I see that my colleague, Marion Wood, has already responded to your concern. However, I wanted to let you know that your correspondence addressed to The U.S. Department of Transportation regarding your experience with us on April 26, 2017 was also received.
Please know it’s not my intent to upset you further by repeating the same information and I apologize in advance for any redundancy. Clearly, this is not the travel experience United wishes any customer to have. Although the flight delay with United Express/ Skywest Airlines was beyond our control and the information given previously is correct, we do empathize with you that your vacation to Egypt was not taken. Again, we are truly sorry.
In addition to the goodwill gesture offered to you I am making the exception to refund the unused portion of the tickets purchased for you and Ms. Dawn Pfiel. I have asked our Refunds Department to process the appropriate refund for the unused San Francisco to Reno portion of both United tickets. This process will take approximately 7-10 business days to refund to the original form of payment. I want to reassure you that your comments have been duly noted and shared accordingly to help prevent this from happening again.
Mr. Berry, we do value your business and it would be our privilege to serve you in the future.
Sincerely,
Michelle Johnson
DOT Specialist
Corporate Customer Care
UA Case ID 12125375
Dear Michelle, I just wanted to say thank you for even responding to the email that was sent to DOT. Also the refund for the flight back is nice, one of the things that concern me is the level of empathy ( or lack of ) while we were at the counter in SFO. I understand United has taken a look at the way it is treating passengers but as of that date the memo had not gotten to your personal at the counter. With the disappointment and sorrow we were feeling the representatives of United made us feel like we’re going to be arrested any moment.
Like I said I had the option to film my crying almost hysterical wife as we had just lost a vacation we had been planning for a long time. And your personal were not in a “helping mood” we can say for sure. But I didn’t think more film would be good for either my wife or United.
Not sure if the whole story was given to you about the counter in Reno, not giving us any information about why and how long the flight was going to be delayed. Or if you are just looking at time and departure spread sheets. Also, the 10min delay moving the ramp away from the aircraft was the 10 mins we needed to make our connection.
I would ask if United has considered working with the other airlines to update the passenger bill of rights as we understand that air control and weather conditions are outside their control it is also outside the passenger control. Some airline should have been able to get us to our destination even if it meant working together in these situations.
Thank you for your time
Eric Berry
P.S. It should be noted that most companies provide FULL refunds if you don’t like the service…except the airline industry it seems.
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