Passengers on an International flight from Dulles International Airport to Beijing were caught up in the middle of a custody battle turned potential kidnapping situation last night, when the FBI ordered the United Airlines flight to to turn back because a kidnapping suspect was on board with her child. [More]
united airlines
United Flight Diverted After Passenger Uses Banned Seat Recline Jammer, Starts Scuffle
By 8.26.14
I’ve always been of the thought that if a flight is less than two hours there’s no need to recline my seat, but anymore than that and it’s fair game. One man apparently doesn’t see it that way and his use of a seat recline jammer got him and the woman in front of him removed from the plane. [More]
United Revamps First Class Meals With Fresh Sandwiches, Salads And Italian Wine
By 8.21.14
Less than a month after American and US Airways announced they would be cutting first class meals for shorter flights, rival United Airlines is gearing up to take its offerings for top-dollar passengers back a few decades – champagne-like drinks and all. [More]
Uber Infiltrates Chicago Airports Thanks To Partnership With United Airlines
By 8.20.14
Airports have long been the domain of taxi cabs, limos, and licensed car services. Ride-sharing services haven’t really been able to break that stronghold, though some have tried. But travelers to one of America’s busiest airports may soon have new options as a result of a new arrangement between United Airlines and Uber. [More]
Yet Another Airline Passenger Arrested For Groping Sleeping Woman
By 8.12.14
To all air travelers, but mostly to my fellow males — What the hell is wrong with some of you? It pains me to write yet another story about a passenger accused of molesting a sleeping woman in the seat next to him, but it apparently happened over the weekend on a United flight from Tokyo to Newark. [More]
United Airlines Has A Bedbug Problem, But Not On Their Planes
By 8.4.14
Itchy, bitty Bedbugs caused immense problems for hotels, pre-teen clothing stores and movie theaters (yeah, it happened) in the past, but it looks like they’re moving up in the world; all the way to the 16th floor of Chicago’s Willis Tower – home to United Airlines. [More]
United Fliers, Prepare To Be Bored By This Punishingly Long “Humorous” Safety Video
By 7.31.14
Even people who haven’t flown are pretty familiar with the basics of the safety spiel the cabin crew gives before takeoff — no smoking, buckle your seatbelt and keep it buckled, know where the exits are, don’t freak the f*#$ out when the oxygen bag thing drops, and if we crash into the water and manage to survive, you can float in the freezing water on your seat cushion. The more concise an airline can make these statements, the better. But United Airlines thinks that the best way to make you give a hoot about airline safety is to make you watch a 4.5-minute video that tries to tickle your funny bone. [More]
United Airlines Forgets To Finish Letter About (SPECIFIC PROBLEM)
By 7.31.14
A few weeks ago, a passenger experienced some kind of problem with (MAJOR U.S. AIRLINE). She sent a complaint letter about this (SPECIFIC EVENT) and received a printed letter back. This letter made it clear that the person who sent the letter had forgotten to use (CUSTOMER RELATIONS MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE) to fill in the blanks, resulting in a Mad Libs apology of sorts. Naturally, the recipient posted it to (POPULAR SOCIAL MEDIA SITE). [More]
What Happens To Your Plane Ticket When There’s A Death In The Family?
By 7.1.14 — Updated: 2.12.17
There are all kinds of reasons why you might not be able to fly when you were planning to, or need to make a change in a scheduled itinerary. Unfortunately, one of those might be the death of a loved one. But now that most domestic airlines don’t offer special bereavement fares, many fliers find themselves dealing with airlines after they’ve already bought tickets to try to make changes. But because airlines don’t want just anyone to pull the “my grandma died,” often customers are finding the process of changing or canceling flights in these situations daunting, confusing, and well, a bit tacky. [More]
United Airlines Flight Makes Emergency Landing After Slide Deploys Midflight
By 6.30.14
You never want to be a in a situation where the inflatable emergency exit slide on your airplane deploys, as its “emergency exit” name implies there is an emergency and you should be exiting. But what about when that slide is the emergency? [More]
United Changing Frequent-Flier Program To Reward Big Spenders
By 6.10.14
For years, traditional frequent-flier plans awarded miles on the distance flown, but those days seem to be winding down. Now you have to spend more to earn more, and United Airlines is joining the ranks of airlines rewarding passengers who don’t book the cheapest tickets. [More]
United Flight Diverted Because Passengers Aren’t Supposed To Charge The Cockpit
By 6.2.14
What should have been a few-hour flight from Houston to New York City on Saturday evening turned into an 8-hour slog with a long stopover in Memphis for passengers of United flight 1435, which never made it all the way to its intended destination. All because a passenger decided to rush the cockpit. [More]
United Airlines Pilots Call For CEO To Be Bumped From The Company
By 4.30.14
It’s been a rough few weeks for United Airlines; once again coming in dead last in an annual customer satisfaction survey of major U.S. carriers, and then posting a quarterly loss of nearly half a billion dollars while Delta and American earned huge profits. Now the leadership of the largest chapter of the United pilots union is making no attempt to hide their disapproval of CEO Jeff Smisek. [More]
Woman Ticketed For Google Glass Says United Airlines Asked Her To Take Off Device For “Security Reasons”
By 4.25.14
You may remember the case from a few months ago of the California woman who received a traffic ticket for, among other things, driving while sporting Google’s wearable Glass device. That case was subsequently thrown out, but that same Glass wearer says United Airlines recently told her she had to take her device off while on the plane. [More]
United Flight From NYC To D.C. Grounded After Security Finds Bomb Threat On Twitter
By 4.17.14
Earlier this week a Dutch teenager landed in hot water after sending a threatening tweet to American Airlines. While the teen says she was joking, the airline took the threat seriously, as it should have. After a number of copycat tweets, nearly all airlines have been keeping a close eye on social media. That vigilance resulted in a temporarily grounded United Airlines flight Wednesday evening. [More]
Spirit Airlines: The Most Complained-About Carrier In The U.S.
By 4.10.14
Yes, we’ve repeatedly made fun of delusional Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza for his claim that his company is the “most consumer-friendly” airline around, especially when it comes in dead-last in traveler opinion surveys and is the only U.S. carrier to make a recent list of the world’s worst airlines. And a new study confirms that Spirit’s passengers are several times more likely to complain than passengers on any other domestic carrier. [More]
No Lime In Your In-Flight Vodka Tonic? Blame Bad Weather, Drug Cartels
By 4.8.14
Does your in-flight drink lack that certain something, a bit of citrus formerly provided by a lime? While I’m sorry for your loss, there are bigger problems than that out there, like drug cartels waging war with each other and natural disasters wreaking havoc with farmers’ crops. You can blame those issues for a temporary lime shortage that’s prompting many airlines to make do without lemon’s green sibling. [More]
Which Airlines Are The Fastest & Slowest At Responding To Customers On Twitter?
By 3.19.14
Complaining on Twitter can often feel like trying to shout to someone across the street with a noisy parade going down the middle. And that disconnect can often get worse when trying to get the attention of a big company with hundreds or thousands of people vying for attention. Some companies now go to great lengths to make sure that customers get some sort of response within minutes, but is that response of any value? [More]
