Sunday, October 14, 2007

I had just deplaned from my flight to Denver from Oakland and checked my email on my Treo. I was delighted to see a message from United confirming that I had been upgraded to first class on my flight from Denver to Washington, D.C. (A screen shot of the salient part of the email appears below).

I got to my gate and waited my turn, happily ready to exchange my coach boarding pass for one in first. I told the gate agent about the email. She shook her head, tapped a few keys, then shook her head again. “I have no idea what that’s about,” she said. “First class was booked full and has checked in full.”

Now, understand: Even though I’m a United million-mile flyer, I have no expectation of upgrades. I book my seats in coach and am happy to sit there. But sending me an email telling me my upgrade request has been fulfilled raised my expectations, only to have them dashed a short while later. It is, in my opinion, inexcusable.

How could such mixed messages happen? Is it that one system doesn’t talk to another?

In any case, I called Customer Relations when I got to my hotel, but they’re closed on weekends. (I guess nobody flies and needs customer relations if it isn’t Monday through Friday.) So I tried the Premiere Executive number, where I was told to wait until tomorrow to talk to Customer Relations.

So I’ve spoke today with a gate agent, a flight attendant, and the Premier Executive desk, each of whom passed the buck and none of whom offered an apology. We’ll see what happens tomorrow when I call Customer Relations to ask for (a) an explanation, (b) an apology, and (c) assurance that the system-wide upgrade certificate is put back into my account. I’m not hoping for much.

In any case, I have learned a couple lessons about United today:

• Never rely on or trust an email from United. They could be completely false.
• The loyalty involved in flying a million true miles with United doesn’t matter to United.
• When you get screwed over by United, nobody at United seems to care very much.

It’s true what they say: You have a choice of carriers when you fly. To be honest, I’ve been avoiding United for the last year or so when I can. Today’s experience only confirms that this is a good idea.

Special note to Craig Jolley: Yeah, yeah, I know, I know…

Posted by Shel in • Planes
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