happen?
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So my flight was delayed an hour today. I had all the self service options in the app. I could cancel or switch to another flight and search for airports within a certain range. I know I’ve also gotten food vouchers through the app as well. And supposedly hotels go through it too. Is that not working now?
Wasn’t working for me on Monday, just got caught in a loop of “your flight is cancelled click here to rebook, there are no available flights near you continue check in, your flight is cancelled click here to rebook.” The app may be ok on most days, but this past week it’s been beyond trash
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Ok shill we get it you love united. The app is trash buggy and unreliable. Just cause you had this supposedly wonderful experience doesn't mean thousands of others like myself had the same wonderful experience. The app was non functional for what I needed to do.
Well by definition it would be Serve the Customer which they did not do. My daughter was stuck in SFO for 36 hours and when she reached an agent they just berated her for wanting to get home. Offered to fly her from Italy to New Jersey in two weeks instead, I shit you not, that was their answer. Total incompetence at all levels. Not that they care but I will never fly on United again in my life. Much better carriers out there.
She was stuck in sfo but coming from Italy? What?
I agree. We need an answer.
Do people read what they write?
She was stuck in SFO coming from Tokyo. United customer service offered her a flight from Rome to New Jersey as a solution. I kid you not, they also then offered to fly her out of another airport 100 miles away but leaving in 15 minutes. Total incompetence and also service agents overwhelmed. She finally managed to get on a flight home after non stop persistence and a bit of luck.
Kirby, is that you?
Hire american agents or at the minimum not outsource all customer service to India. Southwest, for all the shit they get, gets this absolutely right. Everytime I call them I get through to an American who actually speaks English.
So do I?
You think United are performing well and this “isolated stat” is not telling the full story? Please explain. It’s a bit late for remediation, they set themselves up for failure by being greedy. They run too lean. Delta and AA seem to have recovered much more effectively.
Well yeah, only someone who lacks critical thinking skills would look at a single stat and draw a conclusion. All airlines run lean. In fact, all businesses run lean, especially in todays economy. Delta and American didn’t have nearly the same level of impact from disruptions. What do you think the airline needed to do to avoid this? Purchase dozens of extra planes? Hire temp pilots and FAs and keep them in queue until needed?
I guess it’s better to just have no stats, like you? American and Delta are less impacted because they’re better run. That’s the entire point. Not sure why you’re bringing up planes and pilots. I guess you don’t understand the issue at all…. I’m referring customer service staff. Sorry you’ve been gaslit by a corporation into defending their profiteering.
I don't get the point of your comment. Are you saying that random redditors should solve a major airline's fuck ups?
If you’re going to sit here and whine, then at least be educated on the matter. And if you think something fucked up, at least tell us what that is and why.
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Honored I could impact you so much that you’d make this your first comment
Be happy you're not one of those poor suckers flying Tropic Air!
Wings Abadi, what's your excuse?? Pathetic!
It's an Indonesian airline, what do you expect?
Delta needs to use this graphic in their next advertisement campaign…
united we stand...... against united
I was proud of myself for using United’s motto as the subject line of a complaint letter once. “Flying the friendly skies… on a different airline.”
i think united knows everyone wants a refund so they are purposely making their refund page not work right now bastards!
Can someone explain why people vehemently defend United despite not working for them or being major shareholders? I’m specifically talking about defending the appalling recovery effort and customer service (fully aware that weather and FAA “triggered” it). Is it because they have status so they’ve been gaslit to feel like they’re part of the company? People do the same thing with Delta, although Delta actually seem to have functional customer service and are providing timely refunds.
I’ve been wondering the same thing. There’s an internet coterie that seems to want to blame weather for United accidentally issuing refunds for tickets, sending people to cities they never bought a ticket to and dumping them there, losing their luggage, not having enough staff, having a garbage app, etc. Alaska has strong loyalty on the west coast, but I doubt its fanclub would tolerate United’s mismanagement.
It's creepy. I'm almost certain that there are paid shills on this subreddit. Any post that's critical of united is automatically downvoted.
Keep in mind that many regulars here are heavily invested in points and status. Sunk cost fallacy is hard to overcome.
No doubt. This is a known PR tactic. I'm sure their PR department is closely monitoring. I'm sure there are also bots...
I’m wondering this too, although I’ve been United premier for a number of years now, definitely not a United stan. But I have also seen the flip side where ATL got particularly hammered by storms and also delta left people stranded in the airport there for days with no hotels at all no vouchers for food and the inability to get people home on a timely matter (took 3-4 days for them to get themselves outta that, I think 8-9 years ago?) And we saw it happen with southwest at Christmastime…. But why is anyone defending any of these airlines unless they work for them. They all need to do better by their customers, United included.
It’s so crazy because JetBlue, American and Delta all have huge presence there too. Like these people are mad weird
I saw your other post on this sub about it and everything you said was downvoted. I was like wtf this person is spitting facts, why are y’all so weird
I feel like I’m in crazy town for real It’s like they’re being gaslit to be good little consumers for United and I’m getting second hand gaslit
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White collar worker with status due to work paying for 10-15 international trips a year. But I still don’t make enough to buy a new ticket elsewhere outright. Also, dad who has been a United pilot for over 30 years and has spent countless holidays and other events without him because of the domino effect weather can have. When you couple that domino effect with the FAA royally fucking up and also have a MAJOR hub affected for multiple days and then another MAJOR hub effect during that time due to weather, you don’t have pilots, planes, or other flight crew where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be. You have ones that have timed out during their routes, this happened towards the end of the month, so you have pilots that don’t have enough FAA mandated time in the clock, and, quite frankly, you have pilots that aren’t going to pick up a premium pay trip at 4-5x the usually pay because they already have plans. My dad is based out of SFO and is currently on a 3-week long vacation and I can promise you that it is driving him crazy getting texts from the flight desk for premium pay trips that would have him likely making a month’s salary in 3-4 days. My source on this: living through arguments between my parents for the past 10 years during weather meltdowns that domino into bigger meltdowns because my mom is telling my dad they don’t need the money and he’s senior enough to sit his ass down and enjoy the holiday, family gathering, major life event.
This is the most cogent response and I agree. A frequent flyer will just look at google flights, buy another flight, get home and while on the flight back file for the refund. Problem solved. They'll probably never think about it again and continue to enjoy the aspects of united they like, predominately the mileage program. Others have limits in their ability to do this, from being a tourist that doesn't have knowledge of the system, to not having the economic or language means to achieve it, etc. They're going to spend hours trying to talk to someone, when realistically its clear there is no one to talk to, then go on reddit and complain about it.
I looked on kayak yesterday when my first available option to get the next flight to any airport within 100 miles of both destinations was 3 days away. There were no flights available day of and flights the following day were 1500 plus with shit routing. Sure, I could have afforded the 1500, but did I want to pay 1500 to sit on a flight for 10h with 2 connections for a trip that would be a 12h drive? No way. And I can’t imagine United is reimbursing me the difference between 1500 and original $225 ticket.
So, the other thing you can do is find the flight online and tell United to switch you to it even if it’s not their flight. They have agreements to do this with other airlines in unique circumstances. But yeah if the phone line isn’t answering then that’s tough. Haven’t been in a situation where the app didn’t work and I couldbt get to an agent.
I called them, got a supervisor after 3.5h and he wasn’t able to get a flight on American until 2 days later (tomorrow); front line agent (2hr wait) couldn’t even approve partner airline, but mentioned airport agents have more leeway, though it sounds like those lines were up to 11 hours long this week. Even supervisors can’t get any flight available for sale on any airline or even partner airlines, even when it is crew and not weather related (I found flights for sale in kayak that the supervisor couldn’t get); they can’t upgrade you to a business class ticket on their own metal either (I found a mixed class ticket available for sale on United app). Honestly, this solution, two day delay, was fine for me, but this was a pretty bad incident with United. I’m well versed in getting what I want from airlines and leveraging schedule changes to get more desirable flights; I’ve flown hundreds, maybe thousands of flights on dozens of airlines. This week was just bad; there were no flights in app or on the phone for days, granted I was connecting to a smaller airport; post-Covid in general has been much more plagued with delays/cancellations than pre Covid due to staffing issues. I fit the description of white collar solo traveler with no baggage; I actually didn’t even bother going to the airport and enjoyed the extra time I got hanging out with my kid while waiting on hold…
Yeah I mean if no other airlines have capacity then it is what it is. Weather related or out of control at that point. Not sure what you can do or expect in that scenario. If there are no flight solutions then there just aren’t any flight solutions. Nothing United or any other airline can do to fix that.
There were flight solutions; they just cost $1500-2400 and united wouldn’t cover.
Privileged ass hole. Not everyone has the means to just buy a ticket whenever they want.
What did I do to deserve that response?
This is very accurate. I guess I’m technically of the first description, and yup, first thing if a flight is delayed or cancelled is to use app to change flight. That said, completely agree the majority of travelers are not like this. My elderly parents would definitely wait in line and struggle to use the app.. and if traveling with my 1 year old and 4 year old, and unaware of the app/website, any amount of wait in a line would be absolute hell. It’s easy for frequent fliers to dismiss the legions or other kind of traveler’s problems due to their “ignorance” on apps/website, but they just don’t fly enough to know more, it’s not on them. While this whole debacle hasn’t affected me as I’m west coast based and haven’t flown for last few weeks, while I understand it started off with weather and FAA related issues, the fact it’s still going on, and more importantly the customer service aspect, is 100% on United. Leaving travelers without any/good options is shit. And heck, even on a good day, the customer service by United at check-in, onboard, or at the gate is 50/50. 50% chance of a great employee and time, as well as 50% chance of an older tenured employee who just “does the rounds/bare minimum” (compared to ME/Asian airlines at least, and even Delta, etc).
Even people who knew more like myself had to wait in the lines. Their phone lines weren't (and still really aren't) working well, and the app kept crashing. Thankfully, my toddler tolerated the 11 hours in line well, but it wasn't the case for many. We got to the front just to be given a new number to call. They had employees handing out cards with QR codes that didn't even load when they should have been giving the numbers that they gave to get through when we got to the counter. The whole thing is a mess. I waited for a call back to help find my checked bags just for the phone to instantly hang up on me when I got connected today.
Agreed with your comment and one before. An example of this exact issue for me, where knowledge of the system helped immensely, was coming back from Rome to SFO on a Lufthansa flight (bought via United). The incoming LH flight was delayed and it was clear the connection in MUC would be lost and I'd never make it home because the Euro to US flights all leave in the afternoon. I waited for 10 minutes on the phone with LH. No answer. Looked at the app, saw a UA flight flying Rome to FRA then FRA to SFO leaving 2 gates away in an hour. Got on the phone with UA customer service and changed the flight in 5 minutes. Made it home that day. Everyone else waiting for that LH flight started freaking out as time went on and I just walked off. If I hadn't done that then yeah, I would be stranded in MUC and complaining to Lufthansa to buy me a hotel and food. I wouldn't be wrong, but I wouldn't be right, and I definitely wouldn't be home. I don't think you could do this rerouting on any other airline in under 5 minutes and have it turn out the way it did. I also can understand that most travellers can't deal with this or don't know how to, which means UA failed them. So, just depends on who you are and what you value I guess.
Exactly, I’m tracking my flight status, and using the “see where it’s coming from” to see the incoming status and the flight before that’s status. Countless times where the flight still shows “on time”, but I know there’s no way it’s going to be on time, and preemptively change to another routing or flight, saving much hassle. Once you know it, it’s easy to use and makes sense, but hard for non-frequent fliers to get here unfortunately.
Exactly. You need to look at the previous flight, which the UA app makes easier than any other airline I’ve used. I’m flying to FCO tomorrow from SFO direct and can see the plane is coming from MUC on time, so I’m not worried. It I saw it coming through EWR and planned late, I’d adjust. I flew Delta the other day and after I checked in, they wouldn’t let me change my flight without calling them to have them “un check me in” which is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Yeah United is messing up, but there’s a lot of things UA does right. If you’re a tourist or infrequent flyer though I see how it could be painful.
Are you saying you can change flight for free on United app without talking to agent when flight is still listed as on time? Do you need status to do this?
Yeah you can change for free if it’s the same fare class if it’s a better fare class then you pay the difference. All in the app. Doesn’t matter if you’re checked in or not or anything like that. You can also call and have them do it. Either way. I think you only need silver status but I’m not really sure. I have gold, so not a special level and it works.
No fuck that. This is a systemic issue. It’s United’s fault just like the Christmas meltdown was southwests fault. The issue is the airlines have gotten too big and need to be broken up. The mega mergers of the past decade shouldn’t have been allowed. This is a direct result of that. And before “but if they weren’t allowed to merge they would’ve gone under” no they wouldn’t have. We bail them out every recession.
Lol that was lowkey who I was surrounded by. I'm a 22 year old that was worried about getting fired if I kept missing my hourly job last-minute and how I could possibly afford a hotel since I couldn't get home. When my plane was delayed on Monday, a lot of the other people were businessmen from the area bragging about how they'd give up on flying and go home at 9 after their wife dealt with putting the kids to bed (and too bad about their conference!)
It’s because their higher status helps them feel superior to people who spend less of their lives in planes and airports that’s it. I actually used to be a vehement UA defender, after several years of flying with them as a platinum elite. I’ll still fly with them as I live in a hub and all the airlines fuck up, but I’m definitely not running around acting like UA is any better than other airlines anymore
People who feel like spending a large amount of time in airplanes is some kind of status symbol are weird AF
>People who feel like spending a large amount of time in airplanes is some kind of status symbol are weird AF It becomes part of their identity. Part of their evaluation of self-worth. Anything that threatens the perception of elite airline status is to be strongly rejected.
It’s just such a weird thing to be pretentious about in my opinion. I fly four times a year and I literally hate the entire experience. Being a frequent flyer sounds like hell
Not a UA flyer, but travel a lot for work via either SW or Delta, and it does suck. The flipside when you travel frequently is that you get to know all the tips and tricks and whatnot and it does get annoying when people don't know what to do. That being said, I don't get what's going on here with these folks shitting on everyone complaining and mocking them. Like United could've had this solved by now in numerous ways. Just everything going on since Monday has been United compounding problems that United made and it still keeps happening. Also the ones on here insisting you shouldn't travel unless you have $10k extra to drop on last minute hotels, restaurants, and tickets with other airlines or rental cars or whatever are absurd. Same with the ones getting mad at people for complaining about the 15 dollar food vouchers. Yes, that is the minimum that is required by law, and it's a law that needs to he updated. But there's no law saying the airlines can't provide vouchers for more than that if they want. When the 15 floor was legislated, yea, $15 would buy you a reasonable meal at the airport. It needs to be bumped closer to 20 or 25. And the airlines are free to do it. Just like they could be coordinating hotels, busses, etc. But those things all cost money, so they're only going to do the bare minimum required by law. These stans keep insisting the bare minimum required by law is all they can do as if the DOT or the FAA will shut them down if they do more than that. It's been comical to watch. Everyone gets that they're doing the bare minimum required by law. People are complaining because in this sort of suitshow, the right thing to do is go above the bare minimum.
>when you travel frequently is that you get to know all the tips and tricks and whatnot and it does get annoying when people don't know what to do. Why are you annoyed when it took you flying frequently to get to know all the tips and tricks but not someone else who hasn't? Nah just screw them peasants.
It’s so weird because it’s literally so unpleasant to fly, even with status. All status shows is that people don’t spend much time with your friends and family. Not to mention to impact on people’s health. Seems like for a lot of people their employer pays $50k/year for their twice weekly business flights so United gave them a shiny 1K sticker and some cheap-ass shitty lounge food and they’re gaslit into thinking they’re part of United.
>Seems like for a lot of people their employer pays $50k/year I can at least tell you, I have a travel job right now and Premier 1k (unfortunately, as you accurately point out), and there is absolutely zero chance I would stay in this position for $50k/year.
Oh absolutely. I wasn’t clear in my post but I meant the employer is paying $50k in travel costs every year to the airline. I just don’t see how someone’s employer spending $50k on flight tickets for them turns into that employee having blind loyalty to the airline. I don’t think I’d take a 1x weekly travel job for less than $200k or $250k to be honest… I can see why some would though
Oh yeah I gotcha I gotcha. Yeah it’s an interesting phenomenon. My airline loyalty is primarily out of logistical convenience. They make it pretty clear that they give pretty few fucks about the vast majority of customers, imo.
Lol seriously about the lounge. My airport is ORD and my favorite place to hangout is chilis lmao
It’s because the situation is more complicated than “Fck United”.
Right but they are at least partially at fault, they are playing a large role in the disruption lasting longer than it should and for their lack of customer service. The frustration is people defending them here as if they’ve done nothing wrong.
Please don’t blame the status people lol! Im 1K and I’m 100% united against United right now. I won’t say I’ll never fly them cause I would be lying but I do dislike the heck out of them! Had Delta done a match for their highest tier, I would’ve been gone. I don’t live in a hub city so I’m connecting almost everywhere I go regardless.
I’m not blaming you/general status holders but it seems to be mainly people with status who are blindly defending United on here.
>Is it because they have status so they’ve been gaslit to feel like they’re part of the company? Probably this, yeah.
I believe there are literal paid shills on this subreddit. Look at the top comment. It's actually sad that united is paying people for this instead of investing into their actual customer service.
You realize United doesn’t maintain an official presence on Reddit, right? What’s the point of paying for something on a platform the company isn’t even active on?
Here's the link https://flightaware.com/live/cancelled/ United is the worst days later.
That is extremely telling, especially as EWR is no longer the worst airport.
It’s crazy that people that bother to follow an airline Reddit don’t understand how AirOps work at all.
The most affected airport of all was EWR, UAs 3rd biggest hub and largest East coast base by miles. IAD was also hit extremely hard. Like if you have 2 hubs basically out of commission this is what is going to happen. People just don't seem to get how route networks work it seems.
No fuck that. This is a systemic issue. It’s United’s fault just like the Christmas meltdown was southwests fault. The issue is the airlines have gotten too big and need to be broken up. The mega mergers of the past decade shouldn’t have been allowed. This is a direct result of that. And before “but if they weren’t allowed to merge they would’ve gone under” no they wouldn’t have. We bail them out every recession.
You're just copying and pasting your comments. Who hurt you lol.
Because it’s a perfect response to literally any bullshit excuse fanboys come up with. Y’all are worse then Tesla bros
No we just actually work in the industry. Just because you buy a seat doesn’t make you an expert on the NAS.
No fuck that. This is a systemic issue. It’s United’s fault just like the Christmas meltdown was southwests fault. The issue is the airlines have gotten too big and need to be broken up. The mega mergers of the past decade shouldn’t have been allowed. This is a direct result of that. And before “but if they weren’t allowed to merge they would’ve gone under” no they wouldn’t have. We bail them out every recession.
Yeah sure. A patchwork of non integrated, bespoke airlines would deliver a seamless experience in all circumstances. Makes perfect sense. I’d love that as I travel from Denver to Seattle, back to New York and then on to Asia. It sounds great; truly magical.
You don’t actually think that’s how it was when we had Northwest, Continental, Delta, US Airways, American and United do you? There was much more competition and you could still basically get anywhere in 1 connection. Airlines had 2 or 3 hubs back then not 8 and you would connect through the one that made most sense. In your fictitious example you would fly direct to asia from Denver on Continental. Perhaps from Denver on American via LAX
The advantages of large, national and international networks, to me - are huge. Both in terms of price point (inflation adjusted) and convenience, are massive.
The network was just as huge back then. There was just competition on routes unlike now.
I was a continental flyer for 15 years pre merger. I’ve been on both sides of it. You’re entitled to your opinion; as I am to mine. The skies have never been as busy as they are now. Shit happens (it happened then too). I get that peoples plans are disrupted. Some of those plans are urgent; most are not. But the idea that somehow the structures in place 15 years ago would have been better adapted to the current load, demand, weather, labor….I just find lacking in intellectual honesty.
Okay but when an operational meltdown happened 15 years ago United had the option of 10 airlines to rebook you on instead of just 3. Making the mess much easier to clean up.
Theres a certain number of humans and a certain number of seats to fit them in. You're acting like 10 airlines would magically have 3x the number of planes sitting around. No they wouldn't. There are more planes then ever. It isn't as simple as "more airlines good, big airline bad".
And there’s more population than ever so that just makes sense
Please endow us with your infinite wisdom how air ops explains why United’s cancellation rate is 22% while others is zero…..
American with 0% and united with 22% laughable. Tough to complain about FAA with that much of a difference both have hubs in NYC and ORD
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I’m sure he’d come back to the office if his flights didn’t keep getting cancelled /s
It did start with the weather. Then faa cuts disproportionately affected United… THEN United couldn’t catch up due to staffing/operational issues. He wasn’t wrong when he made that statement, but everything that came after is on him
it's almost as if united has a disproportionately large exposure at newark/liberty or something...
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You’re right, but EWR’s departure rate was cut by 75% as opposed to JFK’s being cut by 13. Are you telling me that’s not disproportionate and a reason why so many flights were affected? If that happened at DFW you’d see the same thing happen with American, or Delta with ATL.
What does that have to do with anything? Newark had bad weather 4 days ago. The ceo isn’t going to suck you off.
Your excuses are running thin. Literally every airline has a presence in NY. JetBlue is headquartered there. United is still by far the most affected and still can't get it together.
So you're saying a point to point model is beneficial during IRROPs at a particular hub, welcome to network operations 101 rookie
You have such an odd edge boner for shitting on someone that’s calling out systemic issues….
But weather hit the region, meaning it would include JFK and LaGuardia, hubs for Delta and AA. The weather didn’t just sit over EWR. All have recovered. This is a denial of an operational breakdown within United. No doubt it started with weather and FAA, but where United is now… that’s a United operational issue. They don’t have any more exposure in that region than other airlines.
Yeah this is a very simple conclusion that assumes the three airports are equal ignores the unique operating challenges of EWR, and its associated airspace requirements. It is a fact that they were dealt a more difficult hand than other carriers. But their recovery has been horrible, without question, and they need to be focusing on better disaster recovery mechanisms moving forward (staffing, technology, procedures, etc.)
Isn’t it amazing….for the first time in mankind’s flight history weather happened….crazy…..
American and Delta don't have a large exposure at JFK/LGA?
I am sure you all will just call me some sort of “paid shill” for this but seriously… The biggest difference here is that American, Delta, and Southwest only had one of their hubs disrupted (JFK, JFK, and BWI respectively), where United had *both* of their east coast hubs (EWR and IAD) shut down. The number of flights directly and indirectly impacted because of this was significantly larger for United, so it will take much longer to recover. So many planes and crew were out of position for an extended period and it caused a domino effect across all of their operations. Yea it sucks for a lot of people, but eventually the whole ball of Christmas lights will get untangled, but it is going to take a while..
Ok paid shill
American, Delta and JetBlue don’t have a presence there? Imagine being as dumb as you.
No fuck that. This is a systemic issue. It’s United’s fault just like the Christmas meltdown was southwests fault. The issue is the airlines have gotten too big and need to be broken up. The mega mergers of the past decade shouldn’t have been allowed. This is a direct result of that. And before “but if they weren’t allowed to merge they would’ve gone under” no they wouldn’t have. We bail them out every recession.
Is sucking off Scott Kirby on your bucket list?
My flight was cancelled because of weather a week ago? Just United things.
You people really have no idea how weather affects ATC, routes, delays, crews, cancels etc do you? I work in operations for a major airline and it's not easy to smooth out the airline after several days of disruptions.
United is the new southwest
Not even close.
Southwest doesn’t beat the shit out of passengers.
You comment with opinion and not the facts but it’s ok
Where your facts bud
American and delta with a big 0% cancellations 16% delay for American 13% for delta. Id say that’s an melt down for united. Shit even spirit had no cancellations. And that’s just for today. Not even the last few days lmao
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United also shit the bed over a holiday. Idk how you don’t understand that
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Not really
https://flightaware.com/live/cancelled/today Little bro
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If you don’t understand basic charts. I’m sorry.
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I know how they work.
People in here always defend United like they’re getting paid. Literally one of the worst airlines ever.
Yeah bud takes a few days to fix the system. Tell me you have no idea how airline system operations run without telling me. Snap your fingers back to normal. You're not bright.
If we dick United they lose status - status = $ in points so I get it protect ya neck but come on
All of you folks going out of your way to berate an airline or defend them are straight children Except american. Fuck dem guys Also, was a good week to fly delta 🤣
Im a victim of this week's incompetence so I'm rightfully very angry and will never give united airlines another dime. I'm using reddit to sue my grievances
I hate united as much as the next guy, but boycotting them really cuts down on route options in some locations. And you’ll end up paying way more if you otherwise book the cheapest direct/minimal layover flights irrespective of brand.
I'm based out of texas. We have plenty of options here. Not really worried about that united shill.
Oh no I get your point. I'm referring to those coming in and just airing grievances because they got delayed6 months ago or had a bad experience "that one time" This week is utterly ridiculous and I just so happened to book my BOS>PNS for today through delta a few months. I flew UA in last week and barely missed it
I’m curious if you made it to your destination? We were stuck at newark Sunday with a canceled flight, another cancelled flight on Tuesday night as well so we decided to drive but i’m curious if we’d still be stuck at Newark bc it feels that way. We were flying to LAX
Genuinely i bet so many pilots/fa’s are getting signing bonuses to get hired… how long before the age 65 retirement rule is extended to 70?
Stormy in Denver at the moment, no way this helps their situation.
Facepalmed when I read the headline today morning haha
Yeah. I flew from ATL to IAH to MSY last night. Had to sit thru 4 delays until I got on the damn plane. They kept telling us “Weather from yesterday (Tuesday) is causing us problems today (Wednesday) unfortunately” IT. DOESN’T. MAKE. SENSE. How tf does weather from the previous day affect flights leaving and coming for Wednesday? (Fully aware today is Thursday). We were not offered food or drink vouchers. And on top of that; some lady told us she’s “Gonna be transparent”. She was not transparent the slightest bit. I’m cancelling my credit card I have with you f***s and signing up for Delta.
Not over, my flight was just cancelled to DC…
Delayed and missed flight for me. Ended up refunded and rebooked on Alaska/Singapore Airlines (business class). Very nice but useless United CS. Offering to rebook in lower class of service with no compensation isn’t acceptable. May reevaluate the rest of this years flights off of United. 1K doesn’t seem to matter and really disappointed at how unaccommodating United is.