Final Correspondence from United Airlines

September 13, 2016 Dear Ms. Child: Again, I sincerely apologize for the negative experience you and your family incurred, and regret we are unable to honor your request to receive reimbursement of your out of pocket expenses in this instance. I also understand the goodwill offered to you cannot make up for the time you lost, or the distress you experienced throughout this incident, however, the Electronic Travel Certificates offered to you and your family were offered as a sincere gesture in acknowledgement of your disappointment, and we hope you will accept the same in the spirit in which it was intended. While I realize my response have not provided you with your preferred outcome, please be assured that we appreciate your business and remain committed to providing you with the best possible services you have come to expect when we have the privilege of welcoming you on board a future United Airlines flight. It is our sincere desire to move forward in our business relationship with you, and we realize you do have a choice of what airlines you fly, and we would never like to lose a valued customer. Ms. Child, as we have nothing further to add, we will consider this matter closed and will no longer correspond regarding this issue, but invite you to contact us again if we may address a different travel-related concern. Given the opportunity to welcome you aboard in the future, we are confident your next experience with United Airlines will warrant a much more favorable report. Sincerely, L.J. Rawcliffe Corporate Customer Care Case 10928043

United Correspondence #4

Just when I thought I was getting somewhere...

Dear Ms. Child:

I appreciate your effort in trying to resolve this situation with us.

Unfortunately another review of this case cannot justify any reimbursement for your expenses for your claims. I am sorry to advise you of this as I know that is not what you wanted to hear, however you will need to seek relief with TAM directly if you want further compensation. At this time, as a final resolution, I have authorized the original travel certificates to be voided and for a new Electronic Travel Certificate valued at $750.00 (a total of $150.00 per person) to issued to you for your future use as a gesture of goodwill. You should receive it via email at this same address within a few business days.

Ms. Child, I am sorry that your travel did not go as originally planned, and hope that you will be able to consider us for your travel needs in the future.

Sincerely,

L.J. Rawcliffe

Corporate Customer Care

Case 10909584

And my response:

Dear Oscar Munoz, Dorothy Brown and L.J. Rawcliffe:

I am not an unreasonable person and feel that I have dealt with this situation in the most professional and patient way possible. What I cannot understand is how United Airlines is not taking responsibility for their mistake of entering us in the system as "no shows." Blame keeps being passed around in these email correspondences - first we were no shows, then we were too late to the gate, and now TAM Airlines is ultimately responsible. It doesn't make any sense.

TAM Airlines did not issue boarding passes that would not scan. At the gate two boarding passes would scan, but three would not. No one has told me yet why this was so. Is there something in our flight record about that?

TAM Airlines did not deny our passenger right of being allowed to board the plane despite having a United confirmation number and boarding passes. The plane was at the gate and the gate agent, Elderick, said that he was happy to see us because he knew we were in the airport and coming to the gate.

TAM Airlines did not have ticket agents that refused to come to the gate to help get our boarding passes scanned despite repeated calls to the ticket counter.

TAM Airlines did not put 7 of our suitcases on a flight to Brazil originating in Pasco, WA without us being on the airplane.

TAM Airlines did not enter 5 passengers in the system as "no shows" thus cancelling two other legs of an itinerary.

TAM Airlines is not responsible for the additional $3064.04 that I had to spend to get myself and four children to Brazil a week later than originally planned with four of those days without luggage. United Airlines is responsible.

United Airlines should take responsibility.

Regards,

Gretchen Child

Case 10880330

Case 10892740

Case 10909584

United Correspondence #3

I have now been assigned 3 different case numbers and this letter is from a new "Customer Care" representative.  I replied back with my current Brazilian cell phone number and I am looking forward to hearing from someone at United soon.

------------------------

Dear Ms. Child:  

Your email correspondence was received in the Corporate Customer Care department. This email is being sent in acknowledgement of the same on behalf of Mr. Oscar Munoz.   

I regret I was unable to reach you via telephone number 1-509-438-9394, as expected on September 9, 2016, however I did leave you a voice message.  

I was sorry to learn of the problems you incurred due to the ineffective communication between United Airlines, Tam Linhas Airlines and Expedia, upon your United Airlines flight arrival into Denver on August 4, 2016, which created a "snowball effect" of disappointments for you and your children. For that, I am terribly sorry. I can only imagine your frustration and disappointment.   

Although we are working diligently to improve in all areas of our service, your feedback tells me we have some additional work to do.   

Please be assured that my colleague, Mr. Rawcliffe, will be in touch with you again soon regarding your additional concerns, and we thank you for your continued patience.    

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention and for your continued patronage of United Airlines.   

We appreciate your business and look forward to you having a more positive experience when we have the privilege of welcoming you on board a future United Airlines flight again soon.

Kindest regards,

Dorothy Brown

Executive Services, United Airlines

Corporate Customer Care

Case:  10908268

My response to United's denial letter #2

September 7, 2016

Thank you for responding again regarding our unfortunate incident last month.  Some of the information you shared I have not heard before.

You say, “Notes in your flight record indicate that one of our airport representatives contacted TAM in order to have them reissue the ticket and they refused.”  Who exactly called TAM Airlines?  When did that supposedly happen?  In the immediate hours following our passenger rights being denied to board the plane and before I left Pasco Airport, I was personally on the phone with Expedia and TAM Airlines.  Tickets could not be reissued because we had been entered in the system as “no shows” by United Airlines.  All that United Airlines had to do was change our status in the system.  No one at the airport would do that.  No one that I spoke to on the phone would do that.  If a United Airlines representative would have been willing to do that, TAM Airlines would have rebooked us on the next available flight. I agree that TAM Airlines did “own” our tickets.  In fact, Alexandra at TAM Airlines had an itinerary all ready for us but just needed United to change our erroneously entered status.  United Airlines would never make that happened.  We had a very small window where we could get any part of our ticket refunded and after spending all day on Thursday, August 4 and most of the day on Friday, August 5 on the phone, I chose to request a refund instead of lose out on an additional $6,000.

You say, “At that point we did our best to assist you.”  Had United done its best to assist me, you would have changed our status so that tickets could have been rebooked at no additional charge and our move to another country would not have been delayed by an additional week, with no luggage for the first 4 days of that.  That would have been the “best way to assist me.”

The travel certificates are a nice gesture, but do not compare to the additional $3064.04 that I had to spend to get myself and four children to Brazil.  A nice gesture would be a reimbursement check, as well as travel vouchers to allow United Airlines an “opportunity to provide the service that we deserve.”

Pasco Airport has already taken statements from those that were involved in the situation on August 4.  Clearly they understand that the problem was created there, and not because we were no-shows or too late to be included on the flight.  I’m sure that if security footage is pulled from that day it will show that we arrived at the airport, checked in and got to the gate in time to be included on the flight.  I am returning to the states next month and I am happy to gather that information from the Pasco Airport to forward to you.

Regards,

Gretchen Child
Case 10880330
Case 10892740

Denial Letter #2 from United

September 6, 2016

Dear Ms. Child:

I appreciate the time you took to respond; I recognize that you still have unresolved concerns and I am sorry that this is the case.

I thoroughly understand your point of view and again wish to express my regret in failing to meet your expectations.

After reviewing the case again, I must unfortunately decline your request for reimbursement of expenses. I am very happy to hear that Expedia was able to refund you a portion of the tickets for your experience. However since Expedia issued your tickets on through TAM, they are ultimately responsible for the handling of the tickets. When we tried to reissue the ticket to us in order to fix the problem, we were unable to do so. Notes in your flight record indicate that one of our airport representatives contacted TAM in order to have them reissue the ticket and they refused. At that point we did our best to assist you. I am sorry it did not work out.

Ms. Child, as a gesture of goodwill, I have authorized an Electronic Travel Certificate for each of you in the amount of $100.00 for your future use which will arrive by email within a few days. I hope you will use the certificates to allow us an opportunity to provide the service you deserve.

Ms. Child, we at United Airlines wish you the best and hope to someday regain your confidence. Should you give us another opportunity, we will work hard to provide the quality service you deserve.

With kindest regards,

L.J. Rawcliffe

Corporate Customer Care

Case 10892740

Rebuttal letter to United

September 5, 2016

Dear L.J. Rawcliffe,

I was disappointed to read your email of declination of reimbursement for our unfortunate incident that occurred last month.  Just last week your CEO, Oscar Munoz, participated in an interview with Jim Cramer.  He stated that United Airlines needs “to treat people better.”  This is a perfect example of not treating people better.  I have had lot of support on social media via Facebook and Twitter and the people from United monitoring Twitter suggested that I send a rebuttal via email to you.

You stated that I was not at the game (I assume that you meant gate) in time to be included on the flight.  My four children and I were at the gate, where a few of the boarding passes would not scan.  The gate agent called the ticket desk 4 times and not one agent came to help.  A grounds crew member came to see what the delay in boarding was.  When she saw that there was a problem with the boarding passes being scanned she also called the check-in desk.  Still no one came.  The gate agent then suggested that I send my 15-year-old on the flight since she was old enough to fly alone, and that we could meet up with her in Denver on the next flight departing at 1:20 the same afternoon.  Really?!  I’m grateful that I didn’t take that advice since it took us an additional week to get things sorted out and finally on our way to Brazil.

If needed, I can get statements from the ticket agent(s) that checked us in and got our luggage on the plane, as well as the gate agent and grounds crew member that were trying to get us on the flight.  They will be able to tell you that we were in fact at the gate and trying to board in time to be included on the flight.

Seven of our large, 50 pound suitcases made it on the flight.  They made it all the way to Brasilia on our originally reserved flights without any delays.  We had to wait 4 days for them to be returned because they could not be held that long for us in another country and they would not permit my husband, who was already in Brazil, to pick them up without the luggage claim tickets.  In my research I have found that putting luggage on a flight, without the documented passenger, is against regulations especially on international flights.

Yes, our original tickets were purchased on Expedia and then sold to TAM Airlines, who was supposed to get us from Miami to Brasilia.  When the United ticket agent entered us as “no shows” in the system, it negated the last two legs of our flight.  All that United had to do was contact TAM Airlines and tell them that we were in fact not “no shows” and they would have gladly rebooked us on the next available flight.  Only one person at United was willing to do that.  When she said that she was going to go on another line to make that call, our original call was disconnected.  That’s convenient.  And of course I could not call back and request to speak to the same person and customer service agents do not have direct lines.  Each and every time I called I had to start over telling the issues I was having.  Very, very frustrating.  Lucky for us, Expedia did refund part of our original purchase price minus $150 for each ticket ($750).  TAM Airlines would not rebook us because of the “no show” entry by United.  To rebook with TAM Airlines would have cost us over $15,000 leaving 2 days later.  That was not a viable option for us.  We had to purchase all new itineraries and wait until August 11 move to Brazil.  We had to travel to another state to stay with family since we had sold our home and to be closer to a larger airport where we had more options for travel.  United Airlines wouldn’t even help us get from Pasco to Salt Lake City, so I had to drive 12 hours with 4 children.

I will again itemize the cost of the extra week for 5 people since our passenger rights to board our flight, despite having a United Airline confirmation number and boarding passes, were denied.  If United really did want to “treat people better” you would send a reimbursement check for the following charges.  Own up to the mistake made by United, and make things right - at least financially.

I have receipts and card statements for all of the following purchases dated August 4-August 11, 2016:

Food: $201.96

Lodging: $774.44

Gasoline: $190.30

Miles: 796 x .54/mile = $429.84

Clothing, daily necessities, misc.: $356.20

Airline ticket price difference: $1,111.30

TOTAL: $3064.04

Thank you,

Gretchen Child
Case #10880330
8332 Mix Avenue
Magna, Utah 84044

United Airlines Update...

Here is the latest in communications between United Airlines and myself.  This is the first email that I rececived after filling out their feedback form online on August 5, 2016:

August 18, 2016

PASSENGER: CHILD/GRETCHEN

TICKET(S): 95778083XXXXX

REQUEST ID:2114XXX

Dear Gretchen Child:

United Refunds has received your request for refund of the above referenced ticket.

Due to the nature of your correspondence, your file has been forwarded to our Customer Care Department for consideration of appropriate resolution. Should you want to contact them directly, your correspondence should be addressed to: Customer Care United Airlines 900 Grand Plaza Dr NHCCR Houston, TX 77067-4323

Thank you for choosing United Airlines. We look forward to serving you again soon.

Sincerely,

United Refunds

Check Refund Status
FAX: 872-825-9364

Since I was only given a mailing address to contact them, I sent the following letter to my mom, who in turn printed it and mailed it to Texas:

August 25, 2016

Customer Care United Airlines
900 Grand Plaza Dr NHCCR
Houston, TX 77067-4323

PASSENGER: CHILD/GRETCHEN
TICKET(S): 9577808368587
REQUEST ID:21141159

Dear Customer Care Department,

Thank you for finally responding to my feedback form that was submitted on August 5, 2016.  The email that I received stated that I was requesting a refund of the above referenced ticket.  That is not the case.  I received a partial refund already so that new tickets could be purchased for myself and 4 of my children to move from Kennewick, Washington to Brazil.  Below I will itemized the reimbursements that I am requesting from United Airlines because our passenger rights were denied and we were not allowed to board the plane after we had checked in, gone through security and made it all the way to the gate.  The gate agent called several times for help, and so did a ground crew member while we were waiting, but no United Ticket Agent ever came to the gate.  Seven of our suitcases made it on the plane and went all the way to Brazil.  We had to wait an additional week for new flights and four days to get our luggage back from Brazil.  United Airlines then entered us in the system as “no shows” which cancelled the next two legs of our itinerary and those airlines would not help us rebook since we were “no shows.”  I have boarding tickets and luggage claim stickers which clearly prove that we were, in fact, not “no shows.”  I do not know what the issue was at the gate as not one agent could explain it to me while at the airport on Thursday, August 4.  Nor could anyone that I talked to on the phone for the next several days, although one United representative did admit that we were checked in and should not have been entered as “no shows”.  We have written down every agent that we spoke to as well as a thread on the United Facebook page that shows the limited responses that I received.

I have receipts and card statements for all of the following purchases dated August 4-August 11, 2016:

Food: $201.96
Lodging: $774.44
Gasoline: $190.30
Miles: 796 x .54/mile = $429.84
Clothing, daily necessities, misc.: $356.20
Airline ticket price difference: $1,111.30

TOTAL: $3064.04

I wish that there were some way to calculate all of the emotions, inconveniences and lost time that we encountered for a week.  We continue to have repercussions from our denied passenger rights, as we had to cancel appointments on Monday, August 8, 2016 that we had with a driver, lawyer, notary, and the Federal Police here in Brazil to receive our registration and ID’s.  Without those ID cards we cannot have all of our stuff shipped from the US to us, therefore delaying the homeschool year of our children and more.  We have still not been able to rebook those appointments as the appointments are already full.

I have already contacted the organization Get Service and have been assigned a case number and representative to help me get reimbursed, if necessary.  Since we are now in Brazil my new contact information is as follows:
Forwarding address in the US:  8332 Mix Avenue  Magna, Utah 84044
Brazilian cell phone number: +55 (61) 99672-9498

I would appreciate a quick response as these charges are currently on my credit card and will be assessed a finance charge soon.

Thank You,

Gretchen Child
child4@juno.com

Today I received the following email in response to my letter:

Dear Ms. Child: I was disappointed to learn of your recent experience in trying to fly with us from Pasco. Our records show the tickets were issued by Expedia and were issued using TAM Airlines tickets, who is not a Star Alliance partner.  At this time our records show that you were not at the game within the time frame to be included on the flight.  Therefore I must decline your request for any reimbursement caused by such an incident. Ms. Child, we thank you for your time and hope that you will consider us in the future for your travel needs. Sincerely, L.J. Rawcliffe Corporate Customer Care Case 10880330 I seriously laughted out loud at the last sentence in the email.  I will NEVER consider flying again with United Airlines.  I have been in contact with a representative at GetService.com and hopefully they will be able to help me with the next step.

Adventures with United Airlines

Our adventure to Brazil was set to to begin on August 4.  We purchased tickets early in the spring and found that the best route to take for me traveling with 4 children by myself would be on different airlines.  So, we purchased 5 itineraries on Expedia.com.  The first leg of the journey would be on United Airlines from Pasco to Denver.  The second leg would be on American Airlines from Denver to Miami.  The final leg would be on Latam Airlines from Miami to Brasilia.  The total hours that this would take would have been 17 hours 15 minutes.

We stayed in a hotel and had Erin stay with us to drive us to the airport at 4:00 am.  We arrived, unloaded 9 suitcases and went to the check in kiosk.  My confirmation number would not work on the kiosk so I was sent directly to the check in desk.

We stood there for over an hour because the computer would print out boarding passes, but not luggage claim tickets.  There was never a line.  We didn't hold any one up.  FINALLY, we were given all boarding passes and luggage claim tickets and told to run to the security area.

By then they were calling for the final boarding so I begged the TSA agents to allow us to go without waiting in line.  They did and we ran to the last gate (not really far because we were in the Pasco Airport).  The gate agent asked my last name and said, "Oh good.  You are one of the three parties we are waiting for for this flight."  Great!  I handed him our boarding passes and when he scanned mine a large red box appeared on the screen and said something like, "DO NOT ADMIT THIS PASSENGER".  What?!  So he scanned Kehli's and hers worked fine.  Then the next and the large red box appeared again.  Then again.  Then again.  Kehli's is the only one that would work.  The agent called 4 times for a United ticket agent to come help, but no one ever did.  A ground crew member came through the door and said that they were just waiting for us to board.  "Sorry" the agent replied.  He couldn't let us board.  He wouldn't let us board.  The grounds crew member called on her radio for help.  No one came.  The gate agent said, "I'm sorry.  I have to close the door.  The plane needs to leave."  I explained that our luggage was on board, and asked why we couldn't board.  He didn't have an answer.  He offered to book us on the 1:20 pm flight.  I explained that it was a kind gesture, but if we didn't get on that flight we would miss both of our connecting flights and would not make it to Brazil.  Nothing.  Door shut.  No United ticket agent ever came to help.  We sat in the terminal alone.  I asked the kids to give me a few minutes.  Then I cried.  This is not how this journey was supposed to begin.

After I got my emotions in check I got on the phone.  I called Mark to let him know that we were not going to be arriving on time.  Then I got on the phone with Expedia.  We spent the next two hours in the terminal getting passed from one person to another as Expedia looked for answers and they called United Airlines.  The kids were surprisingly good.  I think they sensed my feeling of being on the edge of losing my mind.  When I finally accepted that we weren't leaving we went back to the ticket counter to find that no one could help us rebook tickets until we had tickets arranged to get us all the way to Brasilia - since they sent our luggage without us.  And then we were told that 2 of the suitcases actually did not make it on the flight.  Luckily they were two that had a lot of my clothes in them.  So, I called Erin to come pick us back up and back to the hotel we went.  They were still serving breakfast so the kids got something to eat while I continued to be on the phone with no one that could help.  Evan got a breakfast of champions: a plate of bacon and some juice.

I checked back in at the hotel for one more night.  I knew we would be able to fly out the next day.  Certainly this would all be sorted out and we would have new itineraries soon.  I was wrong.  After spending 7 hours on the phone I was told that no one was authorized to help me until 8:00 am EST the following morning.  Ok.  We will play with friends for one more day.  We will go see Sadie.  We will hang out with Erin.  Then we will sleep and go to the airport in the morning.  I filled out an online form with United Airlines on Friday morning because apparently that is the only way to contact their "Customer Care Department."  Whatever.  Unless you post something on Twitter or facebook.  That is a sure way to get a response.  So I took to social media and posted the following to their facebook page:
          "I purchased tickets months ago for me and 4 of my children to fly to Brazil. Our 

          family is moving there for 3 years. We arrived at the airport yesterday at 4:15 am. The 
          flight departed at 5:47.  It took an hour to check in and print boarding passes and 
          luggage claim tickets. We finally received them and ran through security and to the gate. 
          We were denied boarding because there was "an issue" with the boarding passes. 
          7 of our suitcases made it to Brasilia, but we were denied boarding in Pasco. Over the 
          next 5 hours, as we tried to sort it out and get rebooked, we continually got 
          disconnected from calls and no one would take responsibility for the boarding denial. 
          This morning I was told that the reason we could not rebook to Brazil was because we were 
          entered in the United Airlines system as "no shows".  Interesting because I 
          have boarding passes and luggage claim tickets. Even after a customer service 
          representative admitted today that we had in fact checked in, they would not contact 
          Latam Airlines to tell them that it was a United mistake. Our suitcases made it all the 
          way to Brazil and now we have to wait for them to be returned to us. We could not book 
          more flights until next Thursday and had to pay over $6700 to get new flights. That on 
          top of hotel, meals, basic necessities, travel (miles & gas), and more for 5 people for a 
          week. All because our passenger rights were not honored, we were denied boarding, and 
          listed as "no-shows" therefore making it impossible to rebook the last two legs 
          of our itinerary. I was confident that your company would make this right, but I was 
          wrong to believe that. I am angry. I am disappointed. I am exhausted. I am not done 
          fighting. 

I set my alarm clock for 5:00 am so I could be the first one on the phone.  I snuck out of the room and went down to the van so I could talk.  I was on the phone for 2 hours before I was transferred to someone who told me that United Airlines entered us in the system as "no shows" and that cancelled out other two legs.  There was nothing anyone would do for us.  Thanks United.  Obviously we were "no shows" - "no shows" with boarding passes, luggage claim tickets and now our luggage is in Brasilia.  This is when I just couldn't do it any more.  I called Mark and asked him to take over and get us new itineraries.  He was on the phone the rest of the day, literally.  I checked into the hotel for another night.  Surely it would be the last night!  Mark was able to get someone at United to admit that we were in fact there at the hotel and she wasn't sure why we were entered as "no show."  THANK YOU!!  Now the only thing she needed to do was contact Latam Airlines and let them know that they had made a mistake and tickets could be rebooked at no expense.  Mark gave her the phone number and she asked him to hold while she called.  Awesome.  We are getting somewhere.  Then the phone started ringing.  All she did was transfer Mark to Latam and she hung up.  The special thing about United Airlines is that no one has a direct line.  You can't call and say "I was just talking to so and so.  Can I please talk to them?"  Every single time you call you have to start over because you don't know that the previous agent has entered in the computer under your confirmation number.  Every. Single. Time.

 Latam Airlines wanted to charge us $15000 for new flights.  Expedia said the best they could do is new tickets for $7000.  I'm crying again.  We were now in the time frame that if we wanted any kind of refund from Expedia, we had to request it now.  No one at United would help us so we felt that we didn't have a choice. So, Mark requested a refund.  They charged us a fee of  $150 per ticket to get a refund.  We then contacted a travel agent to make new arrangements.  I asked them to book us out of Salt Lake City so that we could at least stay with family and be near a larger airport in case something happened again.  We would have more options that way.  The least expensive tickets were to depart one week later on August 11.

Back on the phone with United to request that they fly me and my four children down to Salt Lake City so that I don't have to drive.  "I'm sorry.  Your ticket has been refunded.  I'm happy to help you rebook new tickets for a price."  I tell her "No, I'm not paying.  Transfer me to someone who can help me."  I get transferred.  No one can help me there.  I get transferred again, this time supposedly to someone who has authority to help me.  "No, your ticket has been refunded.  I cannot rebook you without you paying."  I ask to talk to her manager.  Nope, but she puts me on hold to talk to her manager.  Nope. Can't help me.

I'm done.  I do some research on Passenger Rights, which I recommend that everyone reads before they fly.  I learned a lot of interesting things.  You cannot be denied boarding if you have a confirmation number from the airlines.  Even if you are not in their system.  Interesting.  So, I kept all of my reciepts from hotels, food, basic necessities while we waited for our luggage to be returned from Brasilia.  We were without stuff for 4 days.  I am currently waiting to hear from United Airlines about the claim form that I submitted.

Updates to come...