I am writing this whilst sat in
stunning Hawaii, wearing a bikini bought from Walmart, courtesy (we hope) of
United. This is the result of our fourth
unsuccessful flight in four days. We
began our saga with United upon leaving London almost an hour late; after a
smooth journey we arrived to Newark with a race against time to collect our
bags and check in to our connecting flight.
We were met at the desk by a man who remarked, ‘well miracles can
happen’. Optimism or sarcasm? Well I can tell you that when travelling with
United a huge dose of both is highly recommended. Next was security where we were escorted
through by a man who hit a child. A
slight exaggeration perhaps for him knocking their arm out of the pathway
accompanied by a sharp scolding, but he was a rude man nonetheless.
We made the flight! Hurrah! After legging it to the gate and undergoing
the embarrassing walk down the plane as those annoying passengers that everyone
is waiting for, we were on board. But
was our luggage? United staff had
reassured us that if we got on the plane so too would our bags; we had a sneaky
suspicion that this was a lie, but we kept faith until arriving in Las Vegas. It was like a fun game watching that
carousel, some extra entertainment laid on by United (or perhaps compensation
for one of our television screens failing to work throughout the journey?). Will our bags arrive or won’t they? Place your bets now. They didn’t appear. Shock horror.
We were sent off to our hotel with a toiletries bag each, so we at least
had minty fresh breath upon waking in the morning while a less than agreeable fragrance
exuded from everywhere else as a result of sleeping in the same clothes we’d
been travelling in. Thankfully by this
time our bags had been delivered to the hotel so we weren’t nasally offensive
for much longer.
Two days later we trustfully
handed ourselves and our belongings over to United again. But much later than planned. Two and a half hours later to be exact. Our flight was delayed due to weather
conditions, but once again we had a connecting flight. The United lady at the gate said that the
journey was only forty minutes so there was a chance we would make the
connection to Kona, Hawaii. It was the
only one to our destination that day so she kept us booked on, but also
provisionally booked us on to an alternative flight to Hilo, still on the same
Hawaiian island, but a two hour drive from our hotel. Once we had boarded the plane, the attendant
explained how the total time would be approximately seventy five minutes, with
forty in the air plus taxi time either side.
So we were doomed from the outset; we wouldn’t catch the next aeroplane
the United staff had so tantalisingly given us hope for. This same representative had also sorted out
indoor transport to drive us from one gate to the next as some extra help. Fantastic news. So we shot off at the other end, even though
we had missed our connection it was still going to be tight reaching the
alternative. There was no buggy in
sight; but we knew United by then, we hadn’t really expected one, don’t be
silly! Panting, we reached the gate in
time. Yippee! …To find that they had no idea who we were or
that we had seats provisionally reserved.
Brilliant. Luckily we were
eventually allowed to board, with the forewarning that our bags definitely
wouldn’t be accompanying us. At least
they had the decency to let us know in advance, saved the torture of the carousel
game.
We touched down in Hawaii. Without luggage, and two hours from where we
needed to be with no idea how to get there, but United had at least dropped us
on the correct island. Which is more
than they managed to do for one of our bags, but that’s a later story… It must be pointed out that the United
representatives at Hilo airport were absolutely wonderful. They called a taxi for us and charged the fee
to United Las Vegas (where the problems had originated). They provided us with a rather luxurious
toiletries collection this time (including laundry grains, how swish) and they
even packed us a goody bag each from their staff room supplies! It was here that we found out about the $25
allowance each for shopping to use whilst waiting on our luggage. It is slightly concerning that we had to buy
it ourselves and then submit a receipt to united.com, but we can hope. This seems to happen a lot in fact; too many
times we have been pointed to united.com, it appears that issues cannot be
rectified when you’re standing there in person with an actual human from United
one can interact with, they instead insist upon customers typing complaints
into cyberspace to await an automated response.
At last we arrived at the hotel,
and clambered into bed sporting new Walmart pyjamas, bellies satisfied after a
lovely evening meal…oh wait, United made us miss that. Correction, bellies full with rice krispies
squares and crisps from the airport staff.
The following morning, one of our party went to the airport to enquire
as to the whereabouts of our bags, due to the fact that we had been unable to
get any further information over the phone or through the online tracker. He was appalled to find a woman stowing our
bags away into storage, as she had been given no instruction on what to do with
them. So he returned to the hotel with
all the bags, apart from his. Which had
been sent to another island. Surely it
is harder to separate the bags than send them off together???!! The incompetence is simply unbelievable.
We have been compensated at least. With vouchers for United.
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