[Jmart32827]

First let me also clear up the reason for the delay of your flight from Chicago to San Francisco on August 9. UA155 was delayed because the aircraft was damaged due to environmental problems from the weather, in which case, they were able to fix these problems before takeoff. We apologize for the delay with the arrival of the original estimated time into Chicago.

United recognizes how important it is to you to get to your destination on time, and we never want to disrupt your travel plans. Our goal is to achieve the highest level of on-time performance whenever possible with safety always being our number one concern. Unfortunately, our industry faces a number of daily challenges that affect our operation like equipment repairs, poor weather or air traffic control issues.

When a flight delay or cancellation disrupts your travel, our employees should be attentive to your needs and make every attempt to minimize the inconvenience to you. Our staff certainly could have done more to acknowledge the situation and to better assist you. I regret they were not able to provide you with more up to date information at the time. Your comments have been shared with our airport operations manager who will focus on specific training areas to ensure our agents deliver the high level of service you deserve.

Let me also explain how our Denied Boarding Volunteer system works. When more passengers than anticipated check in for their domestic flight, our ticket counter agents will solicit volunteers to accept alternate transportation. This volunteer list is automatically prioritized by ticket value and Mileage Plus® status (1K, Premier Executive, and Premier). Approximately 20 minutes before departure time (30 minutes for Hawaii, and 45 minutes for international), our boarding agent will determine if volunteers are needed and solicit volunteers from the computer list. These volunteers receive a travel credit for future travel on United. I do see you were both provided with DBC Free Vouchers.

We respectfully disagree with your allegation that we violated Part 382.91 of the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), which directs air carriers to provide assistance when requested to a passenger with a disability in transportation between gates, in moving from the terminal entrance (or vehicle drop-off point adjacent to the entrance) through the airport to the gate and in moving from the arrival gate through the airport to the terminal entrance. I can assure you we take this obligation very seriously.

In your case, wheelchair assistance would still have been available to transport TBI passenger to a terminal entrance. Our agents would just have to call the wheelchair vendor, if the chair was still not in the gate area for TBI passenger. You were then with him to transport him to the hotel outside the airport grounds, in which case, the hotel shuttle would be available for assistance.

While it was extremely nice of you to offer to assist blind passenger, United was following the correct procedure to put him on the next available, later flight, since he was disabled and traveling alone. They were following the procedure correctly.

TBI passenger’s safe, pleasant and hassle-free travel is important to us. Regrettably, we recognize that we did not meet all your expectations on this occasion. To encourage you to travel with us and to demonstrate our commitment to our customers with special needs, we would like to extend a good will gesture. I am providing electronic travel certificates and ‘Travel Tips’, which will provide you with the requested written documentation on DOT enforcement mechanisms you had asked for. I will also be addressing your second complaint in a separate e-mail, after we obtain reports from our flight attendants onboard UA759 on August 10. I hope will allow us an early opportunity to serve you both again and regain your confidence. Your business matters to United.