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United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

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Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#11

Post by ghaff »

hellofunk wrote: post #7
zyxley wrote: post #4

Airlines taking away free snacks for customers feels like companies taking away free snacks for employees: it doesn't really matter much by itself for anyone involved, but it's an obvious signal that the management involved can't bother to even put a fig leaf on the matter of your personal comfort.

What is odd is that even the cheapest budget airlines of Asia, and there are many, many of them, nearly all provide not just free snacks, but free hot meals.

I imagine I'm the minority opinion--and Asian airline meals are generally better than US ones but that probably just reflects my preferences--but I actually don't especially regret the general demise of hot meals on most flights. They were always horrible in coach to the degree that I can recall joking cartoons about them. Serving the meals was disruptive and often stunk up the cabin.

Now, when it comes to passing out cold snacks, by all means.

Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#12

Post by jmspring »

taurath wrote: post #6

Flight experiences are really just anecdotal if you're talking about the same "class" of flight. I know people who fly regularly and are perfectly fine with Delta while they'd never fly American. At the same time, its always felt like the "national" domestic airlines have had very poor service - I liken it to GM and Chrysler vehicles.

For years, I felt Lufthansa was better than United for SF -> Germany flights. Especially after the merger with Continental. Lately though, LH has been in decline.

In general, I find United to be ok for the travel I have done. But they aren't what they used to be. Also, my options are limited if I want to do SF -> Europe direct and not go to CDG, Heathrow, etc. KLM wasn't bad, but it's also One World and I don't fly American or Delta domestically.

Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#13

Post by ghaff »

rezashirazian wrote: post #8

The airline industry needs to be disrupted. Lets hope for a day when building safe and reliable planes is cheap and fueling them even cheaper.

The problem is that people complain but many then go ahead and book the cheapest flight whether it's to save their own money or to comply with corporate travel policies. I'm not sure what "disruption" you have in mind that isn't available to existing carriers.

Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#14

Post by dnautics »

It's a whole lot of little things. On one flight, there wasn't enough space for my carry-on, so they told me to check it. I assumed they had meant "gate check", because that's what other airlines I fly do, but instead it got routed to the carousel, and because my next flight was on a different airline, there was no way to route it to my final destination; I had to leave the security area and come back in to continue. Thankfully security was light and I didn't miss my flight. The least they could have done was to check to make sure I understood what this entailed, and worked to find a solution.

Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#15

Post by stephengoodwin »

About 1/2 of the flights I've taken in the past 5 years have been on United or Continental. 11 flights on United and 4 flights on Continental[1] (I keep track of my airline travel in a spreadsheet). 2 of my United flights were international. My most recent United flights was in late 2014.

I can only speak for myself, but I've never had a bad experience with United or Continental. A few small delays here or there. One 3 hour delay caused by really bad weather, but no cancellation: I still made it to my destination before 1am.

For context, I've always flown economy, by myself or in a small group, and usually departing from Austin or Houston.

[1] In this instance, 1 flight = 1 leg.

Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#17

Post by CyberDildonics »

hellofunk wrote: post #7
zyxley wrote: post #4

Airlines taking away free snacks for customers feels like companies taking away free snacks for employees: it doesn't really matter much by itself for anyone involved, but it's an obvious signal that the management involved can't bother to even put a fig leaf on the matter of your personal comfort.

What is odd is that even the cheapest budget airlines of Asia, and there are many, many of them, nearly all provide not just free snacks, but free hot meals.

They give snack but they sell meals.

Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#18

Post by majormajor »

rezashirazian wrote: post #8

The airline industry needs to be disrupted. Lets hope for a day when building safe and reliable planes is cheap and fueling them even cheaper.

I'd argue that the airline industry was disrupted, in pretty much the classic "provide something that works OK for a lot of people at a cheaper price" sense. This is the result. The rise of budget carriers and people consistently choosing lowest price over everything else for flights led the legacy carriers to smash more and more seats into planes and remove all those little niceties that used to come as part of the experience: food, free checked bags, playing cards, whatever. Basically anything that doesn't actively bring in money or is at least free to re-use for the next flight.

EDIT: it makes sense, too. I can't blame people for that decision, I've made the same one. How many bucks is it really worth to be a bit less uncomfortable for 2 hours? 3 hours? Even 6 hours? Especially if I'm flying with a partner I'm sitting next to, which makes the leg-room/personal-space issue less annoying. And even when flying internationally, would I rather dedicate more money towards the flight itself, or to upgrading my accommodations for the time I'm spending overseas?

Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#19

Post by rconti »

ghaff wrote: post #11
hellofunk wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is odd is that even the cheapest budget airlines of Asia, and there are many, many of them, nearly all provide not just free snacks, but free hot meals.

I imagine I'm the minority opinion--and Asian airline meals are generally better than US ones but that probably just reflects my preferences--but I actually don't especially regret the general demise of hot meals on most flights. They were always horrible in coach to the degree that I can recall joking cartoons about them. Serving the meals was disruptive and often stunk up the cabin. Now, when it comes to passing ou…

Yeah. To be honest, I almost looked forward to layovers during air travel for my once- or twice- yearly McDonalds visit. The food options in airports, as dismal and overpriced as they tend to be, are gourmet fare compared with what's served on the airplane.

I'd just as soon not have to shuffle my laptop or book around to make space for lousy food.

Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#20

Post by maxxxxx »

yinghang wrote: post #9
hellofunk wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is odd is that even the cheapest budget airlines of Asia, and there are many, many of them, nearly all provide not just free snacks, but free hot meals.

Except for Air Asia

The stuff they sell is quite good. I much prefer paying form something decent than getting crap for free.
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