Sunday 6 November 2011

travel advice - don't fly United



i quite enjoyed my flight across America
until
i got to San Francisco
and discovered that United Airlines
had offloaded several checked [and paid] bags
and put them on later flights
to make room for the excessive number of roll-aboards
that wouldn't fit [and don't have to pay when they don't fit]



consequently
instead of collecting my rental car and pootling down the coast in daylight
i had to wait two hours for my bag
[because having it sent after me wasn't an option -
the plan was to be roadtripping to spontaneous destinations]



and so
have made it as far as a helltell in Halfmoon Bay
instead of a lot further south

which means
i will never willingly purchase a ticket with United Airlines again

once bitten...

21 comments:

  1. Ah, but I remember Half Moon Bay as a lovely little spot. May the rest of your trip be smoother...

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  2. your tags, a priceless summary..."learning, muttering in the stalls, United States, wtf" Hope you've scored a convertible - that should pick ones spirits up considerably ;>}

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  3. How frustrating! Well... enjoy being spontaneous from now on.

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  4. hope your trip wil get the best trip you ever made, enjoy what's on your path:)

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  5. What a bummer.
    Hope you have some good sing-along with you.

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  6. wow, thats seriously bad service! Sorry you had a crappy start, heres hoping you enjoy the rest of the ride :)

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  7. What is 2 hours of waiting in a fullfilled life?
    See it as slow traveling next to slow fiber!

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  8. call me old-fashioned, but i'd have prefered two hours of sea-gazing
    to
    two hours sitting on the floor in the baggage area
    even though productively engaged in stitching...

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  9. oooo, that kind of thing makes me boil. The paid for luggage vs. the paid, come on!

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  10. Yup, that sucks. Trouble is, if one strikes every airline with bad service off one's 'will fly' list, it quickly becomes tricky getting around this country.

    Muttering with you.

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  11. I agree with you India that l would have been happier sewing or doing something else...then sitting waiting for luggage for over 2 hours....boring. I hope you have a good stayxx

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  12. May your trip only get better.
    For a chuckle and maybe some inspiration, check out the song on You Tube, United Breaks Guitars. =) Your story is frustrating, maybe you can be as creative as Dave from Sons of Maxwell! =) Here's the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

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  13. Sorry to hear your arrival into our amazing city by the bay was scarred! Hopefully, every thing else goes smoothly! Teaching a class here?? I heard rumors you might be coming through. I wouldn't want to miss it!

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  14. the muddled arrival was no reflection on San Francisco, which remains one of my three favourite places in the whirled
    i regard it as my door into AMerica [even if Qantas no longer flies there direct]
    and so far i've kept it as a 'sacred site' where i fly under the radar

    you won't miss a class because there isn't one
    but
    it was nice of you to ask.

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  15. Well mostly you don't get what you want but what you need. As you might know it is an universal law.
    Nothing old-fashioned about it!

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  16. well, Anonymous...i'm not sure sure it can be applied universally.
    by extrapolation
    it would suggest that the folks necklaced with burning tyres by Winnie Mandela's henchpersons were getting what they needed
    that the babies in India whose arms and legs are hacked off by their parents do they can be used as begging props are getting what they need
    6 yr olds with leukaemia
    i could write a book. but go figure.

    so maybe i shouldn't whine about waiting, but hey
    i entered into a contract with the company. i bought a ticket, showed up on time, paid for my checked luggage and didn't deface the toilets with a marker pen, disable the smoke detector or leave chewing gum under the seat.

    all i wanted was for my bags to be on the same plane as me. like everybody else's.

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  17. We had the same thing happen, different airline, a few years ago. It's shocking to see your suitcase being taken back into the airport while you're sitting on the plane ready for takeoff!

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  18. yes. i will never fly united again either. fully concur and although not burned by luggage issues, the extra crazy 45min LAX stop-over and heart pounding race (unexpected) through eye-ball customs proved crazy stressful...hmmmmm.....

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  19. If only all the victims of human crualty could whine just one time about being conned by an airplane compagny I would write a book!

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  20. I DO NOT blame you... this extra charge for checked bags - which you apparently paid for.. was booted off for those who try to carry on their TOO BIG bags to avoid paying..I saw this quite a bit on my flights to and from Japan.. only on the U.S. domestic flights of course.. women arguing at the gate.. people carrying on their big bags and then trying to squeeze them overhead.. I just took deep breaths and went into my Zen mode.

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  21. dear Anonymous...
    if you don't like my whining, feel free to go somewhere else. at least i put my name to what i write.
    and [mostly] i check my spelling.

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