crappy United

[vthing98]

So I've decided that I don't like United. I know Kevin always likes to fly them, but I really liked flying on Southwest. Sure, there are no miles to earn, and no first class to get bumped up into. And sure, it can be a pain rusihing to get to the gate early to get a good spot in line, but I liked their planes. I feel like they actually take good

Comments

Premier

[whonose26]

The reasone I liked United are essentially moot now. When they were the contract carrier for Baltimore, I would fly them all the time and I quickly became a elite frequent flier. This meant that I got to choose from amoung the front of the plane seats (Economy Plus, which means more leg room, and you get to pick the exit rows if you like) when I booked, I got more miles each trip, I got free upgrades to first class when there was an empty seat (not too often but every once in a while it was nice), and I got to avoind all the checkin lines at the airport, because I could use the First Class Checkin. I also liked their frequent flier program, because I could use the points to fly anywhere United flies. So I currently have enough points for one free ticket to NZ on Air New Zealand (they're partenered with United).

The problem is that most of these perks require you to be a premier, and keep on flying with them to maintain that status. When Southwest became the contract carrier for baltimore, I quickly lost that, and I actually liked flying southwest because I could get a direct flight to most places. Teir frequest flyer program used to suck for gov't travelers, because you got double credits if you bought through their website so most people could get a free ticket after 4 roundtrips. Since we are required to use the gov't travel agent we only got standard credits, and only got a free flight after 8 roundtrips. But all in all the direct flight thing was worth it. I could spend an hour on a plane and be in Indianapolis, where as with United, I now have to fly through Chicago, and it takes 6 hours, a huge waste of time. Hopefully I'll fly enough over the next year to get premier status back, and then United will again be well worth it.