United has a problem....or an opportunity

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I don’t typically write about experiences booking a flight, but my experience with United Airlines just really is worth sharing. I had a flight credit that was to expire in a few weeks. I had to fly before a specific day but the trip I was planning was a week later. As a somewhat loyal United flyer I reached out on the website via their chat asking for an exception or extension of when I could fly. The response was disappointing and I had to submit a ticket. The ticket submission process was so confusing I had to call United because there wasn’t a ticket option for extending a credit. After 30mins on the phone I find out that there isn’t a clear option to make this type of request and that I could put in fake information for most of the required fields because they don’t actually use them. Once I submitted I was told it would take 7-14 days for an answer. Let’s pause here.

So much opportunity for United Airlines to fix this process. Obviously your website is not great because there is no way to actually submit a ticket easily. The chat was a waste of time because there wasn’t anyone who could help. The data I submitted was fake, what a waste of an opportunity to capture good quality data. Also this could have all been handled by AI Voice rather then me talking to multiple people on chats and the phone. Someone at United needs to call Ribbon.ai and get AI Voice agents going!

In the end United denied my request. They said they can’t update the system. I requested a manager review my request and still denied. Such a great opportunity to give me top notch customer service and make me a loyal flyer. In the end I waste time, energy and walk away thinking United sucks.

So then I have an idea! I will book a flight within their approved flying days and then try to cancel/change my flight hoping this is a way to hack the system. So that’s what I did. I booked a flight, then immediately went back into the app, requested to change the flight to the week I wanted and BOOM, it worked! Not only did I get the flight I wanted, but the leftover credit was then extended out exactly a year.

What did I learn from this situation? United Airlines needs to hire me as a consultant or a board member or a spokesperson. 😀 United can do better. They need to update the software. Capture better data. Fix the website. Upgrade the experience. But overall this all could have been fixed if United just gave their employees the opportunity to Wow their customers. What if the original chat person said “No problem, let me make an exception for you. We appreciate your loyalty. Please feel free to book your trip now using your credit.” That would have left me excited about being a United Airlines customer. Instead I am writing this post sharing the hack so others can use their credits if they are in a similar situation as I was in.

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