United Airlines Reviews

When I began working in Qatar, I asked United about Mileage Plus, and they assured me that all of my codeshare flights would fully count in my United Plus account. (Most of these flights are advertised as United Airlines flights, operated by Qatar Airways).

Now I discover:

1. None of the flights give me any credit toward any Premier Level in United Mileage Plus. 60,000 miles later, I'm not even allowed to board early or spend an hour in the United Lounge at the airport.

2. I cannot request an upgrade on any United/Qatar Airways codeshare flight. I have recently had surgery and need an upgrade for an upcoming flight from the US to Qatar.

United will not upgrade me on its direct flight from Washington Dulles to Doha (United 7961, operated by Qatar Airways) and neither will Qatar Airways because I don't have a Qatar Airways frequent flyer membership.

United will upgrade me on a non-codeshare flight to Frankfurt, where I can spend the 5 hour layover not in the United Lounge because I have no United miles. Then I can fly the second leg of the flight (following surgery) on Lufthansa. Lufthansa will also not upgrade me. This is a hoax... pure and simple. I want my miles transferred to Qatar Airways where I can actually use them. Any suggestions?

I had to constantly call the airline's lost/delayed baggage number to inquire where my luggage was at. This trip was supposed to be a mini vacation. I was so upset that I couldn't even enjoy my trip. Continental Airlines' customer service is horrible.

I had a rude customer service representative by the name of ** on 10/27/11. Her supervisor was no better. Her name was **. I am still awaiting my reimbursement for the items I had to buy. l have been waiting for 3 months now. Count them... 3 months!

I have called them at least 16 times. Let's see how much longer I am going to have to wait. I am going to file another complaint against this airline. This is ridiculous. I would not recommend this airline at all! My reference number is **.

Wait until the Southwest comes to Wichita, these morons will have to look for jobs.

Your $70 is more than Delta's ridiculous charge of $60 and I could fly 2.5 times with it with 2 bags on a domestic flight. Maybe if your rates were lower or if your in-flight service was worth it, we could talk about this charge being justified. But I find no reason for you to charge it. And getting your customer service reps to give me a stupid answer like "We were the last ones to do it" is not exactly comforting. I only bought this ticket because I had flown with you before and thought I’d give it a second shot. But I guess this will be the last time. I’m going back to giving my loyalties to better and bigger airlines, which obviously is a list you will never get into.

Now, I have to contact my school and pay $75 dollars for a ride to my school. Also, I had to wait 2 hours and 35 minutes extra because of this delay. Overall, I am extremely disappointed and angry about this flight experience. Hopefully, you make sure this never happens again. Thanks.

Finally, we arrived at the screen and check in and paid the baggage fees, for which no receipt was printed. After confirming the seats, the screen said to wait while the boarding passes were printed. But nothing was printed and the screen told us to contact a continental representative. There was only one employee at the desk who was pretending to help people with their kiosk issues, and his only solution was to have them check in at a different kiosk. When we explained that we had already gone through the process, he told us to speak to the only ticketing agent who was there.

For the hundreds of people in line, there was only one person who was not a baggage handler. He was doing a very good job of dealing with all of the stressed passengers who had flight issues, but it was inappropriate that he was the only one available. When we were finally able to speak to him, it turned out that even though it was a Continental flight through United, he had not yet been trained on the Continental system. So we had to go start over in the Continental line.

They were finally able to give us our boarding passes, and then we proceeded on through security but were unable to make it to the boarding gate in time. Yes, if we had run we would have been able to arrive in time, but I have a disability and aged parents so it was quite impossible. At the United boarding gate, we were told that no one could help us with a replacement flight because we were not connecting passengers.

They gave us the number to contact Continental. The first Continental representative was unclear about whether Puerto Rico was a national or international location and was unable to help with replacement tickets and connected me to United. The United representative was incredibly unhelpful and connected me to American Airlines for no reason and without telling me.

In the end, the person at the gate was kind enough to help us get replacement tickets on standby for the next morning. However, had we followed his original advice and left the terminal, we would not have been able to get the tickets and we would have been charged over $2000. It's great that Continental and United are merging, but since neither Continental nor United employees have any idea about what's going on with the flights, we were unable to make ours. We also lost hundreds of dollars in hotel and rental car fees.

On December 21st, 2011 around midnight, I checked our itinerary and our flight (CO4853) departing from ROC the following morning had been cancelled. I called customer service and I had to wait around 45 minutes to speak to an agent. After weighing different options for 1 hour and 20 minutes, I even searched over the internet other carriers for flights from ROC that had available seats. The only option they gave us was to board a plane on a "nearby" (almost 2 hours) airport - Buffalo, refund our tickets, or wait after Christmas to travel to our final destination.

We agreed to change our plans and take the Buffalo flight in order to make it home for Christmas. The flight had a departure time of 6:00 am, being that it was now 1:30 am, and we had to be there at 4:00 am, which meant leaving Rochester at 2:15 am at the latest. We finished packing and left for Buffalo without any sleep. This also meant changing our planned return flight, since we were driving to Buffalo, because even return flights were almost completely booked due to high demand. We were only given one option to return on January 2, so we could report back to work on January 3.

On our return flight (January 2nd), our flight departing from (CO1117) SJU at 4:42 pm was late for 25 minutes. Since our connection through EWR had a layover of only an hour, I knew that it will be a close call. After asking the gate agent, he said that there was plenty of time and I shouldn’t be worried. But what he wasn't expecting that as soon as the airplane landed, passengers started to conglomerate around the gate and chaos started. Passengers didn’t follow instructions and the gate agents were unresponsive to this madness. After all we sat down in the plane 40 minutes late and for the worst we had to wait to depart for another 30-40 minutes. So with a total of an hour delayed, I was sure that we were going to miss our connection to Buffalo.

After we landed, the service agent booked us for the next flight (next day at10 am - CO4838). Since apparently the airline didn't have any fault for the delayed flight (I differ), they didn't offer any other options than a pillow and a blanket. When I requested if they were willing to accommodate us in another airline flight, the answer was no. When I asked for a meal voucher, the answer was no. They sound like robots trained to say no. So, we had the option to stay in the airport overnight or pay ourselves for accommodations. Before making a decision, we asked the agent to retrieve our luggage because we needed some clothing and personal hygiene products. And also since we bought some duty free liquids, we have to put them in our checked luggage in order to pass security the next day.

To add more fire to our frustration, they sent us downstairs the terminal to baggage claim and their answers were also no, no, and no. They couldn’t retrieve our luggage because it was 9:45 pm and the office in charge of retrieving luggage closed at 10:00pm! So without our luggage, even though we knew that a hotel night will cost us money, since I have some back pain conditions and my wife had a terrible numbness in her legs, lacking any personal belonging, and without proper winter gear we decided to stay in a hotel.

We returned for our luggage the next morning (Jan. 3). The agent with the name of Erma "**" (probably I misspelled her last name) made the request (8:28 am) and informed us to wait around 45 minutes over the belt # 9 to retrieve our luggage. After almost an hour waiting surrounded by flying pigeons, we decided to return and inquire for an update. To our surprise, Mrs. Erma told us that our luggage was sent out on an earlier flight and that there was nothing she could do about it. To my frustration, I asked her if she knew this information. Why sent us to waste an hour in front of a belt? Her response was that "I'm sorry.”

Lastly, I asked her again that we didn't want to lose our duty free shopping and she offered us to buy a liquid box for $10 or $30. So, we went again to the check in area. I asked the agent if she could waive the box fee and her answer obviously was negative and prompted to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor (Mr. James **) told us that he couldn’t waive the fee, because it wasn't his fault and that at least the airline was offering an option to save our duty free products from throwing them in the garbage. At this point, I was so overwhelmed that I almost started to cry. I just paid the $20 for two small boxes and left the counter.

Mr. Smisek, this was our nightmare vacation flight with your company. I understand that sometimes they are things that are out of your control. But the extensive wait over the phone waiting for a representative on December 21st, the lack of control over SJU with passengers, the insensible employees in Newark, that won't take any other luggage retrieval request after 9:45 pm, Mrs. Erma at the baggage claim desk leaving us for an hour waiting for our luggage even though she knew that our bags were sent out on previous flight, and lastly Mr. James ** washing his hands when I asked to help me with our situation, are things that you could control with better training in customer care management.

Upon checking in in San Francisco an agent called ''Jazz'' was bullying me and saying that I will have to get my luggage in Frankfurt to transfer them. I explained to him that I have no visa to get my luggage in Germany as I have to pass the customs to do that, then he ignored me. In Dallas before boarding, I asked a continental agent about this problematic of not being able to transfer my luggage once in Germany. He did a research and told me that I will not be allowed to take the airplane as there is no convention between continental and Royal Air Maroc for my luggage to be transferred by them. I had to wait 12 hours in the airport and then I was given a flight that goes from Dallas to Spain, then Italy, then Rabat, and of course my luggage was lost in all this unti, after repeated back and forth trips to the Moroccan airport they was finally found in Frankfurt. I had to wait 10 days before my luggage arrive to Morocco.

What is astonishing is that before buying my ticket I called the customer service representatives to ask them about the luggage transfer since I don't have a Schengen visa and they confirmed many times, even after they asked their supervisor, that my luggage will go straight to morocco. Since checking agents and flight attendant were no courtesy? Continental added more stress and made my travel experience seem as hell. As a result I will never ever give them business. If anybody wants to go overseas then Air France and Lufthanza are the best to be with.

By the time I arrived at baggage claim, my car seat was there but my bag was gone. I filed a report right away at the counter for continental and was told that someone probably took my bag by mistake. I called every day at least once and finally it was confirmed that someone had taken my bag to Brazil. It was to be sent back to the United States and would need to clear customs. On December 9, 2011, 5 days after arriving home in Chicago, I spoke with an agent (Anthony who was awesome) who called Brazil to see what was going on with my bag. The agent in Brazil said he had it there with him and didn't know where to send it.

The agent from Texas gave him directions of what to do and I assumed I would have my bag within a few days. Long story short (shorter), it is now December 21, 2011 and All I have gotten out of the airline is "we are working on it" and they are not liable because someone else took my bag. They are just trying to help me out because they care about their passengers. I told them how I have things items in the bag that I need right away, such as my coat, my daughters winter coat and boots. There are many more items that I need now as well but in any event they issued me $200 for the meantime. I don't even know what that means. They told me they have 8 weeks from the date that a claim is filed - not from the date my bag went missing to locate it or cut me a check.

How am I supposed to sit around and wait to see if they find my daughters winter boots while winter is here and I am living in Chicago? They claim that because I am home, there is not that much they can do for me because they assume I have other things at home to get me by. I guess they don't understand that children do not stay the same size and I have to purchase new clothing for them each season. So I am very angry that my daughters Chanukah gifts this year are new boots, coat and doll to replace what she already owned. Now what about my makeup? I took my makeup with me and wanted it on the flight because it cost so much money. I don't have any more at home to get me by so I am borrowing from my friends and making do. I am also going to have to wait 8 weeks to be reimbursed the 200 dollars that I used to buy my daughter winter clothing. I don't have this kind of money and this is so wrong of them to not help me out more. Every time I call I get a different story from one agent to the next.

Today I called and was told my claim was received as of December 18th. I had faxed it over on the 16th so they have a few extra days to locate my belongings. They may have said that another customer took my bag to Brazil but I know for a fact that on Friday December 9th 2011, my bag was returned to the continental office and was in their hands. There is no reason why I am still waiting for it and they can no longer claim that they are not responsible. I have tried to speak to the manager and I continue to get the run around. I demand they send me a check to go out and buy myself some things that I need for the winter! This is so wrong and I always thought people suing for pain and suffering was pathetic, but I must tell you that I am so upset about this and it is effecting my mood and for some reason I can't let it go. My doctor even gave me a prescription for ** to help me through this tough time.

This is "bait and switch" as I see it, even an out and out lie. I would have had no choice at the airport but to pay out the nose. Then, after arriving, we didn't open 1 bag for several days and found when we did that of the 15 tubes of silicone sealant we had packed, which aren't available in Central America, United had removed 9 under the guise of "hazardous materials". The new "advice" note from TSA says that the airline is responsible for removal of materials, but please call TSA which we did. The SAN representative was pleasant, courteous and helpful, even finding out that United had removed the sealant in error, but the bottom line was that we were told try to contact United. (In the meantime, we received an email from United offering us a $100 voucher).

Understand that we aren't novice travelers and included 3 copies of the abbreviated MSD from the manufacturer indicating the product was not considered to be hazardous under either national or international standards. Also included was the complete chemical composition list, which no one apparently bothered to read. But, it was so "hazardous" that United left 6 tubes in our luggage. In desperation, we located a United baggage customer service number which, like many other complaints I've read, was in some country where the representative's English was totally unintelligible. We insisted on speaking to a manager and for 45 minutes, he told us he had no local phone number for United in San Diego, he was unable to contact anyone, had no phone numbers for any United employee anywhere in the world, was totally unable to do anything, "why hadn't we reported this earlier", "we should go to the airport in San Diego to report this" (we're 3000 miles away and gone for 2 months), "we should go to the airport in Costa Rica to report this" (that's only 3 hours away).

After arguing for those 45 minutes, he finally connected us directly to the baggage department in San Diego. So, the logical conclusion is that he was lying. The story hasn't ended yet, but we did talk to a nice human being who spoke understandable English in San Diego and who seems to want to cooperate. I'm so weary from struggling that I have chosen to make this report before arriving at the final outcome.

I called reservations to inquire about this charge and the actual policy in which it was created only to receive the answer "It is just United's policy.” The first representative I spoke to said it was effective October 21, 2011 and the second said June 15, 2011 but neither could point me to the actual policy or justification on the website or verify if the policy notice had been distributed to customers even mileage plus customers. Needless to say, the second representative claimed that she was the manager and there was no one else I could speak with to get additional information. I highly doubt someone sitting in an Indian call center is the last level of customer relations.

And, if so, United may want to re-think its effects on customer service. My call to **** was solved by the representative putting me on hold for 30 minutes to go and search for the policy in order to answer my questions. She returned only to point me back to the link for fees and taxes that only informs one of the fees. I believe this charge to be another outstanding fee charged by United on top of the numerous and extraneous bag fees and other elusive fees. Furthermore, if this policy was implemented in October, just prior to the holidays, United should be ashamed.

Since I've been a mileage plus member, I've experienced United's poor customer service, representatives that cannot actually solve any problems when you call the 1.800 number provided on United's website, bogus fees that a customer cannot even be certain are legal, the general lack of saver award flights which is 25,000 mile seats when people would actually be traveling, and the general elusiveness of award flights and why anytime one would want to travel on the weekend, the award flights shoot up to 50,000 miles. I will post this complaint to Facebook and Twitter in order to get people to take a stance against these fees or at least contest them at every chance possible. Additionally, an inquest should be launched into their legitimacy.

I never knew anything about these awards and there was no other person who could have requested them on my behalf. The first time I used my miles was in 2010. UA listed awards they said I used, starting in 1988 on two trips to Hawaii. I've never gone to Hawaii. I stated to UA many times that their documentation was incorrect. I have demanded that they credit the 100,000 miles back to my account.

It didn't matter how much we protested, we were told that we didn't have to catch their plane. The UA staff was very rigid, sarcastic, rude and non-compromising. This employee didn't give a damn. When asked to speak to a supervisor, she provided her friend alongside her and purported her to be the supervisor. May has well have spoke to Krusty the clown. It was an otherwise beautiful trip to States where everyone was so nice and welcoming, until the experience with these clowns. I will never travel with UA again. Much better competition out there and cheaper. Old planes, old staff set in their ways and ** service.

We experienced delays and visited their appreciation site as may be entitled to compensation for delayed flight. On checking this out, they offer petty discounts on flights as if we are ever going to fly with them again. They are dreaming to think I would step a foot on one of their planes again or give them another cent. They are rip offs! Their form of compensation was further insult to this experience.

Please also note, my husband was not even notified about this flight changed. We booked on different confirmation numbers, which means we need to be notified for each confirmation number. United only notified me of this change, and not my husband. After we were all put on the same flights, I asked if we were in economy plus, and was told my daughter who is six is in economy.

The supervisor was very unaccommodating, and would not help us. We were told there were no seats left in economy plus, and if we want to sit together, we all need to move to economy, and request a refund. We paid for economy plus, well in advance of the people who are taking up those seats. We booked our seats the day they became available.

When is it okay to split up a family, with a one year old, and a six year old. Not only did we pay for our six year old to sit next to us in economy plus, they moved her to the back of the plane, to sit next to some stranger. How negligent and absent minded is United for employing ill-equipped supervisors who cause problems, rather than solving them.

My six year old daughter is sitting in economy next to a stranger. I am trying to call someone to resolve this, but I get the same answer. There is no one to call to help me with this. We need to be in economy plus, as we have an infant, and need the extra space. Now, instead of being excited about my much needed vacation, I am stressed out about trying to have my family sit together, or even my six year old daughter sit with one of us in economy plus, a ticket we paid for. They simply tell us to ask for a refund. Someone else needs to pay, and it's not us.

We told them we were willing to take any flight into the southeast US, so I could rent a car and drive home or take a connecting flight to Mexico City and then the US. But there was 'nothing they could do'. They put us in a hotel (where I am currently) for the night and gave us each $300 vouchers to use in the future (which is less than the $400 in the terms and conditions put forth by Continental since we paid over $1,500 for the flight) with Continental Airlines. I told them I did not want that. After all of this, when we got to the hotel, I looked at the boarding passes and realized our connecting flight from Houston to Atlanta is scheduled 2 hours before our original flight from Los Cabos, even gets to Houston. Overall, they have ruined my vacation. I don't want to ever fly with them again and I definitely would recommend that others don't as well. We were 2 of at least 5 people that were pushed back from overbooking.

This is not consistent with their ticket. They were charged $50 for one additional bag to be checked in, as United allowed only one bag per person, free of cost. As a customer, this is very frustrating. We would like to request the $50 charge to be returned. The money was paid from my credit card, (Nimish ** ). This is cheating customers. We had submitted the complaint previously to United, through BBB, however they denied the claim, saying that the policy of the originating airline would be followed. They sent me a $50 coupon to be used for future United flight, however, they refused to refund the money. I do not accept the voucher.

I thought of calling customer service and see if they can help! To my surprise, a very nice woman on the phone named Donacella told me that in about one hour she would rebook the flight leaving on the 27th, same flight with same confirmation number!! This was as long as I call back and tell any customer service rep that I had my new visa on hand!! Tears started coming out my eyes when she said this was of no charge!!! I asked for an itinerary and she said it would be on my one pass account from Continental Airlines!! I needed the itinerary to give to the Brazil consulate to get a new visa!! I will attach a copy of the old visa to show you it is a real mistake because the year of the issue date you cannot see clearly!

I was off in the end of a snow storm carrying my luggage to New York to get a new visa and back to the airport!! 8 hour to complete, I finally get back and find out the flight had been canceled!! I figure OK, let me call customer care in Continental and get this straightened out for the next flight but no one answered the phone. For two days I slept at the airport, since all hotels were fully booked!! Next thing, I was in line for six hours, only to be told there was never a ticket or reservation on hold subject to me getting my new visa!! Talking with Lillian ** was not pleasant at all! I finally got customer care on the line and they confirmed I had a conversation on the 25th about a new flight out, even telling me that my second flight would not be able to leave until the next day on Tam Airlines in which I agreed on!! But they said that they will not honor this at all now!

I was blown away!! When I had the conversation, someone recorded and a copy of the paperwork off my one pass account!! I talked to a few people about this matter thru Continental and they seem to just read the right of your policy about proper paper documents and not their own customer care. I didn't make up this story!!! I would like some help putting this to close and making me feel like I didn't do the second part wrong. If the girl said on the 25th there was nothing we can do, I would have gone off in the sunset!! So I am asking that Continental Airlines rebook a flight for me at no extra charge based on the things I mentioned here. It was a very sad thing that happened, let us continue a very positive relationship!

I wrote them several times, asking them to reinstate my miles, because they never notified me in any way about my losing my miles for not using my account. Those miles were worth thousands of dollars and took 12 years to accumulate. How can they just wipe them out in one swoop? They blamed me, for not going to their website. I did not know I was supposed to go to their website, if I had no reason to visit it. I was not told they changed the rules in the United Rewards Program. They wiped out $5000.00 worth of rewards I was counting on to use.

I need some consumer protection here, because all the airlines are following suit. This is not a game. In today's economy, this is very callous, and it should be stopped. It seems like the airlines have learned a lot from the banks that they are associated with. What is our recourse, and why do we allow them to get away with this poor behavior?

I received a call on Tuesday, October 11th, from a United representative, stating that they needed to change my itinerary due to a plane change. First, the agent attempted to rebook my children alone on a flight through Denver. When I protested, he then found a direct fight the morning of December 19, and re-booked us all on this flight. That afternoon, I was routinely looking at my checking account on line. To my horror, I was debited two charges by United of $551.70 for a total charge to my account of $1,113.40, for this schedule change initiated by United. These charges were not credit card charges. The funds were drawn straight from my bank account.

I spent 40 minutes on the phone that afternoon with an agent. The agent at the end told me that the refund would be processed in full, and that it would be refunded in 3 business days, instead of the usual 7-10 due to this error on the part of United. I waited 4 business days and I still got no refund. Today, I have made two calls, one of 58 minutes in length, the second of 50 minutes. At the end of the first 58 minutes, I was informed by a supervisor that no one could help me, as the refunds department was only open from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm. When I completed the second call in the afternoon, I was told that $753.40 of the $1,113.40 would be refunded in 7-10 days. And I was told that I needed to send a separate email for the remaining $350 to the refunds department via the internet.

The net effect of this error is that I have loaned United Airlines $1,113.40 for the next 7-10 days. This is completely unacceptable. I will be following through for a refund of all of my overdraft charges. I simply cannot afford this error and the lack of my own money due to a mistake on the part of one of your ticketing agents.

The supervisor Rodney ** said that they could fly through Delta, but we would have to go ask them if they would accept the dogs. I asked why we had to check on this when their company was the one who totally messed up the whole reservation. At this point, the only bright, helpful person took it upon herself to help us (this would be Sheila **). She worked on a solution for over three hours. That solution was that they would have to wait until the next day to fly, and have connecting flights to get to their destination with their dogs. While we were not happy due to the fact that they are elderly, and my father is sick with cancer, we had no choice. As Mrs. ** worked on the travel changes, she got no help from her supervisor Rodney **, as a matter of fact he disappeared. United did give them a voucher for lodging and in airport meals; however, when Mrs. ** tried to get Rodney ** to approve them again, he was nowhere to be found, and he told her to contact someone else.

After a six-hour wait, with two large dogs that were in kennels the whole time, a Mr. ** finally emerged to approve the vouchers. However, when we arrived at the hotel, the voucher did not cover the cost of the dogs. Also, as an added perk of the wonderful customer service we received when we got to the airport, the next morning at 4:30 the wonderful skycap Anthony ** promptly informed my 86-year old father that the $3 he gave him for wheeling in the two dogs (not more than 10 feet) was not enough, and he would have to give him more money for him to get their luggage. Never mind that my husband and I were well aware that the $3 dollars was on this day a low tip, and we’re prepared to give him more money (just not in front of my elderly parents), but then he shoved money at him, and told him to get his dogs inside the best way he can.

When I got home, I did try to contact the general manager of United Airlines, Jim **, but I have not received a call back from the several messages I have left him. Also, I did not note that the cost of the non-stop flight was considerably higher than the cost of the flights they were put on, but there was no mention of compensation for that loss of money. So, I was out the difference of the flights, hotel stay, gas expense for the travel back and forth to the airport and the hotel two times, and food cost because after being at the airport for six hours, there was no way we were going to wait for gate passes to get my parents a $10 dollar meal and the unacceptable stress that was put on my family, as well as the worthless supervisor, Rodney ** horrible customer service and the total disrespect of my parents by a skycap that should have been scrubbing toilets, if he is allowed to continue employment at Charlotte International Airport.

This is the second time that UA did this. The first time, I had to cancel due to an emergency and they didn't care. They took my ticket that cost me $900 and told me that the ticket is only worth $300 and I would also have to pay $150 fee to use it.

I certainly didn't see the email, there was no warning on the web site, and the agent failed to tell me about this fee. Ironic, because my schedule was flexible and would have moved my travel dates so as not to be charged 20% extra to travel on United.

I sent an email to United customer service and I never heard back. Guess they don't read their emails either. Sent a letter, got a letter in return saying, "sorry, hope you have a better experience with us in the future." Just received an email, telling me that "you would have gotten a pop up advising you of the $150 fee and while unable to refund your money, I am attaching 2 electronic travel certificates, " but there was no attachment.

When any other company charges my credit card without my prior consent, that is considered an "unauthorized transaction". Why is United allowed to make unauthorized transactions on their customer's credit card accounts?

This is completely unacceptable and for an airline who promises commitment to their customers, this should be a very shocking reality.

Because of that particular Continental employee named Luis **, me, my wife, and my family have decided not to fly United-Continental again. It was a pity for me who used to consider Continental as one of the finest and best airlines to fly. I was a customer for more than 8 years now.

Also, I will make sure, by using my social media contacts, that the extremely rude and impolite treatment my wife received will be fully disclosed so people can be warned about the way Continental customers are treated by its employees at the Guarulhos International Airport.

Needless to say, I missed the flight because the flight decided to take off early. Well, thank you very much United for not giving a second thought about your passengers who experienced a delay. What is possibly the most appalling is the staff. It is very obvious they care nothing for their customers and will go out of their way to minimize work for themselves. No wonder U.S. airlines are going bust. Who would want to be treated like they owe the employees a favor? It was obvious that the employee just told me that I could make it for the flight because she was too lazy to find me an alternative and just wanted me to go away.

Also, when I got to Dulles, the United club lounge is possibly the worst lounge ever. They might as well just put a dummy to man the counter because that is exactly what the counter staff are. The lady just kept saying that she was not supposed to be working there so she knew nothing. Gee, thanks. Right now, my 5:30 flight has been delayed to 7:20 and then, to 7:33 and then, now, to 7:45. No reason was given; we just had to accept it. My two-hour trip has taken me 12 hours, and counting. Talk about flying in the stone ages. I could have driven to Albany by now.

Then, as I filed a complaint with a supervisor at the service desk, she stormed off the plane. She came to the desk and began to bold face lie about things I said to her. Other people were standing around to back me up and complain about her behavior. They told the supervisor that that was in fact not what happened, and that in reality, she had just come unglued on me in the plane. She then told me that I was disrespectful, arrogant, and nothing but a brat, and I would never succeed in life because I could not respect people. I informed her that I had graduated from a top ten law school (Standford, to be exact), and that I was in fact extremely successful and my mother clearly had raised me right. Then, after having her insult my mother enough, I called her a crazy **, very politely though, of course. She then said I was going to be arrested and called security. As I was leaving, she then followed me down the terminal, calling me names and screaming, "This is the future of our country right here. This is the future generation. Our country is in trouble." I have filed numerous complaints with the airline, and have yet to receive any action on their part.

This flight attendant's name was Rona (at least so she says). She is a Houston based flight attendant. Everyone, beware. I will never fly Continental Airlines again. I am canceling my rewards card with them. And I'm willing to spend double the price on flights just to avoid this airline. I am also going to speak to my firm (since numerous of the partners were on the flight and witnessed this) about choosing another airline from here forward.

We got to Moncton, almost. We were set to land (I could see the landing strip) when the pilot suddenly said it was too foggy and we had to return to Newark. He's the pilot and knows best, I guess, but I've landed in much, much worse. Anyway, when we got back to Newark, it was nearly 11:00PM and they said the flight was now officially canceled and basically, we were on our own. We all ran to the Continental 'Customer Service' area because we were in Terminal C. There was one flight to Moncton the next day, but it was full and they weren't accepting standbys. I asked to be rerouted back to Charlotte and get a credit for the trip so I could try again. I mean, what else could I do? Was I going to wait around in the airport for days to see if something might pop up? The service agent who was beyond rude took at least 90 minutes to process the paperwork, which I just knew in my heart was all wrong. Even she claimed not to really know how to do what she was doing.

The next morning, I went to Terminal A to catch the flight I was supposedly scheduled on back to Charlotte. They had no record of me on the flight. After much running around and pleading, I got an entirely different airline to put me on a flight back to Charlotte at no cost to me. I was really disheartened by the treatment of everyone connected with Continental to people who bought tickets with them. Passengers were very patient about all of these and yet we were treated poorly in return. It was like everyone at Continental had a huge chip on their shoulder. My story may have been bad, but there were people much worse off in this situation. There were people in wheelchairs, families with small children, etc. I know when the reason for a flight cancellation is "weather". There is no compensation (again, the weather in Moncton didn't seem very bad to me) but to leave us high and dry with not so much as an apology or a meal voucher, I don't know, it seemed Draconian.

To the employees at Continental and I'm including the flight attendants, ticketing agents, CSRs and grounds crews, I would say any job worth doing is worth doing well.

The refund has not occurred 14 business days later. This is the second time UAL has done this to me. I don't trust them at all anymore. Give them your credit card and they can overcharge what they quote you and then they will force you to try to get it refunded. It's a real trial and I think most people give up. Even if they refund, it's months later so they keep your money without paying any penalty for their wrongdoing. United, are you pulling a scam on people? At $25 a ticket, you're pocketing a lot of cash illegally. They know few people have the time to complain. Shame on them, using a name that plays on our democracy.

On June 17, our attempted United flight (#0930) from San Francisco to London has been cancelled due to a global computer breakdown on United Airlines. This has left our family angry, incredulous and certain that the way in which they treated us and other passengers has significantly undermined their brand integrity.

We expect to be properly compensated for this experience, which I consider a breakdown of nearly every facet of United Airlines' business. But first, let me briefly recount our experience as this information in this letter should be read and shared across their company, particularly given that, in your own words, "United is committed to continuous improvement and achieving success."

Earlier this year, our family (which includes our 7-year-old son), booked a non-stop flight on United from San Francisco to London for our dream vacation. It would be our first trip to England. We spent more than $5,700 for the non-stop round-trip flight, which included a pricey upgrade to their Economy Plus seats.

While it would have been much cheaper to fly and make a one stop (Sun Country Airlines, for instance, was offering a $1,000 per person round-trip fare), we decided to pay extra to travel United for the convenience of NOT stopping along the way, thereby getting to London quickly (anyone travelling with a young child can understand that decision). The Economy Plus seating was a large, extra sum as well, $297, and we made this decision after some debate.

At 5:15 p.m., we arrived in San Francisco to make our 7:15 p.m. flight; however, we were informed that their computers were all down. We are told that they had no idea when they would be back up (a single employee was dispatched to inform us, via walking through the increasingly frustrated crowds, to verbally update people, without the assistance of a bullhorn or microphone). The information was mostly useless and it was mostly left to the passengers to trickle down the information.

For five hours in that line, we waited with our luggage. There were more than 1,000 others in line with us. It was only at the 3 hour-30-minute mark that they begrudgingly offered water and Oreos, the latter of which wasn't really a favor.

Finally, their system went back up at 10:15 p.m. and, finally, United crew and passengers scrambled to board our flight to beat the FAA restrictions around the flight crews daily working hours. Passengers beat this deadline with one minute to spare. We were all seated, finally, and ready for our trip.

Apparently, we waited because their crew did not load the luggage in time. Then, the captain announced that the crew was missing a key flight document. Nonetheless, finally, we were told that we'd be taking off shortly. So we waited more.

A little after midnight, they cancelled the flight. Imagine the anger and disappointment. Really, imagine it. Even worse, we were stuck on the plane for an additional hour layering insult to injury because of their incompetence. Because apparently, United could not find someone to open the plane door. Yes, you read that right.

The day continues and when we were finally allowed to disembark the plane at 1:30 a.m., there were two police officers waiting by the jets door to be on the lookout, I assume, unruly passengers - there were just as many police officers as there were United staff members to book new tickets for the several international flights that were cancelled that night. There was no need for the police. The passengers here, having gone through this horrific experience, were models of professionalism. But, again, they put their airline squarely and firmly ahead of any feelings they had for their inconvenienced travellers.

At 1:50 a.m., a United employee told everyone that we would need to wait until 3 a.m. to get our luggage back. No one was offered a hotel. They did not broach this topic with us. We were not offered transportation to a hotel. We were not offered any vouchers. We were only told that, because the flight was officially cancelled, we would have the benefit of not incurring a fee for changing our flight plans. Um, some benefit. "Are you ** kidding me?" was the shared reaction among passengers.

Then, amazingly, things got even worse. We waited until 3:45 a.m. for luggage that never came. Their barebones, helpless staff at that point meant that we'd get no answers for anything. Angry, tired and with our 7-year-old limp in our arms, we left WITHOUT our luggage, spending our own money on a cab to get home. We had taken public transportation to the airport, but it wasn't operating in those wee hours of the morning. We arrived home at 5 a.m. about the time our initial flight should have landed in London.

There was no sleep for us. We had to set about contacting our hotel in England, being informed we would still need to pay for that night, and the next one, even though we were still in the United States. We had to contact our rental car agency, being informed the special discount we had received for reserving our car for a week would no longer apply as we would now be there for less than 7 days. We had to find a new flight spending a total of three hours on hold with United only to NOT get a live, breathing human on the phone. We had to find our luggage, contacting baggage support and telling them our story.

This is when United customer service practices become especially appalling. My wife is a cancer survivor, and her anti-cancer medication was in her suitcase. When she explained that to a baggage support team member, she was informed that the luggage was being held and was earmarked for London and they couldn't return it. Yes, you read that correctly.

Now take a moment to put yourself in this position, from the moment we had arrived at San Francisco airport, to now being told that our luggage may be going to London but not us. So, not surprisingly, my wife cried. Pointing out the need to have her cancer medication, she was told by an unhelpful staff that, while they understood the situation, they couldn't guarantee they could return it to her that day, even though our luggage HAD NEVER LEFT San Francisco. And here's the kicker: She was told that if United were to deliver the luggage to us, they would charge us for that convenience. The manager, however, was the first and only United employee throughout this harrowing odyssey to offer us anything more than an Oreo cookie and vague communications commitments. He said he would give us one $50 voucher for our troubles. PLEASE. Getting our luggage returned to us would have cost more than that!

So take a moment to think about what we experienced with United to this point. Think about their history of getting planes off the ground and in the air and servicing passengers and accounting for travel disruptions and unanticipated issues. Think about their actions. Think about every step of this experience and what it means to their brand.

Like others, we ultimately were left with no choice but to carry out our own research as no one at United would help us, and we identified a flight on a competing carrier that would leave Sunday, meaning we would, at a minimum, lose two days of our trip.

In other words, we are holding THEM accountable for our family being unable to see Stonehenge, Salisbury, the Longleat House, Cheddar Gorge, and the cheese factory in Cheddar. Those are experiences we will never get back that we spent months planning for in advance. We explained the situation to British Airways and had them put the tickets on hold. We were told we would need to go through United Airlines to release our tickets (that hadn't been done yet) and to get confirmation that they all would protect us.

So we had to go back to the airport Saturday (a one-hour drive) to retrieve our luggage and navigate the buffoonery of United to book a new flight ultimately, on British Airways. This took more than 3 hours of our time, even though we already had a confirmation of seats on British Airways.

Over the course of this awful experience, a number of themes clearly emerged: United, a global carrier, had absolutely no backup logistical plans in place after the global computer breakdown. Given the number of delays and cancelations in past years due to blizzards and even volcanic eruptions, this is mind boggling. United communication practices were abhorrent, lacking specifics, transparency and respect. United customer service was indifferent to this unprecedented failure on behalf of its passengers.

In short, we expect far more from their brand given their long history of navigating the myriad issues and topics I have outlined and recounted in this letter. We expect far more from an airline that charged us more than $5,700 as well as the other expenses we personally had to incur due to their incompetence and indifference.

This includes: Economy Plus airfare (we paid $297 for this service, but did not get it on our British Airways ticket) and we expect them to reimburse us for this.

We expect to be reimbursed for our transportation to and from the airport for the June 17 flight that was cancelled - $20 for a taxi ride to the Bart train; $33 for the Bart train; $30 for the taxi to a relative's home early Saturday morning. They saved United money by driving us the rest of the way home.

We expect to be reimbursed for the expenses associated with going back to the airport on June 18 to retrieve our luggage and get booked on a new flight: a $5 bridge toll, and $20 for short-term parking.

We expect them to cover the first two nights of the hotel we had booked in England that we lost because they were unable to get us to London on our time plan.

As passengers, we had zero options as part of this experience. Because their computer system was down, they couldn't release our flight. When the system was back up at 10:15, although a reasonable airline would recognize the flight needed to be cancelled and they needed to protect the passengers, they did not do so. This is especially frustrating that the Sun Country Airlines flight to Minnesota for a connection to London had not left yet. They also held our luggage hostage, taking it from us and saying that they would charge us to get it back. In this highly competitive environment for airlines, where margins are low and fuel costs are high, they simply cannot forget, or overlook, the importance of stellar customer service. And they have failed us and many others.

I look forward to their prompt, careful response to this letter and to learn how they will maintain the brand standards they purport to have. How are they going to take care of this family? We have lost a lot of respect for their brand and, as they assess and verify our experience and come up with some viable options for us, I expect them to share this letter with as many leaders at United as they can.

As their own customer commitment says: "Our goal is to make every flight a positive experience for our customers."

Clearly, they failed us.

I could have been put on 90 days restriction, which means I could not leave my ship and would have lost a month's pay, due to the poor service that this airline provides. I also had no clue, where my bags had been. I will personally never fly with Continental again. This airline is garbage!

Allow me to illustrate in detail the numerous problems we encountered during our recent travel to and from Las Vegas. For reference purposes, our Confirmation number was BG6LXD for round trip travel from Ottawa, Ontario to Las Vegas, Nevada via connections in Newark, New Jersey departing Fri Jul 8th and returning Tues Jul 19th.

1. Gate/ticket agent Shirley: Upon checking in, we were informed of a delay of our first flight, CO2623, due to inclement weather in Newark. Understandable. While waiting to board initially, I approached the gate desk to ask a question. Shirley did not look up from her computer screen even once and acknowledged me only by saying, "Yes?" in an exasperated tone. I asked if the flight was full, she replied tersely, "Yes". She didn't look up from the desk at any point. We boarded the plane, only to end up disembarking as Newark continued to have severe thunderstorms. Several hours passed. At this point we began to worry (along with several others) about our connecting flights. My companion, Guy Dagenais, approached the gate desk to inquire about alternative flights. When he asked about our connection, Shirley complained about working overtime with no one to relieve her and that she was taking a break. She left the gate desk without another word, much to the astonishment of all those who were waiting to find out about their connections. She returned approximately 20 minutes later and looked into alternate flight connections with no acknowledgement to leaving her post. While we were not aware at the time, rather than booking us for the first Saturday morning flight from Newark to Las Vegas, she booked us for the Sunday morning flight instead. There were several others in this same predicament.

2. Misdirection/Baggage Problems in Newark: Upon discovering the flight mix-up when we arrived in Newark, we were rerouted to Las Vegas via Phoenix early the following morning on USAirways. Due to the early hour of the flight to Phoenix, and the hotels being booked with stranded passengers, we decided to spend the night in the terminal. Based on this plan, we were advised by the customer service agent to go to the Continental Baggage counter in the morning to pick up our checked luggage before checking in at USAirways, rather than cart it around with us through the airport. After a restless night in the terminal, we arrived at the baggage desk at approximately 4:30am to be rudely informed that our luggage was lost. We explained that we had been directed there to pick it up when she said that no one was even available to search for our luggage until 6am (which was too late for our 6:45 flight). It may be difficult to believe, but this woman was worse than Shirley. While Shirley was sullen, this woman was borderline confrontational! She continued to explain that we would have to fill out a lost baggage claim once we arrived in Las Vegas through USAirways adding, "USAirways will try to say it's our problem, but we'll just send you back to them". While we would have taken this employee's name, I was too upset by this point and we left the desk. What I do know is that she was the only employee at the Continental baggage desk at 4:30am on Sat Jul 9th. She is an African-American woman with a plus-sized build.

3. Luggage in Las Vegas: Fortunately, when we arrived in Las Vegas (after further delays with USAirways) and went to the Continental Baggage desk, our checked bags were in a roped section outside of the baggage office (along with about 50 other bags presumably belonging to other wayward passengers). I was dismayed to discover, however, that two items from my checked luggage were missing - a pair of scissors and a pair of beading pliers. There was no notice from TSA in my luggage to indicate that my bag had been searched and these items removed, nor is there any restriction in the TSA website for these items.

4. Return flight: On the evening of Mon Jul 18, I attempted to check-in for our return flight. Confirmation number, as well as e-ticket numbers, was invalid. After a lengthy time on hold with the reservations/customer service number, we discovered that due to the problems on our arrival, we had lost seats for our return flight. While we were placed back on the same flight, we no longer had adjacent seats. I explained that as a plus-sized person, I specifically wanted to sit next to my significant other. I was told that an upgrade was available, for a fee, for an exit row seat. Sitting in an exit row seat was not a viable solution for me either since I do not feel comfortable sitting in an exit row - both for the safety and well-being of myself as well as the other passengers on the flight. The woman was unhelpful and I escalated to a manager. After being on hold again for a long time, Michael **, a tech support manager, was the only manager available. He was not helpful and had the audacity to suggest that Continental was doing me a favour by getting us back on the flight in the first place.

Despite having faced numerous issues with our flights to Las Vegas, and now facing more issues with our return flights, he felt we should be grateful that we were on the flight we had originally paid for. I asked for another manager to speak with and was told that no one was available until 6am Central time. He gave me a direct number to reach a customer service manager. Therefore, I woke up at 4am in Las Vegas in order to call Customer Service. Of course the number Michael gave me did not go to the Customer Service Manager, but instead directed me to baggage claims. Calling back, I pressed the right buttons to be directed with a Customer Service agent for an international flight yet when we were finally off hold and gave our confirmation number, we were put on hold again, without even an opportunity to speak further. We remained on hold for over an hour! When a customer service manager finally came on the line, the flight details had already been sent to the airport and we would have to bring this concern forward at the airport since it was too late to do anything at that point. Once at the airport, the hassles continued with Lynn ** at the check-in desk. We explained our situation, and Lynn said that we could check in with the gate agent or with the flight attendants on board the plane and attempt to get seats together. Once again, it seemed that Continental employees were just trying to pass us along to the next employee to deal with rather than address our situation. When we got to the gate agent, we were sullenly handed new boarding passes with adjacent seats as our concerns had been forwarded from the check-in gate.

I presume you are aware of the changes that have recently occurred in the airline industry. There are fees for everything - luggage, food and snacks, entertainment on the plane, more leg room - all things which used to be complimentary. So what would our fees be if we were to itemize Continental for the losses we incurred as a result of this travel experience? What is fair compensation for our time, money and aggravation? First of all, our travel time to Las Vegas should have been 8.5 hours. Instead, it was approximately 24 hours. In that 24 hours we lost a car rental reservation, forfeited our room reservation, suffered from lack of sleep, and were subject to stress and frustration at every turn. The problems on our return flight meant that instead of enjoying our last night in Las Vegas, we spent it on hold or arguing with Continental customer service agents, only to get nowhere. We woke up early to resume our cause, and again, got nowhere.

On the Continental website, the "Continental Customer Commitment" is posted. It states that you "are dedicated to providing a level of service to [y]our customers that makes [you] a leader in the airline industry. [You] understand that to do this [you] need to have a product [you] are proud of and employees who like coming to work every day. " To continue, "[y]our goal is to make every flight a positive experience for [y]our customers. " As a Star Alliance member, Continental has more commitments to uphold, like the promise that wherever you are in the world, the Star Alliance network is there to guarantee a smooth travel experience. " In light of our recent travel experience, we received neither a positive, nor a smooth travel experience.

Continental's commitment to customer service needs to be more than words posted on a website, or a recorded message from the company president before the safety demonstration - especially if these messages are hypocritical in light of real customer experience. With the recent merger of Continental and United, it will not help to be the largest airline in North America if you have no passengers to fill your planes. I know there were several other travelers who experienced the same poor customer service from Continental as we did. Whether they have brought forward their concerns, I cannot say. It is quite possible, like most people who experience poor service, they are choosing to respond with their own actions instead to avoid Continental for their future travel plans.

Personally, I would like to give Continental the ability to address these concerns and show that as a company you are committed to customer service. My boyfriend and I would be pleased to discuss our recent travel experience further.

Karen **

When I called to get this straightened out, the supervisor had many excuses but no resolution. He said that if I was the only one that this was happening to, they probably wouldn't do anything for me. Because I was told this conversation was taped, I asked that he contact whoever had authority to correct the problem. And I asked him to have that person contact me the next day when I returned home from my trip. His answer was "it's never going to happen". Then, he corrected himself and said they would look it over, evaluate it, and then maybe get back to me. I told him this was unsatisfactory and he really didn't care. I asked him for an 800 number to call. He kept talking about other things and wouldn't give me the number. He repeated that I would have to give him the courtesy of finishing what he wanted to say. I had already been on the phone for almost 45 minutes and spoken to 3 different people. I didn't want to hear anymore, but he wouldn't give me the number. I finally hung up and decided I would get it from someone else at Continental.

I called and spoke with a rep on Sept. 8 at **. I was told I should have received my refund on Sept. 6. I asked to speak with someone who would be able to expedite the refund or find out what the problem is. She replied, "You're speaking with me." I asked to speak with someone in management and I was hung up on. I also sent an email to the refund status email. They kicked back a generic response about the 7 days. I sent a fax inquiry about the refund and still haven't heard a word. I would like my refund of $478, just as quick as it was debited from my account. Please help!

We filled out all the necessary forms at the airport and were told that we would be contacted. We were not. After a few days, I called and waited on hold for 30 minutes before being told that there was no way for Continental to know where our bag was and that they would not contact the Savannah airport to see if it was there.

I contacted Continental customer service on 15 Feb 2011 and we received a letter dated the same day, but postmarked 18 Feb 11, stating that a thorough, system-wide search that extended to other air carriers was completed. We received a check for $100 and a $200 flight voucher, which we have not used. We were told that the Contract of Carriage, which we had never been aware of after years and years of flying, basically let Continental off the hook for liability for any of the contents of the bag--valued at approximately $1,000. To date, we have received no response as to what the "detailed" search entailed and there was no evidence that one was conducted.

Their site stated they would not respond to emails. I tried calling the local Santo Domingo number. First, I was on hold for 40 minutes and the representative hung up on me. I finally contacted someone who had no clue when or if Continental would send a plane to pick up the "refugees". My husband and I made a trip to the airport. The Continental's staff, again, knew nothing and were actually fairly rude. (Note: the US Airways and Delta people did try very hard to find us a flight anywhere on the East Coast). The end result is that after hours on the internet, I finally found us a way home. It cost $2,500 (not counting the additional hotel costs) and it took 22 hours of door to door, but we got home.

Continental's "solution" was to fly us to Panama City; Panama and then on to Houston. We live in NJ. Houston is over 1,600 miles from our home; Punta Cana is only about 1500 miles away!

The arrogance of this company is staggering. Again, I understand that hurricanes truly disrupt operations, but there was a complete abandonment of customer service.

United indicated the reason for the outrageous fees was partially due to special handling for the bicycles. The bicycles wouldn't fit on the baggage belts or on the carousels for luggage upon arrival to the airport. The bicycles arrived via the baggage carousel. The bike carrier was damaged.

The primary issue is the "highway robbery" fees for traveling with bicycles. These fees are based on "special handling". The fees charged are just another way to gain money and are not based on anything other than another way for United to "milk the customer". The fees discourage anyone from traveling with bicycles. These fees are discriminatory against individuals traveling with bicycles. No other "sport luggage" is charged such outrageous fees.

She found the item in their system, gave us the item number and gave us the phone number to contact to get it mailed to us. We asked if it was still in Newark and she said she didn't think so because it should have been mailed to the Houston warehouse already (we later found out that it was still in Newark at that time and wasn't mailed for another week after that). So when we got home from our honeymoon a week later, my husband immediately called to get the arrangements made to have the case sent home to us. He gave all of his information, including a detailed description of the case and contents, to the person on the lost and found line and was told someone in the warehouse would contact him within two days.

A month went by and nothing. So he called again and went through all of his information again, and was told the agent would personally email the warehouse and he would for sure hear from them within two days. Another month, another nothing. So he called this morning, the woman on the line refused to look up his item, stating that since it had been two months and it hadn't been dealt with, it probably wasn't even still in the warehouse. At this, my husband flatly asked to speak to a supervisor. He was told, "No, you can't". He let her know that he was furious and would find a way to speak to someone higher up and would never fly continental again. We even went so far as to call the store in Alabama that buys Continental's leftover lost and found, and while they don't have the case yet, they took information about it in case they do get it and can contact us.

Since purchasing the remaining miles, I have had difficulties with the reservations desk saying that there are no seats available. Then, upon calling again, that I would have to wait until the end of August to see if there was any open seat. I called again at a later date just to inquire (as a full paying customer) and I was advised that there was still plenty of seats. As you can imagine, I was so surprised as to why I was having such difficulties booking a seat with my miles.

So, I called back yesterday and had minimal luck getting an easy flight from Melbourne, Australia to Buffalo, New York, between the 12th and the 25th of October, having to stop over at LA for a night, and stopping to two other avenues before reaching Buffalo. I have never had such a hard and more frustrating experience trying to book a flight with your airline.

As a frequently flyer and someone who has used and loved your service, I am very disappointed with the lack of help and with the customer service on the phone. I would like this to be passed on to whom ever it may concern, as I am understandably angry and frustrated at this process. I would like a better avenue to book and utilize my earned miles to get a better flight as there seems to be many seats and direct avenues to get to my destination.

We were taken to a 4-star hotel somewhere in Spain. The hotel, however, was lacking about 3 1/2 of its stars. We unloaded our own luggage and carried it to horrible accommodations. We were told to go to the basement where we were offered food I wouldn't feed an animal. The buses came back at 2am (no sleep, no food, my luggage was ripped to threads and all my clothes were wet from the rain), it was no better at the airport. Again, we rechecked and carried our own bags, waited in line at 2am and waited again for the plane to come.

Once in the air, one of the flight attendants grabbed several backpacks, mine included, and "threw" them in the overhead storage even after being told they contained laptops, cameras and breakables. The attendant replied that she didn't care. Instead of sitting with my family, my sister-in-law Connie and I were put at the very back, next to the toilet. Connie previously had a heart attack and was told for such a long flight to get up and move at least every hour of the 9-hour flight. I went at the back where another attendant was standing. I told her about Connie and asked if she could briefly sit in the seats across from our seats to stretch her legs. The attendant proceeded to wave the palms of her hands up in my face and replied, " I don't care about no heart attack. She can't sit there!".

Okay. Then when the food cart came down the isle, starting in the front of the plane and got to our seats, we were told "Sorry, we have no more food". So for the 9+ hours flight, Connie and I ate a bag of potato chips and water. We were supposed to be home July 30, 2011 at 7:30pm but we arrived home around midnight in Little Rock after being rerouted to Charlette NC. I have written a letter (registered) to Continental Airlines on August 2, 2011. I still have no response. Oh and when we got off the plane we said, "hope you have a good day" to which the attendants replied "Easy for you to say, we gotta go to Paris now".

I have been traveling for 10 hours now. I was supposed to go to Providence from Pittsburgh and I had a connecting flight in Dulles. Not only the first flight was over an hour delayed, we get to Dulles and then from Dulles. First, the flight was delayed for two hours and then they put us on the plane and made us sit on tarmac for two hours. Finally, they cancelled the flight citing weather as the reason.

After they cancelled the flight, the in-flight crew or the pilot had no courtesy to actually mention what to do about getting on next plane, or who to talk to.

To make matters worse, there was no gate agent to help with anything. When I called United, first they made it difficult to call them by not providing a number any where obviously on their webpage. Finally after 25 minutes of holding, I get a customer service agent somewhere in India because of outsourcing, who is of no help.

I know I am never going to fly with United just because of their customer service.

In all this time, no one was concerned from the Continental airlines of all this waiting time. No meal, no assistance of any nature. There's more! They were charged $974 on a one-way trip to ROC leaving SJU at 6:01 a.m. No respect for seniors over 85 years old?

"Maximum sustained winds are near 115 mph...185 km/h...with higher gusts. Irene is a category three hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane windscale. Some strengthening is possible today and tonight.

Irene is a large tropical cyclone. hurricane force winds extend outward up to 70 miles...110 km...from the center...and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 290 miles...465 km.

The latest minimum central pressure reported by an air force reserve hurricane hunter aircraft was 951 mb...28.08 inches."

Upon learning the weather conditions, I immediately contacted the airline and requested the trip be reschedule or cost be reimbursed due to the hurricane advisory. Needless to say, both requests were denied and I was informed that the cancellation would cost a deduction of $150 per ticket from the originally charged amount.

I'm requesting a reimbursement for the above purchases due to unforeseen natural disaster or weather issues affecting the east coast area (New Jersey). Hurricane Irene is schedule to reach New Jersey on Sunday, August 28th.

Trying to get any sort of compensation from United was an absolute nightmare. The only way to contact them about any baggage issues is to call their baggage help line where you will be transferred to agents from the Philippines or India. They cannot speak to the claims department. They cannot provide you information on how to contact the claims department. And they can't send messages to the claims department to get information on my claim.

I would be placed on hold for long periods of time (longest being about 30 minutes) and I would be told different information each time I called. At one point, an agent told me that my claim had been denied, and then back tracked and told me that he was reading the wrong claim! The agents have no ability to help the customer. They are just a middle department, with no authority, no decision-making ability, and a hope of trying to frustrate the customer enough that they don't pursue the money that is owed to them by United.

This is all without even mentioning the fact that baggage handlers (the people who are responsible for what gets put onto airplanes for the safety of the airlines) have opened up my bags and stolen items from them, with no consequences from United and with no consequences from the police (although a police report was filed in Canada).

United is a bunch of crooks.

After three hours, we were put on the next flight, which ended up being six hours later due to delays. We missed the conference and our $100 went down the drain. When we called to cancel our return flight, we were told that we could cancel but would not be refunded. If we wanted to change the flight, it would be $150 plus difference. I contacted Continental several times but there was no answer. What a horrible service. Our return flight would have been delayed 6 hours back also.

We had to spend $162.00 on a hotel; $142.00 on a cab; $43.00 on food and a shuttle to bring us to our destination after arriving at Pittsburg, 12 hours late at a cost of $200.00. I feel that there is a need for a reimbursement like free travel vouchers etc.

My wife and I were booked on United Airlines Flight 804 that was scheduled to fly out of Singapore's Changi International Airport on at 7:00am on August 14, 2011. It was supposed to go to Tokyo.

We showed up at 5:00am (with family to see us off) only to learn that our flight had been cancelled at the last minute. There were many frustrated passengers already there who were waiting in line and milling around, trying to figure out why a flight that was confirmed as being on schedule at 4:30 am was suddenly cancelled. We waited over an hour before someone (not a United Airlines staff member) had the courage to confirm to all of the passengers that the flight had been cancelled and that there would be no more flights out that day. We, ourselves, were only told many hours later that we had been re-booked onto a Flight 546 with China Eastern Airlines to Shanghai in Communist China on Monday morning. There would be no other flights out until Tuesday.

We were rebooked without having any opportunity to talk with someone about our travel needs. Also, we were not booked to any one of a number of other airports (Taipei, Tokyo, Manila, Hong Kong, even London, etc.). No, we were booked on a flight to Communist China on an airline that is not even a partner of UA.

Rather than making a big deal about it, we tried to go with the flow and make the best of the situation. We checked in with CEA the next morning and were told specifically by the CEA agent that we would not need to do anything with our luggage in Shanghai (I asked specifically about this) because United would transfer our luggage automatically to United Flight 878 out of Shanghai to Los Angeles. The agent did clarify, however, that we would need to collect our luggage and go through customs in LA. The window for our connection to Chicago = 90 minutes - tight but doable.

We had trouble with Shanghai security over my wife's passport and because of the kind of tickets we were issued by China Eastern Airlines that caused them to question why we were in Shanghai. This is in Communist China and we do not speak Chinese. At this point, we had yet to speak to any United Airlines staff member.

After making it through security (the first time!), we made it to a different terminal where we manage to find the UA ticket counter. I walked up to what looked like a United Airlines Information ticket, and I waited for half an hour while 4 agents dealt with one person about an issue being discussed in Chinese. When that conversation concluded, I waited another 10 minutes for someone to finally ask me in broken English, "What are you doing here?" (I am the only one in line.) I explained that I would like to confirm what is going to happen to my luggage. I was told to come back half an hour when open check in begins for Flight 878. Nobody can answer my question until then.

We waited and half an hour later, we got into a long line waiting to check in at the main UA ticket counters. The line was moving very slowly, and I told my wife that I am very concerned now about our luggage, so I left that line to go back to the UA ticket information booth. I was told if I have a complaint, I can send an email to UA Customer Relations. I confirmed that I don't have a complaint; all I have is a simple question! I was told again about United Airlines Customer Relations. I have to stress very strongly, "I want to talk to a UA representative right now about what to do with my luggage because my 5 hour layover is getting very short!"

Eventually, I was able to talk to a UA supervisor, Connie **, who told me that I was given the wrong information in Singapore and that we would have go back to baggage claim to collect our baggage, go through customs and security (again), and then check in with the other passengers. So we rushed back to the other terminal and of course, found our baggage in a holding area an, and we had to wait in another line to claim it.

We only managed to make it to our Flight 878 at the final, final call. We were the last people on the plane. I was sweating bullets and my wife was exhausted. We didn't have time to ask for a wheel chair or any other kind of assistance.

Our Flight 878 was 45 minutes late getting into LAX, and so we had only 45 minutes to collect our baggage, go through security and customs and make it to our connecting flight. We were once again the last people on the plane. Once again, we are sweating bullets and by now both my wife and I are exhausted.

Once we were on the plane the lead stewardess sees our condition and asks if we would like to make arrangements for a wheel chair in Chicago. I told her that Chicago was home and we would have family waiting there, but thanked her anyway. She replied, "Good, because it would have been hard to find something at that hour anyway."

After we landed at O'hare airport after midnight, we went to the baggage claim to collect our baggage, only to find that it would take United Airlines 45 minutes to start the carousel moving while 3 United Airlines agents in baggage claim tried to find out why it was taking so long to get the baggage from the cargo hold to baggage claim. This was a fitting end to a terrible and stressful trip. If I were alone, I might have considered it an interesting adventure, but I was with my handicapped wife and we were almost delayed in Communist China!

I have subsequently learned from United reservations that United Flight 804 was supposed to have originated in Tokyo and according to UA's own records that flight from Tokyo was cancelled the night before. They knew there was issue at least the night before the morning of the cancellation.

I have also learned subsequently from this very Consumer Affairs website that this very same thing happened to Flight 804 from Singapore on July 31, 2011, just 2 weeks before our own experience.

Our original flight was cancelled at 5:00 am on August 14 (Singapore time). As I write this, it is 7:44 am on August 19 (Chicago time) and while I have managed to talk to several people in reservations along the way, I still have yet to be able to talk to anyone from United Airlines Customer Relations. I sent two emails saying they were backlogged and would get to me when they could. I am still waiting.

For our trouble, United (via a reservation agent) offered us "maximum compensation" for our trouble via what they call "Friendship Kits."

Our compensation? More miles and/or discounts on future United Airlines flights. Are you kidding me?

I drove to DC from Lynchburg, VA after work (3.5 hours) to pick her up. Her flight arrived at 11:53, we were there until 1:30 a.m. We were told that since her luggage was supposed to go to Roanoke, it will take a while to get her luggage at Dulles.

When it was 1:30 a.m., I went back to inquire about the luggage. A very rude crew member told me that the luggage was not yet at the staging area. It was time for shift change and he was unsure when the luggage would be there. He informed me that I should let the luggage to go to Roanoke and have them mail it to me. At that point he gave me an 800 number to call.

We left the airport and drove to my cousin's home. On the morning of 16th, I called the 800 number. I was told on the phone that the luggage will go to Roanoke and he put a request in to get it mailed to me. I called the 800 number again at 3:15 p.m. I was told by Raj that the luggage was checked in to the 2 p.m. flight to Roanoke. He said he cannot file a claim for mailing the luggage to me since my daughter did not complete the trip. He suggested that I go to Roanoke (1.5 hour drive from Lynchburg, VA) to pick up the luggage.

After speaking with several United staff members over several hours (including a trip to the airport), I encountered only two who were willing to help, but unfortunately I've been told that United's Fraud Department is unwilling to release my ticket even though I have proof from my bank that I paid for it.

They are doing this on the grounds that when they called my grandmother's house (I am currently studying abroad and use my grandmother's address on all my bank statements) to verify the transaction, she did not approve it. Whatever the conversation was between the United Fraud Department and my grandmother, I am certain that she did not understand what they were asking her and so denied the charges.

If a child had answered the phone and refused to verify charges made by a different member of the household, would United take that young person's word as truth? If I was not available to speak with, considering I had purchased a flight from London to San Francisco that left on the previous day, why would United take the word of someone at the house who is not me?

We arrived at SFO two hours earlier than check-in time. I knew we had to see the agent at the counter since my flight is going to Canada (international flight), but the United Air agent guided us to the line for self check-ins. After wasting 30 minutes there, we were directed to the line for the agent counter. Although we still had 1.5 hours till departure, we got nervous since the line was never shorten. Finally, another United Air agent showed up and called passengers who needed immediate boarding. In that way, 6 to 8 group of people (whose departure time was 10~20 minutes earlier than us) behind us were picked up for faster check-in process (which means our turn was further delayed). Finally, we got the agent counter, but the agent said we were 2 minutes late from the cutline to check-in for Canada (they said we had to do it 1-hour before departure to Canada without exception). Later, we realized the 6 to 8 people behind us who were picked up were traveling within the US, so we WERE the one who needed the real emergency (another misguidance by the agent).

We could not board the original flight due to "2 minutes late to check-in", which we believe was caused by the United Airline agents. Because of that: 1) We could not leave for the vacation on that day (one day delayed since all flights were full on that day), 2) we've wasted prepaid hotel charges (two rooms for our group of 6 people) and 3) we had to shorten our trip by missing many points at our destination.

Well, things already happened and nobody can change that. Now, we wanted to minimize our damage to retrieve our point #3 above by changing our returning flight by one day later than schedule (to keep our original 4 days trip), since our beginning departure was one day delayed. So, we asked for change on returning flight by one day. Surprisingly, it was refused and I was told to pay $150 per person ($750 total) for a schedule change!

All check-in regulation (1 hour window requirement for Canada flight) cannot be controlled, but we think the United Air should handle our case more generously since all of these happened due to misguidance of their agents (we didn't even mention our loss on the hotel #1!). Later, their service director (his name is Sher **) came and showed very rude behavior. Finally, he said go home since there is nothing they're willing to do, and feel free to file complaints by showing his name proudly. I was very surprised at his attitude on handling their customer's concern and to try to make money using our situation. I wonder how he could manage it as a supervisor and why the United Air keeps him in that position.

I arrived in JFK at 3:00 AM and was told by Continental Airlines that they would not provide me with transportation to Newark, where my car was parked. I took a taxi which cost $129.00 and gave the driver a $30.00 tip because I was grateful that he drove me right to my car. Long term parking at Newark is no place for a woman traveling alone to be wandering around at 4:00 AM.

I was given a form in Glasgow that stated I was entitled to 600 euro ($800) as well as transportation reimbursement to my destination city. I attempted to contact Continental Airlines for the next 30 days for compensation to no avail. When I did get through to someone at the complaint desk, she told me "You are out of luck" and hung up on me. I wrote several letters to Jeffrey ** with no response. It wasn't until I contacted the fraud department at the FAA that I received a call from Deborah , who heads up the complaint department. She told me that she would give me the $129 for the taxi ride (less the tip money) , if I withdrew my complaint. She also stated that she would not honor the Continental Airlines policy of the 600 Euro reimbursement because there is a loop hole that the airline "hides behind".

I told her how insulted I was at this horrible treatment, and she told me that there was nothing else Continental Airlines would do for me. I did receive the $129.00 but nothing else. I wasn't even offered any meal vouchers. I incurred a bill of $75.00 for food and an additional $35.00 in parking fees plus my tip of $30.00, not to mention a delay of a day and a half, almost missing Thanksgiving with my family. To add insult, I flew on a bereavement fare which, after taxes, cost more than a regular fare. When I questioned this, Deborah told me that Continental Airlines charges "special" fees and taxes for bereavement fares and I should have paid closer attention when I was booking my ticket.

Continental Airlines is fraudulent and pathetic.

The lady put me on the next flight 544 which in a perfect world would have given 9 minutes (yes NINE minutes) to catch the next flight. I asked if I can go a different flight next day, she insisted that I can catch. I called united and I was told that because I was checked in they cannot do anything I needed to talk to the counter. I talked to them told them there's not enough time to catch the flight and she insisted that I be OK. I went to the plan and came back and asked if she can put me on the next flight from Denver to Toronto, she said because my last leg was with American not United she couldn't. I took the flight and needless to say we got in late! too late for my even late connection. So I had to rush to very next flight and with some miracle get on the delayed flight to Chicago which of course caused me to loose my connection to Toronto.

I arrived at YYZ around 1 pm exactly six hours later than I should have. Had they let me come on the next day I would gotten there only three hours later. But this is not what maddens me. Because of the stress and all the sick passenger, I got cold/flu, so not only I lost the day in between flights but I lost my day with my mother and I got sick so instead me taking care of her, she ended up taking care of me. It used to be that these a..holes in the airlines only jerk you around when you were en route but now they intentionally mess up your flight plans from the Origin! Now what do you think should be the punishment deserving this crime?

Instead, she charged my credit card again for $46 instead of refunding me the $50. She charged me $96 for two bags.

I called my credit union and was told they could not do anything about it. I must call Continental Airlines, which I did, but they refuse to refund me. I emailed Continental Airlines and here is their response was a decline of my request.

Instead she recharged my credit card again for $46, instead of refunding me the $50. She charged me $96 for two bags. I called my credit union and was told they could not do anything about it.

I must call Continental Airlines, which I did, but they refuse to refund me. I also emailed Continental and their response included a decline of my request for a refund.

The sad part is that no one from Continental was there to help us. We had to spend hours in lines till we got some airline to contact someone from Continental and take care of us.

Finally, after almost two hours in a line, they put us on a flight to Frankfurt, Germany to Jordan. We got to the Lufthansa desk, and they told us that the flight is closed. We ended up having to spend the night in London.

And then the following day when we finally got us out on another flight and we got to Jordan, I discovered that my luggage was not there. It turns out that Continental did not change my bag tags when they changed my flight. I was stranded in Jordan and not able to leave to my final destination because of Continental's screw ups.

We were told in London that this is a common problem with Continental. Never again will I ever fly Continental!

This specifically concerns UA Flight 804 out of Singapore to Japan on Sunday, July 24. The flight was canceled and I was left to fend for myself along with 300 other passengers. The next flight out with United wasn't available until Tuesday, so I had to scramble to find a flight on my own 7 hours later with Singapore Airlines.

The resulting delay in my arrival ruined my schedule for the afternoon and evening of July 24th. It also ruined my work day on July 25th as I got in on the morning of the 25th. I run an office here and couldn't afford the lost time I suffered with the missed flight.

Furthermore, my girlfriend's baggage was lost on Flight 803 coming into Singapore on July 15th. And to top things off, as she returned to GSP on July 24th from Singapore, we had an ongoing nightmare since United managed to lose her luggage again. She didn't receive it until 72 hours later, after spending more than 5 hours on the phone over 3 days.

In short, United Airlines single-handedly ruined our vacation to Singapore. It was a big annoyance on the front end of the vacation with the delayed bag. Then, it was despicable customer service given the 2 big issues we had coming back after a nice vacation, and I've been shocked at how poorly the overall situations were handled on the back-end for me and my girlfriend.

I seek at least 2 times the cost of the vacation for us, since they ruined it, and have not (1) Had the Compensation Department call my girlfriend within 24 hours of baggage delivery as they promised they would. (2) Answered my complaint email that I sent to Customer Service (they would not give me an actual person to speak to).

The cost of our vacation was $5,000. I'd like at least $10,000, but if I could settle it in small claims court for $7,500 I would.

What would be the best route to take? I'm just appalled that their response has been so bad, and I hope they're not treating everyone they deal with like this. The foreign carriers treat people much better than this, so it's an embarrassment for the US for this large company to act in this way.

Ben **, MBA

Customer service said they contacted us. No email or phone call was received. I checked the spam folder.

When we got to Washington DC Airport, we have been told that our flight to London has taken off already. The customer service then told us to head to another gate. At that gate the lady checked the system, and told me that we were transferred to another flight, but that plane has already closed the door, and there is no point going to the gate.

I went back to the customer service section and waited until they booked me for a flight on the next day. I spoke with them, and tried to explain to these people that I am with a wife and a three-week old child.

We have not prepared for an extra day; with a monstrous ticket price I paid (which meant I don't have much money left on me to buy but a pint of formula milk and some purified water). After sometime, they gave me a courtesy reservation in a hotel.

The next day, we went to the airport, boarded and waited for more than three hours sitting in the airplane and then were told that the plane is broken. So back to our old friends, the customer service, who without hesitation transferred us to yet another flight, and another day. As gracious as ever, they gave me a courtesy reservation in another hotel that was much worse than the first.

The next day, they transferred me to a flight to Dubai. This time we took off, but by the time we got to Dubai (and had to wait for more than five hours), my child got very sick and she didn't get enough care because we were in an airport. She is just an infant. The airport people thankfully called a doctor, and after a while gave her a medicine that calmed her until we got to Dammam Airport.

When we got our luggage in Dammam, we found some of them are broken or torn, and some of our stuffs inside them were missing.

I called Continental in USA and I was put on hold for more than 30 minutes once, 18 minutes the second time, and I have not been able to get through to someone since.

Anyone who has been to Heathrow knows that the gate is not even announced or open, until an hour before departure. We raced to the gate upon announcement. We were told there was nothing that can be done because our original seats were already occupied. They couldn't even give us two seats together. Their suggestion was to board and ask someone to move. No service whatsoever. I applied for a refund for the economy plus, but was told that the seats we received were economy plus. I will never fly United Airlines again.

After many frustrating hours in a very surreal situation in SFO, I was able to board the Cathay Pacific flight for Hong Kong. It is a full 12 hours after boarding my original UA flight. Upon arriving in Hong Kong, as if being stuck at SFO for a day and missing some influential meetings wasn't enough, I found my baggage did not arrive, as I was told it would before boarding in SFO. Prior to my checking into the Cathay Pacific flight at SFO, the ticketing agent called down to baggage personnel who said, and I heard myself say, that he had my luggage and was getting it onboard. He even read off my bag number. Without my baggage, I was unable to neither change nor access any of my meeting materials. With an important meeting soon after my arrival since I arrived in Hong Kong much later than planned, I had neither time nor choice, but to go ahead and attend the meeting in the leisure clothes I had stepped off the plane in. This predicament left me in a very embarrassing situation. The attire was unacceptable, as was the flight experience I endured to get to Hong Kong.

My luggage did not arrive in Hong Kong until 8 PM of July 3, 2011. I arrived in Hong Kong 6 AM of July 1, 2011. I checked with United Airlines and Cathay Pacific repeatedly daily and no one seemed to know where my luggage was. I was then informed it has been sitting in SFO.

Here is the chronology of information given:

July 1, 2011 at approximately 5:00 PM PST: Told by United Airlines luggage at SFO. United Airlines asked to have bag transferred to Cathay Pacific flight ASAP, so it would arrive ASAP. United Airlines said they'd try.

July 1, 2011: I tried to access my baggage information online. Tag # ** was unable to access information.

July 1, 2011 at 9:00 PM PST: I called United Airlines again and was informed my bag was placed on UA #869 on July 1, 2011. UA #869 departed at 4:30 PM as per United Airlines agent, but I was told earlier at 5 PM the bag was still sitting in SFO.

July 2, 2011 at 2 AM PST: Cathay Pacific said the bag was still in SFO. This contradicts earlier information given.

July 2, 2011 at 10:00 AM PST: I called Cathay Pacific. I was informed data shows the bag was placed on UA #869 on 6/30/11, and would arrive HKG on 7/2/11 at 11:31 PM.

July 2, 2011: Cathay Pacific supervisor in HKG called. He admits he can't find out what happened to the bag or where it is. No idea if on plane or not.

July 3, 2011 at 5:00 Am PST: The luggage was finally delivered in Hong Kong while the fruits I packed inside rotted. The fruits I packed inside rotted/ smelled horribly and damaged some valuable medicines.

Due to this unacceptable travel nightmare, I had to delay my trip to Beijing until I was finally reunited with my luggage. I did not want to leave Hong Kong until I knew for certain I had my luggage. Moreover, without the meeting materials and information I had in my luggage, the substance of the talks I was to deliver would be greatly hindered, and diminished in significance. The delays cost me financially not just in my having to purchase clothing and items I was without for those days without my belongings, but in my missed opportunities to meet with very important international contacts.

Furthermore, I found the service given by United Airlines in SFO totally UNACCEPTABLE. As a Premier Executive member, with United and Gold Advantage membership with American Airlines, I would say I am a seasoned traveler. Being subjected to delays and cancellation, then again cancellation after being rebooked and having to wait 12 hours later to catch a standby flight, only to find my baggage was lost for few days was surreal. The frustrations, anger and embarrassment of being forced to proceed with meetings in improper attire should not have followed me on this very important trip. During the delays at SFO, passengers were not offered any form of compensation. No food vouchers, travel vouchers, hotel vouchers-- nothing at all. Only bottles of water were all that United Airlines could offer to their "valued" customers.

I demand that this travel horror I had to endure be looked into SERIOUSLY by United Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airlines. However, some reasonable compensation for the great inconveniences I experienced would help to put this past us.

Thank you

Eddie

I am frustrated and deeply disappointed with the service, especially as a longtime United traveler and Executive Premier member, and urge United to take notice of such incidents and handle issues more responsively and promptly. It's 10:30am the following day and I'm still left hanging. I have no idea if I will go with my bags or have to go through this one more time.

I come up to Klamath Falls once a month on this flight for business. This flight is a small plane which never has more than 10 passengers since I have been on it.

On Tuesday, I arrived at the airport at 5:30pm. I had no luggage to check in as I never brought one ever since. I was told by the United agent that I would not be allowed to board the flight because I did not arrive one hour before the departure schedule. I explained that ever since I have flown this flight, it has never been on time. I have waited at the airport up to 2-3 hours before. Besides, I had no luggage to check in and all the passengers were still waiting. I argued with the lady for 20 minutes and then she threatened to arrest me. I told her I needed to be on the flight because I have to give my wife injections for her medical condition by 10pm that same day. Since the passengers were boarding and I already cleared security, I could not think why they would not let me on. She refused to let me board. I watched all the passengers get on.

I requested to speak to TSA who said they had no authority over the matter. I once again pleaded, I said that my wife has a medical condition and that I needed to be back in SFO to give her the injections. They refused to listen. I even called my wife and they would not speak or listen to her. I watched the plane took off and no one at United was willing to help.

Finally after the flight left, the lady at the counter said that I could drive to Medford (1.5 hours away) and catch the flight around 9pm and be in SFO at 10:40pm. What was the point? On top of it, she made me pay extra. Why didn't they just let me on the flight I was supposed to be on?

I have had a bad experience with United once before and never complained. This just tops it! My wife had a medical condition and no one in your staff even had the courtesy to listen. This is the worst airline out there and I cannot stand the horrible and rude staff! It is not about the money, it was about principle. I still do not have any clear idea as to why I was not allowed on that flight. Were the attendants racists? That is what I feel. If I got there 40 mins prior, the flight was not full, had no luggage, and had passed security check point, why was I not allowed on the flight? Forget all that, my wife had a medical issue and I needed to back in SFO.

The next time that I will need to fly from SFO to Klamath Falls. I will do whatever I can to avoid flying United Airlines again. My wife's family owns a hotel construction and management business and they all fly frequently, both domestically and internationally. We will be sure to relay this experience with them as well as to everyone we know to ensure that no one else gets this type of treatment from a business that is supposed to be in service.

It was not even like anyone listened, that's the worst part. I am in the service business and I know how one unhappy and dissatisfied customer can hurt your business. I had more than a valid reason and will provide all medical notes and doctors notes if needed to prove that my wife has a medical condition.

If something happens to my wife because her medication was not given on time due to your staff not allowing me on the flight, I will get the best attorney out there and will sue United.

Upon arriving in San Fransisco my boss asked me if I could look into taking a later flight out of San Fransisco. I looked at my itinerary online and saw that my flight home on Wednesday had a status of "Cancellation Confirmed".

Having never canceled my return flight I called my travel agent to find out what was going on. I was then told that I "never boarded the plane to San Fransisco". I found that to be funny since I had just crossed the Golden Gate bridge and driven down Lombard Street. She was told to rebook me on a different flight home because they couldn't reopen the ticket. So, we did, for another $361.

Aside from this, really think about what this means. I traveled across the country on a full flight without detection. I made it through security, I boarded and plane and I landed but no one, not even the government, thinks that I did. God forbid I was in a plane crash or a tragic accident here. And what if this happened to a passenger that was on the no fly list? Or wasn't but was up to no good? How scary is it that this type of security breach is a reality...

The next day I was told that I would not receive credit for my flight towards my frequent flier miles. This flight would put me a mere 450 away from Premiere Exec status. I called United.

Customer Service rep #1 told me that "there was no way I was in San Fransisco" and, after I said it made me concerned for national security, said "It shouldn't". I said "I have my boarding pass in my hand. Here, you can hear it if I crinkle it. I sat in seat 10F. I bought a sandwich on the plane and have the credit card proof. Now if I wasn't on the plane, why would I buy Airline food?". She said she was sorry but I wasn't on the plane. After a bit more discussion she put me on hold and got my ticket reopened telling me I could get credit for the flight if I took the flight home as originally scheduled - and canceled. I said "No thank you. I'd like to travel with an airline that will record I was on the plane." Granted she was doing the best she could with the information she had, but I wanted to speak to a supervisor.

The supervisor did nothing for me more than the customer service rep. She looked up my US Air flight that I have returning home and confirmed I was confirmed (duh) and "Is there anything else I can do for you?" I asked if she understood the severity of this situation and she agreed she did. But, there is nothing she can do for me. I asked her who I can talk to to assure me that this isn't normal and perhaps help with retribution for my lost money, reminding her that I have been a loyal passenger since 2004 and had status for many years prior. She said to email the customer complaints department and that is all. I said that I would be reporting this incident to TSA, Consumer Affairs and the Better Business Bureau to which she ok with.

I looked everywhere for a number to contact the complaints department but all that is listed is mail or email.

I'm still appalled that I was "lost" and that our airlines, in a time of heightened security, don't know who is on their plane. I would have hoped that at boarding my ticket wouldn't have scanned or something but it all went through just fine. They call it a "glitch in the system"...I agree, but its also a glitch in their commitment to national security and passenger safety.

Mr. Smisek:

I have been flying with Continental and United since the days before Frank Lorenzo and last Friday at P.B.I. my home based airport I experienced one of the worst that I have ever encountered. I arrived at the ticket counter at 4:05 a.m. to be told that flight 1831 to Houston had cancelled owing to mechanical problems. I was to connect in Houston with a flight to Albuquerque. After much searching they found a flight at 12:15 pm from P.B.I. to Cleveland, Cleveland to Denver with a connection to ABQ arriving there at close to midnight, 2:00 in the morning back home.

After this was sorted out almost an hour later with no offer of even a breakfast voucher, I asked for one which was given with reluctance for $6.00 which would not have even covered Burger King. I ended up using it and putting in $10.00 out of my own pocket. I was then to find out that the pilots for the flight to Cleveland were not going to show up for the flights so I started to panic believing I was not to get to Albuquerque for my work the next morning. I walked from Continental to Delta, back and fourth four times and a very pleasant lady at Delta, Marianne found me seats through Atlanta arriving at ABQ at 7:00 p.m. that evening. I walked back to Continental to be told the computer would not release my booking to Delta. As you know, under circumstances of a customer being stranded by mechanical problems, an airline has to do everything in its power to re-book a passenger, especially an Elite which I am.

I proceeded to walk back to Delta for the fifth time and they could not get it released either so from my cell phone I called the elite desk. They had me on hold, back and forth for almost an hour eventually finding a way to release my itinerary with Continental. I had to walk back to the Continental counter yet again to see if it had been released. I walked back to Delta to be checked in only to discover that Continental still had my luggage. I had to walk back to Continental, I was sent down stairs to the office in baggage claim, waited for someone to find my bag, (35 minutes) then take it myself back to Delta. All of this took me more than two hours and when eventually achieved I was exhausted and I was still on the ground in Palm Beach. Mr. Smisek, I am 62 years old and should never in a million years have had to go through this, it should have all been handled by Continental from the beginning including the transfer of my baggage.

I have spoken with supervisors both at the Elite desk and Dorothy ** in Houston and all I get from them is words, words are cheap. After 750,000 miles with United and close to 600,000 with Continental, a little more should be given in a case like this. I am not happy right now with Continental even though I have several more trips booked with you and I am absolutely adamant that somebody from your office contact me and tell me what they will do for me to appease this. Even the offer of upgrades on my next flights would have made me feel better, but each person including Joe ** the station manager in Palm Beach said they could not do that. What has happened to the customer service of old, especially to your most frequent of flyers?

I look forward to hearing from you or at least someone in high authority to solve this matter and at least make me feel a little better right now toward Continental which I have supported for many years. Incidentally, I have been an Elite member ever since its inception in 1987, one of the originals and that is printed on my elite card, pretty loyal don’t you agree?

I also have another situation to discuss with you, this happened the week before out of Boston to Newark to P.B.I. Again what happened was totally uncalled for and totally unacceptable. Also, my flights I had to take to ABQ from P.B.I. have not been posted to my account, that is another story.

I look forward to your reply,

Frank **

My daughter called me asking me to call to get the information. I called and was on hold for 20 minutes. I then got someone on the phone and explained exactly what I needed. She told me since it was an international flight I had to talk to someone else. She put me on hold and that wait was another hour and 10 minutes before someone got on the phone. I spoke to a man, told him I was a little upset having to wait on the phone so long and hoped he could help me. I explained the situation one again, gave him the confirmation number and he told me that he would have to transfer me yet to another person. In the meantime my daughter was waiting for the counter to open back up again as they had taken over an hour lunch.

My daughter ended up getting to the counter before anyone answered the phone on my side. The person at the counter was no help. My daughter asked, "what will it take to get my daugher on the plane?" Counter person charged her $125 and set her one her way.

I have not heard back since. It is July 6th. I have made several phone attempts. I always get disconnected before I get to speak to a manager or supervisor. So, it goes nowhere. I have made several e-mails, and additional 'refund requests' just to see if somebody at United Airlines will fix this. There was not an authorization for this charge; however, my bank needs a police report to 'fix it on their end'. But, my local police station wishes to call this a 'civil' matter -- meaning, I cannot obtain a police report. So, I am forced to deal 'directly' with United Airlines. As I am trying to fix this matter for myself, I wonder why it's okay for a corporation to make a 'mistake' of this nature and ignore it, while the money earns them interest. If I did that to them, it would be theft. I would go to jail -- and they would recover their money.

For the past decade, I have traveled 25,000-50,000 miles a year for business, with 100% of it out of Newark Airport and 80% on Continental. Since the announcement of the merger with United, I have seen a steady decline in the level of service and "on time performance" of Continental. My most recent business trip to Indianapolis has convinced me that the merger with United is going to destroy the Continental that has served Newark Airport customers so well over the years.

My business trip to Indianapolis required that I leave on Sunday, May 22, and return on Thursday, May 26. Both flights were non-stop ERJ-145, 50-seat jets operated by Continental Express. On both flights I had seat 1A, which is five feet from the cockpit and front door and allowed me to hear all of the conversations between the crew and the ground staff while in Indianapolis and Newark. At no time during the outbound or return flights did a drop of rain fall in either Indianapolis or Newark on Sunday or Thursday. Also, on both flights, the Continental crews were very professional and might as well have been passengers since they were kept in the dark like the 50 other people on the flights.

My outbound flight on Sunday was scheduled to leave Newark at 1:10 pm and arrive in Indianapolis at 3:13 pm. It was a bright, sunny day and boarding started as planned at 12:45 pm. By 1:05 pm, all 50 passengers were on board but there was a problem--no pilot! The gate agent told the co-pilot that they were just notified by "Continental Operations" that the pilot was flying in from Ohio and would not land until 2:30 pm and that the flight would probably not leave until 2:45/3:00 pm. Unfortunately "operations" did not tell the crew what to do with the passengers for the next 90 minutes until the pilot arrived and none of the gate agents wanted to let anyone off since everyone had boarded and all bags were loaded. There was a 15-minute discussion on the consequences of letting passengers off, only to have them not return on time for takeoff, which would require their bags to be found and removed (which would be a "nightmare"). As you might expect, the 50 passengers responded very unhappily (and loudly) when they were told that the flight would not be leaving for another 90 minutes and no one could leave. After the uproar from the passengers, the decision was reversed by the ground crew that passengers could leave only if they "promised to stay in the immediate boarding area."

After the frustrating 60-minute unloading /re-boarding process, we were back on the plane and the pilot arrived around 2:30 pm. We were up in the air at 3 pm and arrived at Indianapolis at 4:26 pm. Our departure from Newark was almost two hours late and our arrival in Indy was two hours late as well. During the flight, I'm sure I wasn't the only passenger thinking the following questions: Why did no one know that the pilot was not only late for the flight; he wasn't even at the airport until everyone had boarded the flight? If the pilot had to fly from Ohio to get to Newark to fly our plane to Indy, obviously "operations" knew about that well before 1 pm. Once "operations" knew that the pilot was going to be 90 minutes late and notified the crew, why did they not also tell the crew what to do with the 50 people already seated inside the plane? Did "operations" really think that 50 people were going to sit in a small plane for 90 minutes waiting for the pilot to arrive from Ohio?

While my trip to Indy got off to an unpleasant start, it pales in comparison to the return flight home on Thursday. Again, not a drop of rain fell in Indy or Newark on Thursday. Again, I was seated in seat 1A and I had a front row seat to the conversations between the pilots and the crew, which did a great job despite being constantly lied to by "operations."

My flight home was scheduled to leave Indy at 5:30 pm and arrive back in Newark at 7:29 pm. The departure screens at baggage check-in and security showed that the flight to Newark was "on time"; however, it was not until we arrived at the departure gate that we found out that the flight was now "on gate hold" and that its departure was now delayed until 6:55 pm because of weather delays "in route" to Newark. I was told by several airport workers that no rain fell at the airport in Indy that afternoon and when I called my wife to tell her about the delay into Newark, she was surprised because "it had been a beautiful day in NJ."

I retreated to a bar near the gate only to find out that it was "standing room only" because Continental had delayed several departing flights "at the last minute" like they did with my flight. After finally getting a seat at the bar, I struck up a conversation with the bartender. She told me that today was no different than any other day because the bar is always full of passengers whose Continental flights were delayed for dubious reasons. She said that while some of the passenger's stories she heard seemed "too horrible to be true", almost every one of them said the same thing at the end of their story: "the merger with United is destroying Continental." Little did I know that I was about to become one of those passenger stories that seems "too horrible to be true."

We all returned to the gate to start boarding at 6:30. After everyone got on board, Continental announced that the "gate hold" was going to be extended for another hour and then they told everyone to get off the plane and come back at 7:30 for re-boarding. Many of us went back to the bar for some dinner and more discussions among the patrons about the obvious decline in the quality of Continental's service.

Back to the gate at 7:30 for re-boarding at 7:45, we left the gate at 8 pm, taxied to the runway and then sat through another 15-minute "ground hold" before finally taking off at 8:25 pm--almost three hours late.

The flight to Newark was uneventful with no turbulence nor delay and we landed at 10:07 pm only to taxi to a "holding area" where we parked and sat. After 10 minutes of silence from the cockpit, the pilot told all of us at 10:21 pm that "there was no gate for us to park at and it would be another 30-45 minutes before a gate became open." Many of the 50 passengers responded in disgust. Wasn't this the reason for the three-hour hold in Indianapolis, so that there would be a gate for us when we landed in Newark? It wasn't until 10:51 pm when we pulled into a gate, three hours and 22 minutes late from our original 7:29 pm arrival.

Looking back at my "round-trip nightmare" to Indianapolis and having a front row seat (1A) on both flights, I believe that there is ample proof that the merger with United is destroying Continental. Just consider the following that occurred on this simple, direct, round-trip flight: 1) While both flights were on "Continental Express", the flights were under the direct control of "Continental Operations." It was obvious to me that the crews on both flights, just like the passengers, were kept in the dark about what was really going on; 2) My flight to Indianapolis left two hours late because Continental Operations notified the crew five minutes before departure (after all the passengers had been boarded) that the pilot was going to be 90 minutes late. Why did Continental Operations wait until the last minute and not tell the crew what to do with the 50 passengers for 90 minutes until the pilot did finally arrive? Did Continental Operations really think that 50 people were going to sit in a small plane for 90 minutes waiting for the pilot to arrive from Ohio?; 3) On my return flight, we waited through three hours of "ground holds" in Indianapolis so that we would have a gate available for us in Newark when we landed, only to have to wait another 45 minutes after we landed for a gate to be available. There was no rain in either Indianapolis or Newark but the flight was a total of three hours late because of "weather in route" that was not encountered "in route" when we finally took off for Newark. Continental Operations was in control of the Continental gates in Newark so why wasn't our gate available when we landed?

From the conversations I overheard between the pilots and the crews on both flights, it seems that many of the changes United is making at Continental are having negative impacts across many areas of Continental's service--from the time it takes to serve food in flight because the passengers have to pay individually for their meals to how crews and pilots are scheduled for work. This later issue seems to be at the heart of the problems I suffered on both of my flights--no pilot for my flight to Indianapolis and then the planes that were stuck at the gates in Newark were stuck because the pilots who were suppose to fly those planes were stuck in the planes that couldn't get to the gates.

It was my impression that Continental is no longer running Continental; United is. United has a well-earned reputation for poor customer service and it appears they are now dragging Continental down to the level of customer abuse that earned United the lowest rating in customer satisfaction for the past two years (http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/Can_t_Get_No_Satisfaction_at_United_Airlines_8805.html). This can be nothing short of disastrous for those of us who use Newark as our primary airport.

After 20 years of enjoyable business and personal travel on Continental, my last six months of traveling on Continental has clearly shown a significant decline in just about every area of their customer service and operational efficiency. If the last six months are any indication of what awaits all of Continental's loyal Newark-based customers, then all I can say is that if we do not put a stop to United's destruction of Continental, then we have no one but ourselves to blame for accepting the horrible service in which United is famous for.

Many of us on the flight agreed that we were all going to write letters to the FAA, our elected officials, and anyone else who can help stop United from destroying Continental. This is my letter and I plan on posting it everywhere I can. I can only hope that this will inspire others to write about their "too horrible to be true" experiences on the "merged" Continental so that our voices will be heard by those who have the ability to stop United from turning Continental into another United.

Please join me in having your story of abuse by Continental/United heard by writing it and posting it everywhere you can. All of us can have an impact and I hope you will lend your voice on this very important issue.

Happy travels everyone (if that is still possible).

This was booked incorrectly and I had to wait an additional 45 minutes for the agent to correct this. I was told my train would arrive at Union Station at 9 p.m. I did not arrive until 9:40. I had to pay for my own transportation back. My flight was scheduled to arrive at 6:30 p.m. I had an event to attend that night at 8:30 p.m. which i was not able to attend being that i did not get home until after 10 p.m. I think this is unacceptable.

The representative rudely said you can go rent a car to drive home or rent a hotel home to get the early flight at 0800 on the 14th of June 2011. They asked will United compensate them by paying the hotel room and they said no because it is their fault for being late. Again, is their team accumulated by brainless high school drop-outs? I'm sorry for being so rude, but obviously I'm very upset. On 13 June 2011, I called customer service to start the refund process and the representative was, well, simply ignorant and rude. I called and he answered: "How may I help you today." I said, "Hi, I need to get a refund for my ticket." He said: "What is your confirmation number?" I replied: "I have two. But the first one is **." He said: "OK, I found your record on file. You need to start the process on your end."

I asked: "What does that mean?" He said, "You need to process the refund on your end, it's very simple." Wow. Is that how you train your personnel? Give incomplete instructions and try to make the customers feel stupid after a long night of dealing with United unprofessional service? I admit I got really mad (can you blame me?) and went off on the guy: "If it was simple, I wouldn't have to ask questions. So obviously it's not simple. What do I have to do to get my refund?” "You have to send an email with the flight information and get your refund." Why couldn't he just said this straight out from the beginning? I asked, "Where would I find this information? To whom would I send the email to?" He said, "To refunds@united.com." I said, "I want to talk to your manager." He ask, "May I ask the reason for getting a manager?" I said in ** attitude and I do apologize, but I was very upset at his attitude, "Because I want to." "Please give me a second to connect you," he said.

Dial tone, dial tone, hangs up. I know that one, two, three ignorant, disrespectful personnel cannot represent the whole company, but I've had a very bad experience. I did not get the proper help to get to my destination or any consolation for my loss and the cause to rent the car to go home. Furthermore, I did not receive the appropriate instructions for my refund when I called. And I'm not even going to start on the accent of the representative. I was born in a different country so I completely understand the language barrier, but man, that guy was hard to understand and the attitude did not help. I am very disappointed in United. I am an Active Navy. I am not currently deployed or in any harm way, but I still cherish every moment that I do have with my family that's miles away. I never know when my number will be called and my life might be sacrificed. All I ask is for United to stop wasting my valuable time and give me the respect I deserve.

I live in Fargo, ND and United is the only airline I can use to fly to RZE, Poland. Until now, United was always very reasonable during any delays or other difficulties. I was promised by United representative refund of $511.60 on May 13, 2010 at 9:24:08pm, but this never was delivered. (United Airlines ref # **). I was also promised refund of all the costs related to alternative transportation to Rzeszow, Poland from Frankfurt, Germany. United ticket number **. On my part, I was always very kind and cooperative with United representatives. This time my experience is very negative and very uncaring from United Air. I kindly ask you to assist me in this situation. I would like to submit the complete documentation that I already sent to United Airlines in May 2010.

I followed this up with calls to the Elite desk and they lied and told me the 9 seats were paid for! My husband and I are both Elite members, so we know what the First Class upgrade list is used for - free upgrades. Why do they have first class upgrades to purchase for your flight if they just ignore them? Continental has always had terrible customer service, but since this merger with United, they have taken on the worst customer service ever. I hope that this doesn't happen to someone else, it's appalling!

I contact United Airlines at 800-864-8331 and at first, it is confirmed that yes, I have economy plus seating. When I point out that I have received an email offering an upgrade to economy plus seating, which is clearly an error and it's a good thing that I remembered that I've already purchased and been charged for the upgrade, otherwise, it's possible I would pay twice for an upgrade, I'm told, "Oh wait, no you don't have economy plus seating because the flight numbers have changed. You will have to pay for the economy plus seating again and then send a letter (snail mail) to receive the refund."

Now, I'm very confused. Do I have economy plus seating or not? Why in the world would that change just because the flight number changed? Why in the world would I have to purchase the upgrade again? Why in the world would it be my responsibility to request a refund and by snail mail no less? I asked to speak to a supervisor and was put on hold for over 30 minutes (I'm so glad phones keep track of time spent on each call). I have to point out that their "on-hold music", which I've been listening to for over 30 minutes, is awful. It's Rhapsody in Blue in such poor quality that I wonder if they know what an electronic audio file is. It sounds like a cassette recording of an old vinyl record.

Finally, the same gentleman came back on the line and told me that he couldn't transfer me to a supervisor because they are so busy taking other passenger complaints, so he walked over to his supervisor personally. He informed me that I have been upgraded to economy plus seating on the flight, that there will be no additional charge, and I will not have to send a letter requesting a refund. I requested that he send me an email confirming that I do in fact have economy plus seating on the flight.

This entire experience has led me to wonder is this is just a bug in their software (don't get me started on how poor their entire website is) and that I should never have been offered an upgrade in the confirmation email in the first place.

She was sent from one end of the terminal to the other, trying to make her next flight. She asked for help to get to her terminal faster. No one responded. She had signed up for cellphone alert, but wasn't called or paged for the flight. She called me from the gate, distraught and crying. She had missed the plane. I couldn't understand her and asked to speak to the airline person who was standing next to her. He couldn't/wouldn't talk to me.

When I called Continental, after 9 pm on a Tuesday, I was on hold for 40 minutes. At that time, I had hoped they could send someone to be with our student and offer some comfort since she had to wait overnight for the next flight. I spoke to an employee, suggesting that a distressed teenage girl could have been treated with more courtesy and compassion. I was told that they were short-staffed. I suggested that the information she got on arrival from the greeter was inaccurate. I was told that the airline does not have an aide for each passenger. I asked why she hadn't been paged. I was told that it wasn't policy. I said she had signed up for cellphone alert and was told that it didn't apply in this situation.

I said that I had wanted to speak to the employee next to our student because I couldn't understand her through her tears. I was told that the employee had 60 some other passengers to attend to (this was the last flight of the day, there were no other passengers). I was told that it was policy. I wasn't looking for excuses when I called. I just wanted to lodge my complaint, have someone listen as I express regrets. My main complaint was that this clearly distressed teen was not treated with compassion and kindness. After listening to the excuses I got on the phone, I have no doubt that she also was given excuses and brushed off. Kindness is free. I won't fly with an airline that can't even afford to offer that!

It is apparent that CA does not honor its contract of travel at its own discretion. In 38 years of flying, I have never experienced any more deceptive company than this one. Be wary that anyone can reduce their price to fill seats on an airline but you really do get what you pay for. Cheaper rates will get you cheaper customer service and possibly broken promises. I fly Air Tran from now on. They back up what they advertise.

Well, we get to the airport, and low and behold, you will not have flights leaving Hobbs, NM until July of this year. Okay, well that would have been fine if we had been contacted and were able to make the necessary changes so we could still have our spring break vacation. So, I call your 800 number and the first girl I speak to can still see our flight on her screen and doesn't understand what the problem is. I explain to her that there are no planes here. I hang up on her and speak to another girl. She begins to look for another flight for us. She wants us to drive 5 hours away so that we can take a different flight. That is not happening. So, I ask to speak to her supervisor. She says I am the supervisor. I tell her I want to talk to your boss.

Finally, I get Don on the phone who tells me that they don't compensate reschedules, so there is no plane here for me to take and I am considered a reschedule? He explains that we were sent an email in December. I would think you should be able to pull up this email but I can send it to you. It states nothing about there being no flights out of Hobbs. There is still a departure time, flight number, etc. out of Hobbs. The changes the email is referring to are actually highlighted in red and have nothing to do with no flights out of Hobbs! So, out of this, I get refunded my money and $50.00 per ticket in vouchers.

Wow $50.00 in vouchers? Really? Your company overbooks on holidays and offers $200.00 or more in vouchers, plus dinner, plus a later flight, and I get $50.00 for not being able to take our vacation that has been planned since November! Does that make any sense? So, I call again and speak to a lady and tell her I do not feel I am being treated fairly in this deal. She explains that a person who is sold an overbooked flight deserves more because theirs is a worse situation. I fail to follow that reasoning at all.

She also explains that it is our fault for not calling when we got the email. I have never called on these emails. I have never encountered there not being a plane at the airport when I got there. If you had maybe put 0s in the take-off time or showed a not available under the departure city or anything that would imply that there are no flights out of Hobbs, then yes, we would have corrected it. However, your email failed to do this.

In conclusion, your company sold us worthless tickets that we based a family trip around. Your company feels that $50.00 is compensation enough for my children getting to the airport and not getting to go anywhere. At the very least, I would think we could be compensated what a person who is on an overbooked flight receives. Also, if you have more people booked out of Hobbs that you sent this worthless email to and expect them to realize there are no planes, you may want to check and make sure that they have rescheduled because it is a fail automated message.

After my husband was finally discharged from the hospital, I had to get us on a flight back home. He originally flew in with Continental and said that his flight was horrible and that the flight attendants were mean and rude to him. However, he had already purchased a ticket through Continental to return, so instead of losing money, we decided to fly back with Continental. (Why did we do that?) We had a connecting flight from Las Vegas to Houston, flight number 1776 at 7:05 PM and the minute that we stepped on the plane to Philadelphia from Houston, this mean, round flight attendant with a bob-styled haircut attacked us. First she very rudely asked us how we knew that there would be room on the plane for our carry on. We were so stunned because we had no idea what she was talking about. The flight attendant that stood right outside of the plane was collecting rolling backs but we had a flat suit/dress bag for our carry-on and she said that we could take it on. Well the round flight attendant was very rude to us about it as if we knew there would not be enough room in the upper storage bin for our bag and the catcher was that there was enough room.

Secondly, my husband did not remember to turn his phone off while we were still in the airport, so when he remembered, before the flight took off and only seconds after the announcements, he pulled out his phone to turn it off and here come Miss Meany again and yelled and I quote "Turn your phone off." My husband very surprised at the way she spoke to him and just simply said that, "That is what I am doing." Well then she yelled, "That was five minutes ago. Turn it off." Then she left and came back and said that she told the captain and was the phone already off and he said yes and she yelled good. We did not deserve to be spoken to in that manner and there were witnesses around that observed her behavior and agreed that it was totally inappropriate.

Flying is not easy for many of us and this particular flight was not for fun. I had to fly from coast to coast to pick up my husband from the hospital. He was not discharged for 24 hours before we got on that flight and that was the treatment that he received. I really hope that Continental Airlines notes my complaint and finds out who this employee is and fires her. Continental should be aware that this is the way that she is treating their customers and I know in these hard economic time, no one can afford to lose business but this young lady has definitely lost us and we will NEVER, EVER EVER, EVER fly Continental/United Airlines again for as long as we live!

On February 10, while boarding our flight at SFO, we are forced to check-in our carry-on bags at the gate (note that the carry-on dimensions were as per United's contract of carriage and not oversized or overweight). The gate staff claims it was a full flight so there is not enough space to take everyone's carry-on bags. We are given baggage claim tags up to Rome (breach of contract of carriage by United Airlines).

The United Airlines luggage handler immediately walks away with our carry-on bags without giving any opportunity to repack valuables. Flight is delayed for over 1 hour after boarding all passengers and we are stuck sitting on the plane at the terminal gate. The pilot announces that there are mechanical issues (gross inefficiency shown by United Airlines). While boarding the connecting flight at Washington Dulles, we are assured by the United staff at the gate that our forced gate checked carry-on bags will make it to this flight and will be in Rome when we land. We reach Rome on February 11 at 7.45 am but our forced gate checked carry-on bags do not reach Rome, the final destination (gross incompetence on part of United Airlines).

We immediately file delayed luggage report with the United Airlines Handling Agent at the Lost and Found Baggage desk at the Rome airport and by calling United Airlines. We leave for Venice that day as part of our pre-booked train trip and are assured by United Customer service that our forced gate checked carry-on bags, once found, will be sent to the hotel address in Venice. The United Airlines Handling Agent at the Lost and Found Baggage desk at Rome reiterates that it is solely the responsibility of United Airlines to deliver our bags to us and they (the agent) are not in any way responsible. They will only file the report but we are asked to follow up on the status by calling United Airlines at the 800 number (irresponsible agents used by United Airlines).

United Airlines claims on their website that they will deliver delayed luggage within 24 hours, but in our case, even after 24 hours, United Airlines could not give us a confirmation of where our luggage is and when we can get it. When we called their customer service for status, we are advised to have some patience as they will let us know when they can find out. We get a follow up call on the night of February 12, and are asked to travel to Venice Airport on the mainland (1.5 hours each way from Venice hotel) on February 13 after 9 am to pick up the forced gate checked carry-on bags. With the forced gate checked carry-on bags being our only luggage, we do not have any clothes or personal items for over 48 hours, and that too, after a 15 hour long flight.

Once we get our bags on February 13 from the Lost and Found desk at the Venice airport, we see that our TSA approved locks on both the forced gate checked carry-on bags are broken with one tampered lock hanging from my husband's bag. The lap is stolen from my husband's forced gate checked carry-on and jewelry is stolen from my forced gate checked carry-on. We immediately report this to the person at the Lost and Found desk in Venice but she refuses to assist us in any way, claiming that this is solely the responsibility of United Airlines and all reports should be filed with United by calling their 800 number. Venice airport Lost and Found have nothing to do with our luggage (refuses to even give a contact name and phone number at their agency). They are very irresponsible agents used by United Airlines

Thoroughly victimized, we go the police station at the Venice airport and file a report of the stolen items from United Airlines forced gate checked carry-on bags. We immediately call United customer service on February 13 to report this incident of stolen items from our forced gate checked carry-on bags. We are asked to follow up with a written claim which we have done and are waiting to hear back from United Airlines

Had United not forced us to check in our carry-ons and immediately let us walk away with those while we were boarding the flight, we would not have been a victim of theft during our travel to Rome from the USA. United Airlines has demonstrated vast incompetence, negligence, bad customer service, irresponsibility, and possibly breach of contract of carriage and criminal actions during our entire incident (forced gate checked carry-on, delayed flight, lost luggage, luggage delayed over 48 hours, items stolen from luggage). Our so longed for and costly vacation to Italy was significantly ruined, and with a stolen laptop, we completely lost all our sensitive data and are dangerously exposed to identity theft. Our vacation time was thereafter spent on trying to contact various financial institutions and credit bureaus to safeguard our identities.

Over the course of a year, I was in contact with Ms. ** at Continental Airlines. I provided advertising and seminar invoices for the missed seminar, a copy of the seminar advertising, and Continental Airline's confirmation with the incorrect arrival date. Because one of my colleagues was a frequent international business traveler with Continental Airlines, I assumed Continental Airlines would want to keep a valued costumer. I provided Ms. ** with his Continental Airlines One Pass Gold Elite number as well elite numbers for other airlines that he would have used when flying Continental. I indicated that in the last year (at the time of the complaint) he flew to India 6 times (4 of the flights were on Continental). He also made numerous trips to Central America, a large portion of the flights were on Continental in Business Class.

Several times over the course of the year I requested the free tickets as a consideration of the financial losses. They were offered travel certificates for $500.00 each or 30,000 bonus One Pass miles if they signed an indemnity release. They did not agree to these terms. My last communication with Ms. ** was May 14, 2009 after my colleagues refused to sign the indemnity release.

After 30 long minutes of her attempting to reach a supervisor, she stated that my flight did not allow in-cabin pets. I told her that was incorrect as I had verified all this information prior to booking my flight otherwise I would not have flown with Continental in the first place as I had to travel with my pet. I asked her if I may speak to a supervisor. She then reached for the telephone, a second time to call the supervisor to confirm. She was very confused about Continental's pet policy. Because right afterwards, she asked if I had my credit card ready to pay for my pet. I gave her my Visa card and she charged me $125 and gave me the receipt. And after she gave my ticket, she again started saying that she was not certain that she applied the charges correctly and had to confirm with her supervisor.

After waiting another 15 minutes, my mother asked if someone would be able to assist us soon. She said she was still trying to get a hold of someone. After a few more minutes of silence and waiting, my mother again asked Helen if she was trying to get someone out here, and she irritably stated, "I am trying to get a hold of him Ma'am - I am not going to be talking to you any longer, you can speak to him, he is on his way”, and she walked away from us, just left the counter! I could not believe the rudeness of this woman until the supervisor arrived. His name is Jose **. He seemed very busy and did not even acknowledge us. Helen spoke to him privately to the side, as to where we could not hear their discussion. After speaking to her, he approached my mother and me, and asked us what the issue was. We explained everything and that Helen had already charged me a pet fee. He was very obnoxious and rude and informed me that we would just have to wait until he verified the policy. Being very frustrated at this point, I wanted to speak to someone else - as I was assured by Continental prior that my pet was allowed in cabin for the rate of $125/each way. Not to mention, I was about to miss my flight.

By now it was almost 5pm and my mother was also concerned that I may miss my flight so she asked Jose if he was going to get someone else on the floor that we can speak to as I was going to miss my flight - he yelled stating, "Do not bark! Do you want to get on this flight or not!?" My mother felt extremely threatened by him and even asked him, "Are you trying to threaten me?". And he again yelled at her in front of many other passengers. I could not believe he was speaking to us this way. He then screamed, "This is why you people should come earlier!". I was very appalled by his rudeness and could not believe my ears as he was referring to our nationality, being of Indian origin. I have never been treated so poorly by a "customer service" agent and supervisor. Due to these erratic behavior and confusion, my flight was almost missed and I was forced to leave my dog with my mother in New Jersey. My mother and I have suffered quite a bit from this experience. Also, as I checked my bank account for the pet fee refund since I did not get to bring him, I discovered Helen had swiped my card twice and I was charged twice to my bank account totaling the amount of $250 which at that specific time caused an undue hardship. Currently my pet is still in New Jersey and I am in California.

I have already forwarded this complaint to the various Airline Consumer Tribunals around the world. At this stage, for me, Continental is an airline which harassed me, gave me discriminatory treatment and did not follow Visa regulations as applicable for Australian Passport Holders. I fear vindictive behavior again on my next flight. If I could, I will ring your CEO and repeat my experience to him.

I had accumulated the miles in the 80's and 90's. I decided to allow the miles to sit in the account until I needed them for a big trip. Such a trip was coming up for my planned wedding anniversary. When I went to retrieve the miles, I was informed that my account was at 0 miles. I protested, but their customer service people told me that they "could not restore miles." I even offered to give up all the miles in exchange for two round-trip passes, but they declined.

When I asked why I wasn't informed of this change in policy, they told me it was on their website. Apparently, among my other jobs in life, I am required to follow their website.

This represents outright theft. In checking online, I have found many other people who have suffered the same fate and have an interest in a class action suit. Please lodge this complaint.

The customer service problem began here in Denver. Because he is in active duty military, he doesn't have to pay for baggage. We get up to the counter, and asked three different people to help him get his bag checked. We watched them walk away and do other things while we stood there for 30 minutes. He almost missed his original flight because of them. When he got to Houston, they informed him that they overbooked his flight--too bad.

After my son repeatedly explained the urgency of him getting back to the base on time, they told him the "best" that they could do was get him into Charlotte instead of Raleigh at 10:50AM the next morning. He would then have to find a way to get to Raleigh (two hours away) to get his luggage and then back to the base (another two hours). They left him standing there for more than an hour.

I called Continental myself, sat on hold for 48 minutes before I was able to speak to anyone. The first person I spoke with was rude and interrupted me repeatedly. She informed me, "We always overbook, that's just how it is." I even explained that not getting back to the base to check in on time could land him in military jail. But it didn't concern her one bit. She actually told me that my son was a grown man and I didn't have any business calling her. She wasn't going to tell me anything. I just about blew a gasket!

I paid for this ticket, he is my son, who did she think she was? I asked repeatedly to speak to a manager, and she told me repeatedly that I didn't need to speak to a manager. Finally, after several minutes, she put me through to a manager. I sat on hold for another 23 minutes. When I spoke to the manager, she told me that there was nothing she could do about it. I requested a refund, and she told me that my son was given a voucher!

First, as if we ever want to fly with Continental again. Second, what good does that do in helping him cover for the hotel, cab, etc. to get from Charlotte to Raleigh? I have never felt more let down in my life by a company. We didn't even get a "we know we messed up," "apology," "let me see what we can do to help you get from Charlotte to Raleigh," "here are some options"--nothing! They could not care less.

Here it is, 2:30 the next day (02 Jan 11), and my son is still not back to the base. Currently, he is trying to get from Charlotte, where they dumped him to Raleigh to get his luggage, and then back to the base. To say that I am disappointed in Continental is a gross understatement! When I requested a refund for the ticket, she told me that I would have to call back another time. She couldn't refund anything right then. Unbelievable! It is so comforting to know that this is how Continental treats our military and their families.

After another hour of discussion, we were transferred to a supervisor who insisted that Continental "did not" wave this additional fee—even in the event that they had overbooked the seat and the passenger had followed all the proper procedures to check in to his/her flight. I say "did not" because I explicitly asked if they were unable to do so and she replied repeatedly that they "do not" (never did she say cannot even when pressed) wave those fees even in a case of obvious overbooking.

After that, we ended up just paying the extra fee to ensure that we could fly home. We feel that this practice amounts to extortion as there was no other option for us to pursue other than paying this last minute bait and switch fee. She could not even guarantee to us that the rest of the seats on the flight were actually booked and full rather than just being held by the computer system. This whole experience makes me wonder if this practice of forcing someone who has already paid for a ticket to pay an additional fee in order to fly home is legal. How can that be possible?

As a consequence of this completely unreasonable and seemingly illegal policy, we have now had to pay an additional $59 just to take a flight for which we already paid. Additionally, according to the customer service representative to whom we spoke, there were 11 other people in the exact same position. That means that Continental likely received an additional $649 as a direct result of this policy. That is just for one flight. We also spent three hours, including driving to the airport to try to resolve the issue in person on our last night of vacation in an attempt to get this situation remedied. This is completely unacceptable.

We are not the only people who they have done this to. They will make thousands and thousand of dollars on this racket of poor weather conditions. I am hoping a class action lawsuit takes place against them asap! We spoke to five tickets reps. At the same time, all different phone lines and got five different stories. Allowing all seats on flights over the next three days to be filled. Also, part of the game they are playing.

As a result of this, I missed my connection to Lisbon, though there was no weather emergency to justify this. At Newark, there was no company representative as promised in flight. Continental representatives at the gate refused to help me in any way. I then stood in line for an hour and a half at Continental's Customer Service, but the counter promptly closed at 10:00PM, leaving a long line of customers stranded.

Moving to another Customer Service center, I had to stand in line for another three hours to speak with a Continental representative. This representative named Daniel was so rude that I asked for his name but he just walked off leaving me stranded. When I eventually got to speak with another representative, I was told that there would be no seat to Lisbon available until Saturday, December 25. When I said that I could not wait five days in Newark airport and asked to be taken back to Syracuse, where I should never have been boarded at such a late stage, I was told that this flight would replace the transatlantic flight!

When I insisted this could not be the case, I was re-booked from Newark to Lisbon for December 25 but told that I would have to buy my own flight from Syracuse to Newark. This is absolutely outrageous and I really feel that I should be compensated, given the extreme inconvenience, the loss of six days from my trip to Portugal, the ruining of my Christmas with my fiance and the rudeness and incompetence of Continental's ill-trained Customer Service representatives. I spent the night without any services at Newark airport. I returned to Ithaca absolutely shaken by this appalling experience.

Continental's Customer Service at Newark was an utter fiasco. If it had happened in Europe, they would be facing massive fines for their neglect and incompetence. With many others, I queued for five hours to see a customer service representative. Customer Service staff cynically closed service centers even though long lines still needed attention. The one center that remained open had only two representatives. The company was responsible for ruining many, many people's holidays. I lost six days from my scheduled trip, I missed my Christmas with my fiance and her family, I had to spend an entire night in Newark airport without any services and I have been compelled to spend an additional $334.70 just to get back to Newark again. Yet Continental refuses to accept any responsibility.

Expedia have been little better in the customer assistance they have offered. There has been a complete failure to convey the proper message to Continental. I will not make any more bookings through the company. This is the second trip booked through Expedia since the middle of November that has stranded me and caused me incalculable inconvenience and distress. I am at a loss to understand what service it is that Expedia actually provides.

Before the flight departed, I called Continental reservations to notify them of our problem and desire to still travel to MCI. The service representative found a flight for the next day stating that the fare difference would be over $400 (I don't remember the exact amount) and $150 for the change fee (although your Web site says the change fees are $50). Since the representative was not very helpful and did not provide other alternatives, I begrudgingly agreed to the charge, which I assumed would be close to $600 total based upon what the representative quoted me.

Much to our shock and surprise, we later discovered after we took the rescheduled flight that the representative overcharged us. It looks more like the figure he quoted me was for each member of our family versus the total charge for the reservation. At no time did the representative said that this quote was anything other than a total figure, and at no time did the representative ask for verbal confirmation from me to charge me this grand total.

Given the time of year, Continental has gouged my family for money we could not afford to spend and ruined our Christmas plans. If the representative had been upfront and truthful about the charges and requested expressed permission to charge my debit card for that amount, I would have declined and instead canceled our holiday trip to see my family.

Based on the events stated above, I demand a refund of all but the amount I approved (this can be verified from the tape recording of the conversation) or else, we will stop payment via our credit card and demand that they investigate your company's unethical practices. Our record locator with original cost $828, quoted change cost around $550, actual change cost $1,657.50 for a total of $2,464.50 round trip to Missouri from Philly! Furthermore, we never received a confirmation email of the changes as promised by the representative so we only found out via our bank account days after when the charge appeared. Please call me as soon as possible to resolve the issue or I will contact the bank as this is fraud.

After six hours of delay due to "engine troubles," they were ready to take off. Unfortunately, by that time, a storm pulled in and the Heathrow airport, closed its services and grounded all the flights! Now, I realized that these things happen. What I don't understand is that my sister had to and still has to sleep at the airport because United has no customer service. She was not helped by anyone and the passengers were told to "go online and find their own flights."

There were no United Agents available to assist. In fact, as I just recently found out today, they left at 4pm and let Lufthansa and Virgin agents to sort out the mess. Passengers were given no option to sleep at a hotel, no options to re-book flights and no money to buy food and other necessary supplies! Now, I don't know about you, but this is absolutely unacceptable!

We pay around $1000 for a flight, if not more, and get treated as such? It is also well known that London Heathrow as well as Charles de Gaulle airports are the worst European Airports to fly in and out of but that does not excuse their inability to deal with situations as such. I just got off the phone with my sister yet again (and mind you she is calling from her Austrian cell phone to the United States. Imagine the costs of that.) and there are absolutely no flight options with United until the 23rd of December (and mind you the weather report is predicting another storm on that day). Passenger relatives are booking flights for their stranded family members and are paying for another ticket! Now, I would like to know what it is that you expect your customers to do in a situation as such? Thank you very much for your response and further assistance.

How on earth will I know about that I have to be at the gate 10 minutes before flight time otherwise gate will close? And a guy sitting at customer service counter told me that 6:58 AM flight time is the time plane is supposed to take off from runway, not the time for place to leave the gate. Upon my request, the customer service at UA counter put me in waiting line for next flight which was scheduled at 10:58 AM.

I was in waiting number 4, and I requested Ms. Alandria T Webster, customer service supervisor, to prioritize me in waiting list if possible. She categorically said "no". I asked her to write that on a paper which she obliged. My credit card was charged $50 to put me in the waiting of next flight. But the seat could not be confirmed in next flight as that was completely booked and all passengers showed up. So only option was to fly next day. So I made the booking for next day, and I was told that there would not be an extra charge, and that $50 charged on my card wouldn't take effect as my seat wasn't confirmed. But that charge has shown up on my credit card bill.

So I waited three months, and then resubmitted everything again with an original letter from the physician. Still, nothing. I called again, three months after that, and was still told that there is no phone contact with anyone from the refunds department. The operator suggested that I fax my request, instead, which I did. He told me I would receive a response within 5 to 7 days. It is now 10 days after my third submission for a refund of the change fees, and I have yet to hear one thing from United.

Since I had suffered a severe fall the previous day, we were anxious to get home and we decided to continue with carrying the bags on. Less than 5 minutes later Ms. ** singled us out of the crowd and told us we had to check our bags. It was obvious that she focused on us because we are older and she figured she could push us around.

We told her what the supervisor had said and she said "that was 5 minutes ago" and if we didn't check the bags she would throw us off the plane. We started to let her check them and then I took out a pen to write down her name. I told her I was going to complain to Continental about her and she told me I was now off the plane!

She walked back to a computer terminal, apparently to effect her decree (which shows how unimportant checking bags really was). My husband spoke with the supervisor while Ms. ** was working at the terminal. She said that we would not be off the plane and that we could carry on our bags, but we were both really shaken by the experience. Both my husband and I are retired attorneys and we know our rights. We will be filing complaints with all the proper authorities.

A few years ago, I had accepted an offer of a United Airlines Mileage Plus Chase Credit card. It was free for a certain period. When the time came to assess a yearly fee, I was told I could change to a different type of account with fewer perks, but still linked to my Mileage Plus account. So, when I needed activity in my account in September, I considered donating miles, but I checked with Mileage Plus, and was told that using my credit card for a purchase would count as activity. So I used it and figured I'd done what I needed to keep my miles. In November, I found all my miles had disappeared. After half a dozen phone calls to Chase and Mileage Plus, and about 2 hours on the telephone, I learned that this credit card is not linked to my Mileage Plus account, and that all 49,000 miles have been lost.

Yet, on the same day, some Mileage Plus agents I spoke with, told me the Chase card was linked to my Mileage Plus account, and that using it should have counted as activity to keep my miles. I don't know whose mistakes or misunderstanding this is. I know I did what I was told. I needed to do to keep my miles from expiring. I know it is not my fault, if I was given wrong information. I should not be penalized because someone else made a mistake. United Airlines should have to stand behind the information given by their agents.I am requesting that my miles be reinstated for a limited time, perhaps as little as two or three months. During that time, I will be sure to have activity on my account. I have lost nearly 50,000 miles, the equivalent of 2 RT continental flights, or an international flight, probably $600-$1000.

I chose to stay at the airport for the night (as did about a dozen other passengers) as I didn't have money for a hotel. I learned from another passenger the next day that her hotel cost her $80 (the discount rate). There were mothers with toddlers and infants; there were senior citizens who were confused and scared about what they should do and where their luggage was. I witnessed the "so-called" customer service people either ignore them or tell them there was nothing they could do. It was unbelievable to me, the lack of concern that was shown to all the passengers who were left stranded and on their own—literally. Shame on United Airlines!

I stayed in a hotel in New Jersey for 3 nights, causing severe inconvenience. I went to the Consul General on Monday morning. They were shocked that I've been treated like this. I was right, I was told by the Consul General that I do not need a visa, the airline staff made a mistake. Continental, please respond to me, why I was treated like this! The supervisor was rude and shouted at me a couple of times, threatening me.

I would like:

c) the concerned supervisor and staff reprimanded.

Please understand this treatment has caused me and my business severe loss. My itinerary reference is 6PP136. My name is Pankaj **.

As I start walking towards the plane, I looked at my seat and it was 37A! What?! That nasty person gave me a seat on the last roll of the plane! It was so noisy that my ears were hurting me an hour after the plane landed. I told my story to the agent at the destination airport. All she said was that she cannot take responsibility about other agent’s action. Well for God’s sake, at least give me an upgraded seat or something. I'm never using this crappy airline again!

Despite contacting UA by phone and email through the appropriate channels, I never got my glasses back and never got an explanation or apology, except a form email saying they weren't responsible. I subsequently lodged a complain with untied.com. Moral of story: If you're a kind person who finds items left behind on a flight that have ID on them, don't hand them over to UA, or if you do, forward the UA staff person's name to the person who lost the item.

I called their 800 number and was informed that I have about 2 weeks to make a trip back to the airport with the wheelchair to have it evaluated. It would cost me about as much in gas to make that trip as it would to have a welding shop fix the piece for me. If only someone had told me to stop at the baggage department when we were there to file a claim! This is inexcusable. The flight itself was wonderful. The staff was friendly and one particular steward went out of his way to make us comfortable. Too bad all of the employees were not trained as well.

We were on our way home to Kenai, AK from Lihue, HI. We arrived at the airport almost an hour and a half ahead of time. The flight to San Francisco just said "delayed". When we asked, no one at United could say for how long or why the flight was delayed. We were not too concerned, as it was a through flight to Seattle and we were assured we would get to Seattle on time. Two hours later, the plane arrived. No explanation was given as to why it was late.

After we had boarded and the door closed, they announced that the flight number had changed and it was now Flight 41, going on to Chicago and not Seattle! We were going to miss our connection in Seattle to Alaska Airlines, by arriving two hours late in SFO! When we arrived in SFO, we were told to just "go to customer service." I am a heart patient and have a spinal injury as well. I had asked for a wheelchair. I was told it was "too late" to get a wheelchair and I would just have to walk. My husband said that I could not walk that distance, but they were unconcerned, shut down, and walked off. I limped to customer service in agonizing pain and out of breath.

We were given a hotel voucher and meal ticket for airport use. However, nothing was open at 1 AM! We made it to the shuttle bus area and waited half an hour for a shuttle. Once at the hotel, we were told there was a $40 charge for "incidentals" that the airline did not cover. I asked how many "incidentals" could I use in 3 hours?

Three hours later, we had to be back to check in for our flight. We arrived at the ticket counter and were told that they couldn't check us in because we were "reissues" and the computer wouldn't "let them" check us in yet. I started to wheeze and the ticket agent told me to "go stand over in the corner", as I was scaring the other passengers! Also, the carry-on that we had carried all the way from Anchorage to Lihue, and back to SFO, suddenly "grew" too big to fit in the overhead. The agent rudely told my husband that he had to pay $25 or the bag would be confiscated and disposed of! My husband said that Lihue had no problem with it, as did USAirways and that United had caused this problem in the first place.

No good, we had to pay for the now "oversized" bag. I explained that my medication was in that bag and I needed the bag to be with me. Plus, I saw much larger bags with other passengers. I know he only did it to be arbitrary, because he did not know how to reissue our tickets. We asked for a supervisor, but were told "none were available." Again, we asked for a wheelchair. They were "being used" by other passengers. Again, I was forced to walk almost half a mile to the gate, and almost passed out twice.When we finally got to Seattle, we discovered United had never even contacted them about the missed connection! Thank heavens, Alaska Airlines is a lot more considerate, as they re-booked us on an earlier flight and contacted ERA Aviation about our flight to Kenai, AK.

I am not a stupid flier. I worked for USAirways and I know the rules very well. I would have been fired for this! I am glad the merger between USAirways and United never happened! Too bad Continental had to suck up this lemon airlines.

To my dismay when I arrived on the plane, we indeed needed an adaptor. The crew explained that the explanation on the Continental airlines site was wrong but unfortunately, I would need to buy an adaptor as they couldn't provide one for me on Business Class. The price was over 100 US$! I explained that it wasn't my fault that the explanation was incorrect on their site and I didn't want to purchase one as I already had one.

I absolutely needed to work on my presentation and that's the reason why my company had paid for my business class ticket. There was no way and after arguing I finally had no choice but to pay for the adaptor. Incredible! I will never fly them again. You would imagine that someone would do the maths. Loose a business class customer (a few thousands dollars) or fork out 125 US$! Someone clearly can't add up!

When I arrived at the airport in Peru with my fiance for the return flight 591 on October 11 at 11:45 PM, I was informed that there was not a reservation for my fiance. I was told that her reservation had been cancelled. I was upset with this as I had paid $2,500 for the round trip tickets. I was informed that because she had not flown out on the 8th, that her return ticket was cancelled and there was no refund available.

I was not notified at all of this decision. They did not bother to even inform me by phone or Internet. I also had purchased insurance but was told by the attendants (2) in Peru and by calling Continental Airlines that this was their final decision. Too bad. This is the way the airlines do business. I was then told that I could only purchase a first class ticket for $2,700 but then told that I could get another round trip ticket for $2,130.50. I was told that there was nothing available in coach and it did not matter if I had a reservation. The airlines had cancelled without my permission and there would be no discounts. The ironic thing is there was a vacant seat right next to me in coach on the return flight.

The staff were not helpful and were very rude in handling my problem. The staff going through security were very rude as well. I have decided that it is worth paying a little more to fly with a different airlines in the future, especially on trips to Peru as Continental is not consumer-friendly and are big enough that they do not care about the service they provide to their passengers. They can do what they want once they have your money. I will not be flying Continental in the future if I have any other choices.

I had shipped a dog in the past but that does not compare to traveling with a 4-month old puppy. Or so I am finding out. I was told that I would need a special travel bag and I would need to notify Continental 72 hours in advance that I was traveling with my puppy period. This was explained to me by two of your employees. I expect that if I am calling to ask that I am told what I should expect. I think that is reasonable. When I got to the airport the counter representative informed me that I would have to pay a $125.00 fee to have the puppy on board with me. I quickly called customer service and honestly had very less than desirable results. And frankly that is being very generous with my overview. I was told that's the way it is; so naturally I asked to speak to a supervisor.

She was from the start very aggressive with me. She not only was speaking with words I did not understand and I happen to have graduated college with a 4.0 GPA. She continued with her aggressive and blatantly unprofessional service to me. The story of why I was not informed was changed from an airport rule to a United Airlines rule (I do not know why) and finally to a Continental rule.

I then asked her again if there was someone I could talk to and she finally told me that I could speak to a supervisor by asking the personnel at the gate in the secure area to speak to a supervisor. I spoke to him and while he was much more professional and not hostile to me as was the previous supervisor, he told me all I could do is write to Continental. I do not expect to be treated with hostility in the first place nor do I think that it should be held accountable for your representatives not informing me about the additional fees, particularly since I intentionally called on a fact finding mission and asked about the complete process and, therefore, I was confident I was informed of the complete process. I would not have a reason to doubt what I was told by your company.

Whether your staff is not trained on explaining the process or your company is responsible for making sure that we know as consumers what we can expect. Then I was treated with such hostility, which I would think your organization should govern itself accordingly at this point in time. I am not going to stand for that and will pursue both of these matters all the way up to your corporate ladder if that is what I need to do. Everyone in my organization will learn about my experience with Continental. I also plan on posting this information on a highly visible and frequently visited website because, frankly, I am very hurt by this. At this time I think it is more than reasonable that I get answers and retribution from Continental on the cost of the charges for the dog. Never mind how I was treated with hostility.

I did not come prepared for my trip with that money and now I am scrambling to find where I am going to raise the extra cash. Perhaps I can go without eating for 10 days. I am at a loss for what to do. They have yet to do anything about it. I am broke and out of the State!

Woman next to me had a dog under the seat. Didn't realize until we took off in which the dog didn't stop barking for 6 hours, non stop. No, this was not a dog for any type of disability, for that I'd be sympathetic and wouldn't complain. When I called Continental to complain, it was like I was a bad person. I am not an animal hater. I have had and currently own pets. However, I wouldn't be so rude as to take my pet across the country on a plane without sedating. And, no, this is not the same as a crying baby as I have a child as well. And, there was no where to move since every flight is always booked solid or overbooked. So, would it be okay for me to play a movie without headphones on level 10.

Or maybe blast music for every row to hear? Or, maybe every hour set my alarm to get up and scream? I couldn't sleep, I couldn't concentrate to read, even with bose soundless headphones. I just was fuming for 6 hours. Continental, shame on you for allowing this to happen and doing nothing! I am a frequent flier, this is no way to treat your elite fliers.

Jeffrey A **, you are the President and CEO of Continental. How about you sitting in coach on a coast to coast flight and listening to dog barking. Would that fly for you? Maybe then you would change your policies.

The representative I talked to on September 22nd is a female. She asked the reason why I want to cancel my return flights. I explained to her because United Airlines change the schedule of the flight. She then called the refund department of United States (based on what she said), put me on hold for a while, then she told me that: since I am living in United States now, even though when I bought the round-trip tickets, I used Chinese currency, they will refund me in US dollars. She asked me whether that is okay to refund me in US dollars.

I said: it's okay. I also asked her how much refund I can get, she put me on hold again, and talked to someone for a while, and told me $1444 will be mailed to me to my US address by check. She asked me to offer her my full name, my home address in United States, and she promised me the check should be sent to me within 20 business days.

At end of the conversation, I double confirmed with the representative, she double confirmed with me that: due to United Airlines changed the schedule of the flight, half of the tickets price $US1444 will be sent to my address in Virginia within 20 business days. After the conversation, I believe my return flights have been cancelled, so I then booked two non-stop return tickets for my parents from other airline company. I waited until October 19th, which is already 20 business days. And I did not get the refund check from United Airlines. Then I called the same telephone number, again, to check the refund status. On October 19th, based on their Internet guidance, I called 1-800-UNITED-1 (1-800-864-8331) and select "refunds" from the "more options" menu.

Since October 19th, I talked to more than 10 representatives in reservation department of United Airlines through this phone number. Some told me I should go to the website of united.com and request refund online, some told me my tickets are non-refundable so I cannot get refund, some told me to contact the agent where I bought tickets from back in China, some told me the refund will be sent to me from China in Chinese currency soon, all kinds of answers are different from one and another. I felt so frustrated and do not know what is the true answer at all, since even from the same department under the same supervision, they are telling different stories. But none of them tell me when I can get my money back and how much my refund will be. Beside, their attitude is rude, some representative even transferred me to talk with machine without my permission, some hang up my phone.

Below are some examples of how they answer questions: (1) Is there any record of the first conversation I made with the representative on September 22nd? Their answer is simply no. (2) How can the first representative tell me the refunds will be $1444 and will be sent to me in my US address within 20 business days. Their answer is, "I don't know, but she should not say that." (3) Now I need the refund to pay for the new tickets I bought from days as what she promised me? Their answer is "that's not our problem." (4) How long can I get the refunds if by contacting the agent back in China? Their answer is "I do not know." (5) How much refund I can get?

Their answer is, "I do not know, maybe half of the tickets price.” Finally, the supervisor told me, I do have to initiate another refund request through United.com, and requested refund again. When I asked her, “Does that mean all I did before for the refund is nothing,” she said, "Yes, I am sorry." I asked her, “So on September 22nd, I talked to nobody?” She said, "Yes.” Whether they will give me refund or not, I do not know, but she told me that even the refund is issued from United Airlines, it will be sent back to the agent in China where I bought the tickets at the beginning. This procedure is way different from what I was told on September 22nd. And how can I accept that $1444 is not a big amount of money, but the worst part is their attitude. I really cannot understand how United Airlines can treat customers in this way, and can still continue their business. If any lawyer is willing to help me, I want to start the procedure to sue United Airlines entire reservation department for their poor service and knowledge, I can also pay lawyer fees as long as it is affordable.

My family, consisting of my husband, an American, myself a Canadian and our four children, have been living in Israel for the past 7 years. As students, we have been living a very frugal life cutting costs wherever possible. We had been saving every possible penny we could in order for us to one day, come back to Canada and the States to visit our respective families. Two of our young children hadn't even met their grandparents, great-grandparents, their many cousins, uncles and aunts. There was something worth saving for.

This past June, after 3 difficult years, we finally managed to scrape together just enough money through a combination of our savings and anything we could borrow to finally go home for the much anticipated trip to Toronto on June 24th on an Air Canada flight 0085. The plan was to fly to Toronto where my family resides and after a few weeks fly to the States and spend some time with my husbands family. We booked a flight that originated in Tel Aviv via Air Canada (flight 0085) and then after completing our stay in Toronto, we would fly to Newark from where we would drive to visit and stay at my husbands family. The flight to Newark was booked on Continental Flight 3307 on July 21st and the final leg of our trip, also with Continental, from Newark to Tel Aviv, was scheduled for August 8, 2010.

Due to some unforeseen circumstances, my husband Avraham ** had to attend to some family matters earlier than planned and traveled alone to the States on his own, with the intention of the rest of the Family joining him on the 21st of July. Accordingly, he was not at the Airport when I went with my four children to check in on the Toronto-Newark flight on July 21, 2010. At the counter I was asked for my husband's passport by the Continental Agent. I explained to her at that time that my husband would not be with us during this leg of the trip, since he was already in the States, but would be meeting us in Newark and would be flying together with us back home to TLV on the 8th of August (CO 0084). This information seemed to stump the lady at the counter at Toronto since the reservations were under my Husbands name and had to call the supervisor for guidance.

I overheard her telling whomever she was speaking with on the phone the situation (How Avraham **, my husband , was not with us and she already started the process of entering in the information and asked if they can help her out. It took her 2 phone calls and about 10 minutes for her to make the necessary adjustments and after some light hearted joking with the lady at the counter about the challenges of traveling alone with 4 children we were on our way.

It is very important to mention that at no point in time did the agent at the counter or the Supervisor on the phone tell us that, by not being on the Toronto- Newark flight, my husband had forfeited his Newark- Tel Aviv Ticket on the 8th of August and that he would be grounded and that he would have to purchase another ticket if he wanted to continue on the trip home with us. If that had been the case and I had been told this awful scenario, I would have definitely done something about it. Instead I was handed my boarding passes, for myself and my four children with the agent biding us a nice flight.

I am not going to complain at this time about the lack of consideration I experienced when no one offered assistance to this young mother traveling alone, with four children (ages 1-6) pushing at the same time a stroller and a luggage cart. In fact I was carrying my youngest, our one year old, on my chest with a baby harness. I am also not going to complain at this time at the fact that our flight was some two hours late and I was stuck in the airport for that long with four children. Anyhow, I was confident that all was in order and boarded the flight alone with my 4 children, counting the minutes my husband would meet us and help me out with the kids.

I arrived in Newark where my husband was waiting for us as expected and headed towards his family's home. We arrived exhausted as a result of the earlier delay in Toronto and we spent a wonderful time for about three weeks until it was time to go back home to Israel on the 8th of August, 2010

On August the 8th, we all went to the Newark airport planning to fly back home and said our good-byes to our family and friends. When we arrived and tried to check in at the self help kiosk, we noticed that Avraham's name, my husband, was not listed as a traveler. We were sure this was a mistake so we looked for a Supervisor to help us. After locating a Continental worker, we explained our problem she informed us that she couldn't help us and that we would have to speak to her Supervisor.

After yet another wait, the Supervisor finally came and listened to her colleague about what exactly the problem was. While listening to the conversation, in Spanish, I noticed that she missed some vital piece of information, so I tried to interrupt her so that the Supervisor (Sharon) would have all the facts straight. Sharon looked down at me and said "Excuse me ma'am, I'm talking with my colleague so that I know what the problem is" and then continued her conversation ignoring me. After getting the 'story' Sharon told her colleague in Spanish that she just wants to go home because ever since she got to work on that day it has been problem after problem after problem.

Besides, it did not make any sense that a 'no show' on a flight (a connecting flight) a few weeks earlier for a small portion of the trip , would cause the ticket to Tel Aviv three weeks later to be voided! (without any warning or prior explanation). We expressed our feelings and asked to speak to her Supervisor. When we told her Supervisor exactly what happened, he did some typing on his computer and said that according to his computer Avraham did not join us on the flight to Newark Airport from Toronto and therefore, his ticket is null and void and repeated again that there is nothing he could do for us and that the only way for my husband to fly home with us, his family, was by purchasing another ticket.

We got to the airport at 2:30 pm, our flight was scheduled to leave at 4 pm but by 3:30 we still did not know what to do. The Supervisor kept saying that the only thing we could do is buy a ticket but we had to do it fast since the flight was closing and he kept reading out how many minutes it would be until the flight we were on was going to close. We looked at our 4 kids lying on suitcases, tired, hungry and getting restless we were at a loss as to what to do considering we were getting little assistance or compassion.

All the supervisors' had given their verdict; a new ticket had to be purchased. We asked him to find out how much the ticket would cost, but he was not able to do so since he said we had to do it on line (we were at the airport). When we told him that we don't have a computer on us, he apologized and said that there was nothing he could do. He suggested that we call someone who has access to the internet for us, and we told him that we no longer had a cell phone on us since we were returning home to Israel and asked him to use his phone. Again, he apologized and said there was nothing he can do and that we could not use his phone. There wasn't one thing he could do!

Finally he managed to get someone on the phone in reservations who informed him that the cheapest ticket we could purchase was $2400! At this point the gates of our original flight were closing so the Supervisor moved me and my 4 kids to the later flight that was leaving at 10:00 pm. I asked to speak with whomever he was speaking to on the phone to plead my case and hope for a person who had some caring and some compassion left in him. He too said "there is nothing we can do" and when I asked to speak to his Supervisor, she too explained that there was nothing she could do. I explained to her that we were completely broke, since we raised over $6000 for this trip...money that part of each would have to be paid back as it was on loan and part was the totality of our savings used for the trip. I explained how not once were we told that this would happen and how it was her Agent in YYZ that made an error and now I had to pay for it?

We would have never done anything that would cost us such a fortune, why had they not warned us? She told me that it was irrelevant of what I said what happened, because she wasn't privy to that conversation. I explained to her that fortunate for her, I am and educated person and I was privy to the conversation and it happened exactly as I said. I repeated how the Agent 'did not know how to proceed and how it took her 2 phone calls asking someone to help her remove Avraham's name from the flight, she ended up removing him from the entire trip! She repeated what seems to be the Continental's favourite statement, that there is nothing she could do and if we wanted Avraham to join us on our flight home, we would have to buy him a ticket...and then she hung up me!

I turned back to the Supervisor, pleading for him to somehow help us in any way possible such as trying to get us bumped off the flight so that we could get some sort of compensation, anything. Again, as if talking to children, he repeated the words "I'm sorry but there is nothing I can do". (I feel that it is important to mention that while on hold for the Supervisor, I heard Sharon telling the Supervisor "You see why we leave here with a headache every day? This is exactly why".) The Supervisor was also calling out how many seats were left on the later flight and saying them out loud as if he was calling out Bingo numbers ..."only 7 more seats left....only 6 more seats left".

Seeing that the Continental staff seemed to be trained to look at passports but not the people who they belong to, we had no choice and had to somehow find the money to pay for Avraham to join us on the flight home. Since the entire Continental airport does not have a courtesy phone that customers could use, which in itself showed me how much they care about their customers, the Supervisor directed my husband to the nearest pay phone. After making some quite embarrassing phone calls to relatives and friends, we found someone who was able to lend us money to get Avraham on the next flight home.

The time was 4:30 pm. Our flight was at 10 pm.

We sat for 5 and a half hours in an airport that is not near anyone we know, that does not have food that we can eat, as we consume only kosher products, or a lounge we could use (nope, they wouldn't even offer that to us). For 5 hours we were trapped in an airport with 4 tired and hungry children (ages 6, 5, 2 and 1).

Finally by boarding time, after lining up at the gate to ask for help we were told that there was nothing they can do (of course) and that we would have to speak to the stewardess on board in order to have us seated together. We were one of the last people to board the plane. Once on the plane we were once again shown the sense of indifference we became accustomed to by now, as not only wasn't any assistance offered, but the stewardesses were squeezing by my family to get by in the aisles, and not once offering to assist us.

My husband was in the back of the plane trying to seek out helpful passengers that would switch seats, and I was standing in the middle with nowhere to sit or put my bags down, holding my baby. So instead of helping an obviously desperate and distraught mother holding an infant in her hand and having 3 other very tired children hanging on to her, the stewardesses squeezed by with looks of annoyance on their faces. Finally, after being ignored by most of the stewardesses, one stewardess a kind human being, finally realized our problem and offered assistance and helped us arrange to move around some passengers to accommodate our seating needs. She was however, unable to locate any overhead luggage space so we had to travel all the way to Tel Aviv with our carry on luggage (lots of bags considering the ages of my children) by our feet and eliminating the already limited leg room in that category of seats. My husband is over 6ft tall and he could not stand and relieve the pressure because of the baby on his lap. Coming from a company as reputable as yours, it was totally and completely painful.

This was definitely an experience we would never forget nor we would want to have it repeated again. Hopefully you can understand our frustration, anger and disappointment at the overall lack of concern, indifference and unfair treatment we were subjected to. What started as a much anticipated, warm loving vacation had been marred at its conclusion by the carelessness and unprofessional conduct of what is supposed to be a reputable airline and by the incompetence of a myriad of so called supervisors and agents. I was left with the feeling that you could not care less if your reputation was affected or not, you could not care less if you hurt a family's feelings and pocket, you could not care less what damage you cause to our persons and to our integrity, as long as you got from us that extra ticket.

Surely it would have been a nice gesture to acknowledge the so called error and re-instate my husband on the flight, it would a couple of key strokes in the famous computer, no one would have lost any sleep over it or been dismissed or reprimanded by their supervisors. Yet the other route was chosen, the one that would hurt and hurt bad. The original $1300 was an overwhelming expense we needed to spend to travel to Toronto and the States, but the additional $2400 is one we absolutely could not and cannot afford.

We were forced to call around in Newark to find someone who could loan us the money for the flight as Avraham had to get home with his family. We have no means of repaying this loan. I trust you will be able to remedy this unfortunate misunderstanding and redeem the good name and sterling reputation that Continental has always enjoyed. The damage has already been caused, the question is are you going to do something about it now or not? Unfortunately or fortunately,

I plan to do something about it myself if I see that you do not take this matter at heart and make efforts to correct it and simply ignore it. This is a serious matter and it should not be left alone or ignored. I trust you will act accordingly.

Prior to agreeing to fly with your company, I had done some research and fell in love with your customer first policy, as published in the web. I was impressed that you were named the Airline of the Year and with the highest customer satisfaction in the Frequent Flyer Magazine and other publications. I was encouraged that yours was rated as the most improved airline, having as your goal to make flights safe and pleasant. An airline that thrived to explain its policies in a clear, consistent, and understandable fashion. After this nightmare of an ordeal that you put us through, none of the above assurances have proven to be true, in fact the opposite happened. We may be the exception but we are human beings with feelings and we are customers and we deserve satisfaction!

I look forward to hearing from you. At this time we are seeking from you to be compensated from all the trouble we had gone through , the embarrassment, the hardship, the injuries, the humiliation, the mental anguish of that day and its impact on our lives now, and as well, the reimbursement of my additional ticket so that we can pay back the loan. Please get back to me without delay.

Passenger rights bills definitely need to be passed. As someone who cares deeply about her clients and obviously her husband, I never want to see anything like this happen to an American in any foreign country or our soil again. I have never heard of any international flight leaving an American in Brazil or any other country just because they can. We will think twice before using Continental again for either corporate travel or in my case events. This is a situation that is inexcusable and should never have happened. Letter written to Continental Airlines explaining the situation:

“As a seasoned traveler who has been on innumerable airlines, never have I dealt with the lack of Customer Service that I experienced on Continental Airlines. My international career of 30 years has involved extensive travel worldwide and there has never been an issue like this.

On October 8, 2010, I arrived in Rio from Belo Horizonte, Brazil after a long day for my connecting flight on Continental Flight 128. I checked in, obtained my boarding pass which stated the flight boarded at 9:20 pm and headed to the gate after a long day of travel. When I arrived by 9:20 pm, the designated time for boarding, I was told the doors had been closed and would not be opened even though I was on time. I saw the plane sitting there yet your staff made the decision not to board me knowing that this was the only flight possible in spite of the hardship this would cause. There was no reasoning and the lack of customer service was completely unacceptable!

Your people couldn’t have cared less the level of problems caused as a result of their inept decisions. I do not understand that kind of mentality! Having been on many flights both national and international, it is not uncommon for closed doors to be opened to accommodate people who were late. I was not late and the door was slammed in my face! There was another individual rejected as well, also on time! The lack of compassion, caring or even attempting to fix this problem was done with no logical or legal reason is an atrocity.

I was checked in so it was clear I was going to be on the flight and this would put me in a serious predicament should the plane leave without me as it was the only flight. I had a very important meeting in Phoenix at the airport upon my arrival with CEOs of a company in India scheduled upon my arrival to pursue opportunities within ASU Skysong where I am the Director of Business Development. The cost of them having to come back from India in order to meet with me, losing a day of business, saving face and the time and stress involved is insane when this could have been so simply solved by your people doing what they should have done in the first place.

I chose Continental because my recent move to Arizona has me traveling extensively to Brazil. I had confidence they would be the best choice for this destination. My loyalty to United is strong because of past experience and I assumed Continental would be similar since you will be partnered. I was so wrong! As a result of Continental’s poor customer service and decision to not allow me on the flight that legally I had paid for, been on time for, and planned business meetings around, I was forced to fly on LAM the following morning through New York City. LAM has a horrible safety record, but I had no choice. LAM, however, was much more accommodating in their customer service than those at Continental. I would appreciate a response ASAP and am requesting compensation for the reimbursement of my ticket based on all of the above. If I do not hear from you, I will take this to the next level. This is totally unacceptable and will not be overlooked. I personally do not want to see this happen to anyone ever again.”

However, I was not informed, or alerted, about this completely new two month expiration when I purchased the ticket. We are repeatedly told that tickets would expire in twelve months, in some cases six months. Actually, I flew UA again to China's another city Beijing on August 24 and back to LA on September 4. Had I been informed of this unusual expiration, I could have simply used the ticket. UA fails to inform me about this change. It's like if UA flight is 9AM, customers assume it means local time. But if UA means its London time, customers should be informed of change, or change of assumption. There are simply a lot of assumptions in business between UA and its customers, such as six to twelve month ticket expiration in this case.

A customer deserves a notice or alert to a change of basic assumptions. A customer deserves fair treatment from the United. I spoke four times with 1K desk and customer services last several days. I was told that it's my fault of not reading the details of rules. In this case, United Airlines is not fair and responsible. Thanks for your attention.

In the mean time, the same route and the class B fare on the UA's flights cost over US$5,000.

First, I think the UA's web site is misleading to their customers. Second, I think the Star Alliance Airlines use their dominate power in SFO to jack up their fares and the Mileage Plus members will not be able to use their miles as they advertised.

When I asked for refund, they stated that I cannot get refund because I was delayed checking in and she missed her flight. So what right they have to charge one person more vs. other? Any suggestions?

She did not informed me that I get a discount for group with my luggage. I paid $50 instead of $46 for 2 baggage. On 8/27/2010 returning from Orlando, I was told that I was entitled to the discount. Instead of giving me the credit, I was charged twice for the same two luggage. One for $50 and the other for $46 which is a total of $95 out of my account which created a negative in my account.

I called and they wanted me to give the ticket# which is C6CyLP before I would be credited money to my account which they can't because I cancel the card.

Then I decided to take a taxi to Madrid, Spain and the same problem occurred. The only thing left for me to do after being stuck with the dog in a bag for 2 days, I had to buy another plane ticket with Delta Airlines, which ended up costing me about $2,000.00. I think that Continental should refund this money because when I went, they never told me that I wasn't allowed to bring the dog back. This does not make any sense, allowing the dog out but not in. What was I supposed to do? Leave the dog there? I need to know what I can do about this situation. Also, Continental should show their employees in Lisbon how to treat a costumer. They don’t have any manners.

Dozens of passengers were pulling up other Continental flights with seats and other carriers with seats to Newark on their cell phones. We had to give them flight numbers so they could find them in their systems. They made a feeble attempt to get us hotels. They were located miles from the terminals and had one small shuttle bus, which seated 8 persons. One shuttle for 8 people, there were nearly 175 people standing there. Not one representative from the airline was there. They left us to fend for ourselves. There was almost a riot. My pregnant fiancee was knocked to the ground and scraped up her elbow.

They made us stand around the airport in about 4 different lines the first day for about 3 hours each line. (1) Original check in. (2) Then we sat on plane for almost 3 hours. (3) After we deboarded, we all had to go through immigration again. (4) Back online to rebook for next day. (5) Then on to another multi-hour line for hotel reservations. (6) Then on multi-hour line for shuttle to hotel. (7) Then on to another multi-hour line to check in. By the time we got to the hotel room, it was 2:30 am and we were supposed to get up for the small shuttle at 6 am for ticketing to get on the "repaired plane". The next morning (2.5 hours later), the same small shuttle showed up for all the passengers.

It took hours to get back to the airport, then a complete repeat of the previous day’s activities. The plane never took off, same exact mechanical problem. Deboard, immigration, hours again for ticketing, and then they canceled the flight again. My pregnant fiancee was not feeling well. When we asked one of the ticketing desk personnel for some water or a seat, she rudely replied, "Take her to the hospital.” Then the manager of the ticketing office said they were just sending us back to hotel again, line up again, etc., and she said, "We’re washing our hands of you for the day.” Unbelievable! They were going to have us do it all again for the 3rd time.

Multiple flights left all day on other carriers. Many passengers bit the bullet bought totally new tickets as we did. We have jobs and had to get home. This has cost me €3500+. I need help addressing this matter.

I asked Irene to connect me via a conference call to United customer service. Connection was established and it was Irene and so hail from United. Sohail advised Irene my seats were cancelled by Orbitz. Irene went into her Orbitz online computer and validated no records were sent to United cancelling the seats. United insisted Orbitz cancelled seats and reassigned us seats 19b and 20b. At this point, I asked for both Orbitz and United to please escalate this to supervisors. Several minutes later, United supervisor Nikki and Orbitz supervisor Daniel talked to each other. Orbitz plainly proved nobody from their company made any changes as he asked United’s Nikki to prove the ID agent information. United provided the agent ID as the ID change number with no ID of the agent making the change.

After two hours of both being on the telephone, I got no satisfaction from United or Orbitz. However, very mysteriously my wife and I now had reservation in seats 19b and 20b that were made this evening and the United supervisor Nikki insisted that I made them online. Eventually he admitted I did not make them and they were done internally by a United agent. He outright lied to me and Orbitz. I was told that Nikki could not do anything for me. I asked to be upgraded to first class since it was clearly United; he cancelled my seats and he told me this could not be done, that I must go to the airport and talk to the United gate agent.

I spent hours trying to reason with both to no avail. I am a frequent flyer of United and used Orbitz in the past with no problems. This is the poorest customer service I have ever witnessed. I purchased a service on July 1st. Service was confirmed only to be told by the airline the service was changed. But they could not tell me who changed it as Orbitz who proved the change was not done by them because the Orbitz agent number did not match, that it was done by United; United said it was not done by them but by Orbitz, but they could not provide Orbitz the agent ID number who made the change. Who is the loser? My wife and I who are going on vacation to see my grandchild we have not seen for 5 years. My wife and I have to set apart because United bumped us and will not owe up to it. So I paid for a service I did not receive.

Not being able to sit next to my wife after our seats were confirmed by Orbitz and United. I have the paper work. United bumped us and will not owe up to it. I feel they should upgrade us to first class for all the trouble and heartache they put us through on not delivering what I paid for.

I have never seen anyone answer me as impolitely as he did. When I asked him why he would not give me a seat that was empty given that I was downgraded, he asked me to leave if I wanted to in the most impolite tone I have ever heard "You got **. You can leave if you don't like it," was what I was told, which I did. I found when I got out that my bags have however left. I now have been charged $50, have lost my bags, and I am at Denver Airport. I am going to blog and post this experience in every site that I can. I will make sure that over the next 2 hours that I am stuck here, this post will feature in a dozen forums. I am a Star Alliance Gold member with 500,000 Lufthansa Miles. This is about the worst I have been treated anywhere. My bags with about $5000 of electronics has left on the flight. I have no idea how it is going to get picked up. I have been charged $50 which the guy at the gate says he cannot refund.

In May of this year, my son noticed a pronounced bubble on the sidewall of the tire. He brought the car with the tire to the place of purchase and was told he hit a pot hole. No evidence to supported this, however, a new tire was needed and of course, was not covered by any warranty. One hundred and fifty dollars later a new tire was purchased. Mileage was 39934, so approximately 9811 miles on the tire.

In August of this year, again my son noticed a bubble on the side of the tire and again brought it back to the place of purchase. Again he hit a pothole! again no evidence to support that! Again the car needs a tire, $150.00 later another new tire! Mileage was at 41441, meaning a total of 1507 miles on this tire!

Does anyone see a pattern here? After reviewing this web site, I have noticed 20 stories detailing the same problems with these tires. Now obviously, not everyone having this same problem is writing on this site so you have to assume that there are more.

I am in the process of contacting NHTSA and Continental. I do not anticipate any action from Continental after reading others that received none. I am hoping that the NHTSA can point me in the right direction if not maybe our local Attorney General's offices can initiate a class action suit.

In may case, the Cat suffering and stress was extended for some cruel 6 hours. Continental People were most unhelpful, and they do not take any care of the cat, the cat was not fed or watered during the trip. Contrarily to what they claim. I personally saw his kennel in full August Sun on a normal baggage trolley on Madrid's tarmac. Do not believe the videos of the website. They will find any reason to find extra charges and will make you waste several hours both to deliver the cat to them and to retrieve the cat from a foreign custom facility. Once in Madrid they just give you a general reception phone number for the cargo-custom facility and you are on your own to find your pet. Good luck with this, advice: patience and smiles, as hard as it is after a transatlantic flight; officials in the Customs are helpful and aware that you have been duped and your ordeal, the Spanish Custom's vet there, suggested to complain to the USDA, which I will do and encourage other victims to do.

PetSafe does not exist in Spain, they don't have vans, staff nor the other Continental People know about it. They just mightily charge for absolute no service. They extend the suffering and stress of the animal several hours, and they turn one's jet-lagged arrival into a crash course of customs clearance. Never again with Continental for anything. They just don't care about you or your pet, though they charge mightily. I am not surprised to read in this site that a pet died after a PetSafe trip. I wish I had known before purchasing the tickets. Good luck.

We reached the ticket counter at 9:00 a.m. obviously having missed the 8:15 flight. All employees completely indifferent to anyone's situation. Then fortunately for us, a lovely woman named Belinda Lee started her shift at 9:00a.m. and was kind enough to try to help us get on another flight. To no avail, she refunded our money, gave us 3 vouchers and we headed home. The whole vacation canceled. I will never fly United Airlines again!

I called again. No record that I had even called was on file. I asked for a supervisor, who was just as arragan. No he did not curse me out, he told me that my son never flew to PR and that the passenger-being my 10 yr old son had switched his Flight? How does a 10 yr do that? All I wanted was assurance that my son could fly home with us. He told me to buy a ticket. Why I already did, I said, he told me that he had no record of passenger flying and I would have to buy a ticket.

Well, now I was angry. The next day I get to the airport earlier than I wanted just because this was not resolved. at the ticket counter I should them my boarding pass for coming into PR. The attendant could not believe that they had to record of my son fling in. The situation was fixed and we all flew home together. As we go through customs, I can not believe how rude these people are. Really-do they have to treat everyone as if we were criminals? I just spent lots of money on your Island-the least you could do is be respectful. It is a shame that my people behave this way in the country my parents were born-they have no manners-they are rude and obnoxious.

We stood in this line for close to an hour and almost at 7 am, we get to Mr. Paul ** who informs us we are too late. He repeats this to us a couple of times. We asked what he could do and he stated that we needed to go to Malaysia airlines (who had booked this flight for us because they were late getting in and thus we missed our connecting flight the previous day). I asked him if he could arrange this with his computer system and he said, "No, you have to go to Malaysia." We witnessed another acquaintance being helped by a United representative that was on the same Malaysia flight and we brought this to Mr. ** attention and he blatantly called the next customer to his window. I asked to speak to his manager and he continued to call the next customer.

After I repeated myself a couple of times, he finally got on the phone to "call his manager" who I never got to talk with because thankfully another representative that my cousin went to, arranged the whole connecting flights. I was appalled at the service that Mr. ** provided. His uncaring and horrible manner was an embarrassment to United Airlines and the US as many of the people needing help were from different countries. In fact my niece had to help a lady that was queued in the line to check in because no one from United would help her or her husband after they repeatedly asked what they needed to do.

I found this really stressful, unduly, all do to the fact that Mr. ** refused to do what he was supposed to do and that is to provide caring and good customer service to everyone. I would like to know that he was sent to a class on how to problem solve and provide better customer care because it was awful and really a horrible way to come back into the US after traveling abroad and receiving incredible customer service from all ports we flew in and out of in Taiwan and Singapore. As a US citizen, I was so embarrassed we have such poor quality of service. I hope that United Airlines does a revamping of the customer experience because it was as I've stated shameful and absolutely horrible.

The first meal served was a joke. Actually it was an insult. Chicken and Rice dinner, that weighed all of 3 ounces. With a piece of knarlly chicken the size of a half dollar. A salad with six small pieces of lettuce. No tomato, no carrot, no radish. And a Brownie. Wuuu Huuu! I told the personnel that the food was an insult to every passenger on board. I refused to eat a bite of it. Four hours later we received our next meal of noodles, their service was great bringing the hot water to add to the noodles. And the last meal. Oh Boy! A hot Turkey sandwich with cheese wrapped in aluminum foil. When trying to unwrap the aluminum was imbedded throughout the bottom of the overly crisp bottom of the sandwich. Which on first try I missed some of the imbedded aluminum foil, and bit down on it. What a memorable dining experience.The kicker is, they offer for $9.00 a supposedly gourmet meal at any time.

Oh I forgot. Their 2 hour invasion of customers for catalog sales. Which they parked their little roll cart with products right in front of me. They kept one employee perched at the cart blocking my view of TV available for me to watch. As other employees would continually come into the command post.

United Airlines is a joke! Wait! They offered me something free if I go to their web site because of my inconvenience. To the Hierarchy of United, you know where you can put my freebie from you. You can only mess with and treat people the way you do for so long. You will eventually put yourself out of business from your own greed. You aren't as smart or business savvy as you think.

The agent's response was that, it was the passengers problem and she better sit down or she will not be allowed on the flight. The passenger responded with, "You certainly are powerful." The agent responded affirming she did have the power. The passenger sat down. I then observed the agent to say to other agents that she was not going to let the woman board. She was visibly upset.

The woman boarded & just before take off 2 male employees removed her. From my point of view the agent misused her power. There was never a safety threat. The employee was just angry and wanted revenge. Very disturbing incident to observe, so after 10 days of not being able to get it off my mind, I am taking this action. I fly Continental frequently and have many good experiences, but I don't show my frustration about what I have no control over.

Upon reaching the counter United Airlines employee mentioned that we could have used the kiosks. If we used the kiosks, we could have saved a lot of heartache and money. To my knowledge there were atleast 7 of us that suffered and potentially 25, for just 1 flight. How many more are there? I had to rebook my entire journey, costing me $1500. I have to now change my daughter's itinerary who is supposed to return with me, I am sure it's going to cost somewhere between $600 - $1000. I have encountered travel expenses to and fro from the airport. I was scheduled to work remotely, so I am losing a day's worth of work. I have seen several people being affected by extreme indifference of the employees of United. It is not just me that has these additional expenses. There were at least 6 other people I knew of, and there were 25 all together who might have been affected in just one flight to JFK.

We filed a delayed baggage claim immediately. The Continental agent told us she could get us our bags by the evening but that she preferred to give herself 24 hours as she was leaving soon. We dared not protest. The following afternoon (I do not remember the precise time of the phone conversations) we were told that our bags had arrived on BA185 and were already clearing customs, and would be delivered to us in the evening. I was told to call back later for an update.

I got an agent named Scott, who was the rudest person I have ever talked to at Continental; a real disgrace to the company. I called back a few minutes later to speak to someone else and was told that our bags have not been located and were not at Customs, and was asked, "Who told you that they were?". In addition he said that since we were staying with family (I'd explained that we were using a cousin's apt., but that no family was present), we shouldn't have to worry about essentials. You can imagine how my wife and I felt. One agent, Dina, was fantastic and I think it was she who had resolved the problem after 48 hours. Continental offered us two $50 certificates, which I think do not represent the situation we experienced.

At that time fares on the same flights were available online for $374. The "customer service" representative was not a native English speaker and did not appear to understand the insanity of charging 2 1/2 times the cost of a ticket to change an existing ticket on the same flights. Instead of a reasonable change fee, I was forced to purchase another ticket and my son's existing return ticket will be worthless especially given the exorbitant change fee to use it at a later date. I won't be flying United again.

Although I was assured that the refund would be automatic, it was not. On 7/17/2010, I called the automated system and "no record of refund" associated with either ticket. I completed an online process to request refund from either ticket. On 7/20/2010, I called customer service. I spent 38 minutes and was assured by Bawan that refund had been issued and would show up that evening. To date, it has not shown up. On 7/22/2010, I called automated system and "no record of refund" associated with either ticket. On 7/22/2010, I sent emails to refund desk and customer service. On 7/27/2010, I called automated system and "no record of refund" associated with either ticket.

On 7/27/2010, I called customer service and spent 53 minutes. I spoke with Dev and was told there was no record of the original ticket or refund. Then I spoke with Nicky **, supervisor, I was told that the refund was being "processed" and would be taken care of. Just be patient. I was told there was no department or person I could speak to, just send another email. To date, I have spent 9 hours trying to wade through United Airline's bureaucracy, disorganization and track down this refund.

On July 16th, I was headed back to St. Louis on flight ** but my flight was once again delayed by over two hours, creating additional cost. Then, when I finally arrived in St. Louis, I was held hostage on the runway. The entire experience was appalling. I am unemployed and I missed my job interview and therefore was unable to interview. So, I have lost health care, retirement, income, vision, and dental.

Today, when contacted about the matter, Continental spokespeople said that there was nothing that they could do about it. We actually gave them a chance in the U.S. to try to give a reasonable explanation. There is none. I have never set a minor on a plane trip alone, but aren't there some rules made by the airlines governing that practice? Even those were not put into practice. Recklessness for the sake of profit which is unacceptable. Two children were put in danger on three separate flights by seating them without an accompanying adult.

Unfortunately, I was in line and had a gentleman who was Hispanic and spoke broken English. Under ordinary circumstances with no problems to solve he may have been competent; however, my flight was delayed due to "crew rest". There was no way for me to make my connection. There were no offers to help from the agent other than to say, "You go tomorrow". The manager, who was hostile, was hovering. She wouldn't jump in and solve the problem and she wouldn't go away. She was just eavesdropping. So, finally I said in despair, "Can I please speak to someone who speaks English?".

The woman, Kelly, started screaming at me and calling me a racist. Keep in mind that I have been conversing with this man for 25 minutes without any progress. I said I apologize if I offended him but I cannot understand him. She kicked me out of the line. The other customer service agent then proceeded to laugh. I said, "You think this is funny?" and she snickered some more. The angry manager proceeded to kick us out of the line and refused to help us. My son was crying and having a break down; he is only 11 after all. I was really in shock. I said to her, "Do you see what you have done to my son?". She said, "No, ma'am. You have done this to your son because you are racist. Don't worry Manuel, I am documenting all of this". CYA I suppose.

So, We had to go to the Delta counter and spend another $800.00 to get a one way ticket to Manhattan. Then I had to rent a car to drive up to Albany. We got lost and I had to rent a hotel room until the next day. It was 2 days later and $1300.00 more until the mean, hostile, racist mother arrived at the vacation destination.

Continental, is this how you treat women with children who are traveling alone? A person is not racist because they want to speak to a person in the United States of America who speaks English. I am self-employed. I have a gay Hispanic man, a gay white man, white women, black women, black men and Vietnamese person who work for our company. The last thing anyone would call me is racist. In fact, it is because I am not racist that I would feel so comfortable in asking the question, “May I speak to someone who speaks English?”.

I will fly Delta and Southwest forever. The damage was monetary about $1500.00 but that was the small damage. It ruined our vacation. My son was traumatized by the manner in which they spoke to us. He is a tough little guy but he was afraid. The world is a tough place but it shouldn't be this tough when you are just trying to go on vacation. If I could hire an attorney just to make a point, I would.

The Baggage claim representative, Andrea A., was not very helpful and blatantly lied to my son and me. She said these persons needing wheelchair assistance were in a special room with a United Airlines representative helping them. I was in contact with my mother via cell phone, and they were not in a special room, they were in chairs where the electric cart dropped them off, and no one from United or any other airline was anywhere to be seen until I started asking for her whereabouts.

Andrea said "Wheelchair Dispatch" was checking the room, but this was also not true as only two wheelchairs showed up in the hour they waited, one of which transported a man trying to make a connection and the other which my mother took as she was the first person to be deposited in the chairs. Andrea got upset with me for trying to explain to her that her explanations did not make sense, and she called a supervisor, Corinne M., who arrived at the same time as my mother (almost 1 and 1/2 hours after her plane had landed). So while she apologized, she was singularly ineffective in helping.

Clearly these passengers were not treated with the level of attention, respect and care they deserve defined by United's Commitment to Service. I believe the United Airlines staff responsible for transporting elderly passengers on July 6, 2010, deserve official reprimands in their files for failing to transport these elderly people in an expeditious manner. And, most importantly, United Airlines needs to address the issues it has in the Denver airport regarding transportation of those needing special assistance so that this does not continue to happen (This is the second time my mother has experienced problems with wheelchair transportation in the Denver airport).

One day each of us will probably be old enough to need assistance, and I hope that you are never treated like my mother was.

PS I was particularly unimpressed with two other comments made by Andrea A. in Baggage Claim: First she told us that the priority was to get wheelchair passengers to outgoing planes, and that incoming passengers were accommodated after those passengers trying to catch planes had been accommodated (this statement isn’t really designed to allay ones concerns, is it?).

Second she suggested that next time I should meet my mother at the gate although she said I would be unable to take a wheelchair with me but would merely be able to wait with my mother for a wheelchair to show up. How exactly would that help my mother or expedite her transportation to the Baggage Claim area?

The scheduled flight out of Houston International Airport at 9:00 pm, Friday, July 2 was pushed back to 10 pm initially. At no time were any announcements made to inform passengers of the status of their flight. We were left uniformed without any representatives from Continental Airlines offering any consolation or information, not to mention being misinformed about various other reasons why Continental was not fulfilling their service. It was only after pressing a customer service representative by the name of Karen who is at the gate in Houston, was I able to learn that the delay was ‘weather related’ yet simultaneously due to the ‘plane not having a crew to fly it’ with a new projected time of departure for 11 pm.

While weather delays are certainly beyond the control of airlines, there are certain steps Continental employees could have taken to alleviate the situation and did not. Again, there was never at any time an announcement keeping the passengers abreast of the situation. This failure and lack of communication only served to heighten everyone's frustration. Inadequate staffing was also an issue as only one customer service representative was available to service hundreds of people.

Without notice, our 11 pm flight disappeared from the departure schedules all together indicating that it was cancelled leaving hundreds of passengers stranded and severely inconvenienced. I was told by Karen that there was nothing she could do but put me on standby. And when asked to get a manager on the phone she said that she was unable to accommodate me in that regard as well. If this is the case, passengers whose flights are cancelled due to ‘circumstances beyond their control’ are not guaranteed a seat on the next flight going to their destination but are instead put on standby after wasting countless hours of their time with only the promise of a potential seat. There needs to be an amendment made to that policy or the enormous amount of business Continental will lose will certainly put them out of business. There was no standby or hesitation in debiting money from our accounts yet extreme hesitation in providing quality service. This is unacceptable to say the least.

It is unfortunate that in addition to being severely understaffed, the staff that was present was inefficient, incompetent and incapable of providing helpful assistance. It was only after calling customer service, complaining and demanding to speak to a manager after I had been in the airport for 6 hours, was I offered a seat on a flight headed to Albuquerque for 9 am, Saturday morning. If this option were available from the beginning, why wasn't the staff on duty during the hours of 11 pm to 1 am able to do that for me? After countless other passengers and myself were left to sleep on floors or any space we could find to lay our heads, no food, and extremely cold temperatures, all Continental staff members were unable to be located. They had all evacuated the premises. As people who slept in vulnerable and compromising positions, robberies were attempted and it was one of the most unpleasant experiences I have ever witnessed.

After 45 minutes of sleep and 12 hours later, I checked the departure status of the flights only to discover the 9 am flight I was scheduled to take to Albuquerque was cancelled as well. Again, no Continental staff was present to offer any type of assistance. At that point, I had lost all confidence in Continental Airlines’ ability to get me to my destination as well as provide me with accurate information about other flights I could have taken. I will think twice before ever doing business with Continental again and would advise everyone else I know against it.

After waiting hours on the phone to get to a customer service representative, I was scheduled to take a flight out of Houston to Phoenix only to fly back into Texas to get to El Paso, 800 miles from my original destination where someone I know could meet me. Not to mention that there were several direct flights to El Paso leaving Houston that I was uninformed of. There were even several flights advertised on websites such as Expedia moments before the 9:05 am departure which indicates a vacancy and that were direct routes to El Paso from Houston. Those were not offered to me after I had been stranded in the airport for 15 hours.

Talk about an unforgettable vacation experience when 85% of my vacation was spent in the airport. I chose to do business with Continental under the premise that I would reach my destination in time to enjoy my holiday weekend which also happened to be my birthday and instead spent my birthday stuck in an airport with someone else waiting for me at the airport in Albuquerque. For a company that prides themselves on excellence, professionalism and customer service, it was very disheartening to not see any of that displayed, no resolution or attempt to reconcile to be made. Upon arriving in Phoenix, it was also noted at my layover, there was a flight to Albuquerque leaving that morning that I was never informed of. The flight would have gotten me to my original desired destination without having to inconvenience another party to have to travel 800 miles and $200 to get me. Thank you for my "worst experience ever”!

I was lucky enough to see my bag come down the conveyor belt and I took it upon myself to go get it before these idiots broke some items I had paid a lot of money for overseas. The number of my flight was UA 941 arriving on June 29, 2010. These guys were brutal to the baggage and could have cared less who saw them do it. Then due to the flight being 20 minutes late and the fact that these bozo's threw all the baggage in piles, my entire group missed our connector, but fortunately we were put on another.

The United flight began well enough, taking off on time. Upon arrival for the scheduled plane change at LAX, United notified passengers that the LAX to LHR flight would be delayed by two hours. I immediately found the United Airlines desk at LAX and asked them for assistance in ensuring that I would not miss my next flight from Heathrow to Naples. The woman at the United Airlines customer service desk at LAX was very helpful. She said she was booking me on the next Alitalia flight from Heathrow to Naples using the same confirmation number of my existing Alitalia flight. She said the United Airlines flight to Heathrow would still likely arrive in time for my flight. However, in case the United Airlines flight arrived late at LHR, I must present the voucher she gave me to Alitalia at Heathrow. Alitalia, she said, would put me on the next flight out to Naples. Thinking all was well, I proceeded to the gate and waited to board the delayed flight to London.

The United flight took off later than expected, following an additional 30-45 minute delay on the runway. Having left LAX about three hours late, the United Airlines flight arrived at Heathrow well after the Alitalia flight to Naples had taken off. I proceeded to the Alitalia desk and explained that the United Airlines flight had been delayed, but that I had taken pre-emptive measures by talking to United Airlines customer service. I presented them with the voucher and explained that United Airlines had booked me on the next Alitalia flight to Naples using the same confirmation number as my original booked flight.

The people at Alitalia told me that they could not honor the document given to me by United Airlines, that I was not, in fact, booked on the next flight out, and that I was a "no show." That the "no show" was beyond my control was irrelevant, they said. Furthermore, they asked that I pay them 450 British pounds for a new round-trip ticket to Naples to replace the original $260 ticket I had purchased. I refused and asked to speak to the manager. The manager told me much the same thing and further indicated that this was a problem for United Airlines to handle, not Alitalia.

I asked Alitalia to phone the United Airlines representative at Heathrow, who was located at a different terminal. The United Airlines representative spoke to the Alitalia representative on the phone, and then to me. Alitalia, she said, were supposed to put the passenger on the next flight out as a courtesy to United Airlines, however, they could no longer do so due to new Alitalia regulations. She said she was swamped with customers as it was a bank holiday weekend, and could do nothing more to help me. I explained that the delay in my arrival at Heathrow and subsequent missed flight was due to a United Airlines flight delay. The United Airlines representative repeated that she was swamped with customers and was unable to assist me.

I continued talking to Alitalia, and again to United Airlines, and even called my Italian speaking Neapolitan contact who spoke with the Alitalia representatives. Nothing helped. By this time, the last Alitalia flight to Naples was closed. Having no other recourse, I left Alitalia and went to British Airways. British Airways had a place on a flight to Naples that evening, leaving from Gatwick. The cost was 600 GBP (about $900 USD) for a round-trip ticket, plus the cost of the coach to Gatwick. Not wanting to be stuck in London over a holiday weekend with no place to stay, I bought the ticket.

I would like to request that United Airlines reimburse me for the $900 British Airways flight to Naples, as well as the missed $260 Alitalia flight. I am a frequent United Airlines flyer, hold a United Airlines credit card, and try to fly United Airlines whenever I can. All my previous experiences with United Airlines have been quite positive. As such, I was surprised to have had to pay out of pocket for a missed flight due to an unexplained airline delay. I would very much appreciate your attention in this matter.

Upon returning to the front desk to confront Mr. Maurice he was very rude and abrasive claiming this was not his fault. He then glared at me for several minutes, using off color language and being very rude. When asked to speak to his manager (Kathy **) he refused and walked away, leaving my 2 year old son and me standing there for 10 minutes. I eventually had to flag down another individual and reschedule a flight. This inconvenience cost me 3 days of my vacation and inevitably flew me into Hartford CT where I was forced to receive a ride to Burlington VT some 200 miles north. It also caused us to be redirected through Philadelphia where we were stranded on a cancelled flight for some 12 hours. This is unacceptable and the Mr. Maurice was unbelievably rude. I have no idea why a baggage handler would be responsible for checking customers in and then being so abrasive about the consequence of his delayed actions.

Leaving my 2 year old son and I stranded in several airports of the course of the next day for long periods of time. This is unacceptable and I intend to write a letter to Fox11 broadcasting in Green Bay stating the irresponsibility of Continental Airlines and their lack of assistance in urgent matters. I will also be writing a letter to the management at Austin Straubel Airport letting them know the distress your airline caused me and my 2 year old Son. Taking 3 days from my vacation and stranding a toddler in random airports because of one employee’s lack of ability is absolutely absurd and I intend to receive restitution. This is absolutely ridiculous I will never fly your airline again unless this is rectified.

They said that was because they cancelled it and it was their emergency. I could have understood if the fight was full and they had sold the seat to some one else, but that wasn’t the case. They were asking me to pay twice for the same ticket and the seat was available. The supervisor was cold, and arrogant, and couldn’t really be bothered. When I asked the ticket agent what his name was, I was told, and I quote, "You can go over and ask him his name yourself." Very, very rude tone.

It’s hard because airline workers these days can be as rude as they wish. They have the control and I guess they don't need to be friendly. If you lose your temper even a little bit, you can be banned from flying. So I was very mindful of this when dealing with Continental but it really isn’t fair. I called around and found that US Air, Delta and JET Blue all had flights for less than $200 out of JFK, which is a huge difference from $556.00. So after talking to a very friendly Delta agent who said that is the policy of airlines, but if a seat is available they can waive the charge and allow you on the flight, I caught a $30.00 shuttle to JFK and got my flight home to Raleigh. End result: I will never fly Continental again. And if their ticket agents get laid off, they may be rethinking their behavior and how they treat people when they are standing in the unemployment line because their professions are certainly not recession proof. And they should be thinking about that when they are dealing with people who purchase tickets.

Switch to Southwest. This is not corporate America paying for these tickets. I'm a self employed person and $550 is a lot of money to lose. Furthermore, I will stop moving all my AmEx points over to Continental to bring my family on vacation every year and use a more customer friendly airline that appreciates my business.

By the time I finished and got to the gate I still had 5 minutes to spare. The two airline employees would not let me on the plane. They said I missed the flight and should go to customer service. The plane was still there and I still had 5 minutes but they wouldn't get off their cell phones. I had to take a later flight because of all that happened.

I filed a complaint and was told that they would be in touch with me. After a month I called and was told that it takes 60 days to receive an answer. I just called again today 6/8/10 and was told that the confirmation number was no longer in the system. Then the rep looked up my complaint by name. All I was told is that it was my fault that I was not there in time when I was delayed because their workers wouldn't let me through. This is no way to treat customers if you want to get repeat business.

Consider that in 2002 I was on their flight from LA to Newark which was delayed so that they can fill the plane with waiting list. Thus it arrived late to Newark. Although my connecting flight to Amsterdam was still at the gate as I, and two other passengers, reached the gate, we were not allowed on it. The plane started while we were standing there. It was night, the airport was empty. There was no service, no help. It took two hours, now it was close to 12 PM, to find somebody whose first reaction was: pay for your own hotel or sleep at the airport. Finally, they send me to a cheap hotel where the door was chained to next room full of drunks.

They let me wait 24 hours for the next flight to Europe that was to Milan. When I arrived to Milan, I found out that Continental did not book my connecting flight and that the next one due in 12 hours. It took me 3 days to get not my destination. My luggage was not there. It took another 2 days to find it. When it was found, it was pilfered. Continental did not pay a dime in reparation. They were, and are, rude, unhelpful and secretive. I left number of messages asking for their California Legal Representation, which they have to have and they deny having one. Avoid them like a plague. The consequences are lost job, lost money, and extra expenses in tens of thousands.

Here is a link to the Continental Airline website, which clearly states that check-in for the Omaha Airport is 30 minutes prior. As I am writing this, I haven't heard yet if they were able to get another flight. I do know that they were understandably extremely stressed about my friend's cancer and the risky surgery she is about to have and this treatment was the last thing they needed right now. I will never fly Continental Airlines again.

My child gets on plane to Hawaii. He gets here all is fine. I call United Airline to verify departure flight from Kailua- Kona, Hawaii to Los Angeles, CA: to San Jose, Ca, for my minor child, which I have paid for chaperone on return flight as well. I also called to verify whose information they had down, that will be dropping him off at Kailua-Kona, Hawaii Airport, once again using United Airlines. At this time I needed to change that information, and woman proceeds to inform me that the minor’s flight from Kailua-Kona to Los Angles is fine, but flight from Los Angles to San Jose flight had been canceled. United Airlines will accommodate me by putting my child on a later flight, the following day, however I may have to pay any additional fees that may occur. I was not happy, and I let the United Airline Employee know. She then admitted it was an error on United Airline end and they would not charge me any extra.

I was also upset because had I not called, United Airline would not have given me a courtesy call to let me be aware my minor child would have been in Los Angeles Airport for over 24 hours. Because of change of flight itinerary, I had to rearrange drop off and pickup chaperones for minor. Once again, as minor child departs from Kailua-Kona, United Airlines claims no chaperone is paid for. I again have to argue that chaperone is paid for. Once again United Airlines notes chaperone is indeed paid for. When my child arrives at the very end of destination, in San Jose, Ca, I like any parent, want to know my child has been safely picked up by accompanying adult I have provided information for. I call my mother who is person I have appointed to pick my child up. I get no response.

I call several times; leave several messages, no response. So I call United Airline to find out if my minor child has been delivered to San Jose and picked up by appointed adult. At this time I am told they do not have this information. I ask them who does. The United Airline employee directs me to call San Jose, Airport. I ask if they can provide me with that number. United Airline could not. I researched online and found six different numbers for San Jose Airport. The first three numbers, I get an answering system stating I have reached a certain office and its hours of operation are Monday through Friday. This did not help because it is early Sunday morning. The other three numbers directed me back to United Airline, at which this time I spoke to three different United Airline employees. One of the employees’s tried to reassure me he was safe, I asked if he could confirm that by who picked him up. He could not.

I once again get directed to call the airport. I argue that it was not the airport I paid to chaperone my child to safety, I paid United Airline. I then talk to another employee, this employee argues with me that how does he know I am who I say I am, I argue back that they didn’t bother to know when I gave them my credit card and they accepted my purchase. This employee then tried to direct me to Airport once again. I am ** by this time, yes I was rude, yes I was cursing, you **. I want to know where my child is. I am told by employee that I should call the adult that I have appointed to pick him up. I claim I have, I am not getting an answer that is why I am calling them. Employee proceeds to tell me that it is on adult picking him up and to keep trying to call them. I yell at employee that I did not pay that adult to insure his safety of being picked up by the correct proper person, I paid United and they need to find my child. I speak to a supervisor at my request, supervisor got on phone with a defending demeanor, so I was automatically extremely upset. He tried to tell me to listen to him several times, before I could explain situation, I would not budge. The man heard what I had to say, in turn I listened to him tell me exactly what others told me.

I then let this supervisor know that as a paying customer that ensures the safety of a minor child, that their company should know where that child is at all times until released, and signed for. I was told to contact San Jose airport again. I begged supervisor to somehow contact that airport because I have no means of contacting them, I was then put on hold for almost an hour. Supervisor came back to let me know that child had been picked up by correct person and the name of the attending chaperone.

At this point I had to hope after my rude arguments with this company, that I was being told correct information. I was later called, by my child once they had reached home 5 hours later. My chief complaint against United Airlines is if a customer pays for a minor to be chaperoned, that any change in flight schedules, parents should receive a courtesy call as soon as change is detected. I also believe that a parent/ customer should be able to contact the airline who is responsible for child from point A to B and possibly a C, and Airline should know this information at all times. I believe the parent should be given either a website and confirmation number, or phone number to be able to validate this information.

If United Airlines cannot proficiently keep a minor's where about at all times, I don’t believe they should offer a chaperone program, let alone charge extra amount for the service. I would have gladly gone through a different airline that was competent, and given my money to them. I will never use United again, and I will definitely not recommend for anyone else, especially when it comes to a minor child traveling with the aid of a paid chaperone. I would like to request if possible that some kind of tracking system be accounted for every minor traveling alone with a chaperone.

So, I would assume by the time I boarded in Charlotte, Continental already knew my next flight would be delayed but didn't inform me and many other passengers in time, which caused unnecessary trouble for us. I got an email regarding the delay almost an hour after my scheduled departure time!

I wrote an email to Continental to respectively request compensation for my wait time at the airport and hotel fees I had to pay in Beijing. But so far, I haven't heard anything from anybody.

The costumer service staff at Newark airport was the worst I can ever imagine. They have absolutely no respect and no intention to help. I will never take Continental again. I will never transfer airlines at Newark airport again.

Due to the unexpected delay, my travel plan was severely interrupted and had to pay for a hotel in Beijing. It also wasted 9 hours of my vacation time to spend with my family.

It was obvious that the gate attendant saw his size and still gave him 12B. This was a cork in a bottle and put every other passenger at risk. I wonder what the outcome would have been if this had happened in the flight that landed in the Hudson.

We found the next day that bags were not taken off the flight and went all the way to destination (Delhi) despite the message. We lodged a complaint with Continental Airlines and got the following reply: “Please be advised that you may view the disclosure that Continental Airlines reserves the right to gate-check your carry-on items on our website at Continental.com under the Continental Airlines' Contract of Carriage, page 21 as follows: (2) Carry-on Free Baggage Allowance, Carry-on Baggage is subject to the following additional conditions: a (i) Subject to carry-on storage capacities of the aircraft, CO reserves the right to check a Passengers carry-on baggage.”

We have two concerns on which we would like to make Continental Airlines accountable. (1) We lived in the same soiled clothes for two days, without our medicines and in constant fear of losing our valuable and priceless documents. Was it not a breach of contract and deficiency of service? Rule 23 Section B contract subsections 2a. (Subject to carry-on storage capacity of the aircraft) was true for Atlanta to New Jersey flight. However, the next leg (New Jersey to Delhi) also will not meet the above requirement in the aircraft was presumptive, as the situation had not taken place. Did Continental Airlines not take away the right of passenger by taking a presumptive action on passengers’ handbags even before the situation occurred? Bags could have been gate checked only up to New Jersey as per cited rule. (2) Was the safety of aircraft and passengers in conformity with DOT and FAA regulatory compliance? The bags were not pulled off at New Jersey despite the message and allowed to fly even when passengers were not in flight. It was indifference to Positive Passenger-Bag Matching or screening with EDS in domestic/international flight when the passengers were not in flight. We believe this is violation of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) or other safety issues such as unsafe aviation practices, failure to comply with proper procedures.

This same woman has been working the DFW Continental Airlines check-in desk for at least 5 years, as we've had other friends with similar experiences. It is possible she hates children because she only seemed to harass parents with kids in tow.

Don't fly Continental to/from DFW airport. Continental has had numerous complaints before about the woman but has taken no action. We had to pay $300 for something that should have been covered by first class passage. We run an orphanage in Honduras and do not have extra funds for airline bullies. My wife and children were reduced to tears by the clerk. Wife witnessed same clerk harass another woman with an infant.

When I called Continental the next day, they told me I should have gone to the baggage department that night. I explained to them everything was closed and they implied that I was lying. They continue to give me the run around. I am in turn also going to call the resort in which I stayed (lifestyles a 6 star resort) and recommend that they do not recommend this airline to their guests. What else can I do to get a response for Continental?

Well this Sommer, Continental flight attendant, refused to let me hold my 2 year old (he had just turned 2). She told me, “You need to sit him down and let him cry if he wants to cry, otherwise we will not take off.” I understand the rules and regulations, but this woman was incredibly rude and racist. She kept on checking to see if my son was on his seat. The baby threw up, face was super red and cried so much until he vomited. Then everyone was looking back at me.

I was so upset at this woman (stupid flight attendant) that when she offered drinks, I didn't look at her and she told another passenger, “Oh, she is ignoring me meaning I was ignoring her.” I would never ever fly again with Continental Airlines. This woman didn't and doesn't know what it's like to have a 2 year old. Continental Airlines is the worst!

Now I'm not sure how much United pays for a night at the airport Hilton but I can assure you that it is far less than the 5 star all inclusive resort that I paid for and would not be getting any refund for. And trying to give me compensation with United vouchers is just an insult. After destroying my vacation, do you really believe I would want to trust my travel arrangements with such a incompetent company? To add to our problems, once we did make it to Mexico, United had lost half of our luggage. They did not get the lost luggage to us until 9 pm on our last night in Cabo.

Here is my major concern; United claims that purchasing a ticket basically gives the traveler no guarantee that they will get to where they are going in the time frame they have purchased tickets for. I understand acts of God and bad weather delaying things. These are acceptable reasons for delays. Overbooking a flight by 36 people and telling the "paying" customers tough ** is not acceptable. In such situations, there should be a way for the customers to get a reasonable amount of payment for lost time and money caused by the incompetence of the airline. And vouchers are not an acceptable form of compensation. Cash, cash, cash. These airlines need to pay so that such horrible customer service will not continue to plague the travel industry.

Recently, they have billed $142.70 for a ticket exchange. Do not recall any of the details so I called Michael at United and got the run around, so I asked to speak with his supervisor and he hung up on me. What can I do? The only phone number was for Michael and that was on the bill they sent me. I am thoroughly disgusted with how they treated me and he was extremely rude. This will be the second time they steal my money.

I asked to see and talk to the supervisor myself, and she refused. I knew my passport was old, because it had been issued in 2001. It was not, however, expired. But you could read all the data, and the document was not ripped or unreadable. They said they would rebook my flight once I receive a new passport. They sent me home, and I went online to see what the policy of the condition of the document was. It does not say anywhere that if the bar code does not scan, the passenger should be denied boarding. It also said reasons for denying boarding are server mutilation of the passport (which I did not have).

I spent yesterday (Sunday) working on getting an emergency passport started. I hope to have one by the end of today, but Continental has been very rude to me over the phone. This included getting disconnected 2 times after waiting on hold for over an hour! In addition, the agent who I last spoke to refused to let me speak with a supervisor. I have no idea if I am flying out of here or not tomorrow, because no one will tell me anything. I called Continental, and they told me to call Alitalia. I called Alitalia, and they told me to call Continental.

I did speak to one supervisor at Continental who was helpful. His name was Don **. He was going home when we spoke. He assured me that if I had any additional problems and called back, I could talk to another supervisor. The next supervisor barely even heard what I had to say and then connected me with telling me and without having him on the line to Alitalia. The next woman I spoke to would not let me even speak to a supervisor, and then when I insisted I was "disconnected" yet again. I have been calm, well-spoken, and patient. I am not rude, aggressive, or difficult. I am so offended and appalled by this, so I called company on so many levels.

I'm still awaiting outcome. I have missed 2 days of being in Rome. I have spent $300 on a new passport, $45 on a shuttle, $30 on transportation to passport agency, and $!4 on new passport photos. Also, countless hours of being on the phone, either talking or mostly being on hold with travel agency, Continental, and Alitalia. If I had to estimate the time I have been on the phone dealing with this since yesterday, I would say at least 7 hours, no exaggeration.