Evil Flight issues
So this is all the shit I went through getting to Arizona through United. It's kinda frank, and in point form, as this is what is getting sent to United as part of a formal complaint.
OTTAWA
· Arrived at the airport at 9:50am Wednesday December 19th, with both my Dog for checked baggage and my cat for carry on, and my flight was scheduled to leave at 12:11pm.
· The agents to open the Check in Counter for the flight, whom are required by United policy to be at the counter two hours before the flight, did not arrive until 10:20am, which was not two hours, where there was also an extremely long line up waiting due to the lateness of the two agents.
· After two hours in line I was told I was not getting on the flight due to temperature requirements for the Dog that I had with me. After speaking to a supervisor I was told that my dog had been booked on a flight without a pressurized cabin, which would have not only killed my Show-Quality Purebred Corgi, but that I should never have been able to book the dog on a flight without a pressurized cabin.
· I was told that I would be able to ship the dog on another flight from United at a later time by the Representative at the Check In counters, which is false information as neither United nor any other Airline will ship animals out of Ottawa.
· Had I known I would be unable to ship the Dog from Ottawa I would not have taken my flight, I would have waited with him for a later flight.
· Due to not being able to take the Dog with me I was forced to pay a $50.00 Cab ride for my dog to a friends house for boarding until I was able to ship him.
· I was also forced to request one of my friends board my dog for an indefinate amount of time while I booked him to be shipped down to Ottawa, which has so far been almost a week.
· While asking for a Supervisor to speak to about my differing options to possibly bring the dog with me (including booking a separate seat for the dog, and getting a different carrier for him) one of the agents at the Check in Counter refused to get me a Supervisor, and kept telling me my dog would die should I continue trying to get him on this flight. The agent refused to believe I was asking after other options, and insisted that I did not care about my dog and that I wanted him to die.
· Due to so many difficulties in getting the proper information, I missed not only my flight, but also the next United flight from Phoenix to Ottawa at 2:40pm.
· I was then Re-scheduled on the next flight to Phoenix, scheduled to depart at 7:06pm from Ottawa to Washington-Dulles, which due to Mechanical issues did not arrive until 10:30pm at night.
· While waiting for the flight there was an Air Canada flight leaving to Washington-Dulles but I was told that only passengers with no Checked baggage were allowed to take that flight, and as I had two pieces of checked baggage I was unable to.
WASHINGTON
· I arrive in Washington at 2:00am, I had missed my connecting flight so I was re-scheduled for a US Airways flight to Charlotte NC, then to Phoenix AZ leaving at 7:00am. I was offered a hotel room for the 3 hours that I would be in Washington, but no accommodations were made for the cat that I had traveling with me who had neither ate, drank, nor gone to the bathroom since arriving at the airport the day before.
· I was not able to sleep in the hotel room, given only two and a half hours until I had to leave to get to the airport to catch my connecting flight. As I had been unable to sleep the night before that meant I had been two days without sleep, and 19 hours since arriving at the airport to catch my original flight.
· My cat whom was with me was also terrified of having to go back to the airport, since we had been in there so long the day before and he was so unused to the strange environment and being forced to stay in the cat carrier so long.
· Upon returning to the airport I was flagged for extra security screening, which further traumatized the cat whom had never flown, and was terrified of strange people and the machinery we were being forced to go through.
· I had arrived at the airport 2 hours early for my flight, and was at the gate and hour and a half before departure. I waited patiently with the other passengers.
· When the flight started boarding I was told I had to wait at one side while they dealt with “issues” with my Boarding pass that I had been issued. I was issued a Boarding pass with no ticket number on it, and United had failed to change my Itinerary from my original flight so not only was it listed that I should currently be on a flight from Los Angeles to Phoenix, but due to this I was unable to board the flight to NC.
· I spoke to Customer Service whom said that I should never have been issued the boarding pass since there was no ticket number and the itinerary had not been changed. They re-scheduled me on a different flight with US Airways to Austin TX then to Phoenix, giving me only the boarding pass for my first flight, saying I would have enough time to receive my boarding pass for my second flight and to catch the flight in Austin.
· At this time I was also told by the Customer Service representative that my Luggage was currently in the Los Angeles airport, and may not be delivered to Phoenix on time for me to pick it up. Which also means the night before when given my Hotel voucher and I was told to pick up my checked baggage it would not have been there.
· My next connection did not leave until noon, so I spent the next five hours waiting in the airport for my flight to leave with my cat. I had now been in the airport for a total of 26 Hours.
· 30 Minutes before the flight departure we were told the flight was overbooked, which caused more stress on me thinking I was going to miss another flight, and be stuck in Washington.
AUSTIN
· I managed to make my flight to Austin TX, and we arrived only 12 minutes late, at 3:12 local time. When I got off the flight I followed the directions of the Customer service agent, and found the Departures screen that shows the departures from the airport. The flight showed that it left at 3:20pm, which was the current time.
· I ran with my cat to the gate, and saw the flight which I had been told I would have plenty of time to catch was being Taxied out to the runway.
· I spoke to the US Airways representative at the gate, whom informed me that I was not listed on the flight, so I would have been unable to get on it as United had not booked my connection on this flight.
· A US Airways representative spoke to the United representatives for me, and forced them to re-schedule my itinerary to the next US Airways flight so that I was finally able to get to my destination.
· The next flight from Austin to Phoenix did not depart until 5:30pm, so I was yet again forced to wait with my cat in the airport.
· Once I worked with US Airways I was able to catch my flight to Phoenix, and arrived at 7:57pm Thursday December 20th, Local time, meaning that I arrived 25 hours after my original flight scheduled to arrive at 6:57pm on the 19th, and after being in the airport for 33 hours.
· During these 33 hours in the airport my cat was unable to eat, drink, use the bathroom, and was confined in a carrying case that would “fit under the seat in front of me” which has traumatized my cat for any travel experience, and it has taken him days to recover from.
· During these 33 hours I was also forced to spend $50 on a cab fare to get my dog to a friends since I was unable to bring him with me, $50 on money for payphones, and a phone card for long distance, calling my husband to let him know the issues that I was having, as well as rescheduling my multiple missed flights, as well as $40 on food which I would not have had to spend on an 8 hour flight.
· It also took me two days to recover from the sleep deprivation and stress that being in the airport with my pet that long.
Maximus is currently also stuck in Ottawa until January forth when Dave has offered to drive him to Montreal so he can be shipped out to me. I miss him terribly and this is the longest I've ever been away from him.
OTTAWA
· Arrived at the airport at 9:50am Wednesday December 19th, with both my Dog for checked baggage and my cat for carry on, and my flight was scheduled to leave at 12:11pm.
· The agents to open the Check in Counter for the flight, whom are required by United policy to be at the counter two hours before the flight, did not arrive until 10:20am, which was not two hours, where there was also an extremely long line up waiting due to the lateness of the two agents.
· After two hours in line I was told I was not getting on the flight due to temperature requirements for the Dog that I had with me. After speaking to a supervisor I was told that my dog had been booked on a flight without a pressurized cabin, which would have not only killed my Show-Quality Purebred Corgi, but that I should never have been able to book the dog on a flight without a pressurized cabin.
· I was told that I would be able to ship the dog on another flight from United at a later time by the Representative at the Check In counters, which is false information as neither United nor any other Airline will ship animals out of Ottawa.
· Had I known I would be unable to ship the Dog from Ottawa I would not have taken my flight, I would have waited with him for a later flight.
· Due to not being able to take the Dog with me I was forced to pay a $50.00 Cab ride for my dog to a friends house for boarding until I was able to ship him.
· I was also forced to request one of my friends board my dog for an indefinate amount of time while I booked him to be shipped down to Ottawa, which has so far been almost a week.
· While asking for a Supervisor to speak to about my differing options to possibly bring the dog with me (including booking a separate seat for the dog, and getting a different carrier for him) one of the agents at the Check in Counter refused to get me a Supervisor, and kept telling me my dog would die should I continue trying to get him on this flight. The agent refused to believe I was asking after other options, and insisted that I did not care about my dog and that I wanted him to die.
· Due to so many difficulties in getting the proper information, I missed not only my flight, but also the next United flight from Phoenix to Ottawa at 2:40pm.
· I was then Re-scheduled on the next flight to Phoenix, scheduled to depart at 7:06pm from Ottawa to Washington-Dulles, which due to Mechanical issues did not arrive until 10:30pm at night.
· While waiting for the flight there was an Air Canada flight leaving to Washington-Dulles but I was told that only passengers with no Checked baggage were allowed to take that flight, and as I had two pieces of checked baggage I was unable to.
WASHINGTON
· I arrive in Washington at 2:00am, I had missed my connecting flight so I was re-scheduled for a US Airways flight to Charlotte NC, then to Phoenix AZ leaving at 7:00am. I was offered a hotel room for the 3 hours that I would be in Washington, but no accommodations were made for the cat that I had traveling with me who had neither ate, drank, nor gone to the bathroom since arriving at the airport the day before.
· I was not able to sleep in the hotel room, given only two and a half hours until I had to leave to get to the airport to catch my connecting flight. As I had been unable to sleep the night before that meant I had been two days without sleep, and 19 hours since arriving at the airport to catch my original flight.
· My cat whom was with me was also terrified of having to go back to the airport, since we had been in there so long the day before and he was so unused to the strange environment and being forced to stay in the cat carrier so long.
· Upon returning to the airport I was flagged for extra security screening, which further traumatized the cat whom had never flown, and was terrified of strange people and the machinery we were being forced to go through.
· I had arrived at the airport 2 hours early for my flight, and was at the gate and hour and a half before departure. I waited patiently with the other passengers.
· When the flight started boarding I was told I had to wait at one side while they dealt with “issues” with my Boarding pass that I had been issued. I was issued a Boarding pass with no ticket number on it, and United had failed to change my Itinerary from my original flight so not only was it listed that I should currently be on a flight from Los Angeles to Phoenix, but due to this I was unable to board the flight to NC.
· I spoke to Customer Service whom said that I should never have been issued the boarding pass since there was no ticket number and the itinerary had not been changed. They re-scheduled me on a different flight with US Airways to Austin TX then to Phoenix, giving me only the boarding pass for my first flight, saying I would have enough time to receive my boarding pass for my second flight and to catch the flight in Austin.
· At this time I was also told by the Customer Service representative that my Luggage was currently in the Los Angeles airport, and may not be delivered to Phoenix on time for me to pick it up. Which also means the night before when given my Hotel voucher and I was told to pick up my checked baggage it would not have been there.
· My next connection did not leave until noon, so I spent the next five hours waiting in the airport for my flight to leave with my cat. I had now been in the airport for a total of 26 Hours.
· 30 Minutes before the flight departure we were told the flight was overbooked, which caused more stress on me thinking I was going to miss another flight, and be stuck in Washington.
AUSTIN
· I managed to make my flight to Austin TX, and we arrived only 12 minutes late, at 3:12 local time. When I got off the flight I followed the directions of the Customer service agent, and found the Departures screen that shows the departures from the airport. The flight showed that it left at 3:20pm, which was the current time.
· I ran with my cat to the gate, and saw the flight which I had been told I would have plenty of time to catch was being Taxied out to the runway.
· I spoke to the US Airways representative at the gate, whom informed me that I was not listed on the flight, so I would have been unable to get on it as United had not booked my connection on this flight.
· A US Airways representative spoke to the United representatives for me, and forced them to re-schedule my itinerary to the next US Airways flight so that I was finally able to get to my destination.
· The next flight from Austin to Phoenix did not depart until 5:30pm, so I was yet again forced to wait with my cat in the airport.
· Once I worked with US Airways I was able to catch my flight to Phoenix, and arrived at 7:57pm Thursday December 20th, Local time, meaning that I arrived 25 hours after my original flight scheduled to arrive at 6:57pm on the 19th, and after being in the airport for 33 hours.
· During these 33 hours in the airport my cat was unable to eat, drink, use the bathroom, and was confined in a carrying case that would “fit under the seat in front of me” which has traumatized my cat for any travel experience, and it has taken him days to recover from.
· During these 33 hours I was also forced to spend $50 on a cab fare to get my dog to a friends since I was unable to bring him with me, $50 on money for payphones, and a phone card for long distance, calling my husband to let him know the issues that I was having, as well as rescheduling my multiple missed flights, as well as $40 on food which I would not have had to spend on an 8 hour flight.
· It also took me two days to recover from the sleep deprivation and stress that being in the airport with my pet that long.
Maximus is currently also stuck in Ottawa until January forth when Dave has offered to drive him to Montreal so he can be shipped out to me. I miss him terribly and this is the longest I've ever been away from him.