At the end of 2016 I took a crazy short trip to Denver and back. The flight out of San Francisco was slightly delayed, but not terribly so. It was pretty much a par-for-the-course United delay, mainly due to weather in United’s network, and it could have been much worse that particular weekend (SEE: The huge problem flying Frontier).
When we arrived in Denver, however, it took an extra 45 minutes to get off the plane. There were multiple issues with the jetway, and then the plane had to be re-parked in order for us to get off. The result was a metal tube packed full of grumpy passengers. Not a huge complaint in and of itself, but annoying to say the least.
The next day I boarded my flight back to the West Coast, expecting to get some writing done during the flight (as I had just been on-boarded with PWaC). I went to check the WiFi prices, and was honestly considering buying access for the first time ever, only to find the WiFi wasn’t working. It remained down the entire flight. Again, not a huge deal, but it was mildly frustrating in the moment. I was looking forward to more functional WiFi than normal, as there were maybe a whopping 77 passengers on the triple 7.
Submitting feedback to United
In light of both incidents, I decided to submit a complaint via United’s feedback page. I mentioned the specific issues of the trip, highlighting the jetway delays and the lack of WiFi. I also mentioned the general delays experienced flying between my home airport of Arcata/Eureka and San Francisco on multiple occasions (which was an issue on this trip as well). Because I had used a voucher to pay for the flight and I don’t have any status with United, I didn’t really expect anything. Those with status generally have better results when complaining to airlines.
About a week later I received an email from United apologizing for the situation and telling me to expect an electronic travel certificate within the next 5 days. It didn’t give an amount, but I expected something small, like $50.
Two days later I received another email detailing:
An Electronic Travel Certificate has been issued to Ian Snyder (Mileage Plus XXXXXXXX) valid towards the purchase of one electronic airline ticket, where eligible, on United up to $125.00.
That is way more than I anticipated! This was (ironically) the first time I had not detailed any sort of compensation (since I didn’t really think much was warranted), but I still wanted to let United know how I felt about the issues experienced on the trip. Complaining to the airline really paid off in this case.
Tips for Complaining to Airlines
When complaining to airlines about difficulties, poor service, or other mishaps, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Be clear, timely, and succinct in your communication – Try to work things out immediately, if possible. In the case of the lack of WiFi on my flight, I mentioned it to one of the flight attendants. He wasn’t able to do anything about it, but it was step one. After I returned home, I made sure I submitted my complaint to United within only a couple days of the incidents. I kept my incident report brief and to the point, but with all relevant details.
- Be reasonable – Be reasonable with what you feel is appropriate compensation. Don’t expect an airline to refund all your miles for an hour delay due to operations. Communicate with them in a reasonable way. Keep emotion and inflammatory language out of your communication. These are people who are reading/hearing your complaint. Treat them respectfully. But definitely…
- Outline what you feel is appropriate compensation – I have found this immensely helpful the few times I have complained to airlines. The first time I complained to United, I asked for either all my miles back or a $500 voucher. They had canceled our regional flight with only 11 hours notice due to operational issues, and my wife and I had to drive to SFOÂ (~270 miles) and get rebooked. We had to pay for airport parking and gas both ways to and from the Bay, not to mention driving through the night to get there. United ended up refunding all the miles, which was an option I presented.
- Know your rights – While there is little to no protection of any sort in the U.S., some other countries have policies that mandate compensation for delayed or canceled flights. The most well known of these is EU 261 (SEE: Submitting an EU261 compensation claim for a delayed or canceled flight).
- Don’t give up until you feel the situation is righted –Â If you don’t feel the airline has responded appropriately, don’t give up (SEE: British Airways finally paid me 25,000 Avios). But make sure you are following point #2 above. If United has simply said “Tough luck, we’re sorry” on my recent Denver trip, I would have let it drop. The issues were minor inconveniences at most. But if you have a more serious issue, persist. Don’t let it drop. Things may take a while to come through (SEE:Â Still fighting for EU261 / 2004 compensation)
If you follow the above tips, you’ll generally have a better shot at getting compensated when complaining to airlines.
Header image courtesy of Oliver Holzbauer under CC 2.0 license.Â
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Is 6 months after your flight too late to file a complaint? I had a pretty bad experience flying LHR to LAX with AA in first class if you can believe that! I booked in business but being an EXP my SWU cleared but my husband’s and my daughter’s didn’t. I was separated about 2 rows from them and pretty much from the time I got on my seat and the cabin manager found out husband and daughter are in business, he gave a not so polite warning that my daughter cannot walk up to my seat! In a very condescending manner. There were a few other instances but all my other interactions with him he was quite a douche. Another FA treated me very kindly though but the other one was kind of a jerk the whole flight. I debated on filing a complaint but just thinking about the experience again still leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.
That sounds like an awful situation all around. Six months seems like a pretty big delay to be reporting an incident, but you can always try. 🙂
How about having another passenger’s body on top of yours? I said something to the flight attendant who just shrugged it off and said there weren’t any empty seats. When I got off the plane, I went to the terminal desk and no one there cared either. I’m not little but my hip, leg, side, shoulder, and arm don’t lay ON the person beside me. I should have done more about it because that was an extremely physically uncomfortable flight.
It’s stories like this that remind me why I’m on #TeamAisleSeat
This is true, after Oscar Munoz onboard, even ground agents (e.g. Baggage, ticketing) can directly issue compensation up to $125. The only way to get compensation in the past is submit a complaint form online.