#886946 by whiterose
01 Nov 2014, 22:05
Faithful readers (hello Mum) will recall that we had flown with eldest son (ES) and DIL to NJ to stay with youngest son (YS) and DIL for a rare gathering of the clan and to celebrate my Milestone Birthday.

We had a wonderful time together, including a trip into Manhattan to collect YS after his 275 mile charity cycle ride from Boston to Manhattan (he raised over $9,000), another trip to Manhattan to accompany eldest son and DIL on the High Line (we’d visited last year but they’ve extended it since) and my Milestone Birthday which was absolutely fabulous.

Time for us to depart for a relaxing ten days in Florida, Fort Myers Beach. Not been before, very good reviews on Trip Advisor for the place and the hotel. United Airlines fly EWR to Fort Myers (RSW), didn’t at the time realise that they are not dissimilar to Ryanair, you do everything yourself short of flapping your arms to fly.

OLCI the day before said “No trace of your booking”. Not quite what you want to see. Gave a toll-free number to call which was all automated and did confirm that we had a valid booking but still couldn’t do OLCI.

Arrived at UA check-in to find the place absolutely heaving with pax milling about, couldn’t at first get near the desks, wondered if flights had been cancelled. Managed to fight our way through to discover row of desks similar to any check-in but no staff, no-one at all. Then realised that where you would normally stand to check-in, there was a lowered area with a terminal “Start here”. Hmmm, this is like DIY supermarket check-out. So it was all automated, not just the personal details that you enter/confirm when doing OLCI, you had to check-in your baggage and swipe your card to pay online for each bag. Flight was presumably full as the screen also asked if we were willing to take a later flight. Receipt for baggage payment prints off and spews out, as do boarding cards, and the strips for baggage spew out of the back of the machine, by the conveyor belt and someone walked past now and again, attached the strips to the baggage and heaved suitcases on the conveyor belt.

When we’d finished all that, there was one lone UA woman walking round and she said this was all new to the staff, it was a management directive at EWR, staff just as unfamiliar with it as the pax.

On to security which was very slow, three scanners but only one in operation. My boarding pass showed TSA pre-approval, OH’s didn’t. I’d not had TSA pre before, so quick learning-curve to comply with doing nothing, just dump everything “as is” on conveyor and walk through. Security staff trying hard not to get impatient with those who hadn’t cottoned on and were still unpacking tablets, phones, etc., and removing shoes and jackets, none of which you do if you’ve got pre-approval.

We had a decent lunch in one of the many food places and made our way to the gate. United do have one good idea, maybe other airlines do, they not only separate pax by cabin class, but also boarding passes show a “boarding group” from 1 to 6 with lines for each, so no scrum at the gate.

Gate crew made an announcement that this was a full flight on a small plane with limited space for carry-on baggage, all of which would be put in the (usual) measuring stand to see that it was within allowed dimensions. Lots of pax checking, faces falling when no amount of shoving would push the oversize bag in – reminded me of Cinderella’s ugly sisters trying to stuff their feet into the glass slipper. Any luggage which didn’t fit would be sent on another flight.

Very quick turn-round, previous flight arrived, pax came off, we boarded and took off again within 35 minutes. We’d paid for “Economy Extra” seats, decent leather seats with more legroom – enough for OH who is over six feet, helped by seats not reclining at all. And no IFE, nothing, no screen on seat back. Instead a note to say you are welcome to use your own tablet and United provide movies, TV programmes, etc., for which you pay extra! United don’t provide anything and still try to charge you. We read our Kindles instead.

One drinks run with tea, coffee and water. Uneventful flight but it was VERY cold. Once we started to descend, I got very considerable pain in my ears, really uncomfortable. I never get this on TATL flights, not sure what the difference is. End result was that I was completely deaf when we landed and stayed like that till the following day. I was sufficiently troubled by this to google it and discover how to avoid which I used on return flight and will detail in that TR. We touched down on time and were quickly through baggage claim and out into what felt like a warm bath with temperature and humidity.

Excellent taxi system at RSW, you follow the signs to the line of taxis at the end of which is a kiosk. All destinations are zoned, so you tell them your hotel and they give you a card with the number of the taxi you are to take and the price you will pay depending on the zone, so no matter if you’re in traffic, the price is the same which is hard on the taxi driver I suppose but gives you a clear idea of the cost. All the taxis are identical big white 4-wheel drive vehicles, very smooth run to Fort Myers Beach which is a separate island, connected by a very modern slim, single-span bridge to the mainland and on to our hotel which was one of the best we've stayed in, details in return TR.

Not a bad flight really, just disconcerting with the lack of OLCI and the DIY aspects.
#886949 by honey lamb
01 Nov 2014, 22:59
Thanks for the TR, whiterose.

I've taken loads of similar internal flights with UA with not too dissimilar experiences. :0

My first one was in 2002 when on St. Stephen's Day (oops, sorry, Boxing Day - we don't call it that in Ireland) we flew in to IAD with a connecting flight to JAX on the same PNR with UA. We arrived in IAD, went through Immigration, collected our bags and went to the transfer desk only to be told that there was only one seat left on the flight (it was pre-OLCI days) and we should proceed to the gate area to get it sorted. I should mention that I was travelling with Aer John who at that stage was the tender age of 13 but of course was on an adult ticket. I had my seat but he hadn't his. :0 Bear in mind we had left home at 5am our time for our flight from Cork and at this stage it was 5pm EST! We were offered routings via God knows how many hubs all arriving in JAX at midnight, all of which I refused. John at this stage was #5 on the list for a seat. The gate agent kept on refreshing the page to show how impossible it was for us to travel when all of a sudden it spewed out a boarding pass. Phew!

Since then I have travelled on several such flights to different destinations in the USA with similar experiences to ours. I can recall a flight from SFO-Reno, a flight of about 40 minutes where the cabin crew said because of the shortness of the flight, there would be no in-flight service. I can remember a BD flight from DUB to EMA which lasted 38 minutes during which they served a hot breakfast and a second coffee/tea service! And so could friends on the same flight recall similar services on BA.

The last few times, my experience has been similar to yours. OLCI is out of bounds, presumably because we have booked from outside the USA, although I have managed to pay for bags on line.

I know what you mean when you say it's not dissimilar to Ryanair but somehow Ryanair has the edge. At least they don't change times/flight numbers/gates at the rate that UA do :w
#886962 by Maximus
02 Nov 2014, 05:57
My motto is "If there is an alternative to UA- take it! Even if that means walking" ;)

Hope you are enjoying your trip whiterose.
#886972 by slinky09
02 Nov 2014, 09:29
Ahh, the UA bus in the air - pack your own food, drink and entertainment, oh and expect not to interact with a human but a poorly designed 'experience'. Frankly our LCCs are better than UA, but if you know what to expect, they might just get you there :0 .

honey lamb wrote:My first one was in 2002 when on St. Stephen's Day (oops, sorry, Boxing Day - we don't call it that in Ireland)


I prefer St Stephen's Day :D .
#886979 by Blacky1
02 Nov 2014, 10:51
Always good to hear about flights on other airlines ,an indifferent experience by the sound of it but it got you there safe and sound which is the main thing I guess
Thanks for posting
#886982 by mrsw
02 Nov 2014, 11:07
Ah yes, United - been there, and never again. On one of my flights with them they had not only overbooked the flight, but let everyone board! Then volunteers were required (for some rubbish UA vouchers) otherwise none of us would be able to go!

With US domestic flights I tend to go with DL if I can help it...
Virgin Atlantic

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