Many airlines apply common sense and respect their customers, which turns out to also be a good business strategy for them. UNITED/CONTINENTAL APPARENTLY DOES NOT.
Passengers on all flights originating from European soil (no matter their citizenship) are protected from irresponsible airline behavior since 2004 through European Regulation 261/2004, requiring a €600 compensation payable to each passenger on a long-haul flight delayed for more than 4 hours. Airlines, irrespective of their home base country, are also required to inform passengers of their rights under this law while the delay happens.
Below some accounts of problems unrelated to the initial flight which were encountered by passengers of UA/CO132 on their respective connecting flights and their return flights.
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Below the account of the return flight of one of our fellow United 132 passengers:
I flew back from Paris to Dulles on January 3 on United/Continental flight 133 departing from Paris at 5 pm. Once inside the plane, we were told that there would be a stop in Gander, Newfoundland, to refuel, and that we would arrive at 9 pm. According to the PA this was due to bad weather. From a conversation with my neighbor on CO flight 132 on Dec. 22, however, I knew that this happens very often on United flights from Paris to Dulles: the planes are very small and cannot carry enough fuel to cross the Atlantic without stopping for refueling. On the Charles the Gaulle web site, the scheduled arrival time was 6.15 pm, which corresponds to the normal travel time for a direct flight from Paris to Dulles. On my United ticket, the scheduled arrival time was 8.15 pm, meaning that United knew, months in advance, that the plane would stop for refueling on the way. Of course when they sell the tickets they don't mention this stop, and the flight is sold as a direct flight. The crew told us they did not know about the stop before boarding the plane, which cannot be true.
Upon arrival, we waited for 15 minutes for United agents to arrive before we could exit the plane. This additional delay caused passengers in transit to miss their connecting flights and be stuck in Dulles for the night. The captain apologized for this, and said he hoped passengers would complain to Mr. Smisek, CEO of United, "responsible for the merger with Continental that causes all these problems."
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Another United 132 passenger about the return flight:
The same thing happened to me on my return flight from Paris to Dulles. We refueled in Boston and I missed my connecting flight in Dulles to Denver and had to once again stay in DC and take a flight the next day.
I was delayed an additional 12 hours because of that delay. We arrived in DC at 12:30am and once again I was shipping off to hotels in the DC area. I slept from 2:30am to 5:30am to then return to the airport AND my flight the next day was delayed an hour due to mechanical issues.
United Strikes again!
ReplyDeleteMy son was on a united flight to Shanghai on Jan. 3 at 11:30am. The flight was total of 15 hours from Newark. They flew for 6 hours and was about half way to Shanghai, and all of a sudden the captain said that they had to fly to Canada, because the bathroom was full. So they flew 5 hours back to Canada. They stayed there for 2 and a half hours and they couldn't' even get out airplane! Finally at 1:00am
they flew back to Newark, since the flight crew was too tired. So they arrived at Newark at 3:30am.They had to stay o the airplane for
12 whole hours! Finally they got off the airplane at 3:30pm.They
finally departured from Newark at 8:00pm. Their flight was delayed
for 1 day and 9 hours!
Not only that, but as we were taxing into our gate, there was no one at the
ReplyDeletegate to receive our aircraft for processing. He then proceeded to come back
on the PA and make a point that we should reach out to Jeff Smisek, and
complain about the merger. Because of the unscheduled refueling and the
gate delay all of us missed our connecting flights. Most costumers had
little packets waiting for them, but of course my wife (who is pregnant)
and I did not get a little packet. Then when we tried to get an answer on
to where and how we were flying out, we were shuffled between united And
continental personnel, each not knowing how to process our new tickets.
Finally we found someone who could "help" us. They tried to stick us on a
one or two stop flight the next day AND downgrade us from the economy plus
seats that we had purchased. We weren't very excited at that "fix" the next
nonstop flight to Los Angeles was two days later. Had to take it. We were
issued a voucher for a nights stay and told to come back to the airport the
next day for the second voucher.
I came back the second day, told by the continental/united personnel, it
would be quick and easy, I was greeted with two more, " oh no you have to
wait in that line, and no, I'm sorry you have to be in that line" Another
hour later, the "quick and easy" second voucher was obtained.
To add insult to injury, the plane we boarded this morning for Los Angeles,
had another mechanical error. We sat in the plane for an hour, deboarded
for 30 minutes and were finally off the ground 2 hours late. The time that
it has taken me to tell you all about this, I've been sitting on the tarmac
at LAX for another 30 minutes waiting to get up to our stall. I feel bad
for the people that are going to miss their connecting flights. Thanksunited.
I was initially planning on keeping this for myself, but the last developments in our saga require that I share with you the experience I had flying back to Dulles.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, I got to the airport early in the afternoon, for a flight supposed to leave at 5pm. The flight was announced on time. I was only mildly paying attention to what was going on at a gate nearby: the morning flight to Newark had not started boarding yet…
Then they announced we would be delayed as well. Just for half an hour, no big deal… I can’t even remember what reason was given to us. What difference does it make anyway? I had a great book to read. We in fact left at 8pm, with on board a bunch of people from the Newark flight, which had been cancelled shortly before we started boarding…
In this absurd but not uncommon reality, something new and unexpected happened: even before we took off, it was announced that because of the extra passengers and their luggage, we had to stop and refuel somewhere in Canada. Therefore we would have another two hours delay on our scheduled arrival time.
Well, ok… That meant I would get in Dulles at about 1am, drive home for 1.5 hours without killing myself, and get some sleep before I could go back to work the next morning. Of course, any other passenger with a connection flight was to spend the night in Virginia. The guys going to Newark were feeling miserable.
Then, as we were still on the ground, it was announced that it made more sense for us to refuel in Newark after all, so we could deplane some of the passengers there. Also, we were told that, by law, all of us had to deplane, go through immigration, get our luggage and then check in again to continue on our way to Dulles. I could not believe this… but it was too late, I was on the plane, I had surrendered control.
We took off in a weird atmosphere. The passengers to Newark were cheering; the rest of us felt we just got hijacked. We were not out of (good) surprises yet: while in the air, a new announcement was made. Because of bad weather over Newark, we would refuel in Boston after all, where for some reason nobody had to leave the plane... Thank God for bad weather!
I was finally able to get home, enriched by a new kind of flying experience. Thank you so much United / Continental!
United staff seem to be put on impossible missions and are, in many cases, sharing their concerns about their own company and its policies openly with customers.
ReplyDeleteCustomers have been witnesses to disputes between United and Continental staff and the strains translate into outright hostile behavior towards unsuspecting customers, as if they were responsible for the operational problems that United is facing due to its own choices.
I have experienced this as well.
DeleteSometimes what would just be a normal 2 hour flight turns into a nightmare because the crew is upset about something and takes it out on the passengers.
Reminds me of the days when these airlines were in bankruptcy and staff was unpredictable and unhappy.
My return flight was supposed to leave at 11:45am and arrive in DC at 3pm,but it was delayed to 2pm and the new arrival time in DC was now 4:55pm. We were told after boarding the plane that we will stop at Goose Bay for refueling which means that we will arrive in DC at 7pm instead. The flight from Paris to Goose Bay was about 6hrs and 30min and from Goose Bay to Dulles was 3hrs. We landed in DC just a little after 7pm. During check-in,none of the employees mentioned a refueling stop.
ReplyDeleteThis has been going on for years and has NOTHING to do with the UAL/COA merger. The fact of the matter is, is that the B757 aircraft cannot carry enough fuel to make the trip non-stop on a regular basis. Any type of headwinds out of the ordinary and they have to stop for fuel. The United crew telling you to complain to United, are pissed off about the merger. They make it seem that the whole reason this happens is because of the merger and it's UAL's fault. It's not. The same people that are telling you that, six months ago were making fuel stops under the Continental call sign. They come in everyday into EWR with fuel issues. I know this because I am a Air Traffic Control Supervisor that deal with those flights on a daily basis. My suggestion, if you are going to Europe, check the type aircraft before you book. If it's a B757, find another flight.
ReplyDelete