[onlysnowflake]

Thank you United for your wonderful customer service today. My co-worker and I showed up 2 hours early for a domestic flight. We thought that this was plenty of time for check in. We were sorely mistaken. After waiting in one line for 30mins your supremely organized staff ushered us into another line for an additional 40 min wait. Once at the self check in counter we found that you had changed your software to so entering the flight number was no longer an option. We desperately tried for 15 mins to flag down an agent, only to find that none were interested in helping (or even in making eye contact), not only to us, but anyone at all. If we had had two minutes of someone's time we could have made our flight. After a fellow traveler helped us navigate the ridiculous computer system we found that we missed the check in deadline by two minutes. That may not have been a problem if we could have, once again, spoke with an agent, but again no one at the United counter was interested in providing customer service (see above). When we finally got someone's attention after yelling rather loudly, the individual, with a sour expression, pointed at another line to stand in. 45mins of line waiting later, an agent informed us that we would have to spend an additional $400 per ticket to make the 10:45pm red eye that night (roughly 10 hrs later) as all United flights out of LAX were booked solid. Oh and we should be gratetfull because they were the last two seats. When asked about the horrible service and obvious over saturation of airline resources, they informed us that it was our fault because we should have arrived 4 hours early for check in because it is summer. Sorry but that is a ridiculous demand for an airline to make. 4 hours is b***s***. Please hire more staff during the high seasons and don't try to shift blame to the customer. With those methods United is on a clear collision path with bankruptcy. After all the ridiculousness I just went through nothing could make me happier than seeing the airline and all thier unhappy, rude, staff go down with them.

[PHXFlyer]

Didn't you have more information than just your flight number? Confirmation number or United Mileage Plus number both work on the chek-in kiosks. Additionally if you swipe the credit card with which you paid for the ticket it will find your reservation as well. You can't blame United for your own lack of basic technical savvy. Those kiosks are designed so that you don't need a degree in rocket science to use them.

Better yet...why didn't you check-in online before you got to the airport? You obviously have internet access since you posted your "complaint" here.

Summertime is a busy travel season especially at large international airports like LAX and there are many inexperienced people traveling who hold up lines. (I'm guessing you're one of those.) You need to plan to arrive extra early to avoid just the predicament you found yourself in.

[onlysnowflake]

Despite your Mom or whoever you know that works for United, thier customer service was garbage. And they are not within thier rights to cut staff and then blame thier inadequacies for service on the consumer. People have all degrees of computer literacy and if they struggle, United should have been willing and able to help, which they were not. Save this post, and all those of the others you felt you were entitled to berate, and read then when you are a bit older then maybe you will to realize what and upstart jerk is.

And you are an airline sympathiser- you aren't foolin' anyone.

[PHXFlyer]

1. I have no relatives employed by any airline. My neighbor whom I am casually acquainted with is a flight attendant for US Air. I am friendly and on a "first-name" basis with the airport staff where I fly from. I have contacts at the two airlines I fly frequently because I spend a considerable amount of money flying on them and they value my input and feedback as a customer. Does that make me a "sympathizer?" I'm just able to see from a broader perspective than most. I'd estimate that about 90% of the "complaints" I see on this board and hear about in my travels are not legitimate. Most of the time they are the fault of the passenger who tries to lay blame with the airline. Sometimes it is just downright petty bull$#?!.

2. If you can't operate an airline check-in kiosk then you need to have your driver's license revoked. You must not own or manage a business. The reason for the kiosks is to offer a self-service option. What would be the point of paying someone to walk the floor just to be at the beck and call of dimwits who can't figure out how to operate a kiosk which is no more complicated than an ATM.

3. Just how old, or young, do you think I am?

4. Fly Southwest. Oh, wait. They have self-service kiosks too. Guess you're out of luck. Go greyhound!

[oh my]

I know that some places DO hire seasonal help. Summertime and thanksgiving/christmas/new years season are 2 times of the year we have had extra help. Keep in mind that the extra help usually does the most basic of things. They are in no way well versed in the airline processes. Mostly greeters, and kiosk check-in help.

Financially, though, with most airlines barely staying afloat, seasonal help is just not high on the priority list of things to spend money on.

And updating the kiosk software....how dare they! Sometimes, technology does not work the way we planned it to. That usually requires more updates. Glitches and programming errors do happen.

It's unfortunate that the agents in LAX were rude to you. I would imagine from the ammount of people trying to check in, that the agents were all extremely busy helping othe passengers in similar situations as yours. Only those people were there before you.

And the fact that you'd be happy if people lost their jobs is just sad. If that is true, then it's people like you that are at the root of all the bad attitudes.

[Butch Cassidy Slept Here]

Yes, customers have a responsibility to remain sober; not assault staff or crew; and to follow reasonable, and lawful, instructions. On the other hand airlines DO, believe it or not airline shills, have responsibilities as well. I'm sorry, but arriving, even at LAX, 2 hours prior to departure is NOT unreasonable. Whether it's being realistic is another story. This story reminds me of an incident where Spirit Airlines was nearly evicted from Newark Airport ("EWR") because they thought they could save money and have one agent check-in 100+ people.

Most US-based airlines have lost sight of the fact that their Certificate of Operation is, in part, a public trust. The state of bad customer service would probably change over night if just one major airline had their Certificate suspended for a couple of weeks. True, this will probably remain a dream. However, passenger rights legislation is pending in Congress (addressing tarmac delays only) and passage may put a dent in the airlines' "customer be damned" armor.

[windstarcorp]

I just had an experiance today that mad me miss the flight for United. They do not have any employess that seem to care as long as they get a paycheck. I work in an industry that does not have to fly much but after today I will not fly at all. I will tell others of the extremely poor service from Uniteed and suggets they find another way.