Sometimes I feel guilty bitching about my various issues while traveling. Traveling is, for many, a privilege, though when you do it often you sometimes lose your sense of awe over the way the airline industry works. And now that three major carriers are going to be grounding flights due to the rising price of oil, including the one I use most, United, things are only going to get worse. But rather than piss and moan I'm opting to be pro-active and tell my carrier EXACTLY what would make me happy.
How to make this United customer happy (other airlines should also take note):
- Don't make it so goshdanged impossible to use my miles. Currently I've got over 120,000 of them and nowhere to go. Think I want to waste them on first class for a domestic flight? That isn't first class, that's coach with food included. But I've only a fraction of the time been able to use them for international upgrades and free economy flights.
- Make it easy to transfer miles to your so-called partners. I was told that I couldn't do this when I booked an international United flight and was routed through "Star Alliance" partner Lufthansa. Then, the day of the flight I asked a Lufthansa representative and was told that I could have used my United miles if I had notified them in advance and receive a voucher in the mail that I could present in person. I called you to see if you would rectify the situation, and you told me that you couldn't because I hadn't notified you 10 business days before my flight. In any event, it would have been nice to have known the truth when I needed it, and to have been able to make this happen online.
- Make the club rooms more exclusive--not waiting rooms with free coffee. I once spent a few hours in a Virgin airways lounge in London, and while I find it unlikely that United will suddenly come up with the budget to offer me a free manicure while I wait for my flight, some real food would be nice, not the cheap vending machine food you provide. Worth 45,000 miles or $600 a year? I hardly think so. Lufthansa supplied all customers--coach or otherwise--with free coffee in their terminal at the Munich airport, and people conducted themselves like humans, taking just what they needed. And they can still manage to afford monitors in every seat.
- If you are going to insist on Buy on Board, have more options. Back when you served meals, you used to offer up vegetarian and vegan options. Why can't you offer these up when we actually pay for our meals? I'd actually pay more than $5 for them, though I hesitate to admit it.
- Have enough baggage space to accommodate one carry-on per customer. Nothing sucks more than boarding a flight you packed for strategically to avoid the baggage claim, and then having to check your bag anyway. At the very least, guarantee the folks that had to check their carry-ons they will get their bags off the belt first.