Continental vs. United

May I dump please?

As people would say, "this is my blog, therefore I can say whatever I want to on here" and I'm about to do just that.
And I hope you tell all your friends what I am about to say as well.

United Airlines SUCKS.

I am about to blow up on someone here so it might as well be to a computer screen exerting my energy typing so I don't fight someone who doesn't deserve it.

I am mad.

I am a very brand loyal person. Always have been. If I find a brand that I like (customer service, product, quality, etc) then I am willing to pay a little more at times for the product just to be loyal to the company that has taken care of me. This has been very true for airlines. I don't fly often, but I fly often enough. Several times a year. I mean, I am living abroad and isn't that how you airlines make your money?

I have to get home and clearly I cannot dry a car across the Atlantic Ocean, no matter how calm the seas, so I need what you have to offer. But do you lovely airline company realize that you are not the only airline available and I do have an option as to who I choose to give my multiple of hundreds of dollars to if not more than that when I choose to visit my so lovely family on the other side of the ocean?

Before today I was brand loyal to Continental Airlines. They were a lovely company. Their staff was always pleasant (which I would understand them not being so pleasant after an 11 hour flight, but this was never the case), the customer service number was always responsive and understanding, the flights were usually on time (which is a plus) and their prices were always competitive.

Then Continental and United merged and the fat lady sung and hell froze over and here we are today.

I never knew much about United until all this mess happened a year ago because as I have told you, I am brand loyal. I never had a reason to know them. I flew Continental (90 percent of the time) when I needed to fly. Well, usually of course. There was my occasional flight with Air France, but that was all the cheating I ever did on Continental and that was only if Air France was significantly cheaper.

Since being in France for nearly 2 years I have gotten used to the fact that customer service, when it exists, rather as well not exist here. But I remember last fall, after having already booked my flight back to Texas for Christmas, changing my itinerary and calling the customer service to inquire about the cost difference and the flight changes. I remember this moment so clearly because its a rare moment to have a nice conversation with a customer service rep on the phone, or even in person. But all my calls to Continental have always been like that. Pleasant. Pleasant to the point of almost making friends during these phone calls. Then, this past February, I found a ticket on Continental's website that I wanted to book but since it was a next day ticket I had to call the phone number and have them do it over the phone. This was the start of a rocky relationship turned nonexistent as I see it. The person on the phone was stupid. I am being a bit harsh here as I am upset, but she was short with me to begin. Short. Look lady, this is YOUR JOB. I am not asking you to go above and beyond or answer any complicated questions you might not know the answer to.... I only need your help in booking a ticket and only because the internet won't let me do it myself. But that was a bit too much for her to do. I needed a ticket from Paris to Houston and back. On these set dates. At these set times. She asked me a million and one questions, rudely I might add. "So, if you need to leave Paris at 9am, what time is that in Houston?"... I don't know!!! nor do I care?!?! And please explain to me what this has to do with booking my ticket? (Maybe calling her stupid wasn't that harsh) So after a rocky start, middle, and finish, I finally fought the lady for a plane ticket that I paid for and that she was getting paid to help me pay for.

Then came the day when I was to leave Houston to return to Paris and smart me thought that I was to leave Houston a day before I actually had booked my flight back. I woke up early in the morning ready to go and realized that my flight wasn't until the next day, but with my experience with Continental and their flight change policy and my experience with their kind customer service reps I decided it would be worth it to give them a call to see what the cost was to change my flight to that day. Well, after 30 minutes of waiting for the "first available representative" the person on the other end of the phone was rude (go figure) and very unwilling to help whatsoever. They told me that they didn't know what I was talking about (changing a flight? really!?) or that it was impossible (pretty sure changing a flight is not impossible unless of course the flight I wanted to change had already left, but it hadn't) and then that person said I needed to talk to someone else (so French of them) and transferred me to another line where I stupidly waited on the line for an hour (I was determined to leave that day). I was dumbfounded, flabergasted and any other funny words as such by the way I had been treated by this airline. I had had such a good relationship with Continental and now United decides they are cooler and better (which neither are true) and they take over and ruin it all.

So that brings me to right now and right now. My current reason for this whole escapade of hating United and all that they stand for. I have been searching for flights back to Texas for the summer for a few weeks now and they're pretty expensive as I had expected, but in all the searching that I have done, United has either never shown up (on my cheap websites) or, if I go to their website they are telling me that for the low price of my parents retirement fund I can buy a roundtrip but the catch: with 19 layovers. That is a bit extreme but not really. In the past Continental was always at the top of the list for being one of the more low cost flights and even if it wasn't, if there was an option for multiple carriers then they usually had at least one of the legs of the flight. Now, not only does United not show up anywhere unless I go directly to their website, but to fly with United there are no longer any nonstop flights being serviced to Houston. Say what? No nonstop flights from Paris to Houston??? You've got to be kidding me! Houston IS the layover... why in the world do I need to have a layover to get to Houston? Houston is a major international hub. I am not going to have multiple layovers throughout the US just to get home. Call me spoiled but from past experiences, this doesn't seem right.

You know the saying, "don't break what isn't broken"???? United did just that! They messed everything up. They screwed over a wonderful airline by taking over and putting their mark on everything; showing up with less than pleasant workers and offering overpriced flights if they even are offering the flight you want.

I may be one small person but its the small people who keep buisness' going, right? I may not fly once a month every month of the year in first class but I do travel and I do do it as often as I can and I do have a voice and I do have friends and family that travel and I will make sure that United knows how I feel about them and in the process, so does everyone else. So if you're reading this, please, for your sake (and mine) do not choose United if you have a choice the next time you fly. If your experiences are anything like mine, you will have a less than pleasant flight and experience. Please choose an airline based on many things like the way they treat their customers, since that is what keeps airlines in business anyways: the people.

So, there you have it, my rant and opinion for the day. What has been your experience with United? Good, bad, indifferent? I'd like to know.