United Airlines Reviews

When the Continental Airlines people carried my son onto the airplane, they were banging his feet and arms and had no regard for how they were handling him. Upon boarding, the flight crew treated us so bad. We kept informing them before landing to please make sure that the ground crew was there to get my son off the airplane. They kept telling us that they will take care of it at landing. Before we were about to land, the crew came around to check everyone's seat. They came to my son, went to check, and then stopped and said "whatever", and walked on. Upon landing, there was no one there to get my son. We were the last ones off the plane. We waited approximately 45 minutes before the people came, and the crew were ** because they couldn't get off until we were off (we were an inconvenience to them). To top it off, they lost my daughter's luggage, and when we were travelling to the States, they lost my son's walking frame.

They have caused tremendous anxiety to me and my family and I will certainly not recommend Continental Airlines to anyone with a disability.

In this recession, those of us who do have some kind of money to pay for a ticket deserve topnotch customer service. We don't deserve people who aren't compassionate. I'm not a freaking crook and I don't go around scamming people. I just want to be treated with dignity and respect. I didn't deserve such rude behavior from the three people I talked to on the phone tonight. Very disturbing. I may not be able to put a dent into their airline, but I will spread the word for others to not fly with Continental. I will not fly with them either. I will drive my car before I fly on that plane again. I suggest you do the same or read the fine lines and ask a lot of questions.

I wonder what it would have cost her to let me know that I'd be incurring extra charges if I cancelled my flight. Nothing! Not a dime! Guess this is how they make their money! They ** you and take your money! My husband is deployed and fighting for their freedom and this is how you repay your military. Thanks a lot!

I'm sorry, but I really do not recommend Continental Airlines. I knew it would have been better to go with JetBlue or Southwest. Screw you, Continental Airlines. You are a great disgrace in the world. Please disappear already.

Due to the fact that the customer service representative did not find this reservation, I was forced to make another reservation with my American Express credit card in the amount of $789.50! I had no choice but to purchase the ticket, which was twice the cost of the original one, due to their system not finding my reservation. I did use the ticket of $789.50 to travel; however if they would of research and find the reservation I had previously made, I would have used it instead. After all, they (Continental Airlines) did also charge my Capital One credit card account with the original charge (the one their system did not find). I believe this is an unfair and deceiving act to make a consumer pay more than the average cost. I feel that the original charge should be charged, not the additional $789.50.

12:30PM: I have already checked in for a flight to Newark, NJ from Atlanta, GA. The flight is supposed to depart at 3:30PM and arrive at 6PM at the latest and should have time to for a connecting flight to New Delhi, India. 3:30PM: Still in Atlanta, GA at the airport and Continental announced that the flight will be late and will not leave until 5:30. So I went to ask a Continental rep if I would be fine for the connecting flight. She said, "Oh sure, no problem. You will have plenty of time to catch your connecting flight." I sat back down and had no worries.

5:30PM: We began boarding and took off at about 6:20PM. Now I am worried about the connecting flight. 8:20PM: We landed and I got my family (wife and 11-month-old), along with my sister and her two kids (5 years old plus 7 months old), off quick. The other passengers were nice about letting people with connecting flights off first (notice how in general, people are nice and concerned).

8:40PM at the Continental counter asking about the connecting flight: Total ** called us up, looked at our tickets and then yelled, "All the people connecting to New Delhi come up?" About 10 people, not including us, came up. The ** said, "The plane has departed and the next flight out is tomorrow night, same time. We can issue you new boarding passes." That's all. All these people were looking at him in silence - several Indians and White Americans. I looked around and said, "Where do you house people?" He stated, "The cost of hotels is out of pocket. All we can do is tell you where you can get discounted hotels at a $60/day rate."

Now I have a problem because this is the fault of poor information from a Continental rep in Atlanta. Had she provided up-to-date information about connecting flights, I would have stayed in ATL and would have caught another flight the following day. This way it wouldn't be an inconvenience for my family and the kids. This is funny. The reps gave us a 1-800 number to call customer service and it is 1-800-WeCare2 (after this trip, they should change it to 1-800-JustPay). The next day, we arrived at the gate 3 hours early as per international travel rules.

7:30PM: There were many mothers with kids traveling without their spouse. Now the rule, or possibly common courtesy, is that all disabled people should board first; then parents with small children; then first, business and finally, coach. Not here. The lady calling out ticket numbers began by calling first class, business class and then back to front. All of a sudden, you have a chaotic situation where people are crowding the floor. This was worse than traders bidding on a trading floor of a stock exchange.

I have been watching this for about 7-8 minutes and all of a sudden, I said, "Ma'am, you may want to get this under control by allowing the parents with strollers, then back to front so your area isn't as crowded." She stated they don't speak my language? I am shocked because this ignorant ** isn't speaking Gaelic, Farsi, Arabic, etc. where it would be a minority language. It is freaking English and 85% of the people appeared educated and spoke English. I lost it and made it seem truly ignorant in front of a crowd (but she did end up listening to me).

At the end of the day, I noticed the company was full of ignorant and incompetent people in various positions - from customer service (Ms. **, supervisor) to ticket takers at the gate. Now I wonder if the CEO is any better because ultimately, he is responsible for poor talent and a poorly run company.

Needless to say, I was royally ticked because I knew that the experience would be an exercise in terror. And I was correct: consistently delayed flights, cancelled flights, broken plane(?), lost luggage and beastly airline personnel (both ways). Though thoroughly disgusted with UAL in every respect, I managed to maintain my composure right up until the moment, on the last leg of our journey back to Colorado from London, the UAL gate agent took to downright abusing an elderly woman for no apparent reason.

I was sitting near the counter at the gate along with my ever-patient husband and a great many frazzled, exhausted, and stranded UAL passengers. Having listened to the gate attendant bark orders and rude remarks at the would-have-been passengers for more than an hour, I lost my nerve entirely when the man began to berate an old lady for stepping over the line(?) in order to ask a question. When she politely suggested that he need not treat her so rudely, he labeled her a security risk(?) and screamed at her (yes, screamed) that he would call security if she didn't shut up and sit down. Then I lost it.

I told the ** in no uncertain terms that he was, in fact, a ** and should rather call security on himself. Moreover, I made it perfectly clear that his attitude for the past hour had been intolerable and that the people he had been barking at were human beings who, at a minimum, deserved simple basic respect. I don't remember quite what else I said to him, but I could see the man fuming and turning over in his petty mind the prospect of calling security on me instead. Perhaps he thought better of it as the passengers seated around me appeared to have my back on the issue. In the end, he shut up, I shut up, and people began exchanging contact information.

After many hostile glances in my direction, which I returned in equal measure, we finally boarded an airplane. In the future, United is on my ** list (pardon the French). I'm done. I vow never again to to fly with United and, henceforth, will only utilize international airlines that are in no way affiliated with domestic airline companies. The airline industry has become an abomination and I refuse to further enable its lunacy.

We went to the ticketing window instead of rechecking our bags and waited with over 10 other families that were in the same boat as us. The ticket agent was very apologetic and friendly. She told us that normally, they should have held the plane but it took off full so they must have sold our seats. She gave us a 1-night voucher for motel and some food vouchers and told us even though at this time she could only get us to our final destination 4 days later on Wednesday 4-8, we would have to come into the airport every day to get new vouchers. At that time, she also assured us that we would be compensated for the trouble. The motel Continental put us up in was a dive. There were some good 'ol boys drinking beer and having a BBQ in the back of a pick-up in the parking lot right below our window.

The next morning before sunrise, my husband went back to the airport to see if there was really no other way for us to get home. He spent over an hour with two Continental agents discussing splitting my family up and traveling 2 and 2. They discussed flying us into Canada and us renting a car and driving home. They went round and round trying to find a way for us to get home. None of these ideas would work for various reasons so we decided to make ourselves as comfortable as we could until we could leave Houston. Before my husband left that day, he was assured by both agents he was working with that while Continental would not reimburse with cash for any out of pocket expenses, they would compensate us with about $250 worth of flight vouchers per day per person.

Oh and by the way, the airline couldn't give us any more motel vouchers, because the motels they used were full but we were offered to stay in some sort of lounge at the airport for 3 days with our kids and all our luggage. (We found a hotel on our own.) Well, we are home now and have been told we only are entitled to $125 per person, period. That's a total of $500.

I went to Expedia and reviewed all flights departing on the 2nd from Punta Cana and found out that there are flights, Delta 542 and 1075, that skip NY and fly via Chicago to San Francisco. Knowing that Delta and Continental are partners, I called and asked to put me on that flight. And while they had seats available both on 2nd and 3rd, they refused to accommodate me (due to fare class differences). I didn't want to spend $800 for the one way flight as it would cost me less to stay two more days in Punta Cana at the resort. Even after losing a small job on the 4th, it was almost equal in losses.

So on the 4th I arrived at the airport, and (this is funny, ironic and sad) I am asked to fly on Delta (Yes) flight as they overbooked my Continental flight to NY. See the irony? When I asked them to put me on that same flight two days ago, they refused even though they are partners; but when they needed my help, putting me on Delta flights wasn't an issue at all. I totally get the weather can be unpredictable and airlines shouldn't be held responsible for every situation, but this was different. All other airlines tried to send flights on schedule; only Continental and Delta simply cancel them. And apparently, Delta is a partner when they need it but independent company when you need it.

I sent two emails and yet to get any response. Today, I called and explained the situation and got some standard policy explanation about the weather bla-bla-blah, and that my tickets couldn't be switched to Delta due to fare difference. I forgot to mention, I have their elite status and still it didn't help. So I asked a higher level manager to call which resulted in a fairly rude/ignorant phone call from another rep which (another funny thing) refused to identify herself and hung up on me. I know they can't hang up on you so she expected me to disconnect. I didn't and finally I was rewarded $125 certificate, ha-ha. I am not going to give up on them until I get my $800 back.

The next morning, we got up at 0500H to try to get a standby from UAL, but no luck. Finally, we got a flight at 1108H to Wash/Dulles. When we arrived, our flight to RDU had been gone for around 30 minutes. UAL was overbooked on the next flight in mid afternoon, so we had to wait until 1735H in Wash/Dulles to get a flight to RDU. These things seem like nothing to someone who isn't going through this but if you have a mother dying, our two daughters having to give up time from their duties to drive to Raleigh and have to spend the night so they could wait for their parents to take them home, to us it becomes a big thing and it was very expensive for a family that just doesn't have extra money.

Overall, I was 3.5 hours late (all due to Continental) and feel ripped off after paying for first class and getting coach. I also feel violated by Continental baggage handlers. This is my second bad experience with Continental Airlines this year so I will use other carriers from this point on.

Now coming back on Friday at noon, they said no flights available until TUESDAY and no money to help for a HOTEL. I needed to get on the phone and have a friend drive down to help her. We got her on a flight Saturday at 5:47am with a 2 ½ year old. This is only half of what happened… I will be taking legal action against the airline as my family are partners in a very large law firm.

The United Airlines representative charged us an additional fee for excessive baggage without even seeing the baggage and threatened us by saying if we didn't pay it, the baggage will be removed from the aircraft. We were being honest. Had we said nothing, it wouldn't be an issue, but to bluntly charge us $131 for bags whose contents were valued at less than $50 is outrageous. It was our understanding paying the excessive baggage fee initially in Manila, Philippines was for the entire flight, however, the United Airlines representative said only from Manila to Hong Kong. But the baggage tag/receipt from Manila listed our complete itinerary (i.e., MNL-HKG PR 0300, HKG-ORD UA 0896 and ORD-BWI UA 1236).

The irony of the whole matter is the United representative in Hong Kong not ever saw the baggage and assessed us the outrageous fee with an I don't care personality. Pay it or leave it attitude. We believe and feel we were unjustly taken advantage of by United Airlines and this particular representative. We've contacted the reimbursement department and were recently notified via phone that we would not receive a refund. We have not received an official letter from United Airlines acknowledging this matter.

Here is what happened: On December 18, 2008, I had a flight from Greensboro [GSO], NC to Grand Rapids, MI (GRR) with a flight change at O'Hare, Chicago (ORD). The flight leaving GSO was late because the staff in Chicago didn't get the plane ready in time to leave ORD to come to GSO. Therefore, I arrived too late at ORD to catch the flight to GRR, the last one of the day. Weather was turning bad. The United ORD customer service people told me the first seat I may be able to get from ORD to GRR would be the 20th. I was supposed to hang around ORD for two days!

They did not offer to give me a hotel voucher, just a so called "coupon" where I could get a hotel room for $60.00. I later found out that the airport has cots available for stranded customers but was not offered this. Because I had no intention of staying at ORD for two days, missing the family get-together in Michigan, I found a rip-off one way, one-day car rental from Alamo, for $300, from ORD to GRR (150 miles).

Now it was midnight and the weather was bad. Mind you, the flight from ORD left on time to GRR... weather had not been an issue. The issue was their STAFFING problems, causing me to leave too late from GSO to catch my connection to GRR. I ended up staying at a motel somewhere outside of Chicago for another $70 (both expenses unplanned, of course) because I felt it was unsafe to keep driving and too cold outside to park. Eventually, I made it to my destination, $400 poorer. Trip home: again, the flight from GRR to ORD was delayed due to United's STAFFING problems. The pilot announced that the plane was late because the crew in Chicago didn't show up to fuel the planes! They said it was TOO COLD! Therefore, we were late leaving GRR.

When I arrived in ORD, I found my return flight to GSO was coded as "closed". I found a security guard at the gate and asked him what this meant. He said the plane hadn't left but it was closed. I told him I was late due to the fuelers not showing up! I asked if I could still get on the flight since it hadn't left. He said, “Go to the door and knock and see if anyone is in the hallway (the trailer thing that connects the airline gate to the plane).” No one was at the desk; no one answered my knock at the door. I tried the door and it was open! I later found that this is a breach of security of a restricted area. I opened the door, and called out. No one answered.

Well, being in a frame of mind to get home on time, seeing that the plane was still there and the last one going out to GSO and my being scheduled to work the next day, I took my chances and opened the door. I called out... no one answered. I walked to the plane where I encountered a man and a stewardess outside the waiting plane. The man saw me and screamed at me, asking what was I doing? I told him the door was unlocked and this was my flight. He screamed that this wasn't true... the door wasn't unlocked. I beg to differ. He grabbed my boarding pass out of my hand and stomped off, ordering me to wait there. The stewardess was kind to me in the meantime. I told her about the flight being late from GRR due to Chicago's staff not coming to work to fuel the plane due to the cold. COME ON! I have lived in MICHIGAN most of my life and understand cold weather. People adapt!

The guy that grabbed my boarding pass came back and rudely barked at me to board the plane. He did not give me back my ticket. The stewardess asked him if he wanted me to get on the plane. He replied that he would have had to file an incident report and would have gotten in trouble for a breach of security so was going to let me on. I was thankful to get on. He never did give me back my boarding pass and when I arrived at GSO, my luggage was missing. They did deliver it to my house in the wee morning hours.

I tried to contact United Customer Services myself. My husband, as I said earlier, got hung up on when he called to complain about the need to rent an expensive car and a hotel room due to their staffing problems. I fared no better. Several emails to and from United have resulted in nothing more than their unwillingness to be responsible for the damages and stress that they cost me due to their staffing problems and poor staff behavior. They offered me their $25 certificate off of a future flight, which is a joke because I will never pay another dime to fly on United. We must pay them, provide them more business, to redeem their offer of good faith. Is this crazy, or what? The best they would do was go up to $75.00. Again, I told them to keep it.

I eventually got assurance that the cost ($55.00 approx.) of the segment of my flight between ORD and GRR would be refunded to my VISA. I never did get a response to my request about who to report the breach of security I encountered to. I was told the staff was acting that way to protect me! When I told them that was a joke and again demanded who to contact to report this, I was eventually told this staff would be dealt with but their staff issues were confidential. When I told them that two round trip tickets (first class and hotel expenses) would be considered fair compensation for what I felt I suffered financially and stress wise, I was told there was no way I would get this.

I eventually wrote to the TSA complaint about the breach of security issue. They got right on it and asked for details. I am still awaiting the final outcome but at least feel that I have had some satisfaction in one small way. By the way, Travelocity also got involved, supposedly, but all I get is automated emails from them and no response/resolution. I just recently flew to Mexico on Delta and it was a 180 degree difference. Smooth, friendly, no $15.00 bag check fee. Never again, UNITED. I think we need to file a class action law suit. Any lawyers out there willing to go for it?

I did not find this out until two weeks later when I tried to get reimbursed from my employer. I called and complained to their customer service, but it was hard to understand because they spoke with a thick Indian accent. They said they couldn't do anything for me. I paid $93 unknowingly for a seat that I did not want, and I have spent hours and the company's hours trying to figure it out.

When I tried to fly out on my scheduled flight, I was first met with "We don't know if or when your flight will depart due to equipment breakdown in Washington, DC", followed by "If the equipment does arrive, we don't know if or when it will depart due to the snowstorm in Chicago, and if or when your connecting flight will leave". I asked if I could rebook, and was told they would NOT rebook me on another airline because I used frequent flyer miles, and the next flight they could get me home on would arrive at 10:30 PM, Christmas Eve.

I am a Labor and Delivery RN, and was scheduled to work from 6 AM to 6:30 PM on Christmas Eve, so it was imperative I get home on the 23rd. I was able to rebook on Southwest Airlines at a personal cost of $410. An email complaint to United's customer service netted me a $25 goodwill certificate. A complaint through the BBB netted me a refund of half of my FF miles, neither of which does me any good, since I had used my last 25,000 miles to purchase the ticket. I would have to fly 12,500 miles on United to have enough miles for another ticket.

Today, we received an automated phone message that our itinerary had been changed again. I did not receive any notice in my e-mail and they have both mine and my husband’s e-mail to notify in the case of a change to the itinerary. I checked online to see the new schedule. Now, they have us departing GEG at 4:55pm arriving in Sea-Tac (SEA) at 6:11pm, departing SEA at 7:08pm and arriving at LAX at 9:45pm; departing LAX at 10:45pm and arriving at MCO at 6:03am on April 30th. It is now going to take us 25 and 1/2 hours to cross the US.

I called United Airlines and they told me that the flight we were originally booked to fly out of DEN on was an American Airlines flight. It was listed, and I printed it out as United 1295. United said we would have to pay to change the itinerary to get back on the original flight going out of DEN since it is now an American Airlines flight. It is going to cost $75.00 each. 9 x 75 = $675.00. They offered a couple other itineraries out of Spokane leaving at either 6:00am or at 9:30am. This means we either drive all night long with children and an elderly lady who is on heart medication, or we leave the day before and pay for several motel rooms, which is going to be equally costly.

The other option was to fly out of Billings, MT which would cost us an additional $75.00 per person for the difference in the cost of the fare and $75 per person for changing our itinerary. To compensate us, they would give each passenger a $100 voucher to use towards travel in the US at a later date. We could not use it towards this particular trip to Florida. These are foreign exchange high school students whose parents live in various countries. Their visas expire in June, and they have to return to their home countries. They are going home within three to four weeks after the trip to Orlando. They will not have an opportunity to use the vouchers. I explained this to the agent I was dealing with on the phone.

I asked if they could pay for our hotel if we drove to Spokane the day before. They could not. It was take the vouchers good for a later travel or nothing. I and my husband are not frequent flyers. We were unable to use vouchers given to us for giving up our seats in the past due to all the restrictions they place on those vouchers. I have collected the money from the children’s parents. I have paid for the flights and budgeted exactly what we need to take these children on this vacation.

I cannot ask their parents to send me more money because the airlines is changing our itinerary. I cannot tell them it is now going to cost more than we originally agreed on because we have to pay for changes to the flight itinerary or pay for hotels we did not plan on. I cannot drive all night and stay awake or keep the children up all night. They are teenagers. It is not like they can lay down in a car and get comfortable to sleep through the night. We all know how comfortable the seats in the airplanes are.

This is so unfair to these children and their families. I have no way to come up with the extra money for the changes, but if I do not, I am facing international lawsuits from the children’s parents. This is crazy. Now, I have to ask if I could even get it straightened out and afford the changes they are purposing. How many more times between now and April 29th are they going to change our scheduled itinerary and how many more times are they going to try and charge us.

I thought this is ridiculous. The funny thing was, the traveler made two return changes according to United's record. The second change was made 4 days after the first, and it was charged to the traveler's own credit card. So I asked them, "If you guys can charge any penalties on the original card, then why didn't the 2nd reservations rep ask for a new credit card?" It must have been then carelessness of the first reservation rep. They did not know what to say. Then the rep from United's customer relations department just suggested me to dispute this charge from my bank, Chase Bank, which I did afterwards.

I waited over a month and didn't hear any update. I had to call and follow up myself to the bank. They told me United was able to provide a receipt with card number, traveler's name and approval code. So they just went ahead to close the case. I was surprised. Not only they did not protect its clients, but also they didn't notify me about this. Of course, they had an approval code.

The airlines has my credit card information! I didn't know what else to do, so I had to turn back to United again. The customer relations rep transferred me to their accounting/refund department to discuss this. The lady from accounting department said if I can provide another credit card, then they can remove the charge from my original credit card. I told her I think this was some mistake that their reservation rep made, to charge my card without checking with me, then United should be the one who bears this charge. She didn't think they did anything wrong and if I could not provide another card, then she wouldn't help me.

Therefore, I went back to customer relations to ask if they can provide me a company policy which states that if they have a customer's credit card then they can charge it. The rep said they wouldn't be able to provide it and could only forward my case to the superior to review. I was so tired to call and explain to different people and no one is taking any responsibility. Please help.

Recently, I had the displeasure to fly on United Airlines with my two year old daughter. According to the FAA, young children are recommended to be in a 5 point harness while on board any aircraft if you have purchased them a seat (which I did, full price). So having read this, I planned to take my child's car seat, her diaper bag and her stroller (which I gate checked). I didn't take anything unnecessary, just the barest minimum of what was needed to travel with a two year old. As a mother traveling with a small child, this was quite a bit to carry and was very cumbersome (two hands are needed to push a stroller, but I also had to carry the car seat).

As I went through security, I was informed by the TSA agent that her father could walk us to our gate to help carry this. But in order to do so, I would have to get a pass from the airline I was traveling with. When I asked the man at United Airlines Customer Care about this, he was very rude and told me in his snottiest voice that they don't do that for any family that needs assistance, only people who are disabled? I asked if anyone from United could assist me and was told, "that is not our job." When I told the TSA agent what United had told me, he shook his head and said the other airlines give out passes to family members all the time.

I kissed my husband goodbye and went through security, which turned into a twenty minute process. The TSA agents felt so bad for us that they offered to help us to our gate (the same happened on our return flight. I received more help getting to our gate from TSA than I did my own airline). After we finally made it to our gate, I thought our problems were over. Ha! While gate checking the stroller, I asked about pre-boarding (so that I could install the car seat before being in everyone's way). But instead of answering my question, the gate agent told me that, "You will board whenever your section is called." In other words, he blew me off and didn't even bother to explain to me that United's policy is to never pre-board families with children or parents with car seats.

I found out that info from the gate agent while boarding for our return flight. Instead of being allowed to install the car seat and buckle in my child in relative peace while first class was boarding, I got to carry the car seat above my head (while carrying my child and her diaper bag) because it was too wide to fit down the isle of the plane. It would've bumped into the heads of the people already seated. Then hold up everyone trying to get past me to their seats, while I frantically tried to install the car seat and at the same time, tried to make sure my daughter was safely out of everyone's way. Other passengers offered more help than the crew in both getting on and off the airplane.

Please understand I was not asking for anything out of the ordinary. Only for United's employees to do their job. Both of our tickets were bought full price. I did not bring excess baggage. In fact, her diaper bag fit underneath the seat in front of us. I was asking for a bit of common sense and perhaps a smidgen of humanity. The sad part is that because United did not do their job (the job I paid them to do), other passengers and the TSA agents had to step in and do it.

I am not writing this to complain (okay, maybe a little), but to warn anyone considering travel with children about United's bad policies. I know other airlines are far more considerate of their passengers and actually offer assistance, as well as pre-board people with small children to prevent situations such as mine from happening. If I can keep anyone from having the same experience that I did, I will. DO NOT FLY UNITED IF YOU ARE FLYING WITH CHILDREN, unless you like being treated like crap!

If that were not enough, I arrived at the ticket counter, only to be informed both flights were cancelled as stated above. I'm angry at the fact that I had driven a long way to be there in time. I'm also angry at the fact that I was not informed of the fact. I had to rebook myself on a later flight, at a higher rate, for the exact same booking.

The information was never stored in the computer; this information was all given to me by a ticket agent named Katherine. I am a Creole. This woman spoke and treated me as though I was mud on her shoe. I was in shock. I have never experienced in my life the level of rudeness displayed by an individual in customer service, ever. I immediately left the counter, and put in a call to the home office. I spoke with someone named Hans. I was told by this person that my ticket was free. I asked him to repeat himself three times. He reiterated that because I was a protected customer, due to both flights being cancelled, my ticket was free.

I went back to the counter, explained this to Katherine, and yet again to a second agent named George. Katherine totally ignored my presence altogether. I then asked to speak to a supervisor. To my surprise, Katherine was the supervisor. I was being charged an entirely different yet higher fee for the same flight that was cancelled without my knowledge. Yet, Hans repeatedly explained to me that my ticket would be free. Now dealing with George, who knows nothing, he asked me to call the home office again. This call was made within 15 minutes of my first call to the home office. I received Hans once again. He retracted his statement and pretended not to remember the previous conversation regarding the free ticket.

I was charged a ticket fee of $35. I inquired at this point to the ticket agent, George, what and why there was a ticket fee. He explained it was for the ticket paper. I went back to the agent, Katherine, to have the fee waived due to all of these problems. She completely ignored me once again, taking care of others right in front of me who clearly were in line after me. A nice gentleman said to her, "She is next." She again ignored my presence. I watched patiently while she addressed the Caucasian race with "Good Morning", "Sir", and "Ma'am". I watched her waive a fee for a gentleman right in front of me.

She abruptly acknowledged my presence for an entire moment to signal the word "No". "You need to pay the fee and the new ticket price." My father is ill, so I did. I had no options facing me. I walked away humiliated, and almost missed the 7 am flight because of the rudeness from the security check. I was a special search for some apparent reason. I also had to pay a $15 fee for one bag check to and from my destination.

They got me on a flight the next morning, then told me I could choose between $575 or a free round-trip flight. The rep told me that taking the $575 would be smarter, so I did. He then said United would put me up in a hotel room and pay for transportation there. I live with my family and wanted to go home, so I asked for transportation money instead. The representative calculated how much a cab fare would cost to my town, and came up with $25 each way. He then gave me two $25 vouchers: one for the way there, one for the way back to the airport. I have no idea how much cabs cost, so I believed what I was told and accepted the vouchers.

When I arrived home, the cab fare was $80. I was beyond mad. I am a college student who is very low on money; I cannot afford to pay for OTHER PEOPLE'S MISTAKES. I had to take a cab to the airport the next morning, which cost about $80 again. I talked to several people at the airport, and all they told me was basically, since I had accepted the vouchers, there was nothing they could do about it. They also told me that since the economy is so bad, they can only give out $25 vouchers, and that I could call customer service but they would just tell me the same thing. How on earth is a hotel room and transportation equal to two $25 vouchers? When I got to LAX, I had to get another cab, since the person who was going to pick me up the night before had to work now. All these cab rides cost me around $250.

Once again, I am a college student who has very little money. So basically, United screwed me over. I was unable to fly out on Sunday night. I missed school on Monday. I could not take my medication, and now I have to see a doctor to try and somehow fix this. I had to pay $250 in extra cab fares. I didn't have my clothing, medication, and other things I needed that were in my luggage which was on the plane; I was faced with several rude employees; and I wasted hours of my time waiting at the airport. I will never fly United again, and hope those of you reading this will choose a different airline as well. Thank you.

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.