One of our readers appeared on NBC Nightly News the other night after his story was featured on The Consumerist. Bob Loncaric paid extra to fly direct on United and when he checked his reservation, he found it had been mysteriously changed to one with stopovers. He called customer service, but was barely able to understand the outsourced call center employee’s version of English, except for the list of cities he didn’t want to stay in spouting out of the guy’s mouth….

Bob’s struggle to get things right were interrupted by periodic bursts of inexplicable cheering and clapping in the call center background. Bob gave up and called executive customer service, only to be told his call was going to be disconnected for “being sarcastic.” Finally, after his post appeared on our site and he sent in an Executive Email Carpet Bomb, United called him to set him up with a direct flight and gave him two $100 vouchers. You can watch the NBC Nightly news version here. Here are the two posts with his complete story.

United Changes Direct Flight To One With Stopovers, Doesn’t Tell Customers, Customer Service Reps Cheer And Clap In Background
Executive Email Carpet Bomb, Consumerist Post, Prompt United To Solve Reader’s Complaint

Bob is happy his story made it this far. “The only thing better than feeling vindicated is feeling totally vindicated,” he writes.

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