Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Switched to southwest and so far have really loved it.

Yep, Southwest is the way to go. Bonus points that the employees are, for the most part, not assholes.

Yes, but Southwest doesn't go anywhere internationally from here (maybe the Caribbean?) and they don't have a lot of flights. United has a hub at IAD, so you are stuck with them for many flights depending on where you want to go.

Think about this, people in other cities (Pittsburgh, Philly, Charlotte, etc) only have one airport. At least DC (NYC as well, as well as a few other cities) have multiple airports, so you get your pick of the litter for flights.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Switched to southwest and so far have really loved it.

Yep, Southwest is the way to go. Bonus points that the employees are, for the most part, not assholes.

Yes, but Southwest doesn't go anywhere internationally from here (maybe the Caribbean?) and they don't have a lot of flights. United has a hub at IAD, so you are stuck with them for many flights depending on where you want to go.

Think about this, people in other cities (Pittsburgh, Philly, Charlotte, etc) only have one airport. At least DC (NYC as well, as well as a few other cities) have multiple airports, so you get your pick of the litter for flights.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Switched to southwest and so far have really loved it.

Yep, Southwest is the way to go. Bonus points that the employees are, for the most part, not assholes.

Yes, but Southwest doesn't go anywhere internationally from here (maybe the Caribbean?) and they don't have a lot of flights. United has a hub at IAD, so you are stuck with them for many flights depending on where you want to go.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah United is the worst. We've had problems every single time we've flown with them so now we avoid it like the plague. Sorry.

They were on the cover of Business week a year or so ago, talking about the improvement plan they had just implemented, and I remember that their whole thing was trying to improve, not to be the best, but just to suck less so they wouldn't be the literal worst. That struck me as amusing.

Frequent flyer here. I think United has some rather sophisticated bean counters and that's why flights get cancelled far in advance like this -- they realize it's not going to fill up to the 75% (or whatever) fill rate they need to make money on it.

I fly business class on long trips, and avoid United on their planes that are 2-4-2 in _business class_. Who wants to be in a middle seat on a 14-hour trip to Asia? I instead go via Toronto on Air Canada for a lower price, and with a better seat layout.

United finally realized they're losing out even on their big-money spenders (business customers), so they just announced their new "Polaris" business class product which brings them up to par with other airlines. However since United has such a large fleet to retrofit with new seats, it'll be years and years until all planes are upgraded. The first upgrade is in January I think.

Another frequqent flyer here, and sadly, a United 1million miler. Have you seen the new Polaris? It's designed to appeal to their former Continental customers, who were usually NOT businesspeople. My friend at UA calls it "HoneyBooBoo Airlines". Anyway, you get a stuffed animal in business class--WTF, like I'm carrying that around with me? Also they now have Saks Fifth Ave stamped on the blankets and such, as if anyone gives a $h!t about that. I'd rather they just have decent seats and service.

But I'm screwed, too much time and miles invested with them now.

Anonymous wrote:

That's funny. The last time my husband flew UA internationally, it was the IAD to Tokyo flight. He was in Economy Plus which was bad enough, but the entire middle row of the plane had no on board entertainment for the entire 12 hour flight. Can you imagine??

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This happened to me on American for a flight this past August. They "rescheduled" both our departure for several hours later and our return for several hours earlier. The net result was a beach day carved off our vacation, and upheaval in my young kids' nap schedules, previously carefully planned around. I called and demanded that they put us on new flights. At first the guy said no, but then reviewed something and came back and said they had a new policy (due to the merger?) and would accommodate me. We were rescheduled for a day earlier. So, it can happen.

Like some of the other PPs, I wonder if you can get them to rebook you in a way that would be better for them and their inevitable scheduling woes. I would call back and keep asking to speak to someone up the chain. As you point out, it's not what you purchased and their proffered remedy thus far is unsatisfactory. But do think about what your next best outcome is, because they aren't bringing that flight back (or putting you on a different airline).

OP here. I know you are totally right. I'll get there. Just processing the anger/disappointment first.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah United is the worst. We've had problems every single time we've flown with them so now we avoid it like the plague. Sorry.

They were on the cover of Business week a year or so ago, talking about the improvement plan they had just implemented, and I remember that their whole thing was trying to improve, not to be the best, but just to suck less so they wouldn't be the literal worst. That struck me as amusing.

Frequent flyer here. I think United has some rather sophisticated bean counters and that's why flights get cancelled far in advance like this -- they realize it's not going to fill up to the 75% (or whatever) fill rate they need to make money on it.

I fly business class on long trips, and avoid United on their planes that are 2-4-2 in _business class_. Who wants to be in a middle seat on a 14-hour trip to Asia? I instead go via Toronto on Air Canada for a lower price, and with a better seat layout.

United finally realized they're losing out even on their big-money spenders (business customers), so they just announced their new "Polaris" business class product which brings them up to par with other airlines. However since United has such a large fleet to retrofit with new seats, it'll be years and years until all planes are upgraded. The first upgrade is in January I think.

Another frequqent flyer here, and sadly, a United 1million miler. Have you seen the new Polaris? It's designed to appeal to their former Continental customers, who were usually NOT businesspeople. My friend at UA calls it "HoneyBooBoo Airlines". Anyway, you get a stuffed animal in business class--WTF, like I'm carrying that around with me? Also they now have Saks Fifth Ave stamped on the blankets and such, as if anyone gives a $h!t about that. I'd rather they just have decent seats and service.

But I'm screwed, too much time and miles invested with them now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah United is the worst. We've had problems every single time we've flown with them so now we avoid it like the plague. Sorry.

They were on the cover of Business week a year or so ago, talking about the improvement plan they had just implemented, and I remember that their whole thing was trying to improve, not to be the best, but just to suck less so they wouldn't be the literal worst. That struck me as amusing.

Frequent flyer here. I think United has some rather sophisticated bean counters and that's why flights get cancelled far in advance like this -- they realize it's not going to fill up to the 75% (or whatever) fill rate they need to make money on it.

I fly business class on long trips, and avoid United on their planes that are 2-4-2 in _business class_. Who wants to be in a middle seat on a 14-hour trip to Asia? I instead go via Toronto on Air Canada for a lower price, and with a better seat layout.

United finally realized they're losing out even on their big-money spenders (business customers), so they just announced their new "Polaris" business class product which brings them up to par with other airlines. However since United has such a large fleet to retrofit with new seats, it'll be years and years until all planes are upgraded. The first upgrade is in January I think.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This happened to me on American for a flight this past August. They "rescheduled" both our departure for several hours later and our return for several hours earlier. The net result was a beach day carved off our vacation, and upheaval in my young kids' nap schedules, previously carefully planned around. I called and demanded that they put us on new flights. At first the guy said no, but then reviewed something and came back and said they had a new policy (due to the merger?) and would accommodate me. We were rescheduled for a day earlier. So, it can happen.

Like some of the other PPs, I wonder if you can get them to rebook you in a way that would be better for them and their inevitable scheduling woes. I would call back and keep asking to speak to someone up the chain. As you point out, it's not what you purchased and their proffered remedy thus far is unsatisfactory. But do think about what your next best outcome is, because they aren't bringing that flight back (or putting you on a different airline).

OP here. I know you are totally right. I'll get there. Just processing the anger/disappointment first.