After many phonecalls, United informed Steph via email that they will pay $3,174.20 of the claim. They will let Steph know in 60 days whether they are going to continue looking for her gear or not.

"I was a hell of a lot safer tossing myself off a cliff in a nylon squirrel suit. It's awfully hard to base jump with no parachutes though. Thanks United! You're the best!" wrote Steph on her blog.

Here's a video of Steph climbing and jumping off the 400-foot Castleton Tower, in Moab, Utah.

Guitars, the luggage of people with broken guitars, rock-climbing equipment... United seems to have a problem safely delivering valuable baggage, or owning up to its mistakes.

So, next time, if you're flying with a lot of expensive gear, make sure to have it insured, or send it FedEx.

United Loses BASE Gear [High Places] (Thanks to Mark!)

Rank - Company - CEO - approval rating

10. US Postal Service - Jack Potter - 21%
9. Sun Microsystems - Jonathan I. Schwartz - 21%
8. eBay - John J. Donahoe - 20%
7. Convergys (a horrible call center company) - Dave Dougherty - 19%
6. Pfizer - Jeff Kindler - 19%
5. Sears Holdings - W. Bruce Johnson - 19%
4. RadioShack - Julian C. Day - 16%
3. Sports Authority - Doug Morton - 12%
2. United Airlines - Glenn F. Tilton 8%
1. Office Depot - Steve Odland - 7%

Does this jibe with your experience? Who you would you nominate as the worst CEO?

Glassdoor Q3 CEO Watch List Report [GlassDoor] (Photo: Epiclectic)

* only CEOs with 50 or more reviews were included.

The AP says that "nothing was found on the plane or in the baggage of the man and his companion," according to LA police.

The flight was about to take off when the man jumped up and ran to the bathroom. The crew found this behavior suspicious and returned the plane to the gate where the man and another passenger were removed, questioned and searched. No charges are expected to be filed.

When ya gotta go, ya gotta go.

No threat found on delayed United flight at LAX [AP]
(Photo:afagen)

What's the real reason? People returning home after various winter holidays.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving — Nov. 29 this year, — is typically among the busiest travel days of the year, along with the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

The days following New Year's Day are also busy as travelers return home from the Christmas holidays.

Surcharges must be included in base prices listed in advertisements and on Web sites, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

American Airlines started the meme on Wednesday, United followed along on Thursday, and Delta joined in on Friday.

Delta matches American, United on $10 holiday surcharge [Atlanta Journal-Constitution] (Thanks, Snarkysnake!)

(Photo: elderleaf)

Attention Digital has collected several YouTube videos of CEOs apologizing for one reason or another: Domino's Patrick Doyle, for the infamous snot-food video; Matel's Bob Eckert, for its run of toy safety violations, and the Maple Leaf Foods robot, for listeria in its products. The article missed it, YouTube also has a video apology from United Airlines' Jim Goodwin (oooo, I just want to take him home and rub his belly...)

Having all of these collected in one place is nice because it allows consumers to get a sense of apologizes as a genre. Apparently, bad lighting and monotone reading from a teleprompter are a plus. Of course, CEOs can always get help from this guy when they need it.

CEOs apologize on YouTube [Attention Digital] (Thanks to Johnny!)

The first song, United Breaks Guitars, has now been played 3,515,357 times on YouTube, become a smash hit on iTunes, and has resulted in Carroll's rather bemused appearance on every major news network in America. Meanwhile, within four days of the song going online, the gathering thunderclouds of bad PR caused United Airlines' stock price to suffer a mid-flight stall, and it plunged by 10 per cent, costing shareholders $180 million. Which, incidentally, would have bought Carroll more than 51,000 replacement guitars.

United's stock, which trades below $4 per share, actually rose after the videos came out in early July. The stock only fell after little things like second quarter earnings were released. The stock has since recovered.

Dave Carroll's videos show the power that a single aggrieved consumer can wield, but we would be very surprised if they had any impact on United's stock—though wouldn't it be great if they did?

Revenge is best served cold – on YouTube [The Times]
PREVIOUSLY: Dave Carroll Says No To Guitar Hush Money From United
United Breaks Guitars

My wife and I had booked a week long vacation from chilly Winnipeg to Sullivan's Island, South Carolina and as much as I hated flying on United, they were the best option for the times we were traveling. I begrudgingly paid the $15 checked bag fee and the wife and I had a nice vacation in the sun for a while. March 1st comes around, and it's time to leave so we head to the Charleston airport and check in to our flight. We take off towards Chicago, where we'll have an hour long layover till we fly to Winnipeg.

This is where the trip gets stressful. We're about an hour outside of Chicago, when out of the blue, my wife suddenly blacks out and goes in to a minor seizure. As far as either of us know, she's got no history of this. So, I'm panicking, and I flag down a flight attendant (Fatima), who without blinking an eye grabs the first responder flight attendant (Ryan D). My wife comes around, feeling sick and panicky and both the flight attendants were extremely kind and helpful, grabbing ice and water and towels to try to keep my wife cool while Ryan checks her vitals. We're given the option to divert the flight from Chicago (how cool is that?) to a closer airport, but we opt to keep flying since the time won't be that different. We land, and taxi to the gate where there is an ambulance and a firetruck waiting, the paramedics come on board and assist my wife and I in leaving the plane. Now is where United really shines. I'm fully expecting to be screwed here, so when there is a United agent waiting at the gate for us, I'm expecting to sign a waiver of responsibility and told to have a nice day. She pulls me aside and tells me that they are going to rebook our flight, for free, for a later flight, or a flight the next day. And if we stay for the next day, they'll put us up at the airport Hilton for the night, free.

I check with the paramedics, and my wife is doing a fair bit better but we still opt to stay the night and fly out in the morning. They rebook us, give us the hotel confirmation number, and we have a pleasant stay for the night. Even checking in the next morning went smoothly, although the people next to us were getting an earful from an aptly named agent: Mrs. Colon.

I just want to let you guys know, and everybody if you post this, that even if United is a horrible company, there are still nice people there, and sometimes even big companies surprise you.

(Photo: So Cal Metro)

I was rather angry at United after being thrown off of flight UA 938 because coughing and sniffles from my cold "made other passengers uncomfortable" — swine flu panic run wild, particularly from the passenger in seat 33F, next to me (who got moved away at his request, and some minutes later I was ordered to leave. The passenger in 33G was appalled when I was given the order to leave.)

However, United's Denver employees, gate agent Brian Groscop and supervisor Mary Louise Taylor, turned this around. Not only were they level headed about the problem, but they also got me rebooked — onto a direct flight that got me home to Kansas City hours earlier than I'd expected! Upgrading my seat class put icing on the cake.

As a result of Brian Groscop's and Mary Louise Taylor's actions, I'm writing to compliment their dedication to service, instead of complaining that United 938 caved in to swine flu panic.

Better not fly with a cold or else the other passengers might rise up against you!

(Photo: macieklew)

Mike cc'd us on his email to United Airline's C.E.O., Glenn Tilton.

Dear Mr. Tilton:

When the employees of large companies discard compassion, respect, and common human decency and instead place their own interests in front of those they are chartered to serve, then they are no longer deserving of the public's trust.

On February 19th, I received a phone call from my girlfriend's father indicating that her mother was close to death, and that-if at all possible-I should try and get his daughter to Portland, Oregon as quickly as I could.

I immediately left my office and began making arrangements to leave San Francisco for Portland, including calling the United Premier Reservation line on my way home to book a flight. The gentleman on the line provided me with a reservation number, informed me that I could pick up my tickets at the counter, and wished me the best of luck as the timing would be tight. On our way to the airport, I commented to my girlfriend that our ability to catch the 7:50 flight "would depend on the kindness of strangers."

Little did I know that the only unkind strangers I would encounter would all be wearing United blue.

We arrived at the airport at 7:20, but with very short ticket and security lines I felt that we had a decent chance of making the gate before the doors were closed. I explained to those customers waiting in line that we had a family emergency, and each agreed to let us move to the front.

The first agent to help me indicated that he could not ticket any passengers, and referred me to a different agent at the end of the counter. I approached this new agent, provided her with my record locator number and explained my emergency. I also asked her if there was any way she could contact the gate agent to let them know we were on our way, and perhaps keep the door open a few minutes longer if we were delayed at security.

To my utter amazement, your agent handed me back my record locator number, looked me straight in the eye, and informed me that she couldn't ticket me because "it was time for her to go on her break." I wasn't sure I heard her correctly, so I repeated the nature of our emergency. Again, your agent informed me that it was time for her break, "she had no choice," and that if I had a problem with it, I could talk to her supervisor.

I was absolutely horrified. The only person at the United counter who had the ability to ticket passengers felt that it was more important to go grab a soda than to give me a decent chance at making a flight to be with a dying relative.

I argued with this woman for a good 10 minutes, growing increasingly agitated. Even those passengers who had let me move to the front of the line voiced their objections. She did nothing to assist me, choosing instead to continue to quote company policy. Why she didn't just leave to go on her break is beyond me. Before she finally left, she placed a call to her supervisor and said, in a very sarcastic tone, that there was a customer at the counter "whose mother is sick and dying and who wants to hold a flight and speak with a supervisor." She refused to provide me with her name or employee number.

By the time I was able to find somebody new to help me, it was clear that I would no longer be able to make the 7:50 PM flight. I asked the new ticketing agent if there was any way that he could contact the gate to let them know we were on our way, but he said it was impossible. He booked us on the 10:30 flight.

Upon receiving our tickets, we ran to the security line and quickly made our way to the gate to see if there was still hope of making the 7:50 flight. The plane was still there, but the door was closed and your gate agent was turning other passengers away (including those who had arrived late on a connecting flight). I explained our ordeal to the gate agent, who simply provided me with some "United-style" sympathy: not only could he not re-open the gate, but he told me that he could understand the behavior of the ticketing agent because "management really makes us work some unreasonable schedules."

A perfect keystone ending to the most imperfect, flawed, and horrifying customer experience I have ever had in my life.

I realize that we can't legislate good customer service, and I suspect that no regulations were violated in this noble attempt by your staff to have us "fly the friendly skies." However, given the animosity that your employees seem to have for their management as well as their passengers, I hardly have faith in their ability to serve the public interest in other matters, including those involving passenger safety.

My girlfriend's mother passed away at 2:50 AM, shortly after we arrived in Portland. We will, of course, never know what we might have been able to share with her in the two and a half hours we burned sitting at a gate at SFO.

I certainly hope your agent's break was worth that price.

(Photo: piston9)

It's #11 General Motors VS #22 United Airlines:

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2009 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers, and seeded according to number of nominations. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america. Download the bracket here.

Nicholas says:

Hello, I noticed your story about the disconnecting of United's customer complaint hotline. I thought you might enjoy this.

I am a frequent business traveler. I was on United flight 941 from Chicago to Denver. On takeoff and landing I always listen to the cockpit communications. Hearing the dulcet tones of the pilot helps ease some of my flying nervousness. During flight 941 I didn't hear anything from the cockpit during takeoff and once we were in the air I heard something odd on the cockpit communications channel. It appeared I was hearing the flight attendants communications. I could see them talking on the phone near the bulkhead and I could hear it on the cockpit channel. Most of the conversation was fairly innocuous but when it was time to serve drinks I heard: "We start on drinks for the IDIOTS in coach". It was at that point one of my fellow passengers let them know we could hear what they were saying. They stopped using the communications system and offered no apology.

I've sent the story to United and surprise… no response.

How embarrassing for them. If don't have anything nice to say, flight attendants, don't say anything at all.

If you'd like to escalate your complaint, try writing to this fine gentleman.

(Photo:frankieleon)

United Airlines spokesperson Robin Urbanski says the company did research on the success of the feedback line and concluded that "people who e-mail or write us are more satisfied with our responses."

You can still call United's reservation line to speak with someone, but if you try to complain you'll probably be given an email address to use.

Thankfully, we have some pretty good executive customer service contact information for United, though we imagine Mr. Atkinson is about to get much busier.

Don't bother calling with your travel complaints [MSNBC] (Thanks, melinda!)
(Photo:afagen)

Airfares to Sydney (SYD) [AirFareWatchDog]

Among them, United Airlines is starting to pay greater attention to its planes, after scoring last in a J.D. Power and Associates survey of airline customer service in 2008 and tying with Northwest Airlines for the lowest consumer ranking of its aircraft interiors.

Starting last fall at O'Hare, United overhauled both how it tackles dirt and stains on its jets and how often it does so, a process it has since rolled out to 13 other cities.

American Airlines, which along with United dominates flights out of O'Hare, has seen passenger complaints about dirty planes fall by 40 percent since it stepped up its cleaning last year, said spokesman Tim Smith.

At a time when airlines are scrambling to attract passengers, ridding an aircraft cabin of grime is a business necessity. Cleanliness "absolutely" affects passenger loyalty, said Jack Smith, senior vice president for customer service with AirTran Airways. "People don't normally return to a restaurant if they think it's dirty."

The Chicago Tribune thankfully realizes that it's ridiculous to blame the airlines' customer service woes on dirty planes. Citing "jaded travelers," the Tribune acknowledges that the clean up might just be a coverup to distract from addressing "deeper underlying service problems." You think?

It's great that the airlines are cleaning their planes and all, but maybe, just maybe, they should spend more of their time focusing on actual customer service issues. If they need ideas, we have plenty of stories about United and American that will hopefully inspire them to clean up their act.

United, others get serious about clean planes [The Chicago Tribune]

If the in-air Internet connections work as billed, and if many passengers pony up as much as $12.95 per flight, then United will consider installing Wi-Fi service on other aircraft, said United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski.

United Airlines to offer Wi-Fi on its premium flights [Chicago Tribune]

From the Chicago Tribune:

As they parked aircraft and shrank domestic operations last fall, American and United Airlines significantly improved the rate at which they delivered passengers to destinations as scheduled, new federal data show.

After posting the worst record for delays in November 2007, Chicago-based United finished fourth best one year later among 19 carriers. About 86 percent of United's flights were on time in November versus 76 percent during the year-earlier period, according to data released Wednesday by the Department of Transportation.

Promptness — it's the lighter side of economic disaster.

Flight cuts trim airlines' tardiness [Chicago Tribune]
(Photo:afagen)

Thomas writes:

First, it's important to know that every year for the past 6 years I've flown from New Orleans to Denver to visit my parents for Christmas. The past couple of times we've been using United. This year, same as always, we made our ticket reservations almost 3 months in advance. We scheduled a flight to leave New Orleans for Denver at 6pm on December 24th. We get to the airport at 4:30pm and the adventure begins. The United check in area is abandoned but the self check in terminals are open, I put my debit card into the machine and it brings up my reservation and tells me that my flight left at 2:00pm. I ask an airport employee and he tells me to call United and fishes a ticket with phone numbers from behind the counter.

At this point I call my friend who I had drop me off and get him to park and let me see whats going on. I call the phone number in English I find on the ticket jacket and after navigating through their menu system get in touch with an agent. The agent tells me that they can get me on a flight for 6am today*Christmas*. I tell her I've got my parents coming to pick me up and I don't know how I'm going to get to the airport at 6am, I live about an hour from the airport. She tells me that's all she can do, but I can talk to a supervisor, but he won't be able to do anything either. She puts me on hold for about 5 minutes. My parents call, I can't answer because I'm on hold. She picks up, tells me she's transferring me now, then puts me on hold again. 20 minutes pass, my parents call again twice while I'm on hold. My Friend sends me 2 text messages asking whats going on. I have to hang up to get my friend to come and get me back home and tell my parents not to drive 2 hours to the airport to get me.

On the way back home I call United again. This time I get a man with an Indian accent. He tells me the same thing as the previous person. I ask if they can at least comp my parking so I don't have to foot a $100 parking bill since I'm probably going to have to bring my car to the airport since it would be very inconsiderate to ask someone to bring me to the airport at 4am on Christmas day. He tells me to talk to their customer care people. He can't transfer me, I have to call another phone number. I get a guy with customer care on the phone, another Indian accent, and he tells me that they can offer me a 10% discount on a later flight. Or a $25 credit on a later flight. I tell him this isn't acceptable, I want a parking or a partial refund to cover parking. He tells me no can do, oh and it is company policy that customers should check their flight info 24-48 hours before their flight and they weren't responsible for the fact that I never got a phone call or email that my flight information had been changed. I have found no reference to this anywhere, in fact the ticket sleeve says that reconfirmation of my reservation is not required. I hang up on the guy and call an agent to get my flight changed to 6am. My friend volunteers to take me to the airport while we're heading back home.

If this was all there was then it would be worthy of a post I think, but it gets worse. At 3:45am the next day I'm heading to the airport. We get there, get through security and are at the gate an hour before the flight. Their computer is broken and they only have about half the passengers seated at 6am. United apparently doesn't assign seats until you get to the terminal. They start manually assigning seats at this point. My wife is with me, she's stressed out and has been trying to keep me from getting too angry with the situation. We get called to get a seat about 10 people from the end. I get assigned a seat, 11E. She sees that there are more people than seats and tells me and my wife to stand to the side while she gets some people seated who's names she called while we were waiting and then proceeds to not deal with us and seats another passenger. I specifically heard a customer get assigned a seat 11F AFTER she assigned me 11E. At this point there were 3 people standing there and I was the only one with a seat assignment. She went on the airplane to see if there were extra seats somewhere, wtf?, she came back out and said "you two don't want to be split up, huh?" then gave the third person my seat. I get told nothing for another 20 minutes, we're standing here waiting to see what the hell is going, I'm obviously pissed off but trying very hard not to take it out on the agent. Eventually, 2 more agents come down and ask do we A, want to spend 7 hours by flying to Chicago, then to Colorado. B, want to spend 8 hours flying to Los Angeles then Colorado. or C. sit in the terminal for 7 hours then fly 3 hours to Colorado. My wife has issues with travel so we'd rather not spend 7+ hours onboard a plane. And here we are, sitting in the New Orleans airport for another 6 hours waiting for a plane to come.

Last night I was pissed off most because of the agent on the phone who put me on hold long enough for her call center to change over to India so she wouldn't have to deal with me. Today, I'm most pissed because they woke me up at 4am, out of spite? They did give us a pair of travel vouchers and a free lunch at a restaurant here in the airport, but somehow this doesn't make up for not waking up in Wyoming this morning or the stubborn refusal to do something as simple as cover parking and then telling me this is my responsibility for not checking on my reservation.

(Photo: zonaphoto)

According to the lawsuit, United supplied the man with wine every 20 minutes on the couple's flight from Osaka, Japan to San Francisco. This apparently caused the flier in question to become "so inebriated "that he could not manage himself," according to a lawsuit filed Dec. 5 in U.S. District Court.

Shimamoto was arrested, accused of disorderly conduct and battery after he struck his wife, Ayisha, six times, injuring her face and upper lip as they were heading through U.S. Customs in San Francisco, the complaint said.

The lawsuit is highly unusual and will likely hinge on whether Chicago-based United, in effect, operated a flying bar that's subject to the same legal liabilities as earthbound drinking establishments, legal experts said.

At issue: whether laws that hold bars and restaurants responsible for harm caused by intoxicated patrons apply when the bartender and drinker are flying at 40,000 feet across international territory.

Is an airline a flying bar? Are they responsible for this sort of thing? Is anyone other than you responsible for you beating up your wife?

Couple accuse United Airlines of overserving husband, causing him to beat wife [Chicago Tribune]
(Photo: Sprit635 )

Reader Aaron forwarded us the following email from United announcing that "Premier Executive" frequent fliers would now be able to board before... um, you know. Those other passengers.

Beginning November 12, our Premier Executive members and Star Alliance Gold guests will board before Seating Area 1 customers through the Economy Lane.

The new boarding order will be as follows: Global Services, 1K and customers sitting in United First will continue to board first through the Red Carpet Lane, followed by our United Business customers. Our Premier Executive and Star Alliance Gold members will then be invited to board.

After all of our most-valued guests are on board and getting settled, the regular boarding process of seating areas 1 through 4 will begin.

We strive to consistently reward you, our premium customers, for your loyalty. We hope that as a Premier Executive and Star Alliance Gold customer, you enjoy this added benefit

There's just something a little creepily desperate about this email, don't you think?

At least they haven't yet resorted to fear. The next email will probably read, "After all of our most-valued guests are on board and getting settled, the remaining passengers will proceed to the physical challenge portion of the boarding process, after which a King or Queen of Coach will be crowned and the losing passengers will subject to his or her cruel whims for the remainder of the flight. Also: there will be no snacks."

(Photo: afagen )

Castillo, 45, struck a flight attendant on the buttocks with the back of her hand during Saturday's flight, FBI Special Agent Peter Carricato said in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Charlotte. She also stood and fell onto the head of a blind passenger and later started pulling the person's hair, the complaint stated.

Ankle cuffs kept slipping off Castillo, so the flight crew and two passengers were forced to use duct tape to keep her in her seat, the complaint states.

She calmed as the pilot diverted the flight to Charlotte-Douglass International Airport, but became disruptive again when authorities boarded the plane to remove her, authorities said.

Watch how much you drink at the airport, people.

FBI: Airline passenger restrained with duct tape [AP]
(Photo: Getty)

The change occurs Jan. 1, when United's "elite" Mileage Plus members will earn a minimum 500 miles for any flight, Robin Urbanski, a spokeswoman, said in an e-mail message.

United also will credit their accounts retroactively for flights made since July 1, when UAL unit dropped the minimum award for all Mileage Plus members.

The change shows the value airlines place on retaining the loyalty of passengers who fly the most. American Airlines said last week that it would drop a minimum award in favor of actual miles flown for all except its elite-program members, saving money by reducing the number of passengers eligible for free trips.

United opted to add back the minimum guarantee for elite travelers to "keep our program competitive with other airlines and reward our most premium members," Urbanski said.

The rest of you plebs will, of course, still only get the actual amount of miles flown.

United Airlines restores mileage credit in bid to keep loyal customers [IHT]

The AP says:

United Airlines says 1 of its pilots has been arrested by police for being over the legal alcohol limit.

The airline says the first officer was due to join the crew of flight 955 from London's Heathrow Airport to San Francisco when he was arrested early Sunday morning. London's Metropolitan Police say the 44-year-old was arrested following a breath test but has since been bailed.

Fox News has some quotes from horrified passengers who witnessed the pilot being marched off the plane:

“A couple of police officers stormed on to the plane as we were all sitting down and went straight for the cockpit.

“We didn’t have a clue what was happening and we were kept waiting on the plane for hours.

“It is horrifying to think we were apparently so close to being flown thousands of miles by somebody who could have been drinking."

United Airlines issued a statement about the incident:

"United Airlines' alcohol policy is among the strictest in the industry and we have absolutely no tolerance for abuse or violation of this well-established policy.

"Safety is our number one priority and the pilot has been removed from service while we are co-operating with the authorities and conducting a full investigation.

Sigh.

Pilot arrested after failing breath test [Reuters]
'Drunk' United Airlines Pilot Arrested Before Takeoff [Fox News]
Pilot arrested in UK for being over alcohol limit [WHBF]
Pilot Arrested at Heathrow Following Breath Test[WSJ Middle Seat Blog]
(Photo: Zonaphoto )

The company has 51-percent of its 2008 fuel hedged at $111. Per-barrel prices closed at under $98 yesterday. Looking forward to 2009, the airline's fuel hedges are based on per-barrel prices of $118.

Hedging is a big roll of the dice, and no one has played it better than Southwest Airlines. It has consistently hedged more fuel than its competitors. As of this summer, Southwest has 70-percent of its 2008 fuel hedged at $51 a barrel. Compare that with American Airlines, which has 34-percent hedged hedged at $82 a barrel.

Industry analysts estimate that since 1998 Southwest has paid $3.5 billion less for fuel than its competitors. That's equal to 83-percent of its profits over the last nine years. It's a big part of the reason the airline continues reporting profits while the rest of the industry bleeds.

They're going to need to sell a lot of snack boxes to make up for that...

Airlines Hurt By Dropping Oil Prices. Huh?!! [Wired]
(Photo: FlyGuy92586 )

10. United Airlines
Assets: $25.2 billion
Date Filed: Dec. 9, 2002

9. Pacific Gas and Electric
Assets: $29.8 billion
Date Filed: April 6, 2001

8. Global Crossing
Assets: $30.2 billion
Date Filed: Jan. 28, 2002

7. Refco
Assets: $33.3 billion
Date Filed: Oct. 17, 2005

6. Financial Corp. of America
Assets: $33.9 billion
Date Filed: Sept. 9, 1988

5. Texaco
Assets: $35.9 billion
Date Filed: April 12, 1987

4. Conseco
Assets: $61.4 billion
Date Filed: Dec. 18, 2002

3. Enron
Assets: $63.4 billion
Date Filed: Dec. 2, 2001

2. Worldcom
Assets: $103.9 billion
Date Filed: July 21, 2002

1. Lehman Brothers
Pre-Bankruptcy Assets: $639 billion
Date Filed: Sept. 15, 2008

Biggest Chapter 11 Cases [CNBC]
(Photo: epak )

Starting tomorrow, all tickets purchased for flights after Nov. 10 will be subject to the new fee. Members of the military traveling on orders, "Premier" frequent fliers, and first or business class customers will be exempt from the charge. Reuters says that United expects to increase its revenue from "merchandising efforts" (including baggage fees) by $700 million in 2009.

Meanwhile, airline stocks "mostly rose" as oil prices fell below $96 a barrel, after reaching as high as $147 over the summer, said the AP.

Airline shares rise on falling oil, upgrades [Forbes]
United Airlines doubles second-bag fee to $50 [Yahoo!] (Thanks, Liz!)
(Photo: Zonaphoto )

Wired's Threat Level Blog reports:

A worker at a Miami investment advisory firm called Income Securities Advisors, which publishes news alerts that get distributed through the Bloomberg News Service, did a Google search on bankruptcies this morning and got back search results that included a six-year-old story published in the South Florida Sun Sentinel about the 2002 bankruptcy filing by United Airlines.

The employee mistook the news for a current story — despite the date clearly marked on it...and other information in the article "that would clearly lead a reader to the conclusion that it was related to events in 2002" — and included it in a subscription newsletter that was distributed through Bloomberg.

...the article in the Sun Sentinel's archive had no date on it. But when Google's spider grabbed it, it assigned a current date to the piece, which then resulted in the article being placed in the top results of Google News. When the employee from Income Securities Advisors ran a Google search on "2008 bankruptcies," the old United Airlines story appeared as the top link in the results, with a September 6, 2008 date on it.

As Joel Johnson intimates in his Twitter post, it seems more like a movie plot point than reality. It just speaks to how much the market has gotten into a mindset where it thinks "he who panics first, wins." Stick with your long-term investment goals and let them lose their nails.

Six-Year-Old News Story Causes United Airlines Stock to Plummet — UPDATE Google Placed Wrong Date on Story [WIRED]
PREVIOUSLY: United Airlines' Stock Temporarily Wiped Out By Old Bankruptcy Story

(Photo: Deseronto Archives)

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Earlier today, there was a run on shares of United Airlines' parent company, UAL, following news that the company was filing for bankruptcy. Unfortunately, that news was six years old. Somehow it was republished over the weekend by a Tribune news company without the original dateline, and by the time trading was halted at 12:30pm today, the stock had dropped from $12.30 to $3. The newspapers are still trying to figure out what happened.

According to news aggregation site SmartBrief.com, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a Tribune paper, was the first to run the old story about United. It was posted to its Web site at roughly 1 p.m. Sunday.

Sun-Sentinel Online Editor Joe Schwerdt pulled the story off his site shortly before noon this morning, in response to a call Tribune made to Sun-Sentinel editor Earl Maucker.

"I literally just got word a couple minutes ago that there was problem," says Schwerdt. He says he did not know how the old story was posted as new and was unsure if any other Tribune papers ran it. He declined to discuss details about how his paper publishes stories on weekends.

As of the publish date of this post, shares were back up to $10.92, noticeably lower than where they were trading before the news mix-up. Oops.

"How A Botched Web Story Wiped Out UAL's Shares" [Forbes]
(Photo: Cubbie_n_Vegas)

Dear Mr. XXXXXXXXXXXXX,

Thank you for your direct, candid feedback on the test we had planned to launch in the fourth quarter for food choices on some of our flights. We heard you and have decided not to move forward with the test of offering customers buy-on-board options in United Economy on certain trans-Atlantic flights. We will continue to offer complimentary hot meals on those flights.

The response from you and many of our corporate customers, even before we launched the test, told us what we would have undoubtedly learned had we proceeded – you value our hot meal service in economy class for international flights.

In this environment, where higher costs driven by volatile fuel prices are now the norm, we must continue to tailor products and services so that we provide you with choices and competitive fares. As such, we will continue to be proactive in testing new ideas.

On October 1, we will proceed with the test of new, complimentary options for United Business customers on three-cabin aircraft used for domestic routes, which represents 16 daily flights. Customers on these flights will receive complimentary fresh sandwiches, salads, breakfast, snack boxes or snacks, depending on the length of flight and time of departure. They will also continue to enjoy complimentary beverages, including beer, wine and cocktails. We will evaluate the results and determine next steps by the end of the year.

It's also important to note that full meals will still be served on our p.s. transcontinental flights.

Thank you again for your feedback. We will continue to listen and make changes that enable us in this environment to provide you with the choices you value.

Sincerely,

Graham Atkinson
Chief Customer Officer

The $9 sandwich plan is still in effect domestically, but at least you won't be starving on a transatlantic flight. If you'd like to let Graham know what you think of this move, here's some contact information for you.

(Photo: SoCalMetro )

Most Fee Crazy Airlines:

1. U.S. Airways: Not only does U.S. Airways have the distinction of being the only US airline to charge for water, they were also the first to discontinue free snacks. They've also decided to do away with in-flight entertainment. So what will you think about while you're bored, hungry and thirsty? How about that $15 first checked bag fee, the $25 second checked bag fee, the $5-30$ fee to choose your favorite economy class seat, and the whopping $250 fee you paid to change your ticket. Oh, yeah, and remember when they made everyone crazy by charging a $5 fee to book a ticket... with their own website?
2. United Airlines: United is following U.S. Airways lead with a combination of cutting amenities and introducing fees. They've done away with snacks and are selling "snack boxes." Soon, United will be raising the prices for these items and economy class passengers will be expected to pay $9 for a sandwich. While you're munching on that overpriced nonsense, you can add up the following fees: $15 to check your first bag, $25 for the second bag, and $125 for the third. Then there's the $25 you paid to book your ticket over the phone, the $125 you paid for the privilege of traveling with your pet in the cabin, and of course, the $349 per year that you pay to be able to "stretch out and relax in comfort in seats located at the front of the Economy section,".."if available."
   
3. (tie) Delta Airlines & American Airlines: American was the first airline to charge for the 1st checked bag, and Delta has managed to resist that fee — but Delta's other fees are just so darn expensive that we had to call this one a tie. Ultimately, it costs more to check two bags with Delta than it does with U.S. Airways, United, or American. American currently charges $15 for the first bag, $25 for the second, and from $3-6 for snacks. Delta charges nothing for the first checked bag, but if you're thinking of checking two bags, get ready to pay $50 for the second bag, and $125 for the third bag. Ouch! Delta's snacks are complimentary, but they charge from $1-10 more for certain special items.

Least Fee Crazy Airlines:

1. Southwest Airlines: Southwest is the only major airline that isn't charging a fee to check two bags, and the third checked bag will only cost you $25. There is also no fee to change your ticket. Instead, you'll get a flight credit that is good for one year. They don't charge a fee to book over the phone or in person, and they don't charge a fee for an unaccompanied minor.
   
2. AirTran: AirTran has fees but they're lower than a lot of its competitors. For example, the 2nd checked bag is $10 and the third is $50. The ticket change fee is $75, and unaccompanied minors will only cost you $39, as opposed to $100 on Delta, United, etc. You will pay $6 for an advanced seat assignment and $20 to sit in an exit row.
   
3. JetBlue: JetBlue keeps threatening to go over to the dark side with new charges for things that used to be free (headsets $1, blankets and pillows $7) but they still have some of the more reasonable fees in the industry. There is no charge for the first checked back, and the second bag will cost you $20. Changing your ticket will cost you $100, and expect to pay from $10-20 more for their mini-business class "extra legroom" seats. Snacks and non-alcoholic beverages are plentiful and free, however. Love those blue potato chips.

If you're looking for an easy way to compare fees, check out this excellent PDF from the folks at SmarterTravel.com, Airfarewatchdog.com, and SeatGuru.com.

(Photo: Jenna Belle )

Here's Noah's letter:

I had read your articles on United Airlines for a while now, but always thought "that couldn't happen to me". In fact I've had positive United experiences over the years. Nevertheless, this current situation has me recanting any nice thing I've said about them. Here's the quick version:

1. Girlfriend and I are trying to make Thanksgiving holiday travel plans. I have a pair of vouchers for United, a $100 and $200, from a previous airline error where United stood up and took responsibility. We wanted to apply both of these vouchers for the single ticket, from Seattle to D.C.

2. The United website bizarrely does not let you enter voucher codes. You get a message telling you to call their reservations department and read numbers to them. As we'll soon see, this is not a foolproof system.

3. I call the reservations department and speak to a nice fellow. I tell him the information on the flight I want and tell him I have two vouchers I'd like to apply. He says that two vouchers cannot be used on a single ticket. Fair enough, but I ask for an exception in this case. It never hurts to ask, and sure enough the gentleman puts me on hold for a few minutes, then comes back and says he can allow both vouchers to be used for the ticket. The process involves physically mailing the vouchers in(scary!), but they're not doing me any good in my apartment. I give him the credit card info to be charged, which he says will occur at the price quoted when United receives both vouchers. Both are mailed in.

4. A week later the credit card was charged, $100 higher than the price originally quoted. It was obvious only a single voucher was used. Annoyed but not overly so, I call customer service and explain the billing error.

5. No luck. Each person, supervisor or otherwise, goes through the same dance. They were very sorry for the misinformation I was given, the offending reservation agent will be swiftly disciplined, under no circumstances can two vouchers be used, and the credit card will not be credited the difference. Disturbingly, each department I speak with(reservations and customer relations) says the other department has the authority to make the change, but it comes to the same effect as no one does. I suggested that if policy prevents two vouchers from being used at once, they cancel the flight and issue a single $300 voucher. To this a supervisor lightly laughed, said the ticket was "confirmed", and could not be canceled or altered in any way without incurring heavy fees.

6. Undeterred, I fired off an EECB to four high ranked United executives. I talked about "rare missteps" and "working together", because after all, I had liked United and I presumed they liked me. The response came back not from any executive but from customer relations, again apologizing that the original rep had given me the wrong price, again saying he would be disciplined, again saying vouchers could not be combined, and (again) saying I was screwed.

7. I write a cathartic letter to the Consumerist.

I know some people would give up at this point, but my girlfriend and I are not wealthy people. $100 is not chump change to us. Also problematic is United having no accountability for outright lying to me about the price of an airline ticket. Confusion I can understand when two vouchers come in nominally against policy, but that does not give them the right to simply charge a credit card for more than the price quoted and hope no one says a thing. A call for clarification would have taken 60 seconds, and after no one would be in this mess.

Strangely for this kind of situation, United has admitted fault every single time I've interacted with an employee on this issue. They simply don't think their fault extends to, you know, doing something about it. Why in the world would I care that the ticketing agent is going to be disciplined, and why are you telling me about your company's internal employee policies anyway? I want the price we agreed to when I gave you two vouchers and a credit card. Take some responsibility for your agent's mistake. At the time anyway, he represented United Airlines, and was relied upon as such. Sigh.

Noah didn't give up after sending this letter to us. He kept corresponding with United until eventually they offered to refund his $100.

Noah says:

After receiving [another] letter and sending my response, I received a call today from an assistant to the VP of United. She again apologized for the employee's error and offered to refund $100 to the credit card, to match the price originally quoted. She did claim it was against policy, but "I had put in so much work" that it seemed fair. Well, whether it was the EECB or name-dropping consumerist.com, United eventually stepped up and did the right thing. Thanks for being such a good ace in the hole.

Congratulations, Noah!

For more information about launching your own EECB, click here.

(Photo: Travelin' Librarian )

The snacks, which include "fresh sandwiches, salads, snack boxes or snacks, depending on the length of flight," will be complimentary for travelers in Business Class and cost coach fliers from $6 for "shelf stable items" to $9 for fresh items such as salads or sandwiches. This price increase will go into effect in October, about a month after United discontinues free snacks in coach. Previously, Business Class customers got free warm meals.

Are you going to pay $9 for a United Airlines sandwich?

United Airlines to Charge Up to $9 for Snacks [WSJ]
United Tests Food Choices in Business and Economy (Press Release) [MarketWatch]
(Photo: pwrplantgirl )

The adjustments are outlined in an internal United Airlines memo that was distributed to flight attendants Monday and obtained by The Chronicle. The changes are all in the name of the "cost reduction and revenue-generating opportunities" United is focused on, the memo reads.

"In the wake of high fuel prices and a challenging economic environment, we must continue to examine every aspect of our business and find new ways to improve our day-to-day operations through efficiencies that still meet our customers' expectations," reads the memo, titled "Catering Changes Provide Value and Options."

"These are difficult but necessary changes," said United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski, in Chicago. "We are looking at everything we need to do to offset fuel prices, which are still skyrocketing."

The memo also says that United plans to do away with complementary meals from Washington D.C. to Europe.

"We'll monitor customer feedback," said Urbanski. "The industry is changing."

Since they're so interested, we think you should let them know how you feel about this change. Is "buy-on-board" food a good way to offset fuel costs without raising fares?

United Airlines to drop free snacks (Thanks, Ari!)
(Photo: So Cal Metro )

The site also details operational improvements that the pilots want to make, (avoiding delays by using all the open gates at the United terminal, for example.)

The Chicago Tribune says that the pilot group feels Tilton has been distracted by the recent airline merger orgy.

Tilton neglected the airline's day-to-day operations over the past two years as he attempted to merge with Delta Air Lines, Continental Airlines and US Airways, said Captain Steve Wallach, chairman of the United Master Executive Council, the leadership team of the Air Line Pilots Association.

"I think that there's been a lack of leadership, which is why our airline has been dragged to the bottom of the industry," Wallach told the Tribune. "Glenn's only plan outside of bankruptcy was to merge."

Glenn Tilton Must Go
United pilots call for resignation of CEO Glenn Tilton [Chicago Tribune]

When my family were ticketed for an overseas flight at Boston's Logan International, the clerk processed our tickets but then asked an unexpected question: "Would you like to upgrade to seats with more legroom?" When I asked how much that would cost, he responded "$231." I declined, since my flight was being paid for by my employer and the upgrade would have come out of my pocket. After a moment of discussion with another clerk, he processed our tickets. We received our tickets and proceeded to the gate for the first leg of our flight.

While waiting for the weather to clear at Dulles to continue our trip, I was attracted to a display from United Airlines that was playing on an LCD TV at the gate. United was showing off their "Economy Plus" seating option, which featured additional leg room in a specific section of the plane, in this case rows (Boeing 777) 17 through 26. (See http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/United_Airlines/United_Airlines_Boeing_777-200_2.php) I pulled out my boarding pass to check my seat assignments, and my entire family was seated in Row 18, within the "Economy Plus" area, even though I had declined to pay the additional fee.

At this point, I recalled the short conversation between the two clerks at Logan, which I had not paid much attention to at the time, but now made sense. My clerk asked the other clerk what "they are supposed to do when the traveler declines." The other clerk replied that "the company makes them ask, but if they say no he just books them anyway."

It is now clear to me that Economy was already full, and that additional Economy passengers were being seated in Economy Plus, whether or not they paid to upgrade, which means that the poor schmucks that were booked and ticketed weeks earlier (I made reservations only twelve days prior) for Economy Plus likely paid an upgrade price for the privilege, where I did not. Or, other passengers like myself who were being seated in Economy Plus anyway were subjected to an attempt by the airline to gouge us out of a few more bucks. That sure doesn't seem right to me.

Best Regards,

Joe S.

Economy Plus Page [United]