[NEVERUNITEDAIRLINES]

I am writing you on behalf of my sister who was on the Untied flight on Sat, December 18th from Vienna to Los Angeles via London Heathrow.

Unfortunately she is not able to write this herself as she is STRANDED at the London Heathrow airport.
She arrived at the Heathrow Airport with an Austrian flight and was boarded onto her connected United flight to Los Angeles which was supposed to leave at 10:30AM.
After 6 HOURS of delay due to "engine troubles" they were ready to take off.
Unfortunately, by that time, a storm pulled in and the Heathrow airport closed its services and grounded all the flights!

Now, i realize that these things happen, what i DONT understand is that my sister had to and STILL has to SLEEP AT THE AIRPORT because United has NO CUSTOMER SERVICE!

It is well known that London Heathrow as well as Charles de Gaulle airport are THE WORST European Airports to fly in and out of, but that does not excuse thier inability to deal with situations as such.


My sister a 22 year old student was NOT helped by anyone and the passengers were told to "go online and find their own flights."
There were NO United Agents available to assist, passengers were given NO option to sleep at a hotel, NO options to re-book flights, and NO money to buy food and other necessary supplies!?

Now, I dont know about you, but this is ABSOLUTELY unacceptable! People pay around $1000.00 for a flight, if not more, and get treated as such?!

I just got off the phone with my sister YET again (and mind you she is calling from her AUSTRIAN CELL PHONE to the UNITED STATES, imagine the costs of that) and there are ABSOLUTELY no flight options with United until the 23rd of December (and mind you the weather report is predicting ANOTHER storm on that day)? Passenger relatives are booking flights for their stranded family members and are having to PAY for ANOTHER TICKET!

That is the situation!
All the airline companies put you on hold for hours, i have be on hold with United now for the last 25min, to try and get resolve. Lufthansa is not even PICKING up their phone, so yea!
happy holidays!

[cortney]

im not sure if there are any hotels around the LHR airport vacant. i have friends over there (flight crew trying to get home) on full fare one way tickets on BA, and my friends called our travel dept. and were told that there are no hotels around the airport vacant...all full. our travel company had to set up cabs and send them into the city. BA wont pay for a hotel or cab due to it being weather it took the crew 3 hours to get a cab. they are still stuck over there and are suppose to be on their off days now and suppose to be home for the holidays...they are keeping a scense of humor about it but bummed that they may not be home christmas. hope your sister makes it home, the weather everywhere is not being kind this year...must be this "global warming" crap

[Leatherboy2006]

If the weather is as bad as the internet and news is saying, she is safer staying at the airport then trying to go out on the roads to a hotel, only hotel very close to Heathrow is a Holiday Inn by the M4 and that would be dangerous to get to in heavy and possibly blowing snow.

[jimworcs]

The only hotel close to Heathrow is the Holiday Inn near the M4? Leatherboy, I am not sure you know that area too well. There are loads of hotels closer than that to Heathrow, including a Holiday Inn on the Staines Road, which is walking distance. There are also hotels on the airport site itself. There are hundreds of hotels surrounding Heathrow. The problem is that there are no rooms to be had. The exceptional temperatures (for the UK) means that we have no infrastructure for this extreme weather. BAA are pathetic and their response is pathetic. BA on the other hand have been praised for their handling of the issue and the minister responsible for aviation has just publicly praised their response. (BAA is a spanish owned company (owned by Ferrovial) and operates the airport... it has no connection whatsoever to BA). The airlines cannot put people in hotels because there are no rooms available.

Cortney, the "weather" excuse that US based airlines use to avoid paying for taxi's,meals, calls and hotels is not available in Europe. Under EU directive 261, the airlines must take care of the passengers needs, regardless of the cause. However, they are not able to do so because they are unable to find rooms. If you have friends and family, advise them to try and find rooms themselves if they are on European based airlines. They can claim back reasonable costs AND the airlines cannot refuse to reimburse them. THAT IS THE LAW. Some airlines resisted the law when the volcano blew. It did them no good and the law was enforced. The airlines in the end had to pay...even Ryanair. So if your friends need to take a taxi into London, and find a room for themselves, they should do so in the knowledge that they are entitled to have that reimbursed.

For those seeking rooms try:

www.laterooms.co.uk
www.premierinns.co.uk
WWW.TRAVELODGE.CO.UK
www.ibis-hotels.co.uk
www.hiexpress.co.uk
WWW.parkinns.co.uk
www.hiltonhotels.co.uk

[Leatherboy2006]

Jim, wouldnt the tube be safer, then trying to get on the highways? are they not ice/snow packed with cars jammed up (that is what is showing on the news here state side)

[jimworcs]

I am in the London area for work at the moment...the roads are fine and the tube is also running smoothly. Heathrow re-opened the second runway last night, so things should start to improve. I was just trying to let people know that there are plenty of hotels in the area around LHR.

We have had 3 winters which had exceptional weather... after 3 years it is not exceptional. The airlines and airports need to get a grip and invest in the necessary equipment and infrastructure to cope.

[Marie Jean]

• 1 human as me = 105 pounds

• total weight of my bag and my husband bag = inferior to my weight

• surplus of one bag 3 pounds taxed by UA "only" 100 $

• no cabin bag

• my thin person travelled squezed between 600 pounds persons

• United Airlines do not reimbursed me as they promised and make me send by mail and call them several times ( means the tactics of let it go )

Please note :

1. Wihin my position as PM, my company of 6'000 persons will never purchase a UA ticket ( and when I say never, it is never )

2. I will send my case to ALL who want to hear me - that is a perfect publicity for 100 $ surtax of thin human

3. I think UA should tax thin persons not 100 $, but 10'000 $


A very proud customer with 105 pounds weight