On Wednesday afternoon, I was contacted by someone in Helen Chellin’s office, Lynn Johnson. She was pleasant and polite, and offered me a $350 voucher (apparently because the second leg of our trip involved an overnight stay). I pointed out that this did not come close to compensating us for the price of our ticket, and as the vouchers are not valid in combination, I would have to fly United two additional times—and pay the difference in fares—to even take advantage of this “generous” offer. She then agreed to void the original $150 coupon and issue a single $500 voucher. This was much appreciated (or will be if I ever receive it), but still gets us nowhere close to compensation. I requested a refund of our ticket price plus reimbursement of our additional travel expenses, but she stated that it was against company policy to offer such compensation.
I then sent a letter approximating this blog post (though slightly more rational-sounding) to Ms. Chellen.
UPDATE 2: I received a call from Lynn Johnson on Friday, December 4, at 3pm. She informed me that our requests had been denied. I informed her that I would continue up the chain of command, and harness the powers of the internet in the meantime. So here we go.
Because United has made it impossible to reach their "customer service" department in a reasonable fashion, I am posting here some useful contact info for future flyers:
Lynn Johnson
Executive Customer Service Representative (I made up the title, but you get the idea)
Direct number: 847-700-7762
Fax number: 847-700-0145
Number that appeared on caller ID (it may lead you to others in the department): 847-700-4000
Lynn.A.Johnson@United.com
Helen Chellin
Manager, Customer Contact Centers
Helen.Chellin@United.com
Barbara Higgins
Vice President, Customer Contact Centers
barbara.a.higgins@united.com
Glenn F. Tilton
Chairman, President and CEO
glenn.tilton@united.com
United Airlines
P.O. Box 66100
Chicago, IL 60666
UPDATE 3:
After the executive email bomb, I received a letter of apology with an offer to match my frequent-flier status on another airline and to refund the cost difference between a flight to Dallas and a flight to Oklahoma City. That amounted to $55 per ticket and a few frequent flier miles.
Due to the fact that my escalation potential is limited by factors outside my control (and outside the scope of this blog), I'm done making a pest of myself. But I will never fly United again.
And this is still worth a watch: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/24/united-breaks-guitars-did_n_244357.html
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2 comments:
Thanks for your efforts. I am currently embroiled in United's usual insanity. I would love to mount a massive consumer protest to put them out of business. United Breaks Guitars was great, but far nicer than they deserve.
This is hilarious. I just got off the phone with Lynn Johnson a few hours ago. You can hear the actual call on my blog at www.bjcbranding.com. What a joke United Airlines is.
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