This sounds familiar
Another Thanksgiving and I'm once again without a seat assignment thanks to the steaming load of administrative idiocy and greed that is United Airlines.
I have a kickass aunt and uncle who also happen to be pretty wealthy. Uncle travels lots and both are premier elite etc. etc. favorite flyers of United. So Uncle very kindly asks at the airport today if he can get me a seat assignment for my flight home for Thanksgiving (the tickets for which I purchased about two months ago) and the United losers tell him since I'm not premier I can't get an assignment until 24 hours before my flight. Apparently they don't care that *he* is a premier member (and, frankly, this should not matter. Rich people are not the only ones who deserve to get seats they have already paid for). GRRRRR.
This is so fucked up. I paid four hundred fucking dollars for this stupid flight (the flight is less than a thousand miles and, again, was purchased WAAAAAAAY in advance). I better get to actually go home for T-giving, or heads will roll. Roll, I say!!!
posted by Law Fairy @ 5:09 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
That really sucks. I've noticed that there is less and less operative logic in the world, and the only ones who are not disadvantaged by this are those with significant wealth.
I've never heard of this system, but they seem to be changing all the rules to make things easier for themselves. Of course the standard "reason" is national security, which everyone bows to and doesn't question, even when it makes no sense.
You may have to use your status as an attorney as a weapon and make threats. That usually works.
Good luck getting home. If you have paid in advance and don't get on a flight, they should compensate you with your own airliner, or at least a free trip around the world.
I'm crossing my fingers for you. I never get a confirmed seat until a few minutes before the flight leaves, but that's because I fly standby. However, if the flight is oversold, you're just not one of those people that's willing to leave on a different flight. Case closed, end of story. I would like to see them trying to fuck with you on that one. Good luck to them on that one - they're gonna need it!
heart, sadly, the way of the world has long been that life is best for the richest. Most everyone else has to catch what scraps they can from under the table. The rest of the world has to live in the faint hope that people like Bill and Melinda Gates come around more than once a generation.
Air travel is ridiculous nowadays, but we're so dependent on it (I am, anyway) that nothing else is really feasible in this day and age. We've got the deregulated airlines overbooking their customers and reducing customer service on their flights, on the one hand, and TSA regulations (most of which don't do shit) making life a general hassle for most and raising costs even higher than OPEC is responsible for.
If they try to kick me off my prepaid-months-in-advance flight next month, believe me, I will find a way to slip into the conversation that I'm a lawyer.
roonie, thanks! Fortunately last year's debacle ended without a hitch so I'm hoping this year's will as well. It's just so annoying that I have this to add to my list of Things That Are Currently Stressing Me Out. :P
Yeah!
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