Not impressed with United to Honolulu

[mellowrose]

United flights from Newark have a built in money grab we had not come across on other airlines.

We paid in full last November for our flights to Honolulu from Toronto. The connector with United, (although all sold as a package passage) on their website will charge extra baggage separately on the 2 legs. So thats $25. for each bag times 4.

Also, although we picked our seats months ago, now we were moved way to the back of the "bus" when we did our pre boarding today and told that if we wanted our original seats back, we have to pay extra ($190. for 2 adults) because they are economy plus. Yeah, plus $190!

[Budget Queen]

You purchased this as ONE flight? One check in when you boarded with your bags tagged direct to HNL? If so, what was their explanation?

 

Seats are REQUESTS only, you are not guaranteed anything. Again, it depends HOW you booked. Was it direct with the airline or through a booking agent? Another BIG difference.

[Belle]

If booked together..they transfer

your luggage to the other plane,

you shouldn't have to pay luggage

again.

[mellowrose]

We booked on the United website. I hope you are right about the luggage, because we don't want to be handling our luggage in Newark! Well we will find out tomorrow!

[Kartgv]

We fly several airlines frequently and United's policies are pretty much the same as all of them. You shouldn't have had to pay for baggage 'per leg' if you booked it all on one ticket - only if you did separate bookings for some reason.

 

You always pay for the extra-legroom seats and have for quite a few years. Don't know how you managed to book and reserve those seats without paying at that time. Is it possible that they changed planes for your flight and the seat numbers you originally had were now Economy Plus on the new plane? The only way to get the premium seats without paying for them is to be one of the airline's 'elite' passengers or if the airline makes some major screw-up and has nowhere else to put you. Some airlines now even charge for an aisle seat anywhere on the plane, or to board first, etc. 'Nickel & diming' isn't just on cruise lines!

 

If you are convinced that you were misled or erroneously charged (if you really booked your flights as one trip and still had the multiple baggage charges), send a letter or email to United, addressed to their Customer Service Manager. There is a place on their website for Include all your ticket information and specific details of your complaint. Look for the "Customer Care" or "Contact Us" tabs for information on how to send your comments. We had an issue last year with a flight, wrote the letter, and about 3 weeks later received a letter of apology plus $200 future flight credits for each of us.

[kcfoxy]

Crummy to have this happen so close to your actual flights. BTW: we actually love the Economy Plus seating...it gives you 5 to 7 extra inches of legroom. You know, the legroom that was orginally there for all pax until airlines decided to sneak in a few extra rows. ;)

 

At least, with Economy Plus, when the sweethearts in the row ahead decide to put back their headrests, we can still manage to open our tray tables until flat, not doable otherwise. Of course, sitting just back of 1st class means you will be able to deplane that much quicker without waiting for everyone and their brother to remove the big, huge, enormous 'carry-ons' that used to be checked in the old, pre-baggage tariff days...remember those (sigh)?

[Ilovesailing]

We have flown 3x via Air Canada Toronto to Chicago then switched to United to HNL never a glitch and the luggage was tagged direct so we didn't have to self transfer. I think we were charged for one bag each but cant remember for sure, I know we only travel with 1 bag each.

 

My only fear with this scenario is transferring in winter months you can often get hung up in the air for 30 min. over Chicago and then delayed on tarmac therefore possibly missing connection. Two flight's were Jan. the other one was October, so far we've been lucky but have had many delays over Chicago when travelling for business in the past.