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Sure, shift blame to the poor lady (and her amazing landlord, what a wonderful person when in need), at a time of great stress and not understanding the intricacies of the ticket purchasing system, instead of acknowledging that the whole thing was a terrible move by both United and the agency.
I know people out there will side with United and the agency, and sure, technically they were, but this was an extreme and desperate situation and they could have done much better than to kick off a person already boarded.
Holding a United Airlines ticket purchased for her by her landlord, she probably would have. But minutes before departure, already buckled into her seat, she was ordered to leave the plane. The gate agent told her that her reservation had been canceled. Traveler Help Desk, the online agency that sold the ticket, had rescinded it because the landlord made a change directly through United — even though United had assured the landlord that it was not a problem to do so.
Unable to fly, Ms. Amrich drove through the night, not stopping even to use the bathroom. Her sister, in the hospital room, held a phone to their mother’s ear, and Ms. Amrich begged her to hold on.
She was still driving when her cellphone rang again. Her mother was dead.
It might not have been United's fault however most Airlines would have gone out of their way to help this woman rather than just chuck her off the flight.
It's little wonder that whenever you look at the list of the best airlines in the world there are no North American airlines generally mentioned in the top 20 or even 30. Even with it's terrible computer crash and other problems in 2017, British Airways still managed to beat most US Airlines and come in at 40th in the World Airline Awards.
The last really decent international airline the US had was Pan Am, and in terms of domestic North American airlines they tend to treat people like cattle, indeed even budget airlines overseas are often better. Even the airline food, comfort, seating and staff are better on many non-American airlines.
United came 78th (out of 100) in the World Airline Awards just behind notoriously bad Irish budget airline Ryanair.
Seems that she was to fly the next day but the mother's condition deteriorated so the landlord called United and changed the flight to an earlier one.
When the woman was kicked off, the landlord called the United and spoke to gate agent, offered to pay for another ticket, gave his credit card number, said they could straighten it out later.
This is heart wrenching. Traveler Help Desk needs to change its policy and not automatically cancel due to a modification. They should text or call the purchaser to confirm that they did, indeed, make the modification.
United should have offered to get her there somehow. "Nobody flies for free" isn't an appropriate response in this situation.
People once went above and beyond to accommodate people in situations like this. Nowadays it's all about inflexibility.
This woman will be haunted for the rest of her life that she wasn't able to say goodbye to her mother - when she could have had that opportunity. What a shame.
This is heart wrenching. Traveler Help Desk needs to change its policy and not automatically cancel due to a modification. They should text or call the purchaser to confirm that they did, indeed, make the modification.
United should have offered to get her there somehow. "Nobody flies for free" isn't an appropriate response in this situation.
People once went above and beyond to accommodate people in situations like this. Nowadays it's all about inflexibility.
This woman will be haunted for the rest of her life that she wasn't able to say goodbye to her mother - when she could have had that opportunity. What a shame.
Traveler Help Desk doesn't seem like much help and United even less.
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