Dear PHXFlier,
Actually, this entire site is focused on blame. We are complaining about airline service, etc. For me, my objective is to better the quality of our air travel. I would love to respect our carriers, but I do not accept the way they seem to treat their passengers.
You said you are "only trying to let you and others know what mistakes were made." As I've pointed out, I do not believe it is my responsibility to constantly check back about my flight. Once I pay my money, once United in this case accepts it, I expect them to shoulder the burden of contacting me when they make a change. If I make a change, then I pay a penalty. We need balance in this system.
I question your comment "United would have been obligated to rebook you on other flights (UA or non-UA) which did or refund your tickets." This is what I thought as well. Remember my original story... when we arrived in LAX, too late for their scheduled flight, I demanded not to be stranded for 10-12 hours. I asked them to put me on a Southwest flight. They refused. I told them I would not use the last portion of the United itinerary, which I must do to qualify for a refund. Yet they did not credit me there; they did not offer a non-UA flight. This is the point of my argument with United. They are responsible for making the error -- booking us too close to the connection and they are responsible to get us home near to our promised time.
This wasn't weather or mechanical. It was a human error on the part of United. Yet it was negligent to put the connection so close together on such a complex flight. There are too many variables. Sure, as you wrote, if everything went perfectly, we would have made it. But in management, as you likely know, one should "hope for the best, but plan for the worst."
United didn't do this. I'm not just arguing for me. United stranded over 100 passengers due to this error. Their system is not geared for the customer. They are focusing on their bottom line -- their profits, and that is why we must stand up to this treatment.
The final point is that these conditions turn our tickets into a lottery. Regardless of when you buy, how diligent you are to check your itinerary, they can always change as they want with no penalty. If there is a major change at the last minute, you either pay much higher prices on another airline or you suffer through a bad schedule.
This is why I bought our tickets early. I was playing the "futures" market. I guessed that fuel prices would go up, so I bought early. I guessed that it would be high season and crowded. I wanted good seats and efficient connections, so I bought early to have ample choices.
United erased all of this by changing my plans -- sometime, I don't know when. Why buy early? Why give them our money? This is why the concepts of a contract must be in place. Their behavior distorts the efficiency of the market. I was punished for making an early decision. We must require the industry to be fair to us.
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