[Cameron]

I have traveled on many Airlines over the past 25 years & my experience with United Airlines is by far the worst.

I faced rude & unhelpful Staff, stolen luggage, and difficulties in trying to lodge a complaint.

To keep it brief, I booked a flight from the US to Mexico. One hour after checking in, I needed to cancel my flight & travel urgently to Canada. The UA Staff cancelled my flight but when I went to retrieve my luggage, the Staff advised that it was already on the way to Mexico. To my knowledge, luggage should never travel without the Passenger due to security reasons.

When I requested that the luggage be sent to Canada, UA refused stating that I would have to travel to Mexico & retrieve it myself. I then had to rebook a seat on the next available flight. Upon reaching Mexico, I collected my suitcase from UA & discovered that the padlock had been picked open & my clothes stolen.

When trying to lodge a complaint I was advised that I would have to do so in the US. And in the US, I was advised that United only except complaints by fax; they do not accept e-mails (even though we are in the year 2012)!!!

2 Months' later I received a letter in the post stating that I was not entitled to any compensation as I needed to lodge the complaint in Mexico (upon arrival) & to contact my travel insurance company & that they hoped I would travel with UA again. No explanation as to why my luggage was sent on the flight without me & no explanation as to why the Staff in Mexico did not assist with my complaint.

I have been informing as many friends & family as possible to boycott this backward Airline. Please choose another option....

Regards Cameron

[Don't fly United!]

I have waged a war of words with United since August, stock answers and rudeness with never a word of apology.

www.united.com/appreciation

Is the compensation link...give it a go.

[Marcella Willis]

I purchased a ticket online to fly from Panama to Kenya. Admittedly it was my fault not to look carefully at the receipt until a week later, but there was an additional "International Surcharge" of $295.00 added on to the list of fees and taxes. This was definitely not listed in the original list of fees and taxes. And for the same flight currently listed online, this fee is not listed amongst the fees and taxes. When I called their customer service, I was told this fee would be applicable to all flights-both the one I purchased and even the ones posted currently. When I said it's not listed on their website for this same flight as of now, the customer service person told me I was wrong. But then she refused to look at the public website to see that I was right. She told me it doesn't matter if these are hidden fees/taxes are legal or not, but she would not do anything for me. She told me I could write an email and complain, but they would not do anything about it. That was after 45 minutes on hold to finally speak with a rude and surly supervisor. Sure I should have checked the receipt more carefully as soon as the payment went through, but even then they would not refund/rectify it. I think this is a case of non-transparent and hidden fees. But there is no recourse as far as just sending a letter of complaint. Any advice?

[azstar]

Are you sure this was an airline surcharge? Banks add a hefty surcharge if you use an international account to make purchases in a different currency. So, for example, if that credit card was issued in Kenya, and you purchased an airline ticket in Balboas (US $ in Panama) the bank could be charging you for the currency exchange.