I already was miffed with United for the not-so-non-stop Flight 315 from La Guardia to Denver and onto Seattle.
When I checked into my flight yesterday, I learned that Flight 315 was delayed by one hour. That turned into two hours; then, three hours. Worried, I checked with the gate person to make sure that all was okay to fly from the Denver to Seattle leg. The gate agent informed me that, “No, you definitely won’t make that connection.”
The gateperson graciously gave me a seat on Flight 409 from La Guardia to Denver and switched my Seattle leg so I would make the connection with minutes to spare. They even gave me an exit row.
We boarded. I made friends with my seatmates. I even told the guy in Seat 9B that I was getting really lucky with my seat assignments and that “I had good seat karma.” The captain told us to belt up, the flight attendant shut the door and we got ready to fly.
I surreptitiously popped a Xanex. I’m a nervous flier and a little bit of anti-anxiety drug keeps me from running down the length of the plane, shouting at the top of my lungs, “What are you people doing in this tin can flying 700 miles per hour? Don’t you know that this is crazy and unsafe? Surfing the wind in this tube is dangerous!”
The pilot made his announcement that the door was closed and we’d be taking off. Then, there was a pounding in the closed little exit door window. All of us in the exit row looked at eachother nervously. Someone in row 10 said, “Well, you guys are the exit row. You’re supposed to know how to operate that thing.”
Finally, a flight attendant came. There was some gesturing and then, he opened the door. And in popped a nervous little man in a United uniform, who started yelling at me to “Get off the plane! You never should have been given this seat! Get off the plane!”
I looked around. Surely, he couldn’t be talking to … me? Out of all these people, he’s yelling at … me? Why me?
“You’re not Premier! You’re not Premier! You never should have been given this seat. Get off the plane. Now! Go!”
My seatmate said, “I don’t think you need to do that. You have a ticket. You have a boarding pass. I don’t think you have to go.”
I looked at the gate agent and said, “Do I HAVE to give you my seat?”
While I’m still not sure if I had to give up my seat, my preference not to get arrested got the better of me. I got my bags and followed the gate agent up the gangplank. Standing at the top of the gangplank was the man that I was being kicked off the flight for. I looked at him and said, “Are you really kicking me off this flight?” He stood silently, accepting that his Premier status gave him the right to arrive 45 minutes late for a flight and still demand that he get a seat.
Meanwhile, the United gatekeepers tried to put me on a flight to Chicago. Given that Chicago was boxed in with snow and storms, this was either dumb or just an attempt to to placate me long enough for the gate agent to make his escape.
After many more hours in various airports, I finally got home to Seattle. Over the course of the night, passangers watching the original drama with the Premier Member and my seat came up to me and commiserated. Their opinions ranged from, “Sucks for you. That’s what you get when you don’t fly enough.” to “Wow! That was so cool! I’ve never seen them actually pull a plane back for anyone. I wonder what that guy does!” Most passengers agreed that United was one of the worst carriers in the industry.
I have to say that I agree.
Heather, I DID take a bath in the hotel. How did you know?? I got in so late that we had to get a hotel so hubby wouldn’t fall asleep driving me back home to Bellingham. =)
And Carrie – Gigi, I have an iPhone. It has a camera but no video. But your post gave me a good five minutes of fantasizing a 60-minute-type expose video, in which I smartly and oh-so-confidently pulled out my video phone and interviewed the Premier flight member and also the gate agent who admitted to choosing me because I looked like a meek women. Or something like that … Sigh. What a blissful five minute fantasy. =)
Hey Anne-Marie! That is just hideous. You should never have been treated like that! It’s pretty sickening. On the bright side, look at all of the soap love you are collecting from the nice ladies leaving comments!! Hopefully, you got home and took a GREAT BATH!!!!
Does anyone want to join me in the “I will not fly United pledge”?!
Thanks for the link, Anne-Marie!
gee whiz, anne marie! reminds me of an experience i had with eastern airlines 20 years ago. continental is usually polite and nice, but they seem to always send my luggage to california when i’m going to canada. to just be harassed like that…talk about karma…Linda
Drama, drama, drama. I would have been sooooooo embarrassed to get yelled at in front of all of those people.
Back for one more thought–It’s just too bad you didn’t have one of those cell phones with the video/voice device to tape/show the whole thing–It’s would have been the perfect “icing” on the cake-I mean cupcake. Did you?
Anne-Marie- Wrong place at the wrong time? NO not at all, because you did nothing wrong- Just too bad they didn’t know the “who” they were kicking out of the seat. Your voice will be heard & I’m sure many people are thankful you voiced this situation.
Hi Anne Marie – I am so sorry to hear about your debacle – and the guy that said you didn’t fly enough doesn’t know what he is talking about – I am Premier Exec on United due to lots of international travel and that hasn’t stopped them from keeping me in Hong Kong for 12 hours with limited updates or in Bend for 5 hours 2 weeks ago. You go girl! Give them the feedback and demand a free ticket! It’s the least they could do for pulling you off of a plane!!! I’m all for being flexible, but this one is ridiculous.
Beckie, you’re totally sweet comments are so nice. I don’t usually do miles seats either – and in this case, I paid full fare for my seats so I’m not sure what United’s deal was but either way, it’ll be an interesting experiment to write them, call them and email them. How a company handles a negative situation speaks volumes.
Beckie, 403 Forbidden is a code that happens when the site isn’t available for some reason. Given that I was writing this (new) long diatribe on United’s customer service factoids and updating the site, that’s probably why you saw that for a brief minute.
Teresa, or Shades of Grey, =) I fly a lot. I always have good luck with Alaska, Frontier and even Delta usually. So, if you do fly, check out the JD Power and Associates ratings or just head to the Aviation Consumer Protection agency’s site to read up the latest complaints and delays. http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/
Or we can all just try to fly less. =)
{{{Anne-Marie}}} After an ordeal like that, you need more than hugs, really.
I agree with Jill…that guy had better be off to save someone’s life rather than just being a total jack*ss.
I’m going to have to seriously try to avoid United when we fly to the west coast.
Premier status…that’s just bull- uh bull-oney.
Glad you made it home all right, though!
I woke this AM to read Anne-Maries horrible situation with her trip!
“Don’t fly enough!?” whats that guys problem?
Also woke to see “403 FORBIDDEN-403FORBIDDEN”.I don’t know what that means but I think that someone should check with the Blog Site Operators. What is “403 FORBIDDEN”?
Anne-Marie things have got to be looking up for you.I have never had any luck with “saving” the miles,bumping up even when I flew from PIT to ATL 6X’s same summer,so don’t feel bad girl,we love ya and too bad people have to be less than courteous.I really don’t like mean people!Sorry it had to happen to such a nice person.Beckie
Unbelieveable! Isn’t it against Federal Regulations or something to open the cabin door once it’s been locked?
And just who WAS this guy that they pulled you off for? He better have been a heart surgeon, off to save a child’s life or something.
If something like that happened to me, I don’t know if I would be able to fly again. I already hate getting in those tiny tubes that are so far off the ground. We’ve always had good luck with Delta (knock on wood) as the husband is in PA now, due back on Tuesday night.
I’m glad you made it back safely!
I feel so bad for you Anne-marie. That would have made me scream the house down! I still don’t believe they did that to you. No matter how important he thinks he is, I don’t think that is fair at all to you and United should have known that. Unbelievable.
I updated the post with the end of the cliffhanger =) I’m in WA but not a very happy camper.
Rita, I’m pretty sure it’s just United and maybe Continental that I’ve worked through. I heart Alaska, Frontier, and Southwest still so I should still be able to criss cross US with those. =) And I am totally with you – the drugs probably helped me calm down. Not the way I expected but all in all, I’m home so life is good but I’m going to try not to fly United in the future.
It was a really bad experience. =(
It is probably a good thing you had a little bit of prescription help to get through that mess. You are running out of airlines to fly on, aren’t you?
What a joke and I don’t mean funny!
rita
Please, please tell us this was the med playing tricks with you. This sounds like a nightmare!!!
J
No cliffhangers!! What happened??
I agree with anonymous… are you in NY, CO or WA?
Ack! What happened? You can’t leave it like that! What did you do? What did they do?…..