Never ever ever fly United Airlines
I will do a blog post soon about our overall vacation, but first I wanted to get something down about my wife’s baggage and the horrible customer service we have experienced with United Airlines.
It started on Thursday, August 27th. My wife and I flew from BWI airport in Baltimore to Denver on United Airlines flight #441. Once we arrived in Denver, we immediately headed over to the baggage claim area… a few minutes later the luggage started appearing on the conveyer belt.
My bag showed up almost immediately, but my wife’s wasn’t near it (despite the fact that we checked the luggage at the same time). We waited…. and waited… and waited… nothing. At this point nothing was coming out of the chute and almost every other bag had already been claimed. Having never lost any luggage, I wasn’t worried yet but I did walk over to the customer service and ask if more bags were due to arrive. She asked for our luggage claim ticket which I gave to her as she typed away on her terminal to check the status. She got a puzzled look on her face and now I started to worry.
“I can see here that your bag was scanned on to the plane, but it wasn’t scanned off… um… it is definitely in Denver, but I don’t know where it is…. um… hold on…” and the customer service agent picked up a telephone to call someone. After getting off the phone, she assured us that the baggage would probably be found within a few hours and it would be delivered to our hotel.
“But how do you know the bag is actually in Denver and not still on the plane flying to a totally different destination… I mean, the bag wasn’t scanned off the plane, it could still be there, right?”
“Well,” she responded, “a lot of times they don’t bother with the scan when baggage comes off… it just takes too much time.”
“Then what is the point of having the scanning process to begin with?” I asked, somewhat impatiently. She just shrugged and kind of smiled a little… she had no real response.
At this point we were annoyed but still assumed the bag would show up within a few hours. No harm, no foul. We headed off to pick up our rental car and then made our way to the hotel to check in. We went about our vacation as per usual… got some food and then took a swim in the pool. Still no bag though.
I called the customer service number we were given and the automated message explained that the bag had not yet been located. A check on the baggage claim website confirmed the message. Worried that the luggage may not show up as quickly as the customer service agent had claimed, we decided to do a little shopping for clothes to wear the next day. My wife bought a cheap pair of sneakers, a shirt and a couple of other items… all told, $40 spent to get us through the next day. We figured it was only a matter of time before the bag showed up, so this should hold her over until it did.
We spent most of the next day enjoying ourselves, but made sure the cellphone was always charged and had signal so that we wouldn’t miss the inevitable call from the airline. Unfortunately, that call never came. When we got back to the hotel that night, however, the website had been updated… the bag had been found!
My wife called the customer service line and a rep told her that the bag had indeed been found, but he didn’t have much other information. Important details like where the bag actually was or when it would be delivered was unavailable, but the status of “located” was still extremely promising. It was probably only a matter of time before the other blanks had been filled in.
We went out to dinner feeling much better about the situation… we wouldn’t need to buy more clothes and the rest of the vacation could proceed as planned.
Those happy feelings were short lived though, because when we came back from dinner the status of the bag (when checking the website) had changed again. This time though, it had changed back to “At this time, we have not received confirmation that your baggage has been located.”
My wife, in a bit of panic, called the customer service line again… and yet again the agent told us that he had very little information but that it did appear that we were no closer to having our luggage returned to us. “Maybe the tag was found, which is why the status changed, but I don’t think they have found the actual bag yet. Can you describe the bag in more detail? Can you tell me what is in the bag?”
At this point, the reality of the situation sunk in with both of us and my wife started to cry. Certainly, there are worse things in life that can happen than losing your luggage with the airline, but there were irreplaceable items in that bag… things she can never get back. A teddybear she has had since childhood, unique clothes and jewelery… these are items that couldn’t be found in a nearby store or mall. And it was quickly becoming apparent that we would never see them again.
We asked the service agent what the airline could do for us… we were obviously going to have to spend more money out of pocket for replacement clothes and toiletries and other items to get us through the vacation. The rep said he could process us a $50-per-day incidentals allowance to help, but that it would be some time before we received it. Otherwise, we should just keep the receipts for anything purchased and it would be reimbursed if the baggage is never found. He also offered us a 20% discount on a future United Airlines flight (which my wife immediately turned down). And finally, if the baggage wasn’t found within a month, we were told that we would be reimbursed for whatever was lost after we filled out a form and mailed it to the United Airlines home office.
So, after two days without my wife’s luggage, the airlines has basically offered to reimburse us for the lost items and expenses (up to $50 per day), and give us a discount on future flights…. it didn’t exactly wow us with their generosity.
Another day went by and we did more shopping to replace some of the missing items… $100 or so bought us a couple more shirts, a pair of shorts and a few other pieces of clothing to wear while in Denver. Money that came out of our vacation budget and that would have otherwise been spent on food and other things. Meanwhile, still no word from the airline.
Finally, on the last day of our trip before flying back, I decided to call the customer service line and talk to them myself. I explained our situation to the first rep and was told the same thing as my wife had been a few days earlier… they were sorry they lost the bag, they would eventually be willing to reimburse us (after filling out the paperwork and mailing it to the office) and we could have a discount on a future flight. His flat unsympathetic tone angered me. “You are doing nothing to make up for your mistakes” I declared in terse words, “we paid an extra fee to check luggage… a fee you have not offered to refund, I might add, and then you lost that luggage we entrusted you with… we have had to pay for items to live on out of pocket and all you can offer us as compensation is a reimbursement at some future date and a discount on another flight with you… basically, you want to pay us back for the items you have stolen and give us another opportunity to spend money with you at a discounted rated. NOTHING to help us or make us feel better for what has happened now.”
The agent on the phone paused for a moment, searching for something that might explain the situation better or, at the very least, get me to calm down. Those words elluded him… “uh, sir, I am sorry, I… uh… there is nothing else I can do.”
“Then transfer me to someone else that can do more” I demanded.
I was transfered to the agent’s manager who was no more sympathetic than the previous person. He once again re-iterated what was already said “if you just fill out the paperwork available on the website, you will be reimbursed for the items you lost and if you submit the receipts to our office, we will reimburse you for any money spent during your vacation as well. Also, the 20% discount on future flights is good for any…”
I cut him off and launched into the same attack that was levied against the previous agent. I explained that what was being offered to us was a bare minimum response…. of course they would pay for the items we lost, that was a given. But the fact was that nothing had been offered to help us now. No immediate help with the expenses of replacing the items we needed during the vacation. No offer to upgrade our flight back. Nobody to speak to that would help process the claims… we had to fill everything out, mail it in and then just wait to possibly, someday, be reimbursed. Nothing.
I don’t ask for much, but when a company is clearly in the wrong and has compromised its customers in the way that it had, it seems common sense that something would be done to help with the immediate problems and inconveniences. It isn’t just a matter of losing some items… it is an added expense on our vacation and additional time spent trying to replace items to get through the days. And for that, what does the airline offer us? 20% off our next flight with them.
Thanks but no thanks. Under no circumstances would I ever spend another cent of money with United. I hope nobody else ever has to experience the situation we went through with them.
2 years ago