I'n NOT happy.....

macraven

Proud Redhead
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Apr 21, 2003
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i plan my october trips usually january 1st each year.
i do my bookings for air, hotel, car service all taken care of that day.

then i wait for October to come along so i can start my vacation.

everyone is having travel woes this year and i am no exception.
i just want to vent on how i am not pleased right now.

i make my air plans early in order to chose the seat i want on the plane and to get the cheaper rates. i then use watchdog and if the fares drop, i get credit or vouchers for another trip.

i did well on the air this year. it was higher than the years past of course.
right now it has doubled from the amount i paid when i booked early this year.

around May 5, i found out my return flight was canceled.
my late evening flight i have had for years was no longer available.
i was put on a much earlier flight to come home.


I could not pull up my itinerary on the united website so i called them a few minutes ago. They let me book a seat on the rescheduled flight they changed on me last month. i got the last seat on the plane.
the agent said the flight i am on is already sold out as it has been overbooked. agent told me to check in early so i don't get bumped.
oh snap again.......

ok, after i screamed about it, i calmed down and can live with it.

now i get a notice from united that even though i bought my ticket in advance, i will still have to pay the $15 charge fee to book my first piece of luggage since my flight is after August xx. The second bag will be a charge of $125 if i care to have a second bag.

i'll wear about 7 layers of clothes. won't need the extra 2nd bag then.

to top that, no more free beverages.
even a bottle of water will cost me $2.00
wonder if we have delays while we are on the tarmac and have to sit an hour, will they be selling out of those $2 bottles of water......

you can't take bottled water with you through the point of checking your luggage in.
so i either buy the water bottles inside the airport after security or buy it on the plane....

they have me coming and going......

I read that after august, the increase charge for the first bag to check in will be put into the cost of the fare. who knows if United will then put another fee charge on to the travelers.

i can see it now.........carry ons will weigh 50 lbs and won't fit under the seat. plane will be delayed in leaving the tarmac so the passengers can have that bag checked in. then the hassle of collecting that additional fee.


on the other hand, it is a lot more convenient for me flying solo than driving for 22 hours to get to orlando.......

nevermind..............:rolleyes1
 
I'm sure its because gas prices are so high that they feel that they gotcha. If you want to go somewhere, you either pay the airlines or the gas companies. Of course, if this keeps up, I suspect less people will travel. And the airlines wonder why they can't make a profit when they're actually encouraging people not to fly!
 
Passengers should get money back if they end up getting stuck on the tarmac...I think I'd freak out it that happened to us...I hate flying even when everything goes right. It's not that I have a fear of flying, I hate being in that small space with all those coughing, sneezing, and odor-secreting strangers...

Mac, your flight isn't for awhile, maybe by then they will reschedule your favorite night flight...here's hoping....
 
I'm sure its because gas prices are so high that they feel that they gotcha. If you want to go somewhere, you either pay the airlines or the gas companies. Of course, if this keeps up, I suspect less people will travel. And the airlines wonder why they can't make a profit when they're actually encouraging people not to fly!

i realize these changes have occurred because of the oil prices but, golly gee, all i want is to be able to book a flight in advance and have it be available for when the time comes.

the united agent also told me that united is dropping close to 50% of their flights to vegas also. the night flights will be phased out.
 

Passengers should get money back if they end up getting stuck on the tarmac...I think I'd freak out it that happened to us...I hate flying even when everything goes right. It's not that I have a fear of flying, I hate being in that small space with all those coughing, sneezing, and odor-secreting strangers...

Mac, your flight isn't for awhile, maybe by then they will reschedule your favorite night flight...here's hoping....



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Sorry Macraven.

You are darned if you do. Darned if you don't. But, thank goodness you were the early bird, who grabbed her flights early. I chose to buy my tickets to orlando the beginning of April. My father was telling me hold off the tickets will get cheaper. Thank goodness I did not listen. Even though I have about an hours drive, or an hour, by train. To the airport. I am not paying the 75% increase they now have to pay for their flights. I really think this may be the last trip to Orlando for a couple of years for us. To be truthful. It is getting to pricey to fly for a family of 5. I refuse to sit in a vehicle for 18+ hours. Plus, I lovee cruising. I can always get a cruise ship an hour and a half away.
 
i realize these changes have occurred because of the oil prices but, golly gee, all i want is to be able to book a flight in advance and have it be available for when the time comes.

the united agent also told me that united is dropping close to 50% of their flights to vegas also. the night flights will be phased out.

Unfortunately, schedule changes are daily occurrences for most airlines. That's why we try to fly Southwest when we go to Orlando. Their flights seem pretty consistent. In July, we're flying on Northwest to get to Winnipeg and the second leg was schedule changed to a later time. I wouldn't be surprised if another schedule change occurs between now and then.

The main problem with airlines and many other companies is that they seem to have forgotten that they are suppose to serve the customer. Instead, they are of the believe that the customer serves the company.
 
We've found the further out you book your flight, the more changes are likely to happen. We bought our tickets for our trip to Orlando last October, in January and between buying our tickets and our flight the airline changed the flight 3 times - the last time changing from one layover to two and increasing our 8 hour total flight time to 12 hours. Thank goodness we were able to call and change to another flight.

For this year's trip to Orlando in October, we only bought tickets in May, and so far (knock on wood) they haven't made any major changes.

Unfortunately with the price of oil I think you're going to find more and more airlines making changes to try and save money and to stay afloat.
 
Ugh!!! I feel for you. Being an obsessive planner myself, I don't deal well with snafus like yours. I fully understand that airlines are scrambling because of the gas prices and I fully intend to have to pay more for flights resulting in less trips a year to Orlando for my family. I do have major issues with charging addlitional fees after I have booked and paid for my flight like baggage and fuel surcharges. I know it is costing more for airlines to fly but they should have money in reserves to handle these situations and then recoup with higher fares on future customers. If the gas prices would have dropped, I don't think they would have been passing on the savings to the consumer so they should just grin and bear it. Unfortuantely, I don't think some of the airlines would survive if they can't charge these additional fees as they were already operating by the skin of the teeth. Airlines going under will be another blow to the economy. You sort of sound like me - I rant and rave and get it out of my system. Then I resign myself to acceptance (begrudgeonly!). You will still be attenging HHN and having a great time. We jsut can't do it this year although I keep trying to find a way to make it work. We love HHN!
 
i'm at the point in life that i would pay any amount to attend HHN.
i am totally and completely addicted to it.

what irks me the most is the cancellation of my flight and rescheduling without notifying me. i found out by seeing my flight # for the return trip not listed on the united site one day.

i called united and was told they put me on a flight to houston tx then a connection from there to chicago.

no way.....

they then switched me to a non stop flight but in the afternoon.


this is only the second time since 1993 that i have encountered this.
the flights to orlando have never been a scheduling issue before for me.


i hope no one else has to go thru this fiasco like i have.

bonny, i remember for one of your trips your flights completely changed and messed up your ideal plans.
i know how you feel now.
 
I feel so upset with you.

I figured out that even if gas got to $5 a gallon and prices remained the same
for airfare (unlikely) that it would better off driving the 14 hours to Universal.

With time to get to the airport, 1 hr, waiting in airport, flight time, waiting for luggage, then waiting for transportation to hotel, we would only save about 7hours.

Therefore, with much coercion on my part to convince hubby,we are not flying and just this morning booked my beach vacation to Myrtle Beach with the money saved in airfare!:cool1:
 
Mac, my return flight also had a change similar. I had a perfect 8:30pm flight home. Now I have to leave at 6ish. It isn't terribly bad, I can still get to the parks at open and get one more ride on everything. But they should at least notify ppl of the change. I know they have my email since I'm an AAdvantage memeber. Oh well.
 
i'm at the point in life that i would pay any amount to attend HHN.
i am totally and completely addicted to it.

what irks me the most is the cancellation of my flight and rescheduling without notifying me. i found out by seeing my flight # for the return trip not listed on the united site one day.

i called united and was told they put me on a flight to houston tx then a connection from there to chicago.

no way.....

they then switched me to a non stop flight but in the afternoon.


this is only the second time since 1993 that i have encountered this.
the flights to orlando have never been a scheduling issue before for me.


i hope no one else has to go thru this fiasco like i have.

bonny, i remember for one of your trips your flights completely changed and messed up your ideal plans.
i know how you feel now.

:eek: Wow! What horrible customer service! Looking at United's website, I see they have a Guest Satisfaction Survey. Maybe you could fill one out now with your pre-flight problems. The website also has a Customer Service: Email Customer Relations website where you can fill out a form and email it to them. On that form, they have boxes indicating if its a complaint and if a return message is requested. It might be worth filling out that form and see what they say about their lack of notification concerning the change.
 
I know how you all feel cause we booked our airline tickets at the end of Jan for our July trip and in that time we went from leaving at 9 am to 10:10 am and both flights was suppose to be nonstop and now they changed the flight coming home to a lay over but they offered us another nonstop flight coming back but it was coming back way too early so we just kept the one they gave us.
So I guess the good thing is when I bought our 4 tickets we paid $1360.00 and now they are over $2000.00:scared1:
 
The airlines know they have everyone caught in a bind and most will pay to continue to fly ...and most will accept the changes in flights because there is nothing they can do, expect stop flying (and most will not). This is going to be a never ending situation unless everyone stops flying, then the airlines will see what they have done. This is impossilbe to do, therefore the airlines will get away with it for now. Maybe in a year or so when they see more profits going down the tubes due do a slight drop in customers. They might see they caused it, but really will not do anything except continue to increase fees and cut flights to make up for that loss (like they are doing now). We may see more airlines going under or merging & making mega monopoly giants. They are in business to make a profit, not to make it convient and make you happy. While I do not agree with how they operate, that is their bottom line. They want money, they don't care how they get it. Look at the buisness world, that is what the bottom line is... profit. :( sad but true. Again, I am not standing up for them, just stating how they operate.
 
you can't take bottled water with you through the point of checking your luggage in.
so i either buy the water bottles inside the airport after security or buy it on the plane....

they have me coming and going......

Seems to me free water on the plane is a public health issue. After all, keeping hydrated is one way to avoid DVT (deep vein thrombosis), which has killed a number of airplane passengers.

I can just imagine how many liability lawyers are licking their chops over this one.
 
Seems to me free water on the plane is a public health issue. After all, keeping hydrated is one way to avoid DVT (deep vein thrombosis), which has killed a number of airplane passengers.

I can just imagine how many liability lawyers are licking their chops over this one.

I bet they can get around it by stating they will offer you a "glass of water" but will not give you free bottled water. I am sure they thought there way around it before doing it. Soda never hydrated you anyway, only water did. They also charge for soda now too, don't they?
 
They tell you not to drink the water that is from the planes because it can harbor bacteria.:faint:
 
They have to have something on the plane that you can drink for free. Maybe they have regular water.. not tap, but like cooler water. I am sure they would not risk a law suit by having only bottled water for a fee. They can't be that dumb.. :confused3
 
Seems to me free water on the plane is a public health issue. After all, keeping hydrated is one way to avoid DVT (deep vein thrombosis), which has killed a number of airplane passengers.

I can just imagine how many liability lawyers are licking their chops over this one.

nope kelly, i called again and was told i can have all the water i want for $2 a bottle.

they won't be giving out free cups of water as everything they give out will have a charge when this new policy goes into effect in august.

i fly out on oct. 2nd. hopefully, the policy will be reviewed and changed by then.

i was told that i could buy bottle water in the airport after i clear security if i need it for medicine.


i still say this, watch the people with 60 lb bags carry ons that are over the regulation size (for carry on) be stopped by the employees on the plane.

then those bags will have to be taken up front and off the plane to be checked. and, of course, the charge will have to be paid to united once that happens.

in the meantime, we will be sitting in the plane on the tarmac sweating and i doubt water will be given out freely.

when i flew from honolulu to chicago non stop in march of this year, the employees did NOT give out bottles of water but would give you a dixie cup and pour some water in it.

i needed a refill but was told they were out of ice and the water was warm.

readers digest version: i drank warm water that day. it is a very long flight for that route i took.
 







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