United Airlines (ugh...)

Okay against better judgement I am posting my complaints about the flight to the US. I wrote this right after the flight and I'm feeling less crazy about the whole thing. Very interesting NY Times article that basically summarizes my thoughts on the whole thing. http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/travel/flying-with-children-the-bad-and-the-worse.html?pagewanted=all



The good news - we made it safely to the US all in one piece - yay!

The bad news - Iphone and North Face coat are missing ... phone was likely stolen - praying it still surfaces...  the coat was left on the airplane or at security... also hoping it turns up somewhere...

I found the travel to the US with the boys not the worst time in my life, in fact, I will probably do it again without much dread.  That being said, I will not do it alone on United Airlines.  They were really horrible...  Here are some thoughts... I just need to process it and maybe have fodder to put a letter together...

Seating.  United Airlines assured me flight was completely full and there were no seats available in the bulkhead.  We were put on the "bulkhead waiting list" for the return flight back to NZ.  Because Liam doesn't sleep very well (at all) on me I decided to buy him a rt ticket for the overseas portion of our travel.  Fortunately the fare was the same as the tickets I purchased earlier.  They also said they would reimburse me the $200 lap child fare for Liam if we purchased him his own seat (they later denied saying this).  Unfortunately there weren't 3 seats together, so Liam was in the row directly behind us.  As we got closer to our departure day, I checked seating on the plane every day.  I also called United and pleaded with them to put us together on the plane, but they said nothing was possible and they would work it out at the airport.    2 days before our departure, I saw United opened up 50 seats in the aircraft, so I confirmed seats for the 3 of us in a row of 4 seats.  When I woke up the next morning (the night before we left), I found out the United bumped me, Charlie and my "lap child" to 2 seats in "unavailable" bulkhead, leaving Liam at the back of the plane.  When I called United, they apologized, but said the couldn't move people from confirmed seats (although we lost our confirmed seasts) and they would figure it out at the airport, a child could not travel separate from an adult.  I'm sure they would accommodate us, but in my 2-3 hours of phone conversations with United I begged them to try to figure these things out before I got to the airport, alone with 2 kids, 3 suitcases, 3 carry-ons, 2 carseats and a stroller.       

Airport Queues. I spent about 5-6 hours queuing up in airport lines.  Everything was left to the airport to figure out.  The airline should've combined our itineraries our something, but our departure check-in in NZ took 2 hours and ended in me paying $80 for Australian visas and required me to pickup the luggage listed above in Sydney and drag it across the airport to try to get airport seats together and to wait for 4 hours before I could actually check in to the flight and clear security.  In Sydney, the United office did get the three of us seats together, so that was a relief.  

3.) Lack of Support for Mommies and Kids.  Because we couldn't check in to our flight until later and we were in line for so long in Sydney, we only had 20 minutes to grab lunch before boarding our 13.5 hour flight.  I was standing in line for food, when Charlie and I were paged.  We ran to the gate and they wanted to see if we had tickets yet (or something), I showed them our tickets and they seemed puzzled and let me go.   Unfortunately that left us with only about 10 minutes before the plane started boarding.  I repacked our bags for the flight and realized that I left the children's tylenol at the security point.  Ugh!   I asked the gate check-in lady and she said I would have to run back to security and get it or I could buy it from the store a little ways from the gate.   Charlie and Liam had both been running high fevers, but I knew that I needed the extra time getting on early to get both of the carseats installed.  I asked the check-in lady if someone could help me to get the medicine, or help install the carseats so I could get it.  She said no they couldn't.  I didn't know what to do, but the plane started boarding and so I just jumped on so I could try to get the boys situated.  We got to our seats, and the flight attendant was curt with me, I could tell that I was going to be on my own.  I installed the carseats and he told me they weren't installed correctly and had me turn the infant carseat forward facing (without any help with the seat or the kids).   I later found out he required me to install it against FAA regulations.

The flight actually went okay, until Charlie started freaking out a bit, and I realized we had been sitting there for 10 hours and the boys needed their diapers changed and I needed to use the bathroom.   I hate to be so needy, but it surprised me that the flight attendants didn't check on the single mom with the screaming kids who hadn't moved from their seats in 10 hours to see if they could help.  I brought both of the boys to the bathroom, but I didn't see any flight attendants.  I put Liam on the floor of the bathroom (YUCK) and I went to the bathroom.  Then changed Liam's diaper on my lap.  Liam and Charlie were touching EVERYTHING and it was really gross.  Charlie then insisted on privacy and said his belly hurt and he needed to go poopoo.  Charlie sat on the potty for close to 30 minutes while I guarded the door.  Again - in all of this, I didn't once see a United employee and was a little beside myself.   We got back to our seats and then Charlie and Liam screamed their brains off for 10 minutes and then passed out until we landed.   I guess the really frustrating thing wasn't the indifference and lack of support, it was the rudeness and criticism.  When dinner came around, they said I would never be able to fit both of our meals on my tray table (why didn't they suggest bringing one to me later in the flight?  I actually just thought of that now...)  I was okay until we landed in LAX and I collected all of our crazy luggage and processed customs.  I passed 4-5 United workers that were just standing there and no one offered to help.  At the end of the hallway, a United woman approached me (YAY - someone offering to help!), and she told me I needed to be more careful with Liam in the baby carrier, that his head was swinging around too much.  I looked at her and said that I just needed some help and that the airline had been really, really, horrible for the past 24 hours and then I burst out crying...  She said she was sorry, but it was in a very - "you are irrational, and this is the script that i read for irrational passengers"...
  In the end, it's just sad about US carriers internationally.  Many of our Kiwi friends said that they avoid US carriers because of the poor service.  Honestly I would probably fly United Airlines internationally again, but never alone with the boys.  I would also have the expectation that the service will be similar to a European budget airliner (Ryan Air or Easy Jet, for example).   There really was a culture of apathy and "bare minimum" service -- doing nothing that was off of their "checklist."  I found myself getting jealous of the older people on the plane who were getting "special treatment" from the flight attendants. 

Our experience with the international airlines was PHENOMENAL!  Air New Zealand was so fantastic with the kids.  The flight attendant brought Charlie water 3 times on the flight, escorted me from check-in to our plane seats, and was so cordial and sweet.  A Qantas airline employee helped me get me get through customs and then called a big strong Aussie man to help get my bags to United Airlines (I didn't even FLY Qantas).   A Vigin Pacific employee offered to let me keep my luggage in her office for the 4 hours until I could check-in to my flight in Sydney.  Even United Airlines domestic was really wonderful.  When Charlie's fever started to get really high again they helped me find another mommy on the plane who had tylenol and held Liam while I got things together to disembark.

Okay - enough venting...  I probably should even post this, but it's just good to get it all out.

At the end of the day, I'm so happy we made it to Minnesota and it really wasn't that bad.  The boys are adjusting really well to the time change so far.  We miss Jason.  We're excited for Florida.  I'm really mad at myself about the iphone and jacket.   It's one in the morning - must go to bed!!!

Sorry no pics - may need to use my mom's camera to upload pictures....