A challenge issued to Jeff Smisek, CEO at United

I recently (read: yesterday) had one of the worst travel experiences ever. It was so bad that I was inspired to write a letter to United’s CEO as well as the ‘Customer Solutions’ group. Here is what I wrote (it’s long, but I had LOTS of time to write it):

Subject: A disastrous United experience
Mr. Smisek,

I have been a customer with United since 1995. In 2011, I flew ~75k miles on United, giving me Premier Executive Gold status. Last year I was also Premier Executive, and have flown >450k miles on United so my experience with your airline runs deep. I believe United has reached the nadir of service and let me explain why.

I was scheduled to fly from SFO => EWR today (January 16th) on flight 1534. Yesterday I called United to see if I could go standby on an earlier flight. The agent gave me a couple of earlier options (although after having to place me on hold because two of the options were Continental flights and she couldn’t see what the load was). She indicated the best option was the 7:45 am flight, given the number of open seats. While she did tell me this was a Continental flight, she did not indicate that I would have to go to a Continental agent. So this morning, I arrive at the SFO airport at 6:30am, waited in the Premier Exec line for 10 minutes (in spite of the fact that I told the agent that I was trying to make the 7:45am flight while he was helping another customer with a flight that was delayed and not scheduled to leave until 8:30am.). I was then informed that I would have to walk down to the Continental counter to have them help me with standby. I asked where the Continental counter was and the agent pointed in the direction I was to go. I walked past the next bank of United counters, past American and Virgin, when I asked where Continental was. The Virgin Airline agent pointed me back in the direction from which I just came. Confused, I headed back and saw that the bank of ‘United’ counters I had walked past was actually the Continental counter (silly me, I missed the small ‘Continental’ signage below the UNITED sign). I got to an agent, explained that I was trying to go standby on the 7:45am flight at which point I was informed I missed the cutoff by one minute.

I was very frustrated by this, given the confusing signage and poor instructions by the United gate agent. I expressed my unhappiness at this, and the agent shrugged and said she couldn’t get me on the flight. At this point, she put me standby on the next flight – a United flight – at 9:06 am. She mentioned I could try to get on the 7:45am flight, but my baggage would go on the 9:06am flight. Explaining this was not at all a convenient option, I agreed to try the 9:06am flight. I head to the Red Carpet Club (of which I am a member) to see what the chances of making this flight are. It doesn’t look good.

It comes time to board the 9:06 flight, which is oversold so I don’t make it on standby. At this point, I head immediately back to the Red Carpet Club. This is where it gets good. My actual reservation on flight 1534 has been cancelled because I was a ‘no-show’ on the 7:45am flight. Are you confused by this yet? I certainly was. For some reason, the woman who gave me a departure management card for standby on the 9:06 am flight somehow booked me on the 7:45am flight without informing me. And because I didn’t show up for this (because remember, my luggage would not arrive with me), the ‘Interlink’ system cancelled my reservation. So now I have no confirmed reservation at all to Newark. (I should also note that I was unable to check in online to this flight because it is a Continental flight. Even though the ‘new’ mobile app is branded with the new logo and whatnot, it is really only useful for United flights. But I can’t get my account info either because I keep getting an error message telling me there is a SQL server issue.)

The agent working with me in the Red Carpet Club is doing her best to try and reverse this is to get me a middle seat. All the way to Newark. How often do you fly coast to coast? In a middle seat? It isn’t comfortable. And to top it off, my luggage is not on the 9:06 flight. The agents aren’t exactly sure where it is but they assure me it will be on my flight. We shall see. But until I land in Newark, it will be one more thing causing me anxiety on top of everything else that has transpired today.

The number of failure points in my experience with your company/companies is shocking. You have been talking to us – your captive audience on all United flights – about the great things that the merger will bring us. But to date all it has brought is an inability to fly without hassle and confusion. Is this a United flight or a Continental flight? Which agent will be able to answer my question? I can’t log into my account on my mobile app (as referenced above) because your systems are merging. The terminal in SFO for United and Continental is a zoo. And having signage for the Continental counter that actually reads United (albeit with Continental in small letters beneath) is confusing and a terrible customer experience. Having the two systems not talk to each other and only a very small handful of employees trained to be able to navigate successfully between the two has been a recipe for a travelers nightmare.

My perception is that United is trying to reap the benefits of the merger before the systems are prepared to handle this, and before you are able to give your customers a travel experience that is not riddled by hassle, wasted time, and angst. I am now in the process of finding out how to join the Aadvantage program with equivalent status. It is unclear as of yet whether my company has a partnership with American that will facilitate this. If not, I am willing to go through their ‘challenge’ program to get to an equivalent status.

17 years as a customer of United. Over 450,000 miles flown. I say the challenge is yours, Mr. Smisek. How will you fix this? Can you?

Sincerely,
Ali

I’m curious what response I will get…are you? If so, stay tuned and I’ll let you know what happens.

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