Having flown a recent round trip on Untied Airlines- I’ve scrambled the letters in the name so they shall remain anonymous \;-), I’d like to post a few comments about the experience. This recitation of grievances only covers the latest experience with air travel. 

Untied airline, with it’s eternal financial and labor crises, seems to be economizing by restricting customer contact with its sparse staff.  These poor sods who work for UA seem to be in a constant crisis mode. To be fair, the Untied staff seemed chipper and even displayed moments of good humor.  But fundamentally this company is a dinosaur limping along by artificial means.

The few staff who work behind the now ubiquitous self check-in stations rarely look up to see who might need help.  By requiring customers to select limited options from the computer check-in stations, you freeze out degrees of freedom in the customer interaction process and make life simpler for the airline.

Untied is now requiring that customers pay to use the curbside Sky Cap check-in services at Denver International, one of it’s bigger hubs.  So the guys humpin’ luggage out in the weather and breathing car exhaust are taking credit cards and quizzing folks on who touched their bags.  I thought that curbside check-in sped things up for the airline and its use was to be encouraged. Now it’s a nickel & dime profit center.

Saturday March 17, we were waiting for Untied flight XYZ from John Wayne to Denver.  An hour before departure another flight of Denver customers moved en mass from another gate to ours.  The ensuing delay and confusion was painful to watch and I won’t bore anyone with the details. It was pathetic.

Another beef with Untied.  The pilots switch on the seatbelt sign at the slightest indication of turbulence.  So if you had designs on a trip to the lav in your ticked section, just forget it. Other Airlines like Frontier seem to have a more realistic threshold for this.

Isn’t First Class seating in what you might call the “crumple zone”? 

Here is my fantasy- I’ll invite airline executives to our home for a dinner party.  As they arrive, they’ll wait in line for entry with their shoes off.  I’ll randomly pull guests out of line for an undignified search but refrain from answering questions. Once inside, they’ll sit in the foyer until called to the “dinner table”.  The dinner table will actually be several rows of chairs with TV trays, all tightly packed together in a closet. Tiny bags of processed foodstuffs will be issued. After some delay, the scraps will be picked up, making sure to knock a few elbows in the process. After more delay, the exectuves will be asked to exit, single file.  I’ll be standing at the door to issue a smarmy farewell. 

Air travel used to be fun and exciting. I looked forward to it. Now it is just a series of indignities and minor outrages.  Pity. I get to the stratosphere so infrequently that it should really be fun when I get there.