United Airlines Ripping Consumers Off?
I had been planning my trip to Australia for over two months. It was on my daughter's top three places she has always wanted to go so for her 16th birthday, since a car was pointless after her "challenges" passing the written driving test, I decided to book our first backpacking trip to Australia as a surprise.
The flight I paid for was from LAX to Sydney and then connecting to a flight going to Melbourne. The flight plan was exactly the same on the way home. We spent 12 amazing days in 3backpackers hostels, 3 hotels, one friends house, 5 days in a stick shift car on the other side of the road and other side of the car with windshield wipers going on every time I needed to make a turn due to everything being opposite in the car.
Between the Great Barrier Reef snorkeling, driving Capt. Cook Hwy to the rain forest for some jungle surfing, petting the kangaroos and gazing in awe at the famous Opera House, I lost track of the days and forgot about the deadlines waiting for me back home. After thousands of miles across eastern Australia ending the trip to get back home was going to be a wonderful departure... Or at least that is what I had envisioned until I arrived at the United Airlines counter in Sydney.
We planned to leave Cairns to get to our flight out of Melbourne that had one stop on the way: Sydney. Instead of going all the way to Melbourne and turning around to go straight back to Sydney within a matter of an hour or two adding an additional 4 hours of flying time to our already 17 hours in the air, I decided to stay in Sydney and wait for our already scheduled and paid for flight from Sydney to LAX. Getting all this?
When we went to check in for our already scheduled and paid for flight from Sydney to LAX the man at the counter refused to issue us boarding passes claiming we made a "change" to our flight and we needed to pay $500 US dollars in change fees to get home. When I explained to him this was the exact flight that I already booked and paid for; was not making any change and the ridiculousness of flying from Sydney to Melbourne and right back, he said "You need to find a way to pay the fee, get a credit card or something, or I guess you will not be traveling today."
After a half hour of refraining from raising my voice or calling him any of the very accurate yet unflattering names exploding in my head and pleading my case trying to talk any common sense into this man, I handed over my credit card to pay the fees just so we could get home. But my blood was at boiling point at the social injustice of what had just happened. I couldn't sleep the whole flight home. It was like legalized theft... I felt like I had just been cornered and robbed in an alley by a bully that looked a lot like the United counter guy.
Aboard the flight the woman next to me told me she was on the Melbourne to Sydney flight they said I needed to be on. I video recorded her saying the flight was not even half full. She said they could literally dance in the isle and she slept across three seats all to herself. It wasn't like I caused them to not have a seat for someone. I asked a crew member if this was normal and he literally told me that they offer good deals and then "beat up the customer" and then apologized for my getting "beat up" by United on my way home.
Since coming home I have called with little luck getting anyone on the phone and when I finally did they said call back in a few days when they can access the record of charges to file a claim to investigate whether I should get a refund or not.
The simple truth is... United is emerging from a Bankruptcy filing and flying in the wrong direction when it comes to customer satisfaction. Beating up customers and robbing them blind every chance they get because the economy is so bad it is the only way they believe they can get into the consumers' pockets is simply bad business.
Weigh in: Do you agree with the $250 change fee per person for the exact flight I already paid for?
Follow Michelle Renee on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dreambiglife
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I recently had a ticket booked from Spokane to Santa Barbara via Seattle. I ended up having to be in Portland on the day of my departure, and the cheapest way to meet my itinerary was to buy a one way ticket from Portland to Spokane, rather than paying the fee and difference in fare to reroute from Portland to Seattle.
When I arrived at the Portland airport, I politely asked an agent at the front check-in counters if they would allow me to travel directly from Portland to Seattle, without making the extra trip through Spokane, and I was accommodated as a courtesy by a friendly agent.
The thing to have done in your situation would have been to visit the UA desk at Sydney or Cairns on the way south and request to stay in Sydney to avoid taking the unnecessary Melbourne flights. Instead, as others have noted, you unintentionally violated the carrier agreement and fare rules, and UA was justified in charging the added fee.
I'm a 1K with United Airlines and I regularly do the run to Sydney and back.
End of the day you made a change to your itinerary and each fare has different rules. 99% of the cheaper fares are bound by change fees. I think you were very lucky to not been charged a new ticket. Some of my work colleagues were slugged the cost of new ticket with Qantas on a similar circumstance. So count yourself extremely lucky to have only paid what you did.
With 20 years of travel under my belt, I have to say that the UA staff in Sydney are amazing compared to what I've experienced with Qantas and other international carriers. It is truly a delight to get the red carpet treatment and be acknowledged by name at every point of contact in Sydney. I rarely get this kind of treatment with any other carrier. This is why my business has remained loyal to UA.
Glad you've learned a valuable lesson about hidden city ticketing. This type of policy is standard amongst most IATA carriers, and can be found in the Conditions of Carriage and often times in the extended fare rules (that most people simply choose to ignore).
Another item of note: United has been out of bankruptcy for well over three years now (since 01 February 2006). Unless this event took place in 2006, United is not "emerging from a bankruptcy filing" as you said. You should check these facts before making statements like that.
If she feels it was such a universally understood injustice to be charged (if even allowed) to use her ticket after it was canceled, then she should continue doing this practice on all the other airlines, and see how far she gets. I have a feeling it won't be far.
An expensive lesson learned. You cannot skip a flight in your itinerary and then argue from a human rights standpoint that you should be allowed to take the rest of the flights "because you paid for them".
The simple truth is you are completely unaware of modern day flight conditions and situations.
Under the law, United is entirely entitled to do what it did with you.
The airlines as a whole should be re-regulated to avoid these things, but your beef isn't with an evil corporation, it's with the regulatory system that allows such situations to exist.
Want your blood to really boil?
Read your contract of carriage.
Learning alot from these comments and yes, expensive lesson learned. The guy on the plane siad de-regulation ruined everything even from an employee standpoint. I will get my tail to originating destination next time or be a whole lot more careful in the planning stages of my trips. Oh...and I think I will skip the carriage contract for now ;)
You should write a song and post it on YouTube...
Hmmmm...now that is a thought...haha!
you are a good part of the reason customer service in the usa or by usa companies is poor or non existent.
americans have become the best in the world in gaming companies for undeserved benefits, loophole specialists, if you will. american companies consider the activity the same as stealing and treat their customers with contempt in return. another example of gaming the system with regard to flying is the carry on baggage rule. its become very popular not to check baggage. despite the guidelines for the size of carryons(and the number) passengers bring obviously oversize bags into the cabin of the plane. i noticed while traveling this summer the airlines are starting to crack down on this abuse. peopel like you, who try to game the system, might consider it unfair because you have brought your oversize bag onto the plane for years now. on top of the "insult" some airlines are starting to charge for the first bag.
Gaming the system...interesting view point since I didn't want to change my flight from Sydney to LAX in any way. Food for thought though so thanks! I had a backpack by the way...not overstuffed and fit just fine =)
yes, you did want to change your flight. you wanted to board at a different airport. that's a change.
Sorry Michelle,
You were wrong in what you did. You changed your itinerary by not starting your return trip from the point you were ticketed. You are obviously not an experienced traveller or are not familiar with reading terms and conditions of an airline ticket.. You should have called the airline to see if the change you wanted to make was possible.. You were lucky the airline did not cancel your entire ticket as a no-show.
It is irrelevant if the flight from Melbourne to Sidney was full or not. Your ticket is a contract for carriage with the airlines. You violated the contract and then tried to blame the airlines for their undo greed.
You were lucky they only charged you the change fee.
Your anger at the airline is misguided. They do enough things wrong without getting needless blame for passenger error. You should be angry with yourself.
Hopefully a lesson learned.
Yes...note to self!!!!
Being someone who travels often, I can say that I've heard and seen these seemingly unjust practices play out in airports all over the world.
This issue with United seems unfair and I can understand that paying 500 dollars after a long stay in Australia would just anger anyone, but you have to look at it from United's side. You bought a ticket on their airline, and now you want to use your logic to change the terms you agreed to when you paid for that ticket... Without checking in advance to see if this was even possible.
You did get lucky in one regard though, typically a 'no-show' to an international flight (and often domestic now too) causes the reservation system to automatically cancel the ticket, leaving no residual value.
I think that many of these facts are lame and that the airlines do try to nickel and dime you but at the same time, it is their airline and I suppose the truth of it is that you have to play their game if you want to fly. It's not a public service, its a consumer purchase. Flying to Australia is a luxury not a right.
I agree that you're lucky that the fee was only $500, as your ticket was subject to cancellation as soon as you didn't show up in Melbourne.
But don't hate the player - hate the game. This is the norm for just about any airline in North America, and really, internationally. It's already been said, but it is the result of the extremely complex airline pricing system that is used now. Basically - it is to protect the airline from passengers booking cheaper tickets to destinations they aren't going to go to so they can get a cheaper fare at a connecting point.
What it does sound like, is that United was as bad in explaining the reason you had to pay the fee as you were in reading your fare rules and/or the contract of carriage you agreed to when you purchasing your ticket. They should have told you exactly why you had to pay the fee.
The airline was fully in its right to cancel your return ticket and require you to buy 2 new 1 way tickets. You may not see it this way, but they really did do you a favor by charging you just a change fee.
Since the open skies agreement is not in place, booking a flight on United from SYD-MEL that is not a connection (within 24 hours) may not even be allowed (Aussie laws -- which are similar in most countries). This probably means you booked a flight from LAX-MEL with a stopover in SYD.
You probably paid less for LAX-MEL than if you had booked an LAX-SYD due to the pricing model.
If your plans changed, or you decided to drop the MEL flight because it was cheaper to book into MEL and fly to SYD it does not matter. People try to work the system all the time and drop flights not convenient. However the CoC and fare rules are pretty clear that this is a change. You had an option to purchase a refundable ticket without the same restrictions.
It is not realistic to assume what you think is an OK idea will work with a contract you entered into while not understanding the terms. Most people would think to call and check prior to making this assumption.
Used to be 1K on United. Not worth it anymore. We just did the same trip you took but I went out of my way to fly Air New Zealand and was willing to pay a premium for it. Great service. Qantas was our domestic carrier. They were outstanding on service and incredibly helpful when our flight to Cairns was delayed causing us to miss a charter to an island. They went out of their way to help out...for nothing and they threw in some smiles as well.
US air carriers are pathetic, just pathetic. United seems to be going out of it's way to tick people off.
Dude
There is no customer service any more in America, unless you pay a premium for it.
I don't know what company you work for, but Im sure your company is doing the same. (unless, of course, your company happens to be a company that charges a premium for everything that they do).
Seung, I do find your statement true generally although the few mom and pop outfits that I do business with have managed to continue to offer some level of service with no expectation.
It is so eerie to travel abroad and get treated well and in many cases realize they do not expect a tip or if so it is small compared to US expectations. I guess that's what you get when you pay people and provide benefits.
You shouldn't have paid anything extra, because as clearly outlined in United's Conditions of Carriage (and probably also in the fare rules of your ticket) your ticket should've been cancelled when you no-showed in Melbourne, and shouldn't have existed anymore when you got to Sydney, making this a moot point, and requiring you to buy full-fare tickets on a SYD-LAX flight. This provision exists to prevent people from doing "hidden city ticketing" (AKA throwaway ticketing), where they book tickets to a point beyond their destination in order to book less expensive tickets, hurting the airlines.
Had no idea people were participating in "throwaway ticketing". Glad I posted this blog...learning so much. Thanks!
Almost exactly the same experience here. Treated like cattle in London. Charged an extra 750 British pounds for an already-paid-for seat.
Repeated emails and phone calls have gotten me nowhere. Promises of getting back to me within five days have been broken repeatedly ... next stop small claims court, I guess.
You should not have paid anything extra, IMHO. Sounds like you need to contact consumerist.com and get your story posted there. They seem to have good luck with companies getting back to the customer and rectify the situation.
If you read the Contract of Carriage for any of these tickets, it explicitly states that doing something like this is not allowed and you will be charged the change fee.
A sample itinerary from LAX-MEL R/T is 879.00
A circle trip: LAX-MEL SYD-LAX is 1560.00
She tried to pay the $879 and get the $1560 ticket... seems she got off easy only paying $250 per ticket - they could have cancelled the whole thing given the CoC.
don't bother trying to get Consumerist to post this. It's nowhere near newsworthy.
Every day there is someone new who didn't realize that you can't skip a flight on your itinerary and then take the rest of the flights as if nothing happened.
Sorry, Michelle, an expensive lesson for you. No airline lets you do this. Hopefully you learned, as many people have,
And to think that $500 could have been another couple days on the reef!
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