Apparently, lying to customers is an integral part of United’s strategy for dealing with frustrated travelers. A fter Laura complained to us about United delaying her flight, losing her bags and then unblinkingly lying to her, we received this email from Brian,who details another experience in which United lied to a customer about a lost bag.
united
United To Reps: “Delayed Their Flight? Lost Their Baggage? Lie to Them.”
By 5.1.06
Outside of a small child incessantly kicking the back of your seat and being powerless to reach around and slug him, there’s few things more frustrating in travel than flight delays and lost baggage. No one really likes flying… it’s a slightly filthy, slightly scary, rather expensive cattle car experience that leaves even the most seasoned traveler feeling a bit drained. You just want the ordeal to be over, get home or to your hotel as quickly as possible.
AirTran Wins, Midwest Loses in Fastest Telephone Customer Service
By 4.17.06
Here’s the results of our week-long investigation into how fast it took airlines to pick up the phone.
Time to Human, Airlines, Day 5
By 4.14.06
All week we’ve been calling the airlines to see how long it takes their customer service reps to answer the phone. Here’s today’s rankings:
Time to Human, Airlines, Day 4
By 4.13.06
Midwest, while once again the loser, performed slightly better today.
Time to Human, Airlines, Day 3
By 4.12.06
Nothing can stop us from calling up all the airlines and comparing how fast it takes a carbon-based life form to pick up the phone. Not even the tinkly pianissimo of Midwest’s hold line. We foil all the automated response system’s attempts to pry out more information about an actual ticket using the short circuit shortcuts provided by GetHuman.
United Spins Delay as Boon
By 4.12.06
See, they really want you to savor the flight, you’ll enjoy it that much more.
Time to Human, Airlines, Day 2
By 4.11.06
We’re calling the major airlines this week to see how long it takes them to pick up.
Time to Human, Airlines, Day 1
By 4.10.06
The statistics train keeps on rolling. We called up many major airlines this afternoon and here’s how long it took for them to pick up.
