United Airlines has reached a new low in customer service

Yes… As much as I can’t stand United Airlines, I recently flew them again.

My mother-in-law passed away a couple of weeks ago, and we flew out the next day from Chicago to Boston for the funeral. Even though American Airlines (my preference) and United Airlines were the same price, my father in-law had vouchers for United Airlines, so they won.

There was the usual get on the plane, wait, get off the plane, wait, get back on the plane, go the end of the runway, wait some more. This is not what got under my skin though.

It was a horrible week anyway, with the passing of my mother in-law. To make matters worse, my father in-law caught a stomach bug the morning we were flying back. The flight was about 2/3 full. United charges extra for the “preferred” seats like exit rows, etc… My father in-law was the last person on the plane, and they closed the door behind him. As he got to the exit row, he noticed that there were plenty of open exit row seats. He sat down and was quickly told by the flight attendant that those were only for people who paid extra. My wife explained that her mom had just passed away and that my father in-law also wasn’t feeling well and asked if he could just sit there since the seat was otherwise empty.

The flight attendant looked at my wife and father in-law and said “no, go back to your assigned seat.”

All I can say is that this flight attendant acted like a complete jackass, and showed absolutely zero compassion. United Airlines continued to remind me why I do all of my business travel with American Airlines.