Flying on a CRJ 700 down to LAX to catch my flight to Hawaii.
Maresa writes the blog Around Puget Sound and when she was recently taking a trip to Hawaii on United Airlines, I asked her to write up a review from a non-airline nerd perspective. This is her review in her own words:
My United Airlines Review – The Beginning
I’m on my way from SEA to LAX to ITO (Hilo, HI). It’s time for a vacation; to get away and escape from the fast paced life we all seem to live in these days. I’m hoping for good weather for hiking, biking, and snorkeling. I’ll be staying in my very favorite vacation rental: Papaya Sunrise on the East side of the Big Island during the week of my visit.
Currently, I’m traveling from Seattle to L.A. I’m riding in a CRJ700 and it’s tiny! I’ve never been in a commercial jet this small on the mainland before. As many of you know, Hawaii has many inter-island jets that are about the same size.
We took off from Sea-Tac only about 10 minutes late, but our expected arrival is still ‘on-time’. I have about a four hour lay-over in LAX, but the way I see it is I’d much rather have way more time than necessary than be stranded somewhere I just didn’t mean to be.
It’s always exciting to fly. I love the views I get over Washington. I feel extra fortunate when I get the added bonus of flying past Mt. Rainier–talk about a spectacular view!
One of the nice parts about the smaller jet is it took hardly anytime to board the plane. Also, United was willing to check larger bags for free at the gate that were too big to fit in the narrow overhead compartments. My carry-on bag fit just fine, but it was nice to have the option to check it and to have enough space up ahead for my backpack. The folks on the flight who did check their bag will be able to pick up their bag right after getting off the plane without going to baggage claim.
Right now, the woman next to me is dozing with four radiant sunflowers clasped in her grip, undoubtedly from Pike Place Market. It’s a good reminder of Seattle, of the summer to come, and the sunshine that I’m on my way to see.
I’ll let you know about the next leg of the trip when I get that far…
From LAX to ITO, I rode on a Boeing 737-800. Not this exact one, but one like it. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren
Over Five Hours Later
Wow, LAX was huge! My connecting flight wasn’t too far from where I landed. I have to tell you though, this second flight is shaping up to be much stranger and unpredictable than the first part.
When my fellow passengers and I were waiting to board, many people were struck by how rude the gate agent collecting boarding passes was to fellow passengers. “No, don’t go in that line! I said the right line–not the left!” The United/Continental worker shouted to customers. “No, rows 30 and higher may board, only rows 30 and
higher!” Calm down lady–I think you’re taking this all a bit too personally.
I found out a few minutes later that she wasn’t looking or scanning at the tickets she was collecting from people either, which meant that anyone with a ticket of any sort could board the aircraft–and someone did. A man got my plane to Hilo but didn’t find out he was on the wrong plan until he found someone sitting in his seat–how could there
be two people in seat 28E? “Isn’t this flight going to Denver?” The man asked. “No, we’re going to Hilo as in Hawaii…” The flight attendant responded sounding surprised. The man quickly grabbed his things and deboarded the plane. “In all my six years of working as a flight attendant, I’ve never had that happen!” The flight attendant said shaking his head.
After only 20 minutes in the air the pilot informed us that we’d be experiencing some turbulence for the next 150 miles–how long it would take to pass through, they didn’t say.
Now I’ve done a lot of traveling and encountered some pretty bad turbulence but this far surpassed it all. The flight attendants were all losing their footing and desperately trying to hold on. The SnackPacks were bouncing all over in the carts and were about ready to bounce out onto the floor. At the moment that I thought someone might
actually start to panic, one of the flight attendants actually did. He exclaimed, “Buckle up, buckle up! We’ll come back with the drinks and food, is everyone buckled, because I need to go buckle up.”
After a while, the turbulence settled down and the beverage service began again.The flight attendants were going right along and missed my row entirely. I called him back and wound up drinking a flat Ginger Ale. Great.
Mauamai Beach on the West side of the Big Island.
Right Now
The flight attendants have just come back with another round of beverages and somehow they missed my row and walked right passed us again. When the attendant was called back by my seat-mate the man serving the drinks said abruptly to me, “What’d you want?” “Cranberry juice please,” I asked. “Here–” the man says shoving the can of juice
at me.
United/Continental, I was not amused…not amused. I heard one passenger say, “Never have I seen passengers treated with such disrespect,” but thank you for getting us all to paradise safely.
If you are looking for things to do around the Puget Sound region either as a resident or a visitor, be sure to check out Maresa’s blog, follow on Facebook or Twitter.
For some reason, I’ve encountered the worst FA service on flights to/from Hawaii. Guess its because they’re high seniority and figure they’re immune from any and all reprisal from giving poor service.
Wow, that was one nasty trip. I hope that crew had some time in Hawaii themselves. Sounds like they needed to absorb some aloha spirit.
Our family lives in Hawaii so we go pretty often. Our son is also going to school there. We always, ALWAYS fly Hawaiian. Have never had a bad experience. Their food isn’t as exciting as it used to be, but that would be true for all airlines now. But, they provide service with smiles and are always courteous. AND…they fly direct to HNL and I believe Maui and Kona as well. No LAX!
Aloha!
Rosa
Sounds like there’s no excuse for that much lousy treatment on one flight for so many people. Makes me glad I don’t fly UA.
The “flight attendant” was collecting boarding passes??
Of course it was the gate agent
.
David
FYI: The LAX-ITO flight was operated by CO, not UA…
If it acts like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck — is it a duck?
For a few months UA/CO has been operating with one certificate — technically meaning it was a United flight.
UA/CO still have two reservation systems, which is supposed to be changing by the end of 1st quarter 2012.
There is not true and obvious moment when CO will cease to exist anymore, but for most purposes, it is all UA.
David
My point is that it was an sCO crew, not an sUA crew.
It is an old CO crew, which is interesting, since on the most part I have hard more positive things about CO crews versus United.
But now, they are under one brand, so no matter who they flew for just a while ago, they are representing the United brand.
David
Well, since the flight is operated by a PMCO (pre-merger) crew, using a PMCO plane (which was serviced by PMCO mechanics), and PMCO ground staff, with a PMCO flight number, and on SHARES, the PMCO system, I’d call it a Continental flight…
The plane says United on it and that’s all that passengers sitting on the airplane know or care.
I’ve never encountered that level of rudeness from either gate personnel or FAs on any airline. I hope she took down their names so she can file a complaint about them, for all the good it may do.
I haven’t flown on UA for about 20 years and Maresa’s review doesn’t give me any urge to try them again.
Sorry the experience wasn’t that great. Perhaps there is some nervousness with the merger. Still doesn’t excuse the behavior.
I’ve taken ua out of both lax and SFO on united metal. The flight attendants have always been very nice. The CO flight on the 737 is fairly new compared to UA and maybe they just don’t have the Aloha spirit yet. . UA flies 757′s and 767′s out of la and 767′s and 777′s out of SFO. The 777 is definitely the way to go. I think flying a 737 for that long a trip could make anyone cranky. Hopefully it gets dropped and ua will upgrade the service to match Hawaiian airlines. Should be interesting once southwest starts up their service.
I appreciate the thoughts folks. The experience really wasn’t stellar, but maybe Dan’s right, maybe they just haven’t quite figured out the Aloha spirit yet. Time will tell…
FWIW, I’ve flown almost 100K miles on UA (well 888 of that on CO) in the 20 months and haven’t had a bad crew. Some of the crews have been amazing, some have been good, but none have been bad, and that includes the ground staff. Obviously not every crew is great, but the cast majority are.
Soon enough the 767s will be the way to go because they have started the process of putting flat beds up front on the domestic fleet.
Wow! It truly was interesting to see what a non-frequent flyer/avgeek gets out of a flight.
I would never consider gate-checking a plus. Nor would I call a CRJ700 tiny. I would probably get annoyed with the passenger going in the wrong line, not the gate agent – the signs are clear and the announcements usually are too. Instead of wondering how long it would take to get through the 150 miles to turbulence, I would be wondering whether it was statute or nautical miles. Instead of complaining about the FA shoving juice at me, I’d be happy that I got the whole can…
Very interesting trip report indeed…
I’ve flown on CRJs for long flights, up to >1,000 miles, and while I would rather be on a mainline plane, it isn’t too bad (and I usually am in a window seat, which on a plane that small is probably the worst). Not scanning or even looking at tickets is inexcusable on the part of the gate agent, but how a passenger ends up boarding a flight that is announced as and advertised as (behind gate agent, on the status screen, etc) a completely different flight, I don’t know. Nothing you can do about the turbulence, it’s a part of flying. If you were on Delta you would have the same experience flying out.
I’ve found that UA boarding procedures aren’t consistently handled and are quite often chaotic. Sometimes Premier Executive FFs are boarded from one line, sometime from another. Quite often the gate agents are out in the crowd telling folks to get into one line or another – but those lines don’t match the signage, etc.
Living and traveling in Asia has spoiled me though – all U.S. flight attendants come across as rude and pushy compared to the Asian level of deference and service – and I still can’t imagine why a flight attendant would sit and read a magazine or work a crossword puzzle when they are supposed to be “on duty”. Gate agents talking on their cell phones with friends and family (since you can overhear their conversation you know they aren’t talking about “work”) is a pretty clear communication that the customer doesn’t matter. UA isn’t alone in this… it’s a general trend on U.S. airlines, I’ve observed, and probably accounts why many who have the option choose a foreign airline.
The difference between Japan and the US is pretty astounding. I don’t have a problem with the US boarding, and unlike you, I have found it to be very consistent. In Japan they make sure you are in the right line and it is very orderly, although I don’t think that is very feasible in the US (certainly on narrow bodies).
Just another example of why foreign airlines should be allowed to carry passengers within the United States. If other industries (auto, comes to mind) need to compete with foreign competition, then airlines should too. I would venture to say the “attitude” of alleged customer service agents, gate agents, and flight attendants would change.
How many auto companies are owned and financially backed by their country of origin like most foreign flag carriers? Bad comparison…
The CRJ-700/900 are very nice aircraft especially compared to the -200. I’m not sure what exact date your flight was but I just flew FUK-HNL and we had some rough turbulence headed into Honolulu.
Rohit Rao got it right.UA/CO (CO’s I belive) may be operating under one certificate but still two separate flight operations.As Boeing learned on the 787 it can take some time to get everything integrated and working smoothly. FA friend tells me all U.S. passengers come across as rude and pushy compared to the Asian passengers level of deference and respect.
I have seen that, the whole Asian mindset is much different. The gate agents make sure everyone is where they should be so there aren’t zone 4 people in line with 1Ks, etc. Generally it seems that there isn’t much “gate lice” in the Asian airports I have been to, for most flights in the US you can count on 20 zone 1 or greater pax in line with 1P+.
Hi david fantastic experience of journey to Lax………Thanks alot
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Sounds exactly like a typical United flight. Not sure what expectations the author had that’d be any different from this.
Jeff Smizek needs to take his golden parachute and resign along with his other cronies, since the board and shareholders aren’t smart enough to fire them. Thus the share holders need to vote out the Jeff’s hand picked board members as well since they don’t seem to care about anything but their personal financial arrangements as well in light of directing a good business. They took Continental which we know was a great airline with the best recent flyer program and most devoted and loyal customers and failed miserably.
As a 20 year platinum customer with over a million miles flown on Continental, I have been reduced to being treated like a first time flyer on Delta who’s is ranked the worst US airline. Granted United is # 3 but now with Continental gone (who was number 9 out of ten), United is the true winner for that # 1 spot. Move Delta into Continentals old spot as a jump from 1 to 9 for Delta isn’t that big of a leap after United’s dysfunctional airline practices.
Expecting the same Onepass service levels? Forget it those jobs have been outsourced to India and your service time is now 10 times longer than before the merge. Not to mention they can’t find your account in their system, and you are on the phone for at least an hour each time unless you hang up because the flights you are trying to book take off before they can even book you on them. Yes they are that slow and that incompetent.
Time for all levels of Continental Elite members to take a stand and switch. As well as a great opportunity for American or Northwest to capitalize on launching a large scale campaign to move us over!
I’ve flown Continental International (Europe) & Domestic to the west coast for many years. I started noticing a very strange and somewhat disturbing attitude shift in the Continental flight crews about 24 months ago. Since I fly pretty regularly in Business/First I get a chance to spend quality time with the Flight crews and flight attendants. They were ALL Continental until this March and believe me when they spoke to me there wasn’t one kind word uttered about United.
Many were worried about 1) lay-off, 2) reassignment & 3) A less favorable “union contract” which would see lots of their benefits and possibly salaries diminish.
I fear my next journey on the “Nuevo United airlines” will not be a happy pie-in-the-sky experience.
In closing I’d like to sing the praises of the “old Continental” personnel. I never had a bad experience and their demeanour was most pleasant and very professional. On numerous occasions I even managed to corner Captains and first officers and ask technical quests, which were met with enthusiasm and a pleasant exchange of information.
So long Continental, it was a beautiful relationship.
I fear the future!
I have been hearing similar things from others as well. It seems that many airlines get distracted during a merger and I can only hope that UA is able to get their act together a bit more once things settle down.
David
Interesting the comment about GA’s using their cellphones for personal calls in position at the gate…where I work (WestJet in YVR) we just received a communication titled “Guest Perception” that addresses that very issue…cellphones are a no/nicht/nein while in uniform and on duty. (So are non-reusable coffee cups at your work station).
And in regards to the barky “get in that line” gate agent…one of the cornerstones of our World-Class Guest Experience is “Stress Free.” We are told not to shout and not to order people about. Sad that people actually have to be told this nowadays. But I figure travel is stressful enough already what with traffic, parking, then security, I want to be the nicest person my guests encounter on their journey.
Finally, when I transition to Flight Attendant this summer, I plan never to be seen sat in the back galley reading a magazine! I am going to be the one who always volunteers to do the 15-minute aisle checks.
I purchased a roundtrip full fare ticket $1957 from Washington D.C to Zurich Switzerland.
I would not recommend flying with this line because:
1- For the price that I had paid, they gave me the worse sit in the back of the plane.
2-food was horrible.
3-Plane was very old and the sits were very uncomfortable.
4-They lost my luggage on returning from Switzerland (which has had never happened to me before flying the same route that I have been traveling for the past 30 years). It took me a lot of phone calling, spending many hours and many arguments to finally get my luggage back 48 hours later at 2 am.
5-If I have choice, I would NEVER fly with this SORRY airline.