United Airlines Reviews

I remember once being charged for extra leg room, when that is what I didn't want (the system was set up to assume that you wanted the extra leg room and it was very unclear that you were agreeing to that, then suddenly you were charged), and the baggage check within the kiosk is also very confusing. It's my theory that United deliberately makes the kiosk user interface confusing so that people wind up charged for things they don't want, are double charged, etc., since United seems to be pretty clearly into charging customers for their own mistakes. Has anyone ever looked into this?

For circumstances beyond my control, I was late to make the return flight so I called to rescheduled to a later flight. I was told that I needed to pay a penalty of $174 and that there were no way to have a flight the same day. I was rescheduled to the next day at 1210 pm. The next day, I went to the lady at the check-in booth, checked in my son to a yet different flight at 2:20 pm. I went to the gate anyway and Continental Airlines was checking standby travelers and holding back original passengers - I guess to make more money.

However since I was without clothes and uniforms due to loss of my baggage, I had to purchase required items thru various sources as so that I can manage to work on the ship. This has caused lot of hardship to me but I do understand the strike problem at Frankfurt which has caused the delay. I therefore request you to reimburse me the cost of USD 552.79 to my account directly or by cheque.

I came back on the new flight, and checked out my credit card statement, only to discover that along with the 2 charges of 178.99, there was a total of 250.00 in additional charges. Obviously there had been an error, so I called in to talk to their customer service line. The first person I spoke with was rather kind and sympathetic to the situation, but had no ability to refund any of the charges, so he referred me to a manager. She had a negative attitude towards me from the start, told me that the charges were valid fees, and blamed me for not knowing the policy of Continental Airlines. I was shocked, and told her that of all people, her employees should know exactly what those policies are. I had asked him several times, yet he still misquoted the charges by 250 dollars! She said that that was not possible and I must have misheard what he said since I was in Las Vegas and it was probably loud where I was (not every place in Las Vegas is blaring with sound 24/7). She continued to place the blame on my end and offered a gift certificate to help get me off her hands.

The conversation went on for about 20 minutes or so, and she put me on hold to talk to one of the other agents. I waited for about 30 minutes while she did her work, and I fully expected her to come back on and say no refund was being issued to me. I was angry at this point and ready to really rip into her. To my surprise though, she came back on the line and stated: "apparently we've been having this problem lately and it is due to new agents and a lack of training." Wow! She let me know that the charges were going to be refunded, but also said I should have read up better on the flight cancellation policies of the airlines. She still wanted me to accept part of the blame for something that was completely their fault. I understand that passengers should know that there will be fees in the event that plans change, but I would expect the airline employees to know those policies a little more in depth than the customers would. She offered a halfhearted apology and let me know that the refund would credit in 7-10 business days.

All in all it was a rather unpleasant experience, and the second rep really made me feel that I was nothing more than a random jackass trying to get some extra money back. Customer service was certainly not her strong suit. After dealing with this airline, I will more than likely look elsewhere when I book my next flight.

So as people are allowed two carry on, I'm only allowed one. Policies and rules have changed regarding baggage, carry on and other types of mandatory post 911 safeties, which I see as a good thing. But this policy which is charging more for a carry on in which a company has no contact with, no type of interaction, as a rule it seems it wants it out of sight of everyone else on flight and it changes its policy on my personal carry on rules because it counts my paying carry on as one of my personal carry on. If my pet was going through cargo and they were handling it all the way. I would pay them any kind of fee they would come up with, but can you see my outrage.

THEY ARE NOT DOING TO HELP ME OR MY PET FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE AS A PAYING PASSENGERS, BUT CHANGING AND TWEAKING THE RULES FOR EVERYONE ELSE AROUND US. This is how I feel. Does anyone out there have any authority to try to see if this policy can be re-evaluated and changed to a fee that is suitable for the service that we are giving? Thank you. It went from $60 each way to $125 in three or four years.

I flew from London to Boston (via Cleveland) on continental airlines. In Cleveland I had a 4 hour layover and noticed that there was an earlier flight to Boston. I went to the service desk and asked about getting on this earlier flight. I was told that for $50 I could try and fly standby on the early flight, however I was also told at this point that I would only be charged the $50 fee if I was able to board the early flight. I gave the agent my card to swipe and was given a receipt and a stand by boarding pass.

I waited at the gate for the earlier flight, but upon boarding was told by the gate agent there that the flight was full and they were not boarding any stand-by passengers. I showed her my receipt and boarding pass and again asked if I would be charged the $50 and she told me that no since I didn't board the flight the airline would not charge me the $50 fee.

I then boarded my original flight and headed home to Boston. Much to my dismay, several days afterwards I noticed that continental airlines had charged me the $50 fee, for the flight that I hadn't taken.

I was incredibly annoyed having been charged a fee that I was told twice by continental staff members that I wouldn't be charged and for a service that I did not receive.

I emailed the company (phoning was not an option - I tried to get through 8 times but could never get to a person) After almost 4 weeks I had a reply to my email - It stated a service fee is charged for each ticket changed, and that since a change did occur, we are unable to process a refund.

What I would like to reiterate is that a change DID NOT occur. I was unable to board the earlier flight and flew on my original flight to Boston. It states on the continental web site (a direct quote from the frequently asked questions section) -

If I fly stand by, but do not clear and end up taking my original flight, will I be charged? No. You will only be charged if you ultimately clear a seat assignment on a flight other than your original flight.

I do not understand why I was charged a fee when I did not get a seat assignment on any other flight - I flew on my original flight! I want to emphasize that had I known that I was simply being charged $50 to fly on the flight that I had already paid for and was originally scheduled to take I would never have let the airline touch my credit card!

Continental doesn't seem to want to check their records and see if they made a mistake. I have written two letters, and emailed them four times, and finally I'm just trying to get my credit card company to sort it out.

It does make me wonder though how many other people they do this to, that either don't notice the charge, or can't be bothered fighting it.

The continental.com website was not much better. It offered me to change my flight, a 6hr. flight, to a new flight which was a 36 HOUR FLIGHT. That was not an option for me. On Sunday, 9/14, their phones were still turned off. The website showed that the flight from West Palm Beach to Houston was still scheduled, but the connection to Los Angeles was cancelled. On Monday morning as I was set to fly, I still could not get thru to continental. This was a business flight for me. Thus I had no option other than to book a flight with another airline to L.A. thru another city. On Friday, 9/19, I was set to return to West Palm Beach. I phoned continental the day before to confirm my flight. During my 48 miute phone cal to them, they told me that I could not use my return flight ticket. They stated that this was a round trip ticket I purchased. Because I did not use the first leg of the trip ticket, this was no longer a valid round trip ticket. They said the original flight from PBI to LAX went as scheduled. I had no means to verify this.

I was advised that my return trip ticket was not valid because I was changing my return flight to a one-way flight. To do this, I had to pay a $100 change fee to change the ticket from a round trip ticket to a one-way ticket, plus the change of fare was $129 additional for a one-way flight. This was the exact flight that I purchased my original ticket on. This was the flight I was scheduled to return on. And now I have to re-purchase my ticket with a change fee to ride on the same plane.

Upon arrival to Houston we literally RAN through the airport, customs, baggage claim and re-check in record time. We made it to the designated gate for flight 467 to Seattle only to se the reader board switching from Seattle to Sacramento. We were instructed to visit the nearest customer service desk along with the 100+ other passengers that were now stranded in a city with no available hotels and no services in or outside of the airport as there was marshal law and a city wide curfew issued for hurricane Ike. The 'customer service' representative we spoke with told us the soonest flight to Seattle was 24 hours later and she could not guarantee us a seat on that flight. There was however a flight leaving within an hour to Portland but she could not offer us the first class seats we had paid for - we could address the cost difference directly with Continental once we got home. We were told our luggage would be in Seattle by 9am the next morning (can get my luggage to Seattle but can't get me there?).

We opted for the Portland flight with a three hour drive and a $150.00 rental car. Today when I called Continental 'Customer Service' I was not only told that I get to eat the cost of the rental car, but I also get to eat the cost of the first class tickets I paid for but never got to use. What recourse do I have to ask Continental to give me what I paid for? Sorry none, suffer, thanks for doing business with us, be sure to look us up next time you want a vacation ruined! Where do I file a complaint?

$150 for a rental car - $1200 upgrade cost

I have no money for a new ticket.I have no work visa for austurila

Guess what. He put my tag on someone else's bag. It is now a week and I still haven't received my bag. It totally ruined a trip in many ways. Even more frustrating, is that United sent a bag (via Air Canada) saying they had found my bag and would bring it up. Well, it arrived the next morning. It was the mistaken bag with my claim check- different color and definitely belonging to someone else. I asked the complaint center (which I understand is in India) to notify Montreal, Dulles and LA regarding the location of my still missing bag. It has orange and white survey ribbon as a big bow on the handle- and is black if anyone sees it.

I also asked them to pick up the bag mistakenly taken to my hotel in Montreal. It took them 40 hours to pick up that bag, after repeated calls and a call to the owner of the bag (which I had found by looking at all the tags.) So, I am still searching for my bag. It could be anywhere, but it seems like it should be easy to find who else got the wrong bag who traveled out of LA, during that same time period. That person got my bag.

Please United, I really want my bag. I am sure its the only one out there now with an orange and white bow. This was really incompetence. Now watch if I file a claim, they will undoubtedly try to tell me they only need to pay the $1000 since I was on an international flight vs. the $3000 domestic even though the mistake was made in LA, and they have no proof my luggage ever went to Canada. Anyone who sees it, please let me know. Still looking.

Returning was the real disaster, I went to print our boarding pass and discovered that neither Andrea nor myself was scheduled to fly out on Monday, September 8, 2008 @ 7:27pm in which we were both scheduled for flight #7348. We had already checked out of the hotel and returned the rental car...NOW WHAT!!! Oh my Goodness we are stranded!

Long story short we both had to contact our employers to notify them that we would not be able to report to work due to a flight that was re-scheduled for Tuesday, September 9, 2008 @ 6:00am without any prior notification. In addition to all that, flight # 7932 plane was so raggedy I feared for my life the flight was extremely ruff and the plane made all kinds of noises I was absolutely petrified.

Again, long story short we would like to be reimbursed for the inconvenience. Please contact me if any additional information is needed concerning this matter. Thank You

Big inconvenience, we was stranded with no extra money to rent a room and besides how was we going to get there! so we slept in the airport until our flight was ready to board.

When I called the luggage center, I got new numbers to call. It was like calling a circle of numbers without real answer. United just took advantage of customers who don't have any power to do anything. The agent at Chicago said if I did not want to pay, I cannot go on a flight. These airline are like conspiracy to get more fee money from customers with new rules almost every month or the difference between airline policy. United did not honor policy of their partners but Air Canada gave me no help too.

$15 is not much money. It was more like a frustation and the feeling that you got screwed with this loophole. Flying used to be an easy way to travel. Now is a nightmare.

I was excited to arrive at my final destination and leave the whole horrible experience behind me. I retrieved my bags, only to find one was missing. They said they would deliver it by noon the next day to my home. So, off I went to my car only to find that they had somehow damaged my double stroller so it would no longer collapse. We folded down the back seats since that was the only way it would fit and rode home. Since there was no longer room for me due to the stoller issues, I rode home sitting on the floor between my children's seats. At noon my bags had still not arrived, so I called United. They stated that they were out for delivery and would be there by 230pm. By 600pm my bags were still not there. We are now at 2 days since we arrived at home and I still do not have my bag.

When I call the customer service line, they put me on hold so they can call the Burbank airport. In the four times I have called nobody has picked up the phone at Burbank. On my travel to Boston from Burbank I flew with American Airlines and they went above and beyond to help me. They pre-boarded us, carried the carseats for me, and even occupied my children while I installed the carseats on the plane. They even told me that when I needed to go to the restroom to just ring the buzzer so they could keep an eye on my children. American (and a few other carriers) also have infant changing tables in their bathrooms, where United does not.

I am a frequent flyer. On average we fly cross- country 6 times per year (24 round trip tickets). In all my years of frequent travel, I had never had such a horrible experience as I have with United. I have never had such poor customer service and would be willing to pay more for a ticket to avoid this airline. I will definately tell everyone I know with families to never use this carrier.

This experience has made me never want to travel again (I am completely serious). They also broke my double stroller (Peg Perego Aria twin, $330) and my luggage has been missing for 2 days. I have none of my toiletries and most of my regular clothing is missing (it was a 3 wk trip).

The ticket agent, overwhelmed with accommodating passengers, had completely forgotten about us! Had we not approached the podium we would probably have been completely ignored and missed our connecting flight to Tel Aviv from Newark. This egregious situation is totally unacceptable and simply indicates the disrespect Continental Airlines has for its loyal customers. Perhaps this information should be conveyed to Fortune Magazine and JD Powers to permit them to obtain a true assessment of Continental Airlines` disregard for their passengers. With the commandeering of our airline without notification and treating us with blatant disrespect, our confidence in Continental airlines is rapidly being eroded.

The problem arised when I tried to cancel the flight and was told if I wanted to rebook I would be charged a $150.00 doller rebooking fee per ticket. The original price per ticket was $129.50 which means that not only would my ticket be worthless I would be charged $20.50 for rebooking plus even though I paid for the tickets with my visa I would not be allowed to use my credit in what ever way I wanted.

They do state in very small print on the e-mail of my reservation that there my or may not be a booking charge for rebooking. But if you go to their web-site you will find no mention any where what the charge will be plus when I ask an agent directly what the policy was she neglected to inform me but when i try to reschedule they suddenly were very informed on the subject and also extremly rude.

I have tried to resolve this problem with continetal airlines customer service department to no avail. I also tried to dispute the charges with my credit card company which also would not help.

I had to go buy a new camera myself!

When we got our luggage off the plane at Newark Airport, the box and bottle were smashed and all the contents of the suitcase were soaked in liquor. We filed a claim with Continental Airlines, only to find that they will not cover any of our loss because their policy is not to cover any perishable/liquid items damaged by them. Carnival cruise ship will not reimburse us either, as they stated it was the fault of the airline carrier. Ultimately, no one will cover the loss we have incurred.

The bottle of liquor, which we would really like to have cost us $130, and the clothes and shoes damaged in the suitcase is a loss of approximately $450. We are hoping there is someway to get reimbursement for our loss.

One of them eventually came and upon my request for water brought me a very small glass of warm water. After drinking a sip decided I could not drink the water and went to request for a more refreshing water perhaps from a fridge. A male attendant in a very very rude manner told me to go and sit in my seat as they were busy and could not give me water at that moment. They were not busy at all; 2 of them were sitting and the third one, the male one, standing and all three of them were talking and joking, that was the reason they were busy!

When I objected to him that he had no right to speak to me in that manner he became more aggressive and told me to go and seat OR I would not be on that flight. He asked me in a threatening voice: Do YOU want to be in this flight or not? I replied of course I do. GO AND SIT DOWN THEN. I returned to my seat and requested to see the head attendant. It was not until 20 minutes later that I had another half glass of warm water, and the aircraft did not take off for another 25 minutes. I could not believe it that a person as rude and impolite as that male attendant still had a job.The head attendant came and listened to my complaint and was very sympathetic and told me she understood and apologized to me.

A month after the incident I am still upset and can not forget what happened to me and have now decide to let other people know of the poor service that United Airlines provides. I did not tell my two children of my very unpleasant experience with the United Airlines as they had paid for the tickets and had treated me to the trip to the United States. I loved America and enjoyed my time there. Next time, I will undoubtedly travel with another airline. Since my horrible experience I have been advising my friends and relatives against travelling with the United Airlines.

On the day of the initial leg, Flight #616 was cancelled due to weather, and United was unable to put me on a flight to Washington before the next day. This effectively eliminated the purpose of my Washington visit. Accordingly, I reached United reservations by telephone and asked to convert this ticket to a round trip between Chicago and Montreal, economy, and I thought this was done. Indeed, I traveled the next day (August 5) from Chicago to Montreal and returned on the originally booked flight on August 8.

Since a round trip between Chicago and Montreal was $486 at the time of my booking, I believe I am owed a refund (from $890.56, equaling $404.56). I realize that United was not responsible for the weather, which created the initial cancellation, but this seems a simple case of fairness and logic. My attempts at achieving this goal by telephone to various United agents was nightmarish. After two long waits to speak to a human being, I was told each time that I somehow was diverted to the wrong person (although each was recommended by the previous agent).

I was finally connected (after more than an hour on the phone) to an agent who spoke such poor English and with such a heavy Indian accent that he was practically incomprehensible. (Shame on United for employing such people as telephone agent. Or was this simply a cynical attempt to discourage further efforts on my part?) All I got from him (I think) was the sense that he could do nothing for me.

I then complained to United customer service via their website on Aug 12, and the next day received an e-mail reply telling me that United instead booked this as two one way tickets (why?) which magically came to the total of my original booking of the three-legged flight ($890.56). I immediately responded that this was unacceptable, because I asked for and should have received a round-trip booking.

I received an e-mail reply on Aug. 15 telling me that the matter has now been referred and so the Refunds Department will review your request and process your applicable refunds accordingly.? I waited 10 days, having received nothing from the Refunds Department, and wrote again asking for a resolution. The e-mail response came the next day with the explanation: Currently, our Refunds Department are experiencing a high volume of emails and as a result, your continued patience is much appreciated.? It has now been 4 weeks since I initiated this complaint, and there is still no resolution. I find this unacceptable and wish both to register a severe criticism of United Airlines and their handling of this matter as well as any help you can provide to resolve this. Thank you.

Now the Airlines claims that most cases report are fraudulent. But we had pictures of two weddings on our camera (both my nephew, I not worried about the $254.00 I wanted my pictures)! I'm still waiting for the System Tracing Center to do there thing. There number also are nothing but promps. No live person to talk with anymore-customer service has just taken a dive big time!

Anyway, the flight attendant was making her way from the rear galley to the other flight attendant who was 10 or so rows towards the front of the plane with cart service. As she went by, i said "excuse me" and TAPPED her on her shoulder to get her attention (it was very noisy ). I said that she skipped my wife's meal - well i tried telling her her, but couldn't finish my sentence. She had a pot of coffee in her hand, she swung around and SHOUTED "dont you EVER touch a flight attendant with a pot of coffee, this is HOT COFFEE.... and continued shouting at me for about 20 or so seconds. I was dumbfounded. Everyone in the back of the plane was in awe, as i and my family, that this flight attendant was going off on me.

Anyway, she gives the other attendant the pot, storms back the the galley delivers the meal, then continues her assult for another 20 or so seconds. I was in shock, my wife and my daughter visibly upset. All i could say is "are you kidding me" over and over i kept saying "your kidding me right, are you serious. I demanded her name and employee id, she flat out told me NO and walked away towards the other flight attendant, who now was gaining the attention of this situation. The 2 attendants were talking, and as they were, the other flight attendant was looking at me, then at her, and i could see her mouthing "he HIT you? he HIT you?

I looked at my wife in disbelief, she is telling the other flight attendant (fa from now on) that i hit her... are you kidding me...? So the other fa comes over to me and asks me what happened. I calmly told her and she offered me the continental's complaint phone number, i asked her for the fa name and employee#. she told me that she didn't have to divulge that info, but gave me her name, and told me how to go about filing a complaint. I denied hitting the other fa, and asked her to ask any nearby passenger who was telling the truth. she asked the gentleman across the isle, and he confirmed to her that i did not, in fact, hit that fa. YES i thought, i have a witness!

Well, they wound up moving the fa from the aft galley to the front of the plane. I was totally calm during this ordeal- the only thing i kept on saying is "are you kidding me? Anyway, the fa would come by from time to time, asking me if i was ok- i told her it is what it is- im still filing a complaint, but it's over and done with. I planned on sleeping during this flight, but couldn't because i was so shocked. My wife was shaking, and my 7 year daughter, who witnessed everything, kept on asking questions about the "mean woman".

Just when i thought it was over, about 1 hr before landing, the fa asks me to the aft galley, and hands me a paper saying "i know this is over and you are not a threat, but we have to do things by the book here." the paper explained to me that i had interfered with a flight attendant, and failure to stop would result in my arrest. No biggie, it was over an it was "all good" in my opinion. I was still going to file a report, but surely this would be the end. NOt so. She told me that because the other fa was filing a report that would state i hit her, that she told the captain, and he radioed ahead and that the authorities would be waiting for me at the jetway. ARE YOU KIDDING ME- I told the fa "she is sticking to her story that i hit her, even though you asked a passenger and he told yo that i didn't- I said, are you going to file a report? she said she didn't have to. i said, well you better, because you are my only witness to the fact that a passenger who saw the exchange told you i didn't hit her.

So as we landed, 2 of Portland's finest, and an FBI agent met my family (imagine the look on my daughter's face) and interrogated me and my wife for 1/2 hour or so. By the way, the passengers behind us volunteered to give the police an account of the whole ordeal on my behalf, because they couldn't believe how i was treated. We gave our statements and left, still in shock. Was this all a bad dream? not a chance. Never have i been treated so rudely and with such disrespect in all my life. I have a police report id# as well as a continental airlines report file #. I haven't heard back from them yet. I called their customer complaint # as soon as i got to my brothers house and tried to enjoy our vacation...

I asked the agent if there was any availability on either the day before Sept 12 or after and she said there was not. I then asked if there was anytime in the same week and again was told there was no availability. I then asked if I could buy another ticket and was told I could on any of those days- interesting apparently [they] have plenty of availability just none that United will let me use my mileage for.

I cannot have my daughter travel internationally to another new country on her own. I am really disheartened by this and am wondering if it really pays to travel by UA. I have indeed gone ahead and cancelled my ticket and have booked with a different airlines. How disappointed I am in United's flexibility, and I wonder what good your mileage plan is if you can't use it? Thank you

I received an automated phone call on August 25, 2008 saying there was a change in my itinerary -- they had changed the departure times on each flight by about two minutes. But that caused my seats to be re-assigned and I lost the first row that I had originally confirmed. When I called I talked first to reservations (for about 45 minutes) to no avail. She transferred me to customer service where I talked to two separate people who in the end said they couldn't help me but would offer me $25 vouchers or 100 miles! This for $4300 worth of tickets! I will never fly with United again. Be careful - the seats you pick can be yanked right out from under you.

During my awaiting my final leg from Dulles to Syracuse I didnt suspect I didnt have my bag (looked exactly alike, green claim ticket and all) and received no public announcement to return to the gate to pickup my bag. I found out later in Syracuse that the United representative gave my business card (off my bag) to the other passenger and he called my office (of which I didnt receive until much later). It would have been more beneficial to make a public announcement, the other airlines do it all the time, why didnt United (customer service lacking)? As for the business card, while at Syracuse, their baggage claim did make contact with the other customer (the next day, Tuesday 12 Aug), using his personal information found in his bag. He was still waiting on word of his bag (this was the first help he received) and thankfully Syracuse was able to make return arrangements for his bag.

However, to date, there still is no word on my bag, although I understand it's not easily tracked, why couldnt United have looked for my bag while everything was still fresh at Dulles, now it may be in Chicago, who knows. Ive recently filed a claim for my bag contents and my claim was turned down in an email from a Mr. Berk (United Baggage Rep). Then after I filed a complaint, Mr. Berk and another claim rep, Ms. Narula, both, email me to file another claim and I did.

I continue to try and telephone Dulles United Baggage Claim (still no answer there). Ive tried to call United Ohare and nothing. Im still at a loss of what their procedures are to give some adequate customer service. I continue to hope they are looking at the information I continue to send them and can use it to find my bag. All I know is the green claim ticket is on my bag and as far as I know when the United gate representative took my business card she failed to put it back on the bag which will make locating it a lot more difficult. Im a very unhappy person right now.

I will be out some clothing and toiletries and I sure will think twice before I take another United flight.

On account of this innumerous flight delays, I lost two working days. Therefore I request from the Continental management to reimburse me for the days lost and the expenses incurred unnecessarily by flight delays.

I checked the weather report that morning and found that there were no weather disturbances anywhere in the country other than "haziness" in some area. Upon the realization that our flight would be late and possibly prevent us from making our connection in Houston, I approached the agent at our gate and asked her if we would make the connection or not so I could make arrangements with my husband and find a place for my young daughter and I to stay the night. The agent assured me that the plane would arrive only 7 minutes late and I would have absolutely no problem making my connection. I asked her to confirm her response and asked if she would guarantee her words and she said without hesitation, "yes".

The plane departure time kept being moved back and so I called the Continental 800 number and was told we would likely not make the connection. I then went back to our agent who again assured me we would make it. I mentioned to our attendant that we had a tight connection and wondered if she could assist us in anyway, getting us off the plane faster. She angrily blurted that she had plenty of other passengers with the same problem and we were no more special than any of them. However, not much later, flirting with some young men sitting in front of us on their thrid round of cocktails, we overheard her say she would do anything and everything in her power to get them off the plane and to their connection. Obvious discrimination.

On the plane, the attendants passed out wrapped hamburgers and Twix candy bars. But, since I am allergic to wheat, I could not eat either one. I asked if I could receive another meal because of my wheat allergy and I was told "NO". Our plane arrived in Houston after the departure of our connection and a man at the gate told us to go to a counter behind us. At the counter was a nasty and rude woman who asked for my boarding pass then shoved a ticket in my hand with boarding passes for the next day. I asked her where my daughter and I were to stay that night and she then shoved a blue voucher at me. I asked if it would cover a room and she said, "No, it's a discount". I asked her if that was the best Continental could do for us after all the inconvenience, she replied "Yes. Next".

My daughter and I proceeded to the baggage carousel to retrieve our bags. We waited and waited and waited for over 20 minutes and our bags did not show. We were NEVER told by the woman who gave us the new boarding passes that our bags would not be there. We went to the baggage claim room and we were told that they had our bags and would place them on the next flight in the morning. I asked if we could have them now and we were rudely told that it would take them an hour and a half to get them for us. We opted to call about the room for which we received a voucher and them man on the phone told us the room would cost us $57 plus tax and fees WITH the voucher.

We arrived at a run down Ramada Inn after waiting another 30 minutes and I checked online to see what it would cost me to book that same room on my own. The price was $59.49, only $2.49 more than the voucher which meant the "voucher" I was given was worth $2.49. It was deceitful of Continental to lead me to believe that they were offering a discount when it truly amount to me only $2.49. By now it was 11:00 PM and I had not had anything to eat thanks to the delays and the flight dinner I could not eat. The hotel did not offer any sort of food and no breakfast. We left for the airport at 8:00 AM. I still had not eaten since lunch the prior day.

After boarding the plane, the attendant "Angel" came around with pretzels. I kindly asked her if she had anything else, as I was beginning to feel fain and I explained my allergy to wheat. She curtly blurted "Nope!" and proceeded to the next seats. About fifteen minutes later I heard a boy ask a different attendant if she had food. She said she had pretzels and PEANUTS. PEANUTS? I was told there was only pretzels and nothing else! I then asked that attendant if I could have peanuts and she did bring some to me. Again, obvious discrimination.

All in all, from beginning to end, this was a complete nightmare. Additionally, by the time we arrived in Tucson, my son and husband had left without us having the opportunity to say "good-bye: and we had to pay a taxi to deliver us to our home 35 miles away. We were forced to pay $70 for a run down raunchy motel, with no discount. We missed seeing our son off to the Middle east, we had to pay for a taxi to drive us from the airport to our home because my husband had already left town by the time we arrived, my husband drove 70 miles ( one and a half hours) from home to the airport to pick us up because they staff told us they "guaranteed" we would make our connection and we did not so the trip was for nothing.

The attendant treated me with prejudice in telling others passengers they would be treated "special" and telling me I would not. Treated me with prejudice when they told me they had nothing for me to snack on put pretzels (I am allergic to wheat), then brought out peanuts for a passenger when they asked.

Once this was settled, we proceeded to the gate with our three children only to find out that the flight was canceled due to weather. We had already checked in our bags for this flight, but we were assured by the customer service rep, and her manager that was watching over her, that our childrens'luggage would be safely boarded on the next flight the following day. We went back to Connecticut.

The following day (August 11, 2008) we drove our children once again to NJ to catch flight 2379Y, only to find out in route that the flight was once again canceled. That evening, I called and canceled out flight all together and requested a refund. To the best of my knowledge this was done, although I have no way to be sure as I do not recall a confirmation number given. I then called baggage to find out if they would ship our luggage to our home seeing as we live so far away, I spoke with Kevin who literally laughed at me and told me we don't do that.

I then found out that they actually shipped our luggage to KY! I called Louisville, KY and asked them to please ship our luggage back as our children were never on that plane. (which was assured to me that the luggage would be going on my childrens' flight (?). They told me that they would be happy to fly it to Hartford, CT (BDL). The following day, I called Louisville to make sure that it was shipped to BDL and the woman (believe me I wish I got her name, she was extremely rude and could care less that my children had no summer clothing as it was shipped off to KY)told me that they shipped the luggage to Newark!! Frustrated, I asked her why would they do that when I asked them to send it to BDL, her response I can't help you ma'am, go call Newark and slammed down the phone.

I then called Newark and told her my story, she told me that my luggage was in fact STILL in Louisville!! Are you kidding me???? This employee told me that she would email KY and have them send the luggage to Hartford. The following day, I called Newark to see if the luggage was shipped to BDL, the employee told me that it was in Newark. I can't even tell you yow much time I invested in this making phone calls and speaking with Continental employees who were not only rude, but didn't know what they were talking about!

Finally, it was said that the luggage was in fact in Hartford. My children went days without any of their summer clothing, not to mention having to replace toothbrushes, hair brushes, etc. On August 13th I call my bank only to find out that Continental actually took the $150.00 which was supposed to be for my daughter to arrive in KY safely.

Just another note as to these employees not knowing what they are doing, I was told by Ms. P from the complaint center, that I didn't even need to purchase this unaccompanied minor ticket because my oldest was 17!!(???) I already called to request the refund, I never received the service from them and on top of all the aggravation, I am at their mercy to refund me at their convenience. In between making daily phone calls to Continental, I now needed to go to the bank and put more money into the checking account so that I wouldn't bounce checks because of an error made on Continentals behalf.

I can not tell you what I went through between being mistreated, misdirected, laughed at, hung up on and probably the most frustrated I've ever been in my life. I would not ever fly Continental because of the way people are treated and more importantly because of the lack of knowledge these people have in the job they do.

I am not seeking anything other than my $150.00 to be returned immediately.

On the flight from Houston to Little Rock I was placed in the middle of the plane. No one even tried to find me a seat with room for my cast. I had to tell the person who seat they gave me that they had given his seat to me. No one from the flight crew ask how I was once. When I arrived in Little Rock my foot had swollen signficantly. DO NOT fly continental if you need any special attention

I Subsequently on 8/17/08 located the certificate and asked customer service at continental airlines whether they can accept the discount certificate and give me the refund amounting to discount. But they did not agree and said the ticketing was final. I feel this is unfair as I had got the certificate already with me for sometime and was issued to me by Chase card services for my use. And presenting the discount voucher subsequently does not alter anything as Continental would have given the discount anyway. Also considering the fact that I recently shifted my residence and I deserve some consideration on subsequent locating the document. I am a senior citizen and do not travel much and hence if I do not use the certificate now, I may never use. Considering all these will you help me to get the discount applied to my ticket and get a refund from continenatl Air?

A loss of $100. I am eligible for this as the certificate was issued to me some time back by Chase card services for my use.

When I got to US Airways I was informed by the ticket agent that CONTINENTAL AIRLINES did NOT reserve us seats and he had to make the arrangements for us! When I got into the Bangor terminal the Continental agent told me that my bags "probably" would come in on a later flight at 11:30pm and that my bags would get to me the following day. They did NOT inform me of customs documents and I was only notified when I crossed the border by the border agent coming into Canada. The 4 customer service reps I dealt with afterwards to locate my missing luggage were some of the rudest people I have ever had to deal with and constantly gave me misinformation. Each call I was told something differently.

The person I spoke with in the morning told me to leave a note on my door and they'd deliver it today through "Rich's Courier Service" and then when I called back this extrememly rude agent told me CO only opened up a case "to be nice and... it wasn't our responsibility" to locate my luggage... Unbelieveable! I was finally notified that US Airways had my luggage and ended up having to make my own arrangements to get my luggage from them. I was more satisfied with the assistance I recieved from US Airways and will probably travel with them on my next trip as there was no "passing the buck" when I spoke to their agents. I was informed upfront as to what was going on and what needed to be done. There has been absolutely no accountability on the part of CONTINENTAL AIRLINES, and It was EXTREMELY dissapointing from start to finish!

I would never travel by CO again in my life. I absolutely can not get over the rudness, lack of professionalism, and constant mis-information. I can't believe our flight was over-booked to begin with and that a mother would have potentially been seperated from an 8 year old child...Just ridiculous...and then to be told that it was basically my fault because I flew with US Airways when I didn't really have another option? They should be ashamed of themselves. When I tried to ask for a supervisor and get the last telephone agents name she told me she wasn't going to do that and hung up on me.

By this time, I was concerned about missing my connecting flight out Newark, the once daily direct flight to New Delhi, India. I approached a customer service rep, Jose Torres, about the status of the two flights and was told, "Yep. You're gonna miss it, yo. Do you wanna refund?" Well..no, since I was flying to India for specific purpose (a business review meeting starting on Monday), I needed help finding the quickest and best way of getting to India. Jose was not helpful as he said "tomorrow's flight is booked". He stood staring at me as if expecting me to turn around and walk away without a suitable solution. When I pushed for additional assistance, I was told that I could fly to Newark and wait on standby for the next day's flight to India.

When I asked if Continental would book and pay for the hotel, the customer rep said no. So...I could fly to Newark and spend the night in the airport or pay for a hotel out of my own pocket. Not much of an option. Tired of Jose's inability to find a viable solution, I finally asked for a supervisor. I asked the supervisor to look at routing me through Europe as, two years ago, when I was moving to Delhi, I experienced similar problems with Continental. The supervisor said, "Well...since you have a better idea of where you can fly than us, maybe you should take care of it".

I thought it was the job of a customer service rep to take care of and find solutions to customers flight-related problems but apparently I was wrong. Not getting anywhere with customer service and feeling dejected, I asked my husband to drive back to the airport, (a 90 min drive). At this point, the best the supervisor could do was put me on standby for the next day's overbooked flight. Incredible.

When I finally returned home, I called the 1800 We Care line and spoke with Joe, who turned out to be a customer service guru. He booked me on a Providence-Newark-Amsterdam-Delhi flight and his help and assistance helped reassure me about the airline; perhaps I had just run into a couple of grumpy staff members.

The next day, I returned to the airline, ready to catch my flights, ready to go. Continental's motto, as I was about to find out, does not include the whole 'ready to go' idea. I arrived at the airport to find out that the flight out of Providence was delayed this time due to mechanical difficulties. Once again, I would miss my connecting flight (Newark to Amsterdam). I asked the customer service rep to help and I was told that there was one seat available on the direct flight to India- a middle seat. I accepted the seat but then explained that I have a medical condition that requires an aisle seat. This was documented in my initial flight plan so...shouldn't be a problem, right? Wrong. Tonya, today's customer service, told me to deal with it in Newark.

I once again called 1800 WE Care (funny- if you think about it) and spoke with another great customer service rep. When I explained my situation, she put a note on today's flight info for the crew in Newark. Why Tonya could not help me with this was not clear. At any rate, we finally take off from Providence and, once we arrive in Newark, I head to the nearest rep who does not wait for me to finish my question nor does she look up at me before saying, "Go to customer service". I wait in line one hour at Customer Service and explain my situation and medical condition, providing proof. I am told to talk to gate attendant. Well...there is no gate attendant and I am getting tired of being passed along. I wait at the empty counter until Ysa B comes along. I say hello and am waiting to explain my situation to her when she tells me to go sit down, she is busy.

When I explain that I will wait at the counter until she is finished, she mutters "whatever". After 20 minutes and a barrage of dirty looks, Ysa is ready to help me. I explain my situation and am told to wait over in the corner and she will see what she can do. I wait...and wait...and now it is time to board. I see a manager, a nice looking black man, and beg for his help, as I am close to tears by now.

At the very last minute, I am given a window seat. Not exactly ideal given my condition but slightly better than an aisle seat. As I boarded, I was incredible overwhelmed and exhausted by how hard it was to fly Continental Airlines. All the conversations I had to have, all the begging, pleading, pushing, probing I had to do simply to fly to my scheduled destination...and that the airline could not deal with my medical condition in a satisfactory way- unbelievable. What type of recourse do I have?

I recently booked a flight on United to Canton, OH for Christmas; the price $287, which isnt bad considering Canton's airport is small and it is the holidays. But when I went to book the exact same flight leaving Nov. 22 and returning Nov. 29, the price had increased to a whopping $974.50! I can understand fluctuating prices between days of the week, but between the time of day? And so drastically...does it take more fuel to run the same type of airplane in the middle of the day than it does to run in the morning?

The customer relations response I received said something about how prices fluctuate based on demand, but if you do the search and check the seat maps, you'll see there's currently not limited seating on any of the flights offered for those days. So if every passenger on that flight pays over $900, does that cover the price of fuel for a flight that takes approximately an hour? If that's the case the US better come up with some new aircraft that uses cheaper fuel...

Consequences? - unfair price gouging to consumers. How much more price burden are we supposed to take? dont the airlines realize they're running themselves out of business? I dont have the answers, but I'm sure not going to pay over $900 plus luggage fees for 1 flight that takes a little more than an hour...

My husband went to the airport and our luggage had zip ties on it. On many occassions Continental has misplaced our luggage but has never put zip ties on them. So when he got them and seen the zip ties he cut them off right there in the presence of the clerk on duty. As he went through the luggage he noticed that most of his valuable items were missing. He had a playstation 3 removed from its box and then the box returned to the suit case. Also the games that he had; had been removed from the cases and the cases put back. All of his watches and Through Back Jerseys were stolen.

Contacted the Airlines and they blamed it on customes, called customes and they blamed it on the airline. Bottom line is I need someone to help me find the individual that did this. I have the boxes that may have finger prints from the individual because if they were stupid enough to put the boxes back in then maybe they were stupid enough to not were gloves while committing this crime.

Loss of over $2000 of hard earned cash.

I called customer service to complain and was given conflicting information about my flight, which led me to believe that there was no air traffic problem. During the entire call, I was treated as if I was stupid and unreasonable for wanting compensation for my hotel expenses. They were even reluctant to issue an apology. On my return flight from London-Gatwick to Houston then to Birmingham on August 5, 2008, I had a similarly awful experience. I checked the status of my flight online, talked to ticket agents, etc. and at no point was informed that flights through Houston were being canceled and/or severely delayed by the weather. There was a hurricane in the Gulf Coast. Someone should have told me that my flight to Birmingham (and all flights to Birmingham save one) was going to be canceled. On the flight, I was given the wrong food because a flight attendant dropped the food in front of me while I was asleep. I received the Muslim vegetarian option. When I realized this after seeing the poor girl beside me pick at her chicken sandwich, we called the flight attendant over. There was no more vegetarian food and so my seat mate had to go hungry.

When we arrived, the passengers were kept on the plane for an extra hour because the jet way could not extend to the place the pilot had parked us. I had to run through the Houston airport because I was under the impression that my flight would actually leave at the scheduled time, and I would therefore only have an hour to get through security. This was not the case, however. I went to the gate where I was supposed to board and where the posted signs directed me too, but the gate said Wichita and not Birmingham. There were no announcements made, there was no posted information, and, if it weren't for the one competent Continental employee (Maria G.), I would have been stuck in Houston for another day. Luckily, she got me on a flight to Montgomery. I understand Continental can't control the weather, but if information about flights was better shared than I would never have flown into Houston.

When I arrived in Montgomery, my baggage did not make it with me. When I reported the baggage lost, the attendant was unable to register the information because he could not get the computer to work. I was forced to write my information on a piece of notebook paper. As soon as I got home, I called Continental's baggage claims hotline. The woman informed me that the bag had been sent to Birmingham and not Montgomery. After prompting, she said the bag would be delivered before noon the next day. I called 3 times when the bag did not arrive.

The first time I was treated as if I was stupid (again), but was told the bag was on its way. The second time, I was connected to speak with someone at the Continental counter at Birmingham who went to investigate my bags. He informed me that he would call me back. He never did. The third time, the lady attempted to get me to believe that I should contact the people at the Montgomery airport when I knew that all of the lost baggage claims could and should be handled by the carrier. After refusing to hang up until she got me specifics, she managed to get my information and informed that there were too many bags at the Birmingham airport to deliver today, so I would have to wait until tomorrow.

I am currently waiting and very, very displeased with almost every aspect of my flight. Continental should at least pretend to care about the customers. Some semblance of interest in my flying troubles from more than one person would have lessened the impact of the utter incompetence and ignorance of Continental's staff. 1 hotel room - $60 2 unnecessary/extended car trips - at least $40 horrible Continental experience - priceless

Unfortunately I got late and passive response from the lost-and-found, 'If it does come to our office we will contact you.' And I got no further news so far. I was wondering that how often the items were lost on board and how often they got them back to the owners? Although its not their responsibilities, it does reflect the quality of their service.

When I brought it up to uacustomercare, I was told that 'you may file your report by phone at the destination airport of that particular flight only' and I got no response when I asked 'What is the phone number at the destination airport of UA898?'... was it actually existed?

So, in my opinion, asking for the AED was fine. She still didn't do anything to help this guy. Male passengers had to help him. The attendents were very rude, and seemed like they had no emergency training!

My second issue is luggage---LOST. I called all day, and got a different story every time about where my luggage was headed. I was yelled at by a luggage associate at the 1800 number. It's now 8/1/2008 at 930pm, and I still don't have my luggage, and I fear that something will be missing because it's traveled to several cities since last night. I will never fly Continental Airlines again, nor will I recommend them to my worst enemy.

I had meetings set up today. I potentially lost revenue. I had no clothes.

On July 23rd, I called United customer service. After over an hour of going through a very complicated phone system, I finally find a human voice. However, the person I talked to was in India spoke highly accented English. He could not easily understand me and I had trouble understanding him. I finally figured out that it would cost me over $750 to make the change. Its $150 penalty per ticket plus the difference in the fare. I decided against it since I could book one-way on American Airlines for $212 per person. I got to my destination without trouble. Had an enjoyable weekend and then tried to use the return portion of my flight. I had not cancelled it.

I knew something was wrong when I couldnt print the boarding pass at the hotel. I arrived early at OHare for my 1 p.m. flight only to discover that my ticket had been cancelled because I did not use the first leg of the flight! The ticket clerk was friendly, but explained she could not do anything. She called her manager who also explained she could not do anything. The second manager called her manager. Their only option was for me was to purchase two tickets at close to $1,000 a ticket. I demanded to speak to the managers supervisor, who finally came after one and half hours.

During this time, I was making frantic phone calls trying to line up another flight. The manager decided to override the system and only charge us a $150 each $300 total penalty and then gave us back the exact same seats we had reserved on June 4. That there was a delay due to mechanical trouble is par for the course. I would appreciate that at least the $300 penalty be waived. I am disputing the charge with my credit card company. I have no idea where the policy came from. I tried to go the website, but still cannot find the policy of unilaterally canceling tickets written in plain English.

$300 additional fee, total of over $1,000 in extra airline travel expenses.

This request was denied and denied harshly by Elsa M. in the Salt Lake City customer care center, who continually spoke over and interrupted me. Continental and Elsa proved to me that my lifetime value as a customer is not worth a single change fee. In fact, she said she would change the tickets at a cost of $150 per ticket, which is essentially what I would have saved if I had booked today. I asked if my Elite status meant anything and she said in this case, I was welcome to fly elsewhere.

It is amazing, especially during a time when customer retention should be first priority, that Continental is willing to give up my future business (which is at least $35,000 /year) for this one transaction. I said that if Continental really doesn't value me as a customer, then I will find a company that does and Elsa agreed I should go ahead and do so. I look forward to sharing my experience with the travel community to provide better awareness to Continental's practices. No resolution. Will no longer fly with Continental; neither will employees from any of the six companies that each of these travelers work for.

Our company was to purchase a machine for our business, but we missed the meeting. We would never have flown to florida for 48 hrs. just for the heck of it!

This is when I reach the counter and asked when was my flight to board or was it late! The agent at gate 75 informed me that the flight I was seeking had been re routed to gate 90 and that I better hurry or I would miss it. As I got to gate 90 I was informed that said flight had left and that I better hurry to the Customer Service counter. Again I ran to said location, now a bit miffed and annoyed for all the running around that I was being put through. At the customer counter I asked to see the supervisor. I was being major inconvenienced and I was appalled at the customer service I was receiving.

Why had such change not been aired through their PA system? I was then told the supervisor wasnt available, then I asked if he/she could contact me by phone; I had my cell and I needed to ask a few questions. That was also impossible and if I wanted to make the next flight I should pretty much run to gate 120. Because I was quite exasperated I was handed a complaint form. On reaching gate 120 I approached the agent at the counter explained what had happened and asked if as customer service could they at least bump me up to a better seat and in thus fashion I would be satisfied, the answer from the agent was Hell No!. As I boarded the plane I was so irate that I couldnt even see straight. Was this the famous Customer Service that their CEO so falsely advertised while captive in our seats waiting to take off? He has some nerve! The plane ended up taking off late, for as we were informed: they had to wait for a connecting flight.

From my seat as I waited for the progression of my saga I put in a complaint. Today I was further insulted by adding insult to injury; offered 120 bucks in a certificate, that off course I would have to redeem on Continental Air. Too bad Continental doesnt engage secret flyers or even give their customer handlers some sort of training on how to be courteous to their passengers, their attitude is the worst I have ever encountered in all of my years of travel.

All I have to say is this: I will be their worst negative promotional agent. My dollar my choice! Continental will never see another dime out of my pocket!

I had to re chedule all my apointments over and over.

We did get back home, however, I have no recourse and do not know where to lodge a complaint against the improper handling of my travel itinerary. I spent over 1/2 hour on the phone requesting to speak to a supervisor. I was assigned case id# by Leah in Houston.

I asked that someone contact me so I could explain the matter in detail. It is obvious that this is an ongoing unpleasantness that is occuring far to often. The staff at Continental are inferior to the standards of other domestic airlines. It is a shame that the consumer has to go to these extremes to have a voice heard.

He is worried sick about his family now and is trying to handle this from Afghanistan. He needs to be concentrating on the terrorist and his personnel, not this. I believe [United} will do the right thing; otherwise I would've already gone to the Marine Times, Fox, and government officials to express my opinion.

Military spouse living alone is foreign country is having to use limited income to pay outragous fine. My brother is fighting a war, leading hundres of troops, making expensive calls from war zone to United, worried about his family and finances.

As there were no returning non-stops on the day I needed, I was to change planes in Houston, TX, with only a half hour to spare. I suffer from several medical conditions - sciatica, fibromyalgia & depression - & take medication for them. Although I try to be as independent as I can (I was traveling alone), there are times when I have difficulty walking properly, & stress accacerbates all 3 of my conditions. The flight out of Tulsa was late taking off & there were several groups of people making connecting flights to various places. I asked the attendant (whose name I unfortunately didn't get) if I would make my flight. She asked which one & when I told her Newark, she said it was doubtful.

I then asked what happens if a flight is missed - will I get a different one, will I be put up in a hotel (it was a redeye I was supposed to catch), etc. She said she didn't know since it wasn't her department. I found it hard to believe that someone who flies for a living wouldn't have some idea of what goes on. At this point, I was feeling pretty bad physically & was about to cry. I told her about my conditions & she got even ruder, asking me what I wanted her to do about it. I told her I was going to have difficulty running to any gate & she finally took my boarding pass & disappeared for a second. When she came back, she said there would be an electric car waiting for me. Ok, I thought, maybe she's just had a bad day.

When I got to Houston, there was a car, but it only took me to the airtrain that goes between terminals. While some people had gotten a map of the airport, I had not, & was confused as to where I was even going. I did my best to run - in serious pain now - empty cars whizzing past me & me not knowing if I should try to throw myself in front of one. To top it off, I had no medication with me. My suitcase that I'd carried on the plane on the way there had been hard to deal with & I thought it best to check it because of the plane change. While I realized I should have taken my meds out & put them in my purse, I hadn't & was without anything. (Although I got a nice lecture from the lady driving the car that took me to the airtrain - like I didn't know by then I should have taken them out.) I was about to drop when I got to the gate. Although the other planes had been held, mine had not & I missed it by a few minutes.

By now I was crying - not loudly, but obviously - & I asked the women at the desk what would happen. I explained that I was without my meds & in severe pain. They told me that was the last flight & I would be put up in a hotel & fly out the next day. I asked if they would find me another flight on another airline or a different airport, & they told me there wasn't anything - without bothering to look. When I questioned that, I was told they "just know." At this point, Peggy S. the "Hub Coordinator" was at the desk, along with a security guy, & I was calling my husband on my cell phone since he was scheduled to pick me up in Newark. I explained what was happening & all the while, Ms. Slay kept interjecting things into a conversation she had no business even listening to.

I finally told him I'd call him back as she would not leave me alone. She told me to get in the wheelchair they had brought & she would take me to get a new boarding pass for the next day's flight & a whole $12 voucher for food (I was told to use room service at the hotel - what room service do you know that's covered by that amount?) Thankfully, Ms. S. does not work in a hospital, as it was a pretty rough ride. I asked her why she was being so nasty to me - she reminded me of an elementary school teacher who has caught some kid being disobedient - nasty tone, staring at me with her eyes bugged out like a lunatic. She said I had treated her employees badly by "cussing." Funny, I had barely said a word to anyone, but I had told my husband I would never fly "this [expletive] airline again," however, I was not loud about it in the least & was not even looking in anyone's direction, but talking in a low voice into the phone. I told her that I'd been talking to my husband & it had nothing to do with any employee specifically. She then changed her story to telling me that "cussing" is against the law in Texas. Someone had better tell Texas, because there is no such law on the books - I checked.) & she would have me arrested if I did it again.

Startled, I said I hadn't known that & gee, sorry. She told me that "acting smart wasn't going to make me any friends around here." I was still crying off & on & when we got to the desk to get the boarding pass, Ms. S. told me that my crying was "unneccessary" & to quit "being dramatic." I had to keep explaining that I was ill & without meds. She then asked me if I would like her to "call the paramedics." Thinking that maybe this might be a good idea, I asked what they could do for me. She said they would take me to the hospital. I then realized that she wasn't trying to help me, but threaten me.

I was alone, confused, in a place I didn't know with very little money, so being shoved into a hospital was not exactly a comforting thought. I declined. In addition, another passenger nearby kept trying to get me to share my hotel room with them & offering me various medications out of her purse. As Ms. S. was also some kind of "Security Coordinator," I wondered later why I wasn't being protected from this stranger. She just kept shrugging, saying it was my "call." Um..no thanks.

I was then introduced to an African American man who I was told would take me to the hotel. Now it gets slightly bizarre. He said to me that he would, "Say yes'm & no'm & drive [me] around just like Miss Daisy." My mouth fell open! Where I come from, if I had said that to him, I'd have gotten my head handed to me, so I was perplexed as to why he would say such a thing. I looked over at Ms. S. & he repeated what he'd said. I asked him if that he wasn't being racist to himself talking like that & Ms. S. suddenly jumped in, saying I had "misunderstood." Ok... I guess I'd said the wrong thing since I was given someone else named Janet who was the only human being in the entire place. Ms. S. threw a travel kit at me & when I asked if I could get a T-shirt or something to wear as I was soaked with sweat, I was told they "don't do that." (I was told the same thing when I asked for a diabetic meal on the morning flight.) I begged to borrow something from an employee or a merchant, but she flat out refused to help me here. She basically told me to hang my clothing up to dry & sleep naked.

Thank God for Janet. She wheeled me to the hotel, the whole time asking me what was wrong & actually listening. She was a Christian, as am I, so she was able to refocus my thoughts. She checked me in (one of the other passengers who had seen what was happening also spoke with me in the lobby), took me to my room, made sure I was fine & called a friend of hers to get me back to the airport in the morning, where a car was waiting to get me to my gate once past security. The hotel was very nice (I might have enjoyed it under other circumstances), but I didn't sleep at all & because I was starving, ended up spending some of what little cash I had to add to the voucher so I could get a meal.

The consequences? It's been a couple of days, but I'm still in pain, as well as anxious. I was only out about 15 bucks, but the trauma of the whole thing was enough to make me never want to fly - or see Texas - again. And the cherry on the cake? Miraculously, my bag was in Newark when I arrived, but the lock - which could have been opened with a bobby pin - was cut. Inside was a note with the lock attached, telling me I had been "randomly" picked for a luggage search. Everything I'd packed was still in the bag - except my medication. Random? You decide.

My husband returned to the airport the following day and visited the Baggage claim department and United Terminal at Dulles Airport to again receive no satisfaction. He even gave the name of the flight attendant for them to check and see if she found his package. Of course, the constant reply is keep checking but to what avail. United should have been able to trace the owner of the package based upon his seat assignment.

To make matters worse, upon arriving home he found his aviator sunglasses had been removed from his suitcase and his eyeglass case left in the suitcase empty. Nothing is safe anymore either on the airplane or within the airline services provided i.e., baggage.

Loss of package $200, loss of sunglasses $200 - total loss: $400 plus aggravation, frustration and time spent trying to locate my property.

Well we missed our flight #918 to London, and were not allowed to go on the next one going out which was boarding at that time, just two gates down, ;because they could not get out luggage loaded on that plane in that short of a time, but then we all know the luggage was still on flight #918 and on it's way to London. Get this (and please keep this in the back of your mind) YOUR LUGGAGE IS NOT ALLOWED TO FLY WITHOUT YOU!

We were sent to the customer service line to get re-booked. They had 3 people on the counter and no less than 200 people in line, needless to say we were going to be there awhile. Would have been but after an hour in line a lady with a medical condition raised cane with someone at United, and they sent two more representatives that took the international passengers to another counter, since there were only about 12 that helped move it along. Finally it was our turn. We had a very nice agent, she would put us on Virgin Airline flight #56 that was leaving at 11:10, she called Virgin, set it up, asked their people if they saw the reservation on their screen, they did, she gave us tickets and we ran and walked as fast as we could all the way to the other side of the airport to their terminal, I am guessing it took at least a good 20-30 minutes even with moving walkways.

When we arrived there, handed our tickets to the agent, Yaser Z., he said they had no reservations for us, and would not call United to confirm it, he said our tickets were not valid! I asked him to call his supervisor, he said he could not do that, that I needed to go back to United, they could not tickets issued by United for Virgin Airlines. What is this? Is this another new way to anger customers? Well it was back to United...across the airport...found the same agent and told her what they said. She called Virgin, got a "supervisor" told them the problem, this person said we did have reservations and gave us this MAGIC reference number FZK2PP that would apparently get us on the flight, well the clock is ticking, its going on 10:00 p.m.

So it's back to Virgin...across the airport...agent at the desk said they closed boarding 20 minutes prior to our arrival! I lost it! Told the "supervisor" there, a Heba M., I wanted to talk to her supervisor she said she did not have one to which I replied bull, said I know you have a supervisor and I want to talk to them. Well I got no where, did get her name and the other agent and will be sending letters. Anyway it is now going on 11:00 p.m., back to United...want to know how tired and angry I am? Back to the customer service counter, where there was a new agent, I did not get in line which I was told about, and I let her know this was my third trip back and I was not getting in line again. She booked us on a flight out the next day at 6:10. Since it is now past 1 1:30, trying to find a room for the night is another nightmare. We finally found one that was a $65.00 cab ride away. Thank you United! Since our luggage is off to London and we have no personal items because of all the restrictions we will have to find toothpaste, etc small enough to travel with or else we will have to toss it. Thanks again United!

Now we have lost a whole day we had planned in London. We did get the flight but sit on the runway for 2 1/2 hours due to storms in the Atlantic. We finally got to London and guess what, our luggage did not fly with us. We had to take an hour out to file a lost luggage claim. We called the number for lost luggage as we would be leaving London early the next morning for Paris. They had not located it yet. We made several calls to United's Lost Luggage and to our AAA agent trying to find someone who could give us some definite information as to where our luggage was and when we might get it. We did not allot time for shopping for clothes and necessities into our schedule and resent very much the amount of time that was taking. We gave United the address where we would be in Paris and the phone number they could reach us at.

United had called to tell us they had found our luggage and it would be delivered to hotel in Paris. We were ready to leave Paris and still no luggage. We called United the 15th to be sure they had our address in Barcelona and when we would be there. We need to find a charger for the rental phone as the battery is almost dead and the charger is in our "lost luggage". It is now seven days and still no luggage! We had to shop for some clothes, still a time consuming and not an easy task. We have been calling United several times a day looking for the luggage, personally I think they are lying when they say they found it and will deliver it to our hotel. We have heard that several times now, but still no luggage! We had a flight to Rome, so there went the shampoo etc.

We keep United updated as to where we will be and when we will be there just in case they find the luggage. We called the travel agent and had her get us a day later departure from London since we lost a whole on the front. We got back to London on the 21st, still no luggage, I haven't been able to use my movie camera, which is one of the most disappointing parts of this trip, since Paris, my charger is in my missing luggage and no one carries them. Left London on the 23rd, got to Dulles, had only about 1 hour to make connection to Pittsburgh, but had to get through customs first. What a zoo that was, a very poorly run operation, you could not put one foot in front of the other, let alone claim your luggage. Because this airline is not able to schedule connecting flights with enough time between them to get through the customs mess, missed that flight just as many others do.

We were put on standby for the 11:00 flight. We did make that. I am never flying United again. By the way I got my luggage during the night of the 25th. The delivery service left it in the garage sometime in the middle of the night. Probably because someone twisted the handle off of it, a brand new suitcase too. My granddaughter did not get hers until August 14. 2007, 36 days! Half of her things were soaking wet, including the two new books she had in there. Guess you lied to us when you said our luggage was not allowed to fly without us.

Needless to say , I am less than happy with the way we were treated, not only about the lost luggage? but the way the delay and booking through Virgin Airlines was handled. That was so unprofessional. I cannot believe that you can accept that kind of business practice much less subject your customers to it. If the airlines continue to think they can abuse the ***** and their customers like they are now, you are in for a rude awakening. Speaking for myself and my granddaughter we are not flying United or Virgin Airlines for any reason. There are other carriers out there.

Indiana, Pennsylvania 15701

I am not getting my money's worth because the ticket should cover your snack.

In the meantime, a rental car company calls me and informs me that they will return my bags as soon as I give them this other couple's bags - which of course I can't supply. I try to explain that I don't have any additional bags to no avail and am repeatedly told that I will not receive my luggage until I hand over someone else's property! Finally I call the number I was given on the lost luggage report to see if they can convince the rental car company that I truly don't have any way to accommodate their demands! The lady on the help line at Continental was extremely helpful and managed to get my luggage out of a hostage situation and had it returned to my home within two hours!

The second incident with which I have been impressed happened a few months ago, flying from Sacramento to Tallahassee. Our flight to Houston was delayed by about 5 hours, which of course is not going to be easy for anyone. They got everyone rebooked in Sacramento, before anyone had to go through security, made arrangements for everyone, and of course, profusely apologized. As we were finally getting off the plane in Houston, they met us at the gate and handed out vouchers for hotels and meals. While it certainly was not a pleasant situation for anyone and many plans were damaged, the professionalism of the Continental employees certainly helped the passengers through a very difficult situation!

The only negative thing that I can say of Continental is that I am extremely disappointed in their choosing to discontinue certain flights that I have flown quite regularly over the past year. I am really not looking forward to experiencing a different airline! However, I do understand that it is a business decision, and I had suspected that this decision was forthcoming!

They could careless about the ill passenger and did absolutely nothing to help this person, or to try to accommodate him. We were able to help him, and move our seats to give him some space and a place to lie down. I walked to the back of the plane to get some water, not only was the curtain was closed; the attended was rude since I had disturbed her reading time. She quickly, gave me a glass and immediately closed the curtain in my face. The never came around to check on any of the passengers, nor the ill one. Why should we have to put up with this disrespect?

Unfortunately, this was a business trip for my wife who was to attend a medical conference in Hawaii. When we argued they did give us an alternate booking on a waiting list out of Chicago but neglected to tell us that there was overbooking on all flights with very long wait lists. OVERBOOKING In Chicago we spoke with United representatives again-per the United representatives there were no seats out of Chicago to Honolulu for the next 3 days because of overbooking. They gave us the option to go to Los Angeles and from LA and maybe catch an early flight out to Hawaii the next day-(on a waiting list).

The first flight out of Chicago to LA we were on a waiting list and were offered three separate seats which we could not avail as we had a four-year-old child with us. The United representative (Flight Attendant) here was very rude to us and told us off for delaying them they asked us to step out of the way as we were in the way of legitimate travelers. Our suitcases arrived badly mangled in LA. As nothing inside was damaged we did not report this as this was the least of our problems.

En route to LA on flight 941 we were asked to move from being seated together to separate seats to accommodate a couple with a child not much younger than ours. With all Hawaii bound flights overbooked out of LA We were stranded there the 17th and 18th of June and arrived in Lihue on June 19th-3 days late. On the last leg of our journey LAX to Lihue airport Hawaii-I left my cell phone in the front pocket of my seat-united staff refused to help me find it. On arrival home on June 23rd I called United and they told us United were in no way liable for the inconvenience as the delay was weather related and we were not eligible for a refund as we continued traveling, got to Hawaii and returned with them. The person I spoke to told me: We only give free tickets to passengers who willingly give up their seats.

United gave us three travel vouchers good for $200 each good for travel on United expiring in one year. I also got a coupon for inconvenience for changing our seat on 6/17/08 on Flight 941 to LAX-I do not know what that is worth. I am writing as my expenses for 2 days stay and cancelled reservations were in excess of this coupon amount. I also felt the ordeal suffered by my family including missing 2 days worth of conference time in Lihue was worth more than the amount United compensated us for. United also never admitted to making an error and never once told us we deserved better service. My wife and I paid ~ $3600 to United for the return tickets. We arrived home with damaged luggage and lost items.

New one-way tickets (2 pcs.)from Dubai to Bangkok (Emirates First Class) worth approx. USD 2000-2500.

Before I called, I logged into my United account and checked the e receipt. Since the e receipt stated that my total, with all fees, was $43.20, I felt confident that the $75.00 charge was a mistake. United informed me that the charge would not be refunded, because it was a closing fee, apparently charged because I had ordered my ticket 10 days in advance of travel. The first person I talked to told me that this policy is new as of July 19th. I told him that the website never said anything about such a fee. He transfered me to the website department. The website department listened to my story and transfered me to the international desk.

The woman at the international desk was incredibly rude. She informed me that the fee was a closing fee. I told her that the previous representatives had explained what the fee was, but that I had never been told about the fee. I explained that the website never said anything about such a fee when I was purchasing my ticket. I explained that my email and the e receipt reflected a total charge of $43.20. I told her that I was not paying for a fee that I had never been told about, and that United cannot charge customers for fees that they did not disclose. The woman informed me that United never charges its customers without informing them. And then she HUNG UP ON ME.

I see that another consumer had a similar problem with an undisclosed fee. I too will be filing a formal complaint, and may try to dispute the charge through my credit card company. United cannot charge consumers for fees that they never agreed to pay. Currently, I have a $75.00 charge on my credit card. I plan to call customer relations tomorrow, but given what other people have said on this website, I don't expect a refund.

After waiting for an hour I checked with Singapore Airlines myself. They told me they had available seats on the next flight to the US (leaving at 10:40am), so I went to the United counter and found that all of the United reps vacate the premises completely after checking in their early morning flight. I called my travel agent and she called United. She was told that it was a delay due to weather and that no one was taking off from Singapore until later that afternoon.

As my travel agent was telling me this I was watching flights take off and get pushed back from the gates here at the airport. United is plain old, flat out lying. The Singapore Air flight took off while I was waiting for them to resolve the issue (I had already checked in so my agent could not refund my flight, I bought a refundable ticket). So, if you buy a refundable on United it is not really refundable because their agents hide from the customers. It is now 11:40 and the customer service people at the airport still cannot find any United respresentatives.

Of course, my delay will cause me to get into Chicago too late to catch my flight to Charlotte, so basically they have cost me an entire day and many, many hours of pain. I am a business flyer and flew over 250,000 miles with USAir last year alone. United - I flew you to Asia a couple of times last year. This is the last time I will permit my travel agent to book me on one of your approx. $10,000 cross-atlantic flights. Hopefully you will start to feel the pain of your POOR, nonexistent, dishonest service.

Unreasonable expenditure of my time, possibly additional expense if I have to re-book on another carrier tonight.

So we waited in the terminal, me sobbing until a Heathrow representative, noticed how distraught I was and came to assist me. The Heathrow called a manager who insisted that Continental to permit me to use the lounge without charge.

Totally disgusting lack of regard for human suffering. I will never fly with Continental again.

Now they will not credit the $100. They are irresponsible and the several customer service representitives are incompetent. They only say it is nonrefundable. I was never told that I would be charged the $100. They cannot lawfully do this. They are not within their rights to charge me without informing me or sending me a receipt. I will file a formal complaint.

My Daughter was flown to LAX. I had to drive 160 miles (round trip) to LAX and of course pay for 2 hours of parking, because her flight was also late. My Daughter's baggage was not at LAX. The bags where at Ontario. We are still waiting for her baggage currently.

time, money, and my intelligence

Two elderly ladies took off and have to cover the entire airport. They got there about 10 minutes before departure and the gate agent there would not even acknowledge them. She was rude and told them they would not make their flights. This I do not understand because they had their boarding passes. When they tried to board the agent at the door said it was too late. They were sent to stand in a line with about 100 people. Of course, their plane took off without them. Over 3 HOURS LATER, they were assisted by another rude agent who told them they could have gotten on other flights if they weren't in line so long. They ended up having to stay overnight in Denver, at their own expense, and fly out the next afternoon.

When they arrived they went to pick up their bags and both my mother's brand new luggage and her friends were really damaged. They went to the damage counter and the woman was buzy chatting. When she was throough, she looked at it and said that my mother should have bought better luggage and she would not allow her to file a claim. So my elderly mother set off, dragging her destroyed bag through the airport. My mother called me in tears once she got to the hotel. I contacted United. I called the customer relations dept (which was a call center in India) I could not understand anything and asked for a supervisor. She spoke a little better english. She listened and apologized. I asked if they could be bumped up to first class for their return flight and she laughed and said that the offense wasnt that bad.

I asked about claiming her damaged bag and she said that I needed to contact the baggage dept. I called the baggage dept and the lady told me that they only handle lost bags. I needed to go to the counter at the airport. I explained, again, that she had done that and I needed help from a supervisor or something. She said that I can email corporate baggage and they would help. I email corporate baggage requesting that her bag be examined and she be allow to submit a claim. I received a canned response that they do not handle claims and I needed to go to the airport counter to file a claim. I responded that she did that and that is why we are contacting them. Once again, canned answer but this time with an apology.

I called the airport itself, hoping to get directly in touch with the claim counter and possibly speak with a supervisor. They transferred me to the United reservations line. I am so angry. I understand that problems happen sometimes. But the company should want to fix the problem or at least take care of the customer.

Loss of new luggage. Both wheels broken off and zipper busted.

The result is that United was booked until May 3 2009. I could only find a flight to go to Cancun, but I could not find a return flight using my frequent flyer mileage. The attendant could not schedule anything pass May 15, 2009. The system does not allow this. The mileage I accumulated is worht nothing is my experience.

THere are too many restrictions in order to use them. Those restrictions are not disclosed. It is a fraud. I feel that a large corporation for which I had much respect has cheated me and it is taking advantage of many oother people.

I have another credit card that gives me 2% back from any purchases. If I would have used this card I would have $1,700 in cash to buy tickets in any airline. I could have paid for in any other airline with better service. I have wasted one and half hour yesterday trying to book my flight. I have wasted 2 hours this morning trying to get someone in Customer Relaltions to book my flight. After two supervisors and retelling my story four times I was told the the only thing they could do is to give me two $100 vouchers for any future trips. This is not worth my time. I think a class law suit would be the only way to fix the system.

I have had to pay $3,700 + for a ticket that Air New Zealand even says should be honored by UNITED. I would love to be part of a class action suit if anyone goes after United.

He was so verbally abusive to me that my 9 year old thought he was a terrorist trying to take over the plane and spent the flight crying and scared. When I brought the issue up with the pilot and the attendant after the flight, Elliott told me you are a liar and that I was trying to get something out of the airline. This is the most insulting customer service experience I have ever had in any industry. As an employer, I would have fired the person on site.

I'm trying to get in touch with someone to make sure they are aware of the issue and doing something about it, and hoping to get a personal apology. I would never fly united again, so I don't want any kind of credit.

While in the line, I realized early that we are running out of time, so mentioned that to the UA representative. Her comment was: stay in line. Then I contacted another representative, she said immediately that you cannot make it anymore to the flight but she did not even try to do anything about it.

We continued to stay in the line for 10 minutes, got to the check in desk. Then the check in person moved us to another check in counter where we had to wait for another 5 minutes for someone to come to take care of us. At that time there was only 30 minutes until our flight departure, so she did not even try to get us on the plane. The next 3 hours I continued to struggle to get us a new flight and United to cover the cost of changing everything. Their statement was that they will reroute us only up to Boston, and cannot take care of the connecting flight to Helsinki.

After myself calling my travel agents directly about 5 times (totally I spent on the phone over one hour) I was able to rearrange new Boston Helsinki flights two days after our original departure and UA booked us the same SFO - Boston flight for the new date free of charge. The main problem was the UA not being able to handle check in in timely manner. According to UA there were several other people that did not make to the planes due to the slowness of the check in. We had the original flights arranged so that one flight had single itinerary for SFO-Boston-Helsinki by American Express. Three flights were arranged through expedia.com consisting of two itinenaries; one for SFO - Boston and one for Boston-Helsinki.

Economical impact Personal costs: - $1263 change and new ticket fees to change the Boston-Helsinki Flight for my family - after discussing for 30 minutes with UA representative, I was granted $400 vouchers for future UA flights (this is not equal to cash money though) => total personal impact $863 My Company - about $300 ticket change fees (assumption) - $200 taxi fees to back home and to airport again - Hotel penalty in Helsinki 185 Euros = $277 - impact to rearrange the meetings in Helsinki= 400 Euros = $600 Total Impact to my company: $1377 Full cost impact estimated: $2640 - $400 UA vouchers = $2240

I checked their website at 11:30 p.m. and it stated the flight had departed. I drive an hour to the airport and the electronic kiosk shows the flight is now delayed and not expected to arrive until 1:03 a.m.. Another check of the kiosk and that time had changed to 1:22. Each time I checked the kiosk the flight was moved out another 20 minutes. It is now 2:43 and the kiosk claims the flight had arrived. 2:55 a.m. and there are no passengers on the escalator, no luggage and no airline personnel to query. I finally found a lonely baggage handler (most personnel left after midnight) who inflrmed me the flight had gone to Memphis.

Arriving home I received a phone call from my wife (she had to borrow a cell phone) to inform me of what I had already discovered. They could not leave the airport because their tickets did not indicate the re-routing and as as such would not have been allowed back into the gate area. Therefore, having been traveling from abroad sleep deprived, United did not offer lodgings, hadn't a clue how to get them home before 7:45 p.m. Monday evening.

Seven fourty-five Monday morning I received a call saying my wife one other professor and 5 students were forced to rent an automobile on their own dime and drive back. The very least United could have done was to charter a bus so they would not have to drive in a sleep deprived state. Am I angry with United bet your sweet a - - I am. I shall be writting a sombering letter to the CEO. I don't really expect much sympathy after reading on thier website the CYA disclaimer for cancelled flights and other lame excuses for not keeping their contractual agreements to get their customers to their final destinations expediently.

I had my time with UA from years of travel to the far east racking up months of flights to China, Spain, England, Korea and Mexico. My inhouse travel agent had carefully entered my frequent flyer number, which for unexplained reasons United had cancelled. When I attempted to cash in on those hundreds of thousand mile, I was told there were no accumulated miles. My agent sent in paid receipts to verify the tickets purchased and they stone walled. Since 1996 I have refused to fly UA.

Seeing this my son started crying but the supervisor and the other staff just igoned us. Thus we had no choice but to come home in the midnight and travel 60 Km back home (one way). On my way home i again called the continental airways to rebook me on the next flight which was on 22nd Jan, wherein they charged me USD 760 towards higher fare and penalty. On 22nd i reach the airport at 830 PM. To my shock there was huge line of continental airways passengers to take the boarding passes. I was issued boarding passes at 1050 PM i.e. much later then the time i was denied the boarding pass the previous night. The flight was scheduled at 1140 PM and i entered the aircraft just 10 min before the departure. Thus this shows they were over booked the previous day and i was illegally offloaded.

We both are greatly traumatized by this event and the behaviour of the staff. After returing to New Jersey i wrote almost 4 letters to the CEO to refund my money since there was not fault of mine and my four year son and they are just refusing to refund my money which they have illeagly charged. Now they have sent me $400 coupon and expect me to redeem them within one year and travel with them - which is unlikely since i don't expect to travel this year due to my health conditions and with such a pathetic service. Thus it is as good as they have not refunded my money.

well my dad when to buy my kids clothes because they they dont have any any clothe to change to now I have to send more money because they expended on something that I send it I need to know what is going to be done

When we finally were helped, we were informed that there were no flights with the 4 seats we needed until after 9pm. There was a flight on another airline, but we were told that we did not have enough time to get through security and get on that flight (due to the long wait in line). Having our children fly late at night when we would not arrive at our hotel until 1am or so made no sense. The person who helped us told us that United has been cancelling flights that aren't full to save the fuel costs.

I find this to be incredibly unfair and irresponsible. I bought tickets on a particular flight and honored my part of the bargain by paying. United ought to have the decency to honor its part of the bargain by flying the plane to its destination. Given that we were only going for a long weekend, the family canceled the trip -- though I still need to travel today (June 1) to Jacksonville because I have business there in the morning. Today I arrived at the airport. Upon arriving at the gate prior to my 4:40 pm flight to Jacksonville from Dulles, I was informed that the flight is delayed nearly two hours because there is no flight crew. The plane it just sitting there. I don't know whether the plane will actually fly at the new time or not.

I am having tremendous difficulty formulating into words (without the use of expletives) how angry I am. The trip was supposed to be a nice thing for our family as it is my wife's birthday on June 2nd. We were also supposed to see family on this trip (my uncle is recovering from an operation and was excited about seeing the kids). All of this has been ruined either due to incompetence (the inability to get a flight crew for scheduled flights) or perhaps United willfully choosing to break its obligations to passengers like me due to its business expenses.

I would very much like to receive a real response from United (not just a form letter) explaining how this level of incompetence and/or irresponsibility has come to be the norm at United. If I have any choice in the matter at all, I plan to never do business with United again. Although if United's service does not change dramatically for the better I suspect it will not be hard to avoid United -- I expect the company to be out of business.

Apparently, there was a clause when I bought the ticket that said I could be charged up to $100 if the travel date was close to the ticketed date. While I understand that, I believe this should have been made clear when I bought the ticket. To my understanding, I never authorized the $50 charge. This was sneaked in without my knowledge. When I asked the agent to transfer me to a manager, I was promptly disconnected.

Charged $50 on my credit card without my authorization

I called my frequent flier line and was told that if I arrived with the dress I would not be permitted on board. When I informed them that I had been told otherwise I was told that there was nothing that could be done for me. Since I don't know whose information is correct, I have asked friends and offered money to people flying on other airlines to take my dress. I have asked others who have flown abroad with wedding dresses and no one has ever had or heard of an issue like this. This has been ridiculously stressful and I feel cheated by Continental. Due to their mistake, Ive been put in a terribly frustrating and embarrassing situation. I'm hoping that this makes others aware of yet another fault this airline has and that hopefully, it will prevent this from happening to others in the future.

Extreme stress and embarrassment. I may be paying someone to take the dress for me but have not finalized anything yet.

Eventually, a couple of people begrudgingly moved their seating, so that we could get in the air. Once we were airborne, the wife continued to complain to her husband about how selfish I and my husband were for not moving for them. When she realized that there was no one sitting in the window seat by me, and that we were extremely comfortable, she began to vocalize her dissatisfaction aloud to her husband, again; causing a very uncomfortable environment for a very long plane ride.

Once the seat belt sign was turned off, one of the women from the H. party, flying in seats 6 B, C, and D came back from first class to visit with them in the middle of the isle. My husband and I were openly chastised as sorry excuses as human beings for not conceding the needs of young parents (as if it were our responsibility to forgo our comfort for theirs just because they had children with them). The friend from the front of the plain sat her buttocks on my husbands laptop at one point, and he politely said "excuse me". She rudely swayed back and forth with her infant in her arms, intruding on our personal space in our seating area with her buttocks, her ill child's face, and loosely swinging legs and arms.

At this point I pressed the call light for the stewardess several times to avoid having to say anything to her. She continued sticking her hind end, as well as rocking her child (legs swinging everywhere) in my husbands face until he asked her again "do you mind, your [buttocks] is in my face. She became extremely confrontational and proclaimed that he should be happy, that she could turn her sick child towards him and let her cough on him. (I am under the impression that is a health threat to our well-being). She also informed us that she was from first class seating and that she had the right to be anywhere she wished to be on the plane, because with first class seating she was a more important person.

I acknowledged her status as a first class passenger, and suggested that she might be more comfortable in the area that she had paid to occupy during this flight. She reiterated that with her first class status that she could be where ever she wanted to be on this flight, including the isle space next to us, and isn't it nice to be a first class passenger, unlike us in coach ( I can assure you that there were several offended passengers in the seating around us). Again, my husband and I requested her to get her [buttocks] out of my husbands face, and she thought it appropriate to protrude her [buttocks] within inches of husbands face, slapped herself on the backside and proclaimed "it is a sweet [buttocks], isn't it." My husband became highly agitated and told her she was a [expletive].

At that point I asked him to please say no more, I stood up, and said "excuse me", requesting her to move so I may exit my seat. Again I had to say"excuse me, I am trying to exit my seat; will you please move"? She replied "Oh, do you need to go to your coach seating bathroom, that's right, you walk all the way back there"; not knowing that I had had enough and was going to request the assistance of staff that had not responded to the call light. she had gotten way out of line and very confrontational. I walked to the back of the plane and spoke to the three stewardesses and requested immediate assistance to have that woman return to her seat and stop harassing my husband and myself on her friends behalf.

The stewardess finally went to speak with her and informed her that she was not allowed to stand in front of us and harass us. After all of that the stewardess said that she was not to return to coach, but that there wouldn't have been such a problem if my husband hadn't called her a [expletive]. I have a serious discrepancy with the way the stewardess handled the problem. I had lit the light requesting assistance a good five minutes before my husband said anything, because she was highly aggressive and we did not want a confrontation; no one showed up.

The couple that was in the coach section obviously had a problem with the passengers that refused their request, and should not have been left to defend ourselves from their snide remarks or offensive behavior. And most of all, I feel that my husband was put in an unacceptable circumstance of having to be protected from a foul, aggressive, trashy female, that held her child between herself and us as a badge that she was above reproach.

We are currently in flight, but I will be sending this letter to customer relations department as soon as possible. The situation will require that I request security at the gate, to protect ourselves from slanderous statements or harassment from this other party. I feel strongly that if the stewardess had properly handled the issue with the seating, instead of acting as if those of us were selfishly unreasonable and looking for and "understanding" passenger, that things would not have escalated to such a degree. While tending to the family's needs, she could have politely told the family that all of the passengers had to purchase their tickets, and have the right to there scheduled seating.

We have enjoyed flying United Airlines direct flight to Kauai several times, but if it is company policy to only give significance to those passengers who have children, a foul mouthed out of line woman who is called a [expletive] after showing herself as one (would any of you ever think it acceptable to have another woman disrespect you and harass her husband). I would like to know what our passenger rights are to protect ourselves from such individuals and know what the proper procedure for airline staff is to prevent anyone else from being cornered in their seat, as my husband was. It is a sad day when a wife has to come to the aid of her husband, because he would never put his hands on a woman (and she counted on that or him going to jail), because the staff had not responded in a timely or proper manor.

I would greatly appreciate a response to my concerns and questions addressed in this e-mail at your earliest convenience, so we may know what to expect. After requesting security meet us at the gate an hour before landing I was told that Mrs. H. did not know the passengers in row 14, that she had caused enough problems in first class that she was going to be denied access to her connecting flight, and that the stewardess that put the blame on my husband was 2 weeks on the job and mishandled the situation.

Since it wasn't a real gun we got the hard case and locks so it can travel in a more appropriate manner, and save us some trouble at check in. We also called customer service to double check on our issue and they told us they dont see any policies about Airsot or BB guns, But that we should carry it in a hard case with our locks and just inform the people at check in. When we checked in our luggage we let them know about the sports gun we were taking (it looks like a real Pistol 9mm Glock 18C, gas). So they called the manager to seek his approval, and the old man helping us with our luggage told us it shouldn't be a problem since its not a REAL gun.

Once the manager laid eyes on it he quickly told us we cant take the gun. Saying, and i quote, It dosent matter if it dosent work like a gun, Its not classified as a toy, It looks like a real gun, So I'm going to treat it like its a real gun. My boyfriend and I tried to explain to him that its not a real gun, and you cant classify its a gun when it cant use BULLETS. He insisted that the looks of the gun, made it a real gun, and then he told us we needed to get a permit from Portugal that its all right to travel with it. It made no sense to us, he wasn't making sense of himseld either, we asked him How can we get a permit when its not a real gun? Theres no such thing. He was asking for something that didnt even exist.

My father tried explaining too but his english is a bit troubled (he speaks spaninsh)but the man was stubborn and rude to us, not wanting to hear us anymore and trying to dodge us by getting in the crowd and keeping order. Time was running out for us, while we were trying to think of anything, my mom was calling this number Specificly to Continentals head of customer service. They were telling us we should be able to travel with it, we told the Mnager once more that we are allowed to travel with the gun. We even told him that the lady helping us on the phone can talk to him about, He refused to talk to anyone, he was teling us to call this other number which I'm sure would be agreeing with this man. We even saw him go on his computer, most likely looking for policies or anything to back him up in this situation. With short amount of time since our plane time changed to an earlier time, we had to focus on not missing the plane.

Our time was ruined, I was bitter and angry when i just wanted to enjoy the last few minutes we had with my parents. We had to leave them quickly, like 5 minutes, our goodbyes were short. I know its understandable that our airports are more stricked from all our incidents in the past, But one thing is keeping the airlines safe, another is asking for something that cant be done. Once our plane left, my father called their Customer Service and it was a man now. First he was saying that their shouldn't have been a problem, but then he changes his mind once he sees the Managers message about the gun looking real. So now Mr. Jeff M. is trying to cover himself, but why? was he wrong then?

In all honesty i had faith and patience with this airline. But if they're going to be sneaky and just cover each others back for their own benifit, i find that untrusting and unreliable. All in all to this date my parents have investigated everything, even contacted the Portugal Embassy and they themselves told my parents that its fine to travel with the Airsoft gun because its not real and looks shouldn't have matterd. Also even if the airlines would insist on such a permit, the Embassy said theirs no such permit or document they can give us. Basicly we could have travel with the fake gun, and all that trouble was for nothing. Its all a waste of stress, time, and breath. I wish i could have said goodbye to my parents with a better moment. I hope this comes to better use for all the people out there who have fun with Airsoft, and try to travel with their not so cheap equipment.

Ms Adelle walks to me at 14A seat and yells at me and I quote YOUR PHONE NEED TO TURNED OFF NOW !!!?. I said okay. Ms Adelle walks to the back of the plane and turn around after taking three steps. With same intensity and loud yell and I quote, YOUR PHONE SHOULD BE TURNED OFF AT THE TERMINAL? As I am Not Caucasian, I got scared and nervous in midst of plane passenger full passenger, I cut off my conversation with my wife and turned my phone off. I have a cell phone, which takes about five to six seconds to shutdown. I am holding the phone in my right hand looking at the display while its shutting down and here come another YELL, as Ms Adelle in standing right by me. Please keep in mind plane is still at the gate. And I quote, IF YOU DONT TURN YOUR PHONE OFF NOW I WILL GET YOU OFF THE PLANE !

I was scared, what might come next from Ms Adelle who is angry with me for some unknown reason. As people are looking at me and I did not want to be kicked out of plane and get arrested, I kept saying, okay, okay okay? Thank God my phone turned off and that moment that moment of terror passed over me. Ms Adelle left me. Please keep in mind this all happened while the plane is at the gate. When Ms Adelle left me I calm down my nerves and could not believe what has happened to me in last 15 seconds. I waited the proper time to ask Ms Adelle's name. While she was serving drinks, she came around our section, already beaton down and intimidated I asked her name She said Adelle. I asked her to spell the name please and I wrote down. I did not say anything to her and that was the end of conversation.

Ms Adelle came by to collect the trash, she did not slow down at all I had to move my arm to match her speed to put trash in waste bag. While leaving the plane Ms Adelle was standing at the door saying goodbye. I did not want to look at her. I turned my head to the left and got out of the plane. If Continental air wants to confirm the incident they could contact the few passengers around me to get their side of story. This such a bad experience, thank god my son was not sitting with me. I have not told any one about this incident and I am ashammed to discuss it with my wife and kids, that someone would treat a customer in such a way.

Severe emotional pain, mental torture and lasting bad memory of terror / threat

Again i also had three very small children and about 5 bags and 3 carseats, the clerk told me i couldn't check in because it was to late but other airlines clearly allow customer to check and try and make there flight but not continental. They told me that i should have gotten there earlier but how could i if traffic at the airport was backed up and at a standstill. He told me to go upstairs and talk to the representatives but when i got there no one was there!!! A man came out i guess it was some sort of superviser and he told me in a rude way your just gonna have to call the airlines now i'm standing he with 3 children trying to get on a one way flight that i already kicked out $300 for the first time than an additional $300 for canceling now all because they wouldn't let me check in when i clearly had time i had to pay another $400 dollars and i can't leave until a week later. How could u treat someone like that that is very immoral.

I had to pay $1000 just for a one way trip and also had to call my ride back to the airport load all my bags up and the kids and stay another week. I will never deal with this airline ever again!

After wasting over a half hour standing to the side of the boarding area, we were told to go to customer service. At this point there were about 50 people waiting in a line that did not appear to be moving at all with one customer service? representative at the desk. As the crowd of people became more and more agitated another customer service rep from United arrived on the scene, directing people to a bank of phones and promising to get a supervisor on the scene. As far as I could see, the supervisor never arrived. I walked over to the phone and followed the directions on the screen. My call was sent to someone in India who proceeded to tell me that I could call the toll free reservation number but that I would have to go to a phone booth? to do so. This proved to be another act of futility that simply wasted more time.

After another hour and a half of waiting in line, I finally got to see a customer service representative. I was never given a written statement describing my rights and the airlines policy on involuntary bumping, as required by federal DOT regulations. I was informed that the next flight to anywhere in New York state with open seats was on Wednesday. I explained that I work as a teacher in a school with an item in our contract that specifies that no personal time can be used before or after a vacation and that I would lose my pay for those days. It was clear that the United airline personnel couldnt care less even if such a delay led to my death. Throughout this process I was in communication with the other bumped passengers going to Syracuse. They were all told the same thing and when a request was made for bus transportation to Syracuse for the group it was repeatedly denied. We also told the agents that we would be willing to share a rental car or van and requested a voucher to do so. This request was also denied although one of the agents said that we could send in the receipt for compensation. In short, the response by United Airlines to our plight can best be described by the attitude It is not our problem. Dont expect us to do anything about it.? When I requested a full refund for the ticket I was informed that they would only refund the part of the trip from Washington to Syracuse (a? small amount? to quote the agent)

At this point I decide to save the ticket for a future attempt to receive just compensation, hopefully from someone who was more reasonable and customer friendly than the crew working at Washington/ Dulles. The airline did give us what will most likely prove to be useless vouchers for a future roundtrip flight. All of the Syracuse passengers, having been given the same lack of service and most being desperate to get back home, decided to rent cars to drive out of Washington. My friend and I shared a car with 3 other people. We rented a Hertz full sized vehicle, one way for a cost of $320 with taxes and a tank of gas. Our share of the car was $128 plus and additional $10 each in gas. We also had to stop for lunch and dinner where we incurred another additional expense of approximately $60 for the two of us. The trip home was emotionally and physically draining.

During the first two hundred miles of the trip we drove thorough blinding rain storms in extremely heavy traffic. We also got stuck in two one hour long traffic jams on Route 81.All of this was undertaken by drivers who had little to no sleep on the plane the previous evening. In light of the evidence that driving while tired is as bad as driving while intoxicated, this was a potentially dangerous situation. I did not arrive home to Boonville, NY until well after midnight. I went into work the next day after having had only 4 hours sleep in a 48 hour period. On April 20th after about an hour of wild goose chases? on the phone, (being kept on hold and repeatedly transferred among a multitude of recordings and people) I finally spoke to Linda Addante in headquarters about yesterday's nightmare. She confirmed that there were indeed no flights out until Wednesday and that it is the policy of United NOT to provide any ground transportation regardless of the circumstances. These agents at the Washington/ Dulles were merely following company policy

I asked for a refund for the full price of the ticket, compensation for the portion of the rental car and the expenses of meals on the way back. She called me at home later and stated that United would give me $87 for the last leg of the trip, and payment for my portion of the rental car - $74. If I chose to return the voucher, I would get another $87. This in no way compensated me for the situation described above. Upon further reflection of this situation I asked myself several questions: 1. What if I were very elderly, disabled or incapable of driving over 400 miles in horrendous traffic to get home? Would I still be sitting in Washington DC? 2. Why are the airlines allowed to engage in the deliberately fraudulent practice of selling more tickets than there are seats, leaving passengers stranded for days? If any other business regularly engaged in such practices they would be sued and/or fined. 3. Why is the federal government continuing with the laissez-faire policy towards airlines in spite of the overwhelming evidence that such an approach is detrimental to the well-being of the American people?

Also the flight April 20th was at 7.35 pm we were called to the desk at 7.00 pm to verfy all our documentation which had already been checked out. With the result we did not get on to the plane till after 8.00 pm This procedure has happened to me before at Newark. This procedure is not carried out at JFK, would be interested in your comments ?

Does not install any belief in your preventative maintenance procedures. All flights were delayed between 1.5 and 2.5 hours. Will be flying BA next time.

When we arrived home in Vancouver, my bag had been competely destroyed by a conveyor belt, along with everything it, as well as many items missing from the bag.

I filed my claim at the airport, and since then I have left messages and emails with various representatives of the airline almost every day. I have faxed receipts for the damaged and missing items to representatives. I have only been contacted once, in a conversation that concluded with instructions for me to reach the representative, Matthew C, at a later point. T

he many attempts I have made to do so since then have failed, as Mr. C seems to be on extended holiday. Furthermore, one of the other reps I spoke to regarding my complaint more recently, checked the computer and informed me that I was not, in fact, on file. I am prepared to sue.

Damage: The value of the bag itself, as well as the items that were removed or damaged beyond repair amounts to roughly $500. Not anticipating this loss and having to repurchase all the various items, I had trouble paying my university fees, and my cell phone bills. Two text books were removed from the bag which were required in order to study for a midterm exam the day after my return. I suffered further academic loss in that I had to work more hours to compensate for my losses; I missed class in order to work more often, and lost valuable opportunities to study for exams and write term papers. Most importantly, the orphans I had visited in Guatemala had written me letter which I was planning n reading when I got home; I will never have that chance, as the letters were removed from my bag.

Then, to make matters even worse if that's possible, when I arrived at Seat 10C I found it occupied by a gentleman who had taken the seat due to the fact that his assigned seat had been taken by another man. After a barrage of unpleasantries by the man that took the seat of the gentleman in my assigned seat (and without any intervention assistance from a UA cabin crew member, all of whom seemed to be seeking to ignore the entire situation), the rude and surly man moved to his assigned Seat 10B. Consequently, I was forced to sit next to him for the duration of the flight from Seattle to San Francisco. NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I FELT SO HUMILIATED, PUT UPON, AND ILL AT EASE FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME. To be crystal clear, I wish I never have to fly again which is an impossibility in my job. I do truly wish, however, that it would be possible to transfer my elite frequent flyer status and miles with UA to another U.S. airline that flies both domestically and internationally. I NOW DETEST UNITED AIRLINES! A thoroughly disgusted UA Multi-Year 1K and 1 1/3 + Million Mile Flyer.

. Flight delay - 1-hr. 35-min. in San Francisco on the tarmac resulting in an already long flight into an exhausting trip.
Also some of the flight attendants were rude and not too accommodating.

Lastly, the same movies where shown going and coming from China. The audo worked approximately 50% of the time, and when it did it was of poor quality.

Because so many Washington passengers missed the connection to London, it took more than 2 hours in line before we were able to talk to a Customer Service agent in Chicago, who told us she couldn't confirm us on a flight to London until 2 days later. This would make me miss half of my meeting in London. The agent listed us on standby for the next afternoon, and we went to an airport hotel - by then it was after midnight. The agent didn't help us find a hotel, and because the problem was caused by weather, didn't give us a voucher to pay for the hotel or food.

We returned to the airport more than 2 hours before the flight to try for stand-by but there weren't any available seats. The next available flight would get me in too late for my meeting, so we just told United to put us on a plane back to DC. Somehow, this whole experience doesn't seem to fit with United's 12 point Customer Commitment pledge, especially point #3 (notify customers of long delays and work proactively to help them reach their intended destinations), and point #8 (meet customer's needs during long delays). Now I'm trying to get a refund for my wife's ticket (mine was paid for by the company I was supposed to meet with - a charity that raises money for cancer research, which is now out the cost of my ticket). After an email contact from United Customer Relations assuring me someone would call me, I've waited more than 3 weeks without a call. I've tried to call them but just get shuffled through one recorded message after another - even after clicking on one that was supposed to put me through to a live agent. I won't fly United again, and am telling everyone I work with to avoid them.

I feel ripped off by an airline. The usual.

I carry certain medically necessary equipment that improves my quality of life. This equipment fits nicely in my luggage and won't cause the stares if I tried to carry it on the plane. First, because my flight was canceled, I had to walk the airport all night long. On the second day my luggage went to Houston, TX, and I haven't seen it since. I'm afraid that my piece of luggage is lost. The medical equipment is worthless to most people, but it cost me $2,800. My clothes and other items are valuable to me.

We decided to rent a car to drive back to MI. After about a hour or so we were able to find a car to fit 6 people and luggage. So after 3 hrs. of driving we were back home at 3:00 am when we should have been back by 8:30 pm. I called the airline to get a refund for the ticket we did not use and they will only refund $41.60 per 6 tickets. I think that is a ripoff. A one way ticket from Chi. to GRR is $445.00. We had to pay $304.00 for a rental car for not even 1 day. The ticket agent said that United would not pay for a rental car. When it is the airlines fault for delays and people missing connecting flights they should be responsible for getting another flight scheduled to take care of the people they know are going to miss their flight. Or compensate them for having to find there own means of travel to get home. I don't think I will travel with UA again.

Everyone in my family was so stressed out about the whole thing and the extra money and time we had to spend.

First of all, the crew informed me that the meal I had requested was not available and later agreed to serve an alternate meal. They served me some other meal (called kosher) with meat in it. Eating meat is totally against my religious sentiments, and in spite of explicit request, I was served the same. When I brought this to the attention of the crew, they were very discourteous and rude. They went to the extent of almost shouting. All they did was to tell me, in a rude and angry tone, to go and complain to whomever I want and threw one comment form at me.

When I fly business, I expect a decent level of service and very high level of courtesy from the crew. This is the worst set of crew I have encountered in my 35 years of flying. I was really hurt due to this careless act from Continental Airlines: for making me travel on empty stomach for more than eight hours thus aggravating my stomach acidity level and making me suffer; for hurting my religious sentiments (eating meat). Due to their rude, arrogant, insensitive and discourteous behavior, the crew thereby damaged my self respect in front of my colleagues, by not fulfilling the promise of providing me an Asian Vegetarian Meal. They did not providing me the value for a business class travel as I had written to them many times, but there was a point blank refusal from the airline. I request your help in compensating me for the above.

Continental has thieves working the baggage area.

[2]. Lunch and DInner: We confirmed thrice with united that we wanted vegetarian meals. Same story here. Once on the plane, they said they have no food for us and we should have requested it during flight reservation. These hostesses should be fired and never to work as an hostess again.

When passengers are treated as freight and baggage, clearly, they are thinking they are not in the business of providing services to passengers, but merely transporting them as goods. The reservations are not being handled properly. When I make a special request like a meal or bassinet and when I am paying taxes and other charges for the child, we need the service. If you are a potential traveler, don't go by United. There are other carriers including low cost carriers who provide far better service.

My son fell sick. He could not sleep. He is running a high temperature. He seems to have gotten a stomach infection and the hostesses were trying to ignore us as much as possible. We are right now in Chennai, India. Lufthansa airlines from Frankfurt to Chennai provided much better service. I would advise Lufthansa to discontinue tie-ups with United as this would only negatively impact them.

Thank God these people didn't freak out on the plane and cause a problem more serious. I cannot believe Continental let them fly. Shame on them for putting me and the rest of the passengers in danger. Shame on Continental. I expect better judgment than that when an airline has so many lives to be responsible for. It is their job to keep us as safe as possible. This lapse in judgment makes me wonder what other safety laws and precautions Continental chooses to ignore.

Moreover, there were numerous passengers from Europe who were forced to sleep in the floor at the airport for up to ONE WEEK because United refused to give them lodging. When I finally arrived at the hotel, they had NO FOOD to eat, nothing to drink (they wanted $4.00 for a bottle of water!), and no breakfast was provided at the hotel the following morning, nor WATER, again without paying $4.00 for a bottle of water. No water fountains. It was simply terrible how United Airlines handled this matter and the MAD HOUSE at Dulles Airport that week. Returning from Sacramento was even worse when UNITED charged me THREE TIMES to change my flight (twice at the airport for the exact same flight change). I am very disappointed to say the least. Then, the make everything WORSE, their customer support staff has written very evasive letters failing to address my injuries

Knee injury. Loss of time. Loss of revenue.

We lost our trophies, and it set us back somewhere around $13,000.00--not to mention the mental anguish we've suffered. We are not rich people, and we had to save up for years to make this trip. I would like to make them pay for our trip plus something for mental anguish and all the hassle I have been through because of something they have done!

I had a ticket with United to go see my mother who was dying of kidney cancer. I was to leave on a Sunday. The Wednesday prior to the date of my ticket, she had a medical crisis and I needed to get there as soon as possible.

I tried to change my ticket using the website. I was told that I needed to call. The first 3 times I called, after going through the levels of voice mail, I was cut off. The 4th time I called, a person answered. This person spoke barely understandable English. I explained my situation. She told me that she could not help me with changing the departure date on my ticket. I would have to call a different number. I asked her to transfer me to the appropriate person. She said that she could not and hung up.

I tried calling the number she gave me 2 additional times. Each time, after going through the levels of voice mail, I was cut off. Finally in desperation, I bought a ticket on another airline.

However, I continued to try to cancel my original ticket in various ways, including email and calling the ticket office at the Eugene Oregon airport. THe agents in Eugene said that they had cancelled my ticket, and that I could use its value, minus a change fee, for my return trip.

After my mother died, I tried to use the value for my return trip. I was told that I had not cancelled my trip prior to departure, so my ticket had no value. As a gesture of goodwill they would issue a voucher for $300 for future travel. This is $170 less than what I paid for my ticket. Furthermore, it would not have been possible to use the voucher for my return trip.

I had to buy a ticket with another airline costing me about $700 for the round trip. In addition, I am out the $470 I paid for the original ticket with United.

We arrived at the airport very early the next morning and were told that we DID NOT have reservations. By the time we returned to the Continental desk, the a.m. flight was booked, so we had to spend the entire day at the Newark airport. We lost 1 day of our 3-day trip to London, and we had to pay $500 for that day's hotel reservation. To top it off, I wrote a certified letter of complaint to Continental, AND THEY NEVER RESPONDED! I guess they don't want or need my business.

We paid $1500 a day for four days of fishing plus tips and had over 100 pounds of fresh frozen fish to take home. The entire trip was scheduled to bring home fish! It was pretty obvious they were waiting for a pay off, or couldn't wait to have the fish. We could not believe they took it! Had we had to get on our flight we could have given it to our captain, or the cook where we stayed, who froze the daily catch for us each day! We still cannot believe it.

Emotional stress: the reason to change the tickets is an emergency. Seats are available--but not for me.

UA waited all day before they canceled the flight out of Aspen. UA finally provided a plane and crew to fly to Birmingham 8 hours after the scheduled departure. I spent an entire wasted day in DIA airport. Do I have any legal recourse? Can I sue them in my local small claims court?

Those items are an XBOX 360 power adapter cord and A/V cables (original microsoft manufactured which were included with a new XBOX 360, not replacements). Also a coax/AV adapter with power cord and 6 foot piece of terminated RG6 coaxial cable. After pricing these items if bought as replacements the total is approximately 150 to 200 dollars. I immediately called the United Airlines baggage customer service and reported this at which time I was told they will investigate and they may not be liable for this even though the bag was in their possession. Although these are not extremely high priced items, it is a sickening and violating feeling when your personal belongings are lost or stolen when they are in the possession of a major corporation who possesses the money and capabilities to ensure things like this don't happen and they tell you they may not be liable for it especially after seeing what they do when the luggage gets accidentally put on the conveyor belt instead of your connecting flight and when nobody is there to collect it, the baggage workers take it off the conveyor and set it on the floor and leave it unattended for a while.

I am unable to claim a small bag with $300 of eyeglasses that are sitting on a United Lost Luggage desk in Seattle.

Their complete lack of internal awareness as a company is so far below their competition that it's amazing they are operating at all; and it seems to me only a matter of time until they're gone, hopefully. We were forced to choose between another night in a hotel with the associated expenses or get a rental car home. We took the car at $150.00--that was better than giving Continental another shot at messing things up.

I arrived at the air cargo center at 4:30am - when they opened for a 6am departing flight. I was booked on a different airline but both of us were to arrive in Denver at 10:30am -which we then had a 5 hr drive to our hunting grounds. After giving the attendant our conformation number - he informed me that the flight leaving Raleigh would be leaving late due to needed flight crew rest and the connection would be missed.

I love how they look at you and ask what do you want to do?? We have NO CHOICE - I am about to miss my plane we have to play by your rules so why rub it in like we have a choice. Anyway the real kicker is that they tell me that I will now pay an extra $75 handling fee because the dog will be in Houston for 4 hours. The total charge to fly my dog one way from Raleigh to Denver now becomes $476.12.

I had a confirmation number, confirmed price and yet 1 hour before the flight they raise the price and change the time for my dog to arrive by an extra 6 hours.

BTW- tickets for me were under $200 round trip on a different airline.

I think its almost impossible to fly with your dog anymore.

There were some delays at Houston and once there I (and many others on my flight) rushed to the next gate (one over) to catch the connecting flight to Newark. The plane was still at the gate, however no Continental employees would do anything for us to get in touch with the pilot and stop them from leaving the gate. I literally watched as my flight pulled away. I was then sent over to customer service. Far from the gates. Needless to say the line was long and there were many unhappy customers coming in from numerous other locations. At customer service, the Continental employees pretty much had the attitude of too bad, come back tomorrow. Two actually walked away and said it was their time to go home and left the desk!

When I finally was able to speak with a representative, I was told they would get me on the first flight out in the morning and was promised my luggage would be on the plane. I was also informed Continental only offers some minimal discounts for local hotels. I ended up spending over $100 for a 5 hour stay! In the morning the flight was delayed yet again! When I finally did get on board, I watched as the baggage handlers filled the plane with commercial boxes of material (not customers luggage). Like a fool I trusted the customer service rep from the night before. Upon my arrival at Newark, I learned my luggage was still in Houston and was rudely told I should be grateful I got to Newark and to go home and they would get my luggage to me later in the day. Well, it is close to midnight and I still don't have my luggage. When calling into Continental they will not tell me the carrier who is to deliver my luggage or if it is even enroute. I understand that delays happen, but the attitude, lies, unaccountablility and refusal to give any information by the employees has left an such a foul impression like no other company has ever before. I would not fly Continental ever again and I encourage others to look for alternatives!

I asked Continental to hold the connecting flight (explaining that patients were scheduled for surgery the following morning at 7:30 AM) well before their first flight out--I was scheduled to give the patients' anesthetics. They did not hold the flight. I wound up driving from Houston to Harlingen overnight, arriving around 5:30 AM to start giving anesthesia around 7:30. I was exhausted. I simply cannot afford the sort of irresponsibility Continental showed me. Surgeons and patients are dependent on me.

Paid for a rental car. Bought gas for it. Drove all night and gave anesthesia while impaired by exhaustion. The alternative would have been canceling/delaying multiple surgeries.

We are both on disability and have very little money in our bank account . We cannot pay our bills, including our mortgage because of this. The undue stress we are suffering from this has affected both my husband's and my medical conditions.

I am not the only person that was there.... I heard many of the representatives talking back to customers. I hope anyone that thinks about traveling by CONTINENTAL will be cautious about choosing them as the supposed best airline. They do not respond!

My family had scheduled an engagement for later that day, since we were scheduled to arrive in NJ shortly after 9:00am.We figured that we could go home, freshen up and come back to the engagement. Unfortunately, we missed out on a family gathering due to the fact that we live an hour away from Newark Liberty International Airport.

Upon receiving my credit card statement I found I was charged an additional $1290 plus the $100 change fee. I never was told or agreed to the additional $1290 charge to my account but since I used the flight was told that I had to pay the charge even though I never was informed of the additional charge.

The engine was right outside my window seat, I got no sleep, there were at least 20 visits to the restrooms, and a 2 year old behind me was crying and banging the tray table. Continental did nothing and offered nothing.

I have traveled Continental almost exclusively whenever possible, being a loyal customer. 50,000 miles are a lot to lose with absolutely no notice.

Now my employer is transferring me to Japan, and I am desperately in need of this refund. So I called the refund department again and told them that I need either a refund within the next couple of days or a new ticket for a trip to Japan for my wife. I explained that I needed to buy a ticket for a flight on November 12, 2007 and could not wait another 18 to 20 days. I was told to reserve a seat and I would get my refund on October 31, so I did that--and of course I did not receive my refund. It is now November 12th, and I still don't have my refund. I have noticed that when ever I call United's Refund or customer relations department that everyone seems to have the same last name: Smith!

Now my employer has had to put me up in a hotel, and I am waiting still for my refund that I should have had back in August. I called United again today and spent an hour on the phone just to have them tell me that it is going to take another 20 to 45 days.

I lost $500--the price of the ticket that is now worthless to me.

I was then told to get off the plane because we had broken some security provision and was forced to leave the plane. Upon approaching the stairwell there was an gentlemen sitting on a folding chair. The gentlemen that escorted us off the plane begun chewing the man out stating, You could have caused all of us to lose our jobs, you are supposed to be down her at your post! After dragging us to the ticket counter three women proceeded to raise their voices at us and pointing at the sign that was on the unlocked gate going to the runway. Asking us if, we could read and what were we thinking?

He started out with a two hour delay at our home airport. I was not notified. He then was sent to Washington D.C. with another delay. I called the airline and they told me that he was on a flight to San Fransisco and the flight from San Fransisco to Oregon was canceled and he would have to spend the night at the airport. I was frantic for over six hours as I could not get ahold of my son and the airline did not know where my son was.

Pay $800+ for one-way ticket and missed a scheduled complimentary transfer worth $50.

I never received the vouchers I was promised-oh, well, I never want to fly United Airlines again anyway!!!

4 people lost 2 days of vacation. Lots of frustations and mental anguish.

bumped were offered a free round-trip ticket anywhere in the USA.

My daughter,
who wanted only to see her Grandma (who is paralysed from a stroke and just had
a Grand Mal seizure and is on oxygen to keep her alive) was offered nothing.
I have been on the phone with United Airlines three times...once being disconnected.
The customer service rep Jason ( ID L) kept me on hold and finally referred me to
Philbert who offered me free miles or $150, neither of which satisfies the

situation.

My mother's time is far more precious than that, and depriving her
of her granddaughter for any amount of time is heinous. Treating my daughter
in a discriminating manner (she was offered NOTHING) is also poor customer service
and I believe illegal. A supervisor at United Airlines, Kerry, informed me
that I would not receive any compensation other than a $250 travel voucher
because the free round-trip tickets are only given at the airport, and I
was using the phone...my daughter _at_ the airport was not told about any

compensation, although she inquired after waiting in line for over an hour.

I feel United Airlines is falsely representing its services and should be
dealt with by the Federal government for breach of contract to its customers.
I have unwillingly accepted the $250 travel voucher (when or whether I receive
it is an unknown) because I will receive no other form of compensation from
them...the last company I want to travel with at this point is United Airlines,
but I will be forced to use their service in order to be compensated.


My daughter is still stuck in San Francisco at this moment, my mother is still ill and unable to see her granddaughter, and I have not yet received any compensation (7 to 10 business days is the estimated wait

My son was asleep at this time, so I was trying to slowly get him in his seat without waking him up so he would scream and cry to get back in my lap. She rudely said Get him in there TODAY, before the flight takes off!! Once he was in his seat, he obviously began to cry and scream and she put his belt on and yanked it tight VERY hard. I'm surprised there wasn't a mark!

I was livid, but being an Indian, and knowing how things were with the whole terrorist issue, I didn't want to risk the chance of trouble...especially since I was traveling with my son. He cried the entire time, and only settled down when I picked him up and placed him in my lap. Well, the lady would NOT leave us alone. She continued to give us dirty looks and then came back and told me that he needed to be in his seat, and that it wasn't going to be her problem if he got hurt.

I CALMLY explained that if I put him down, he would cry and keep the passengers awake (this was a red eye flight). She definitely didn't care, and said so. She then accused me of not caring about the safety of my son, and began to imply that I was an unfit mother. She then walked off before I could say anything else. Later on, she came and talked to the passanger behind me in a loud voice, unconcerned for people who were sleeping. The gentleman sitting next to me kept looking back at her to see if she would lower her voice, but she didn't take the hint. Even HE was fed up with the way I was being treated.

I don't know if it was the color of my skin, or what, but she didn't like us right from the start. If she had spoken professionally, I think the situation would not have been so hostile. If Continental is going to place rules and regulations, then they need to make their expectations clearer to their flight attendants.

Also my flights was late by almost two hours flying out of Denver. Would never fly United again. Other airlines I have flown usually tell you what number baggage area you can pick up your luggage, no such help with united air.

As I sat and looked out the window the luggage trailer pulled up to the conveyer to load the aircraft. I sat and watched as the person tossed each bag on to the belt that carried it to the open door on the plane. The driver parked the vehicle a good way from the belt and had to throw everything at least 6 ft. He then pulled out my guitar. It was NOT in the plastic box anymore. The guy then threw it into the air in such a way that it landed squarely on the head of the instrument at the top of the neck. This completely busted the guitar into two pieces. I could not believe my eyes as the people next to me could not either.

I had to purchase another guitar while in Indiana. I was flying there to play a gig that I have been doing every hear for 5 years now. I have never had this problem from the checking mis-information, to the actual breaking of the guitar, to the cavalier attitude. I flew back home on Delta and was allowed to check the guitar at the gate where as usual with every airline I have flown with it was well treated and there were no problems.

The Customer Service representatives we spoke to were very unhelpful. One told us that we were responsible for checking the status of our flight, even though United had our telephone and email contact information, both of which we check daily.

Further, I asked the United Customer Relations representatives to put us on the next flight with another airline so that I would not have to miss a meeting that I had scheduled. They refused, citing company policy?, and I missed the meeting. The representatives made no apology to us and did not try to make amends in any way.

We have made several written requests to United Airlines to be reimbursed for our expenses, but the only response we have received thus far is from a Customer Service representative who offered us a $100 voucher towards future air travel, which is not acceptable at all.

We had to pay $182 in expenses for hotel accomodation, airport taxi and breakfast.

I traveled from Delhi to London by Air India and then to Chicago and finally Austin by United Airlines. When I reached my destination, I didnt receive my baggage at the Austin airport. I received only one of them and one is missing. I tried to contact United Airlines and their customer service (800-221-6093) kept giving me different stories each time. I have been calling them like hell 4-5 times a day and I havent received anything specific regarding the missing bag. All they say is that we are sorry sir and we are working on your file. I am kept in the dark from the first day.

Air India is even worse than United Airlines since they dont even have a 1-800 number in US and the number (773-686-1435) they have given is always on the voicemail and voicemail is full so it cant even accept new messages.

This is my first visit to US and I am here on a student visa. I lost all my important documents and transcripts kept on this missing suitcase. I also lost pretty much all my clothes, utensils, spices others from India. I am a student and I dont have money to buy these stuff again and nor do I have money to go back to India and get my transcripts re-issued. I cant even get admission for MS which was expected to start Aug 1.

It has been more than a week now and they are not giving me any compensation and they cant even trace where my bag was scanned last time. They have very pathetic and lousy system where they dont update their website (www.united.com/bagtack).

Please pass this information to as many friends as possible. They have playing games with dreams of so many students of coming to US and studying for higher education. Please beware of Air India and United Airlines.

At 6:45 a.m. our plane finally took off, (45 minutes behind schedule). Of course, we arrived at the Denver airport late and my husband proceeded to run down the airport with our sleeping two year old daughter in his arms, while I ran behind him with our carry-on luggage. We reached the boarding gate, out of breath and were told that the connecting flight had already left! We missed it by less than 5 minutes!

We went to customer service and complained that it was not our fault that the first officer overslept and therefore caused us to be late to our connecting flight. We were told that the planes don't wait for anyone (except for pilots that oversleep, evidently). We were then waitlisted for a flight that would leave at 3:30 that afternoon. Of course, that flight was overbooked by 6 so we did not get on that flight. We ended up getting boarding passes for a 8:00 flight which was later delayed by 2 hours.

To make matters worse, my daughter's antibiotics, which I had placed in a soft-sided cooler, went bad while we were stuck in the Denver airport for 12 hours. My husband and I understand that planes are delayed for various reasons but we feel that a pilot oversleeping is a poor excuse for such a delay. How hard would it have been to contact the other plane, make them aware of the situation, and ask them to wait an additional five minutes? After all we waited 45 minutes for the pilot. My husband's company has filed a complaint with the airline, yet it has been almost a week and no response.

My husband missed his business meeting and had to reschedule for a later date. His company incurred numerous business expenses because we had to stay in a hotel for a week until the business was finished. My daughter's antibiotics went bad and had to be thrown out.

We finally spoke to a counter agent and he would not put us on another carrier because our luggage was on the original flight. He sent us down to the other airline to see if they would let us on. They said no, we had to have a ticket from UA. We went back there and were told we had to stand at the back of the line where we stood another 1/2 hour.

We finally got to speak to an agent again and he said our original flight was now leaving and we should run to it. We went through security again and ran through the airport to get to the gate which was closing the door. The gate agent saw us and shut the door as we called out.

We had to go back out through security. We crowded to the front of the UA ticket counter where everyone was angry at us. I was in hysterical tears by now. The agent told me they couldn't have called the gate and asked them to wait for us. The guy finally issued us a Continental Airlines ticket. We went back down to their carrier where and had to stand in line until they issued us a boarding pass. We had to run through the terminal to catch our flight.

In all we suffered almost 4 hours of trauma because of their incompetence and inconsideration. Guess what? My luggage didn't arrive in Spokane. I'm on the phone with them now to get it. I have been waiting on hold while I write this for 17 minutes so far.

30 min. before landing the flight attendents announced that Honolulu to Denver flight 86 (which we were on at that time) had already left LA enroute to Denver and that we could continue on flt 2004 at gate 68 a short ten minute walk from our disembarking gate. Arriving at gate 68 we were informed that flt 2004 was full, had been full and was actually overbooked.

At the customer service counter another sullen United employee (apparently the customer service counter is some sort of United Airlines Siberia where the inept and especially sullen are kept.

We are put on standby for the balance of the day, 7 more hours in LAX.

I used that time to observe United Airlines Standard Operating Procedure.

It seems that AM flights from Hub to Hub (Denver to O'Hare for example) are fair game for cancellation. The plum for United Airlines is flying fully loaded airplanes in the afternoon. They seem to look at a flight schedule as a guideline to be followed if it suits United Airlines. Their employees strive to drag each and every minute out, help as few as possible and whenever possible send customers with a problem to someone else for them to deal with, in another line of course.

Well the first flight was ok since it was so short,the fact that our seats didn't recline too far or that we didn't have leg rests was not a big deal.

Upon arrival in Chicago, since we had a 2 hour layover we went to the First Class lounge, only to be turnued away and told that it was for International travel only. Most international flights are actually shorter than going to Hawaii. When we finally got on board,we were shocked to see the following:

1. a horribly dirty cabin,with food everywhere and coffe splatters on the armrests and window.

2. seats that were barely wider than coach.

3. no legrests.

4. a hole in the wall next to me(seat 1A)big enough for me to put my arm through with visible insulation.

We felt ripped off, swindled in every way.If we had paid $300 for our tickets then I would have no complaints. However we paid in excess of $3,000! On the way home, we flew from Kona to LA, same dirty cabin with terrible seats and the red eye from LA to Baltimore not only did the seat barely recline but the bulkhead was so close that my husband(he is 6'1) couldn't even cross his legs!

This was all in first class!br>

We ended up sleeping in the Cancun airport on cold marble floors because the Continental reps wouldn't do ANYTHING to help us w/ meal vouchers, or even try to arrange for emergency blankets, pillows or even drinkable water (USD$6 for 1 liter bottle in airport convenience store!) My husband is 57 w/a bad back. The hotels jacked their prices because they can and it was the towards end of spring break - they were eager to make more pesos! We had to 'buy' drinkable bottled water at $6USD a bottle! We couldn't take more than one night of this!

Thus, we ended up buying one-way tickets through USA3000 (who by the way were 'wonderful' to us) and flew to Newark. We 'had' managed to get tickets into Cleveland (anything at that point!) and got switched to Newark through USA3000 to Newark because Continental told us that when we reached Clevelend... we'd end up being sent to Houston (which was backed up too because this is their only other major hub)before we could get sent back to Portland Maine. We were stuck without a connecting flight whether it be Houston or Newark.

Once we got to Newark, Continental STILL put us on standby until WEDNESDAY; here it is Sunday! We ended up buying bus tickets from Newark through NY and Boston to finally return home to our airport destination in Portland Maine on Monday 11:00am!!!!! So... $900+ later, we finally arrive home and Continental still says...it's an act of nature - there's nothing we can do for you. Thus... our Round Trip Tickets only worked out one way and they won't refund us the difference or comp us a couple of tickets to use later in the year or 'anything'! WRONG thing to say to a consumer!

He didn't even ask me any questions. He rudely told me to get off the plane immediately. After I got off the plane I had asked to speak to an officer and the officer that I spoke to didn't believe that they would kick me off just because of that and refused to give me a complaint form. I think it is wrong of Continental to act that way towards their customers. Show a little respect. I don't know if it was because I am a 21 year old college student or what, but I have never been so humiliated in my life and this was ridiculous.

Then she began to write numbers down on a sheet of paper and said it was actually an additional $254!!! We were even more shocked. My mother-in-law did not have enough cash so I paid with my credit card. Miss P.T. said that it was a total of $381 because of the extra bag charge PLUS the overweight fee - she also claimed the bag weighed 63 pounds which is NOT what the scale said. The agent also stated that it would actually have been $381 for the extra bag alone PLUS another $127 for the overweight but she was combining the fees to save us money.

Well, my mother-in-law is 72 years of age and was becoming upset so I paid the fees and we left so she could make her way to her flight (we also had to order a wheelchair for her to get to her gate.) I am just furious and frustrated because I look on United's website and it clearly states that for domestic flights only (WHICH THIS WAS) any excess baggage will be charged $85 for the 1st & 2nd piece on additional checked baggage and $50 charge for any weight over 50 pounds. It also states if the baggage is BOTH an excess piece PLUS overweight the charges will be combined. $85 plus $50 does NOT equal even close to $381.

I disputed these outrageous charges and I expected to receive a response and FULLY DETAILED EXPLANATION for these charges however all I got was this form letter which only apologizes and said they would send me a discounted travel voucher. I paid enough money to be able to fly WITH my mother-in-law to LA and have the bag go through for free. I am still asking for a credit to my credit card and not some stupid voucher. What robbery!

Two days later, back to SFO airport. Still no bag. Added information to the report to give UA clues to trace down my back. Two whole weeks of calling and talking to agents, customers service ...... To come short, one hour before I left SFO for my return to Amsterdam, Baggage Services SFO was unable to locate the bag. What surprise when I arrive in Amsterdam on January 6th 2007 that Amsterdam Baggage Services could read in my report that the bag was found at December 29th 2006. Almost 10 days later, hours calling to different agents in Amsterdam and Costumers Service and Baggage Services UA the bag is still not at it's final destination (Livermore). Nobody is able to speed up the process to send the bag, which had been identified on Wednesday January 19th to be mine. The bag is in Chicago and the only thing they have to do is to respond to all the messages send by different departments and services of United Airlines.

My stay in Livermore was ruined, because of my stressing out about the lost bag. The bag contains parts, en curtains off 4 rooms if our new home in Livermore. I was unable to finish my hard labour and celebrate Christmas and New Year with a decorated house. Essential parts of the curtains of those for rooms are missing. That is very frustrating and I am afraid that the bag will never get to California. That will mean that all the curtains have to be redone. Two and a half month of work and creativity is wasted by the lack of services from Baggage Services in Chicago. How hard is it to get that bag on a plane and send it over. It could have been on it's final destination on December 29th.

No wrong, the bag is in Chicago and Amsterdam and Customers Services are not able to make Chicago do their job by giving me the service I deserve as a loyaal frequent flyer off United Airlines. Unbelievable to know where the bag is and not able to get a hold of the people who work at that department. I really have my doubts about internal communication of United Airlines. I have spend to much time and non toll free phonecall to get some information. Up to know the bag is in Chicago ..... Will be continued.

Though it may not look like it, I actually tried to be concise and left out details of some of the incompetence, dishonesty and discourteousy I encountered during my recent trip. A quick browse of the internet regarding complaints against United Airlines reveals it is awash in complaints, far more than is reasonable. Anecdotal evidence from friends and relatives substantiate what I found. I can't believe that an airline, a first world airline, could be this badly run, or have a company culture with this bad of an attitude and continue to operate.

To Summarize my complaint: My flight was cancelled due to mechanical difficulties. Though the cancellation was made 24 hours in advance, no arrangements were made to put me or my traveling companion onto another flight. We were lied to repeatedly regarding our prospects of getting a seat on another flight. Several flights later, arriving at San Francisco, we were told that a customer relations agent would meet the plane and give us information on where to make our connection. No one met the plane. After checking for ourselves where to catch our connecting flight and running through the terminal, we arrived at the international counter only to be berated by United staff for being late and had our passports rudely tossed across the counter back at us.

Were forced to stay overnight in a nearby motel with no luggage. Arrived the next day to find we were on standby again and told we could not get out of the city that day as the flights to Tokyo were full. After finding out that the flight in fact had several empty seats in a more expensive section we had to fight with staff for an hour to be allowed on the flight. Were told that our luggage was on the flight but arrived in Tokyo to find it was not. Were told it would absolutely arrive within two days. When it did not arrive, we called to find it had not left the US yet.

Mechanical failures, I can understand, to a point. Even forgetting to make arrangements for passengers who have had their flights cancelled can be forgiven to an extent. What I find inexcusable is the inability of United Airlines staff or management to take any responsibility for the situation. What I find intolerable are the blatant lies or exaggerations we were told in order to get us to leave whatever counter we were at, passing our problems along to the next UA personnel. What I find ridiculous is having to explain our situation and circumstances to each new UA staff we encountered because no one had bothered to relay the information.

What I find unforgivable is the discourtesy I received several times throughout the 48+ hours we spent trying to get home.

We then went to the Customer Service desk in the baggage area where there were 3 ladies waiting to go home. One of them took our information and filled out a claim form for us. She said that the bag had scanned onto the carousel and that someone else must have picked it up by accident. We told her that we didn't think that was the case, because there wasn't a similar case left at that carousel. Then she said it might have been lost off of the belt underneath that floor. She called someone who said he didn't see a case there. Then she suggested that our case might have been picked up by someone else and theirs was sent to another destination.

We thought that was highly unlikely and coincidental. She said that it would probably arrive overnight and would be delivered to our hotel the next day, but it wasn't. We looked through the cages of lost luggage, but ours wasn't there. The following day we went back to the airport and again toured the cages full of lost luggage. Ours was not there. Signs on the carousels stated that videotapes were made, and we asked if we could look at them. We were told that we couldn't but that United employees would do so.

We left with an 800 number we were told to contact for updates. We noticed when leaving the baggage claim area that there was no security and the doors to the streets were a matter of yards from the carousels. There was nothing to stop a thief or thieves from entering the area and leaving with luggage. Baggage tickets were not checked to make sure that people were leaving with their own items. When I asked the lady at the baggage claim area why this wasn't the case, she said that people didn't want to stand in lines. I believe it's because airlines don't want to pay someone to do that job.

But the flight dropped us on road at far end corner of gate F14 and from there I had run to gate C16 to catch my connecting flight which eventually I missed by 2 minutes. Due to all flights being overbooked the United representative could not give me confirmation till Mumbai (BOM) and mentioned I might have to stay at Chicago and even at London to see if there are any availability, but they cannot say for how long or for how many days. Since, I was traveling with an infant I was not comfortable traveling without getting any confirmation when I will be reaching to my destination. Hence, the representative asked me to cancel the tickets and get the refund and go back to St. Louis.

I agreed to that and they gave me 8:05 PM on December 2nd, 2006 confirmed ticket from Chicago to St. Louis. The flight was delayed by half an hour then one hours and they mentioned it will go at 10:30 PM due to malfunctioning of aircraft. Finally, the aircraft was ready to go but the Pilot left at 10:00 PM and they did not had any backup pilot.

They provided accommodation at Holiday Inn Hotel where I reached around 11:30 PM and all restaurants were closed. I was not provided with any vouchers for dinner/breakfast/beverage. I asked the United representative to release my luggage as I didn't have enough clothes and diapers for my baby. But they refused. I was given next day flight at 9:30 AM, which was at gate C1 then C3. Again, the flight was delayed due to maintenance of flight and finally at 11:00 AM they boarded us in flight and found there was some problem with the flight and need some more time to be fixed. At 11:30 AM they announced the flight has been cancelled and we need to go to the customer service and get some other flight.

After standing for an hour in line I finally got my turn to talk to the representative, believe me no help they were absolutely blunt and discourtesy. They gave me flight for 3:30 PM at gate F14, when I reached there, again the flight was delayed by 2 hours. After requesting and begging so much to put to different airlines or release my luggage so I could rent a car and drive back home, they didnt help me and instead they put me in standby to earlier flight UA643 and asked me to go back to gate B3.

I have called them numerous times and was told to call one department after another. I was then told to fax my information to them. Last month, I reached someone who told me they were working on my claim. As of 12/29/06 I have not been reimbursed. Please note they have a series of taped messages, none which addresses stolen property from luggage.

After checking on December 27, both by phone and by online search engine, the status of my bag was unknown. By Thursday, December 28, I was able to contact an agent through the 1800 line who then infomed me that the courier service made an attempt to contact me on December 27, 2006 and that my bag was returned to the airport for me to pick up. The update on my online information is that my baggage was scheduled to be delivered on December 26. I live in NY and the cost to go the airport and back in both money and time are too much for me.