Wednesday, November 22, 2006
United Airlines: The masters of ineptitude
My flights from San Francisco to England and back, are based on suggestions I got (not the best, but they tried to offer me the best advice in the situation). I flew from San Francisco to London-Heathrow, transited there for a few hours and caught a flight to Manchester and then drove more than 2 hours to Nottingham.
On my way back, I have an itinerary that is similar, only thing is that I have a 13 hour layover in London, from 9pm to 10am. So called United and asked them to cancel my Manchester-London leg, so I can drive from Nottingham to London and avoid a long layover.
I'm on the phone explaining this to the United employee, who says that he has never been asked a question like this before and wants to read up on the rules of engagement, so fine, I'm put on hold while this guy reads his manual. After a few blissful minutes of annoying music, he comes back and tells me that there is nothing he can do. I cannot understand that, how can there be NOTHING you can do. Where is the customer service? Why do you even have a job if there is NOTHING you can do.
So, I ask him to escalate things to his supervisor. I have worked on CRM systems extensively and I know that there is always an override. I speak to the supervisor, who explains that I can change my tickets, but that will cost me $200. But in the same breath he said that, now my tickets will be 2 one way tickets, so things will cost me extra. I said, now wait a minute, how are things one way? He said, well, you flew from SFO to Manchester and you will be flying from London to SFO, so two one way tickets. I asked him what the difference in fare will be. He said it will be $500. I told him my entire ticket cost me less than $500, but a change will cost me $700, so please explain that to a simple person like me. He said those are the rules and he'd be happy to fax me all the rules if I'd like.
I said, fine, so I won't take my Manchester-London flight and will catch the flight from London. He said in that case I would be a "no show" and my entire ticket would be canceled with no refund. I asked him if that too was in the rule book that he was going to fax to me. He said no, it's in the addendum, but he'd he happy to fax that to me. This guy was just hilarious.
So, now I will leave in an hour to drive to Manchester from Nottingham, which is about 2 hours away, then I will wait for 3 hours to board my flight, fly an hour to London, transit for 13 hours and then board my flight to San Francisco.
I could have driven from Manchester to London-Heathrow in 3 hours and would have been much happier.
Their procedures are setup to be totally nonfunctional.
On my way back, I have an itinerary that is similar, only thing is that I have a 13 hour layover in London, from 9pm to 10am. So called United and asked them to cancel my Manchester-London leg, so I can drive from Nottingham to London and avoid a long layover.
I'm on the phone explaining this to the United employee, who says that he has never been asked a question like this before and wants to read up on the rules of engagement, so fine, I'm put on hold while this guy reads his manual. After a few blissful minutes of annoying music, he comes back and tells me that there is nothing he can do. I cannot understand that, how can there be NOTHING you can do. Where is the customer service? Why do you even have a job if there is NOTHING you can do.
So, I ask him to escalate things to his supervisor. I have worked on CRM systems extensively and I know that there is always an override. I speak to the supervisor, who explains that I can change my tickets, but that will cost me $200. But in the same breath he said that, now my tickets will be 2 one way tickets, so things will cost me extra. I said, now wait a minute, how are things one way? He said, well, you flew from SFO to Manchester and you will be flying from London to SFO, so two one way tickets. I asked him what the difference in fare will be. He said it will be $500. I told him my entire ticket cost me less than $500, but a change will cost me $700, so please explain that to a simple person like me. He said those are the rules and he'd be happy to fax me all the rules if I'd like.
I said, fine, so I won't take my Manchester-London flight and will catch the flight from London. He said in that case I would be a "no show" and my entire ticket would be canceled with no refund. I asked him if that too was in the rule book that he was going to fax to me. He said no, it's in the addendum, but he'd he happy to fax that to me. This guy was just hilarious.
So, now I will leave in an hour to drive to Manchester from Nottingham, which is about 2 hours away, then I will wait for 3 hours to board my flight, fly an hour to London, transit for 13 hours and then board my flight to San Francisco.
I could have driven from Manchester to London-Heathrow in 3 hours and would have been much happier.
Their procedures are setup to be totally nonfunctional.
