More headaches for United... and others. (Houston, Austin: airport, move, bill)

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by ynonino

Second, stop glorifying how wonderful of overseas airline carriers are compared to U.S. ones. Yes, the overseas carriers offer all sorts of perks (i.e. free alcohol) because their governments SUBSIDIZE them. Our government stopped doing this in the late 1970’s in the form of deregulation. Like all other companies, U.S. airlines have to make money to survive unlike most overseas carriers. Remember if deregulation hadn’t happened no one would have the cheap airfares they are used to now and would be paying triple the prices all the time.

I guess you weren't aware of these subsidies.... and I wonder how many other subsidies there are that we don't know about.

The Odd Case of Taxpayer Subsidies to Small Airports - The Business Journals

Now back to the Essential Air Service. According to Department of Transportation records, about 140 communities and airports receive federal subsidies. The money is paid to airlines and, in exchange, they agree to fly into airports like Macon, Georgia; Pierre, South Dakota; Thief River Falls, Minnesota; Mason City, Iowa; Jamestown, New York; Hagerstown, Maryland; and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. EAS money is also paid to communities in Hawaii, where flights are the only way off an island, and Alaska, where roads don't exist or are impassable in winter.

Essential Air Service is also expensive. Passengers in EAS communities pay far more than average Americans to fly. One example from Nevada: The fare from Ely to Las Vegas is $149 one-way (or 67 cents a mile) even though Great Lakes receives $1.86 million in EAS subsidies to fly the route. So few travelers use the Ely-Las Vegas service that the subsidy works out to more than $3,000 per flyer. By contrast, Southwest sells Las Vegas to Chicago nonstops for as little as $153 one-way—about 10 cents per mile.

[TexasTony]

Originally Posted by gwarnecke

Is free booze THAT big of a deal on flights, international or domestic? Heck, you likely spent $1000+ for your ticket, if you really have to get your drink on, what's another $6 or $7?

Having said that, the "legacy" European airlines that I've flown (Air France, British Airways, KLM), still offer free alcohol on even ~1 hr economy flights within Europe. Still, if I can save $40 or $50 by flying a discount carrier like Vueling or Easyjet, I'll do so even if I don't get any free inflight beverages, alcoholic or otherwise.

You have a valid point. I personally don't drink when I travel but that's just me. My concern is bad service by flight attendants and aged aircraft. I don't mind an older cleaner airplane but when my seats are all torn and the entertainment system looks outdated or is malfunctioning on a long distance flight, it is really inconvenient. In many of my overseas flight my special meal request was completely missed or forgotten by AA or United. When you pay competitive rate you expect decent service as a consumer. So I would happily take a flight which treats me right as a passenger on economy. Not someone who treats me like crap just because I am not a frequent flier and don't belong to their executive mileage club.

[ethanw]

Another reason not to fly United. I hate this airline Woman switches seats on plane, spends 3 days in jail

[0825spring]

Husband used to work for Continental and it was an incredible employer. We've heard it sucks after the merger. You can tell just by looking at the body language and the attitude of the airport employees and flight attendants. I still get sad when I must fly United.

[ethanw]

I AVOID united at all cost. With my wallet and my business.....eFFF them....

Originally Posted by 0825spring

Husband used to work for Continental and it was an incredible employer. We've heard it sucks after the merger. You can tell just by looking at the body language and the attitude of the airport employees and flight attendants. I still get sad when I must fly United.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by ethanw

Another reason not to fly United. I hate this airline Woman switches seats on plane, spends 3 days in jail

I think most who were Continental fans agree with this. There was a day when you could sit anywhere you chose as long as the seat was empty. Now the airlines look for any reason to classify a seat as Economy-Plus... the only plus is to the carrier.

Technically the woman was in the wrong, but the consequences she suffered don't add up. You cannot board an aircraft without some form of ID, they knew who she was, why don't they just send her a bill later just like people who use the tollway who don't have tags? Getting peace officers to board the plane to haul someone off to jail is just too much. This will affect my decision to fly UA in the future, I've just about had it with all their charges and fees, and now their shytty mileage program!

[ToyYot]

I suspect there's more to the story than what we're reading.

[ethanw]

In my trip to Europe this year effing United made me re-buy two more tickets at $1600 a piece because I did't put my kids middle names when booking the tickets. They could easily just re-issue them but of course they did't effing do it, greedy bastards. The names on the ticket had to be the same as the passport I was told.
I had same issue last year flying to Asia and Singapore airline re-issued the tickets at no cost.
I just just keep freaking forgetting my kids Chinese middle names which ain't easy to remember :-)

And it gets better, I get $3200 in credit and I was like, ok, sure, I will fly again in the next year. Today I am booking my tickets to Costa Rica and now I am being charged 2 x $300 as "change" fee for the $3200 credit. Un effing believable. What's next? What other creative way to steal ones money?

I will EVEN NEVER touch eFFING United again, even if is 100% cheaper than everything else. They can kiss my business goodbye, forever.

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

I think most who were Continental fans agree with this. There was a day when you could sit anywhere you chose as long as the seat was empty. Now the airlines look for any reason to classify a seat as Economy-Plus... the only plus is to the carrier.

Technically the woman was in the wrong, but the consequences she suffered don't add up. You cannot board an aircraft without some form of ID, they knew who she was, why don't they just send her a bill later just like people who use the tollway who don't have tags? Getting peace officers to board the plane to haul someone off to jail is just too much. This will affect my decision to fly UA in the future, I've just about had it with all their charges and fees, and now their shytty mileage program!

[dendrotriton]

It's not just United ethan, US/American canceled my ticket by error and forced me to pay a $200 "change fee" to reinstate the ticket. The price of a new ticket was only $190. My paperwork was in order and everything, they canceled it by error in the computer and said I did it, and it was my word against there's. There's no law enforcement to protect people against big corporations. And there's no amount of withholding business from them that will hurt them. This is about the only type complaint I have for American carriers. They are even allowed to sell more seats than they have, then if the plane is full they can legally just tell you your fare is canceled. They no longer have to offer vouchers till someone gets off the plane. Their voucher limit is now $200 and if no one takes they just tell you to forget Christmas this year. Whats funny is these used to be my favorite airlines, but as soon as they merged into monopoly status... I don't even mind the a la carte trend with drinks, bags, leg room, etc., all that stuff is great, it gives me the power to choose what services I want.

[TexasDeere]

I was a pro-Continental guy and made it to Gold Elite the last 3 years before the United merger. United took over and service and attitudes changed. I was repeatedly treated poorly and decided to shift my flights to Southwest. I have since done all my flying on Southwest since '09. I live in Montgomery County and happily make the drive to Hobby just to avoid United. I maintain my united FF account and will use them for international (code share Lufthansa) flights to Germany.