Don't fly United for campus visits

<p>Ok, I’m really tired and cranky right now so forgive me if I sound whiny but I feel the need to warn all of you campus visiting folks out there about United Airlines. </p>

<p>At 1:30 a.m. our phone rang. Of course my first thought was that something horrible had happened to our daughter, who’s away at college, thank goodness that wasn’t the case. It was a representative from United Airlines (my husband said he wasn’t fluent in English so it was difficult to understand him) calling to tell us that my husband and son’s 7:00 a.m. flight from Chicago to Birmingham was cancelled.</p>

<p>That’s right, in the middle of the night, three hours before they were to wake up for the flight for a campus visit to Auburn, University of Alabama, and Ole Miss, we were informed that the flight was cancelled! </p>

<p>My husband asked if there was another flight that they could take today and the gentleman told us that they could only get us on a flight tomorrow. DH and DS had a tour scheduled at Auburn this afternoon,and we would have had to pay for our lost hotel reservation. Completely unacceptable.</p>

<p>So, DH had to get out of bed, call UA and demand that they re-book them on a different airline for today at their cost. He was able to get a flight on Delta with a stop in Atlanta before arriving in Birmingham too late to make the Auburn tour. Fortunately my DD has a friend who attends Auburn and is taking him out tonight so he will get to see the campus. Poor hubby finally got back to bed at 3:30 in the morning!</p>

<p>This is the second time that United has changed our plans at the last minute. Several years ago our family had booked a flight six months before our trip. We even had seat assignments. We arrived at the airport three hours before the international flight and when we got to the ticket agent she told us that we were bumped from the flight. They sent us through to the gate for standby and we discovered that they had done the same thing to four other families. The worst part was that the CFO of United and his family of five was on the flight. He got off of the plane to find out what was happening at the ticket counter, did nothing, and then got back on the plane and flew off with his family!!! </p>

<p>We will NEVER fly United again and I warn you to be careful if you do. They have zero regard for their passengers.</p>

<p>I’m sorry this happened to you. Airlines can certainly be very frustrating. It may be too late to help your husband and son today, but Auburn is probably 30 minutes closer to the Atlanta airport than the Birmingham airport. The Atlanta airport is right on the interstate to Auburn and it’s an easy 1hr 45min drive to campus. They would save a lot of time if they can skip their connecting flight to Birmingham and just rent a car in Atlanta.</p>

<p>I hope the rest of their trip goes much more smoothly and they’re able to have a great visit at all 3 schools.</p>

<p>Thanks Grits80.</p>

<p>They are on their way to the Milwaukee airport to catch a flight. United never paid for the Delta flight.</p>