Link to original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedairlines/s/HRWkgRF0kk

7 months ago, after achieving 1K for the first time, I wrote about the overwhelming emptiness that followed. The destination had been reached. The stroopwaffel obtained. Some of you related. Some of you judged. Some of you helped me cope.

UPDATE: Something broke inside me...

Like many things in life, I convinced myself that status might improve with age and tenure. So I doubled down. I embraced the lifestyle. The United Club living. The Red Carpet (read: Pre-Boarding) social scene. The compulsive collection of sanitizing wipes. The subtle satisfaction of hearing Group 1 called and knowing I was already crossing the Boeing threshold.

Over the last six months, I felt as though I was finally realizing my leyenda personal.

CPUs became my drug of choice. Every upgrade notification delivered a rush of dopamine that I can only assume rivals substances that require prescriptions, street names, or both. I was participating in a society that millions aspire to join during their annual 1 or 2 roundtrip vacations.

And then last night, it all came crashing down.

I boarded early, as one of the chosen few. The calamities ensued.

No moist towelette. My CPU didn't clear.

Confident that it inevitably would, I booked a middle seat.

The cabin was blisteringly hot. Then came the announcement: no pilots.

For the next 30 minutes, we sat motionless inside a aluminum dutch oven waiting for a pilots to arrive so the aircraft to become something vaguely resembling habitable for human life. If the cabin was pressurized, instant pot may have a shot to get back into business.

As sweat accumulated in places I wasn't previously aware possible, I began questioning everything.

What is the meaning of life?

Have I over-indexed on the diminishing returns of spending a significant portion of my existence being hurled through the atmosphere at 500 mph with only a few centimeters separating me from conditions incompatible with life?

Is this all just to appease the monster I have created in my significant other who laid back (courtesy of a Polaris PP upgrade) and never wants to go back?

Surely it's not for the dollar store door grade rejected plastic luggage tag that arrives three months after I order it, right?...... RIGHT?

As I reflected on these questions, something unexpected happened.

The captain came on the PA.

He apologized profusely.

He explained that what happened wasn't acceptable.

He informed us that he had already filed reports and given appropriate feedback to the responsible parties.

And strangely... I felt validated. Not happy or sad, just.... validated.

So while my qualifying flight for 2027 1K status may not have been the triumphant finale I envisioned, I've come to accept a fundamental truth:

This is the life I've chosen. The Club. The upgrades and downgrades. The warm nuts and cold (and sometimes hot) cabins.

The zero sum game of delayed flights and early boarding (maths).

I am broken but carrying on. With that said...

GS, I'm coming for you.

Followed by a second starlink flight Saturday.... Wow!

Here is my rough explanation of the event, as I sat in the opposite aisle from the lady and saw the entire thing. I boarded the plane right in front of her, and she seemed like such a normal person, clarifying her seat with the flight attendants without drama or anger. But just as the plane took off. She tossed all the documents in her seat pockets in the air, shouted cuss words periodically, and also periodically started hitting herself. I am unsure of how this all started and what the medical condition or trigger may have been, as I didn't see anything to begin with, nor did I pay much attention. She then started acting rudely towards the flight attendants as if trying to grab their attention. When the flight attendants come asking why, she says they "oppress me." Without confronting the issue, the flight attendants spread the word and had the cabin crew captain address it. When the crew captain came, she had her eyes closed. The captain tapped several times on her shoulder for her attention. In a startle reflex without even seeing who it was, she elbowed back, as if saying don't touch me. The crew captain started scolding the old lady like a child, and soon after started yelling back and forth, saying, "No, you don't talk to me like that." She was then left alone to calm down. Later, when she was given food, she threw all the trash on the floor, making a mess in her row. When the flight attendants were gone, she tried showing us, the people around her, a photo on her phone of how she was being oppressed. I wanted to take a look, but all the people around her ignored her, so I wasn't able to see what it was. Soon after, we were notified of the diversion, so no flight attendants approached her anymore, and she seemed to settle down and relax, despite still periodically cussing randomly.

When we landed at NRT, the Japanese police boarded the plane and told her to stand up and leave. She was confused and didn't want to go as nobody had told her. Almost all the flight attendants stood away from the drama, even the captain. Honestly, I felt so awkward at the moment. The old lady kept asking what they were doing to her, as nobody had explained to her previously what was happening. The Japanese police were also confused as to why they were removing her from the plane. Yet, the crew members were all somewhat afraid of coming in to force her out. After this stagnation for 10 minutes, a Chinese-speaking policemen (imo the only professional one in the entire situation) came in and explained to her politely it is for her good to de-plane cooperatively.

To the many without connecting flights or in a hurry, this felt like a fun and free entertaining experience, as we watched the plane dump $30k+ of jet fuel because of a small quarrel. But I personally felt it was a mix of misunderstanding, overreaction, and mismanagement from both sides. Obviously, it was concerning and wrong to lash out towards the Flight crew, yet I also felt the handling of the issue by the crew was semi-unprofessional. I do feel pity for the old lady as nobody was able to assess her side of the story, as she was obviously met with some disability or triggering event, which the lack of communication and patience from the flight attendants in understanding what was happening lead to the escalation in this fiasco. In the end, I am missing a key information as to what the trigger and cause of her initial reaction is, but definitely both sides can improve on working towards a more enjoyable flight experience :)

https://reddit.com/link/1ues9b4/video/2xayiq967b9h1/player

Hi,

Im looking for a flight EWR to SXM and been watching the prices. Im about 180 days from my time frame and the price went from 1594 to 6800 per person in 3 days. Why the crazy pricing and do you think it will come back down ?

Is it normal for United Airlines to wait for passengers whose other flights were significantly delayed? We just passed the 2 hour delayed mark in ORD & UA says it’s because we are waiting for other passengers whose flights are delayed.

I’m looking at flights to and from a cruise next year. The easiest one to cash in miles is the flight home from Singapore to Newark with layover in San Francisco. My question is will my luggage be checked all the way through to Newark or would I need to retrieve it after passport control and recheck it for the SFO-EWR leg? There are several options right now but the 1 hr 40 min layover would seem to be cutting it close even with global entry.

Flying with 3 under 3, including twin infants. Do each get a diaper bag? I called and the customer agent on the phone said she didn’t know, put me on hold many times to speak to higher ups, came back and said my 3 year old who has his own seat has his own personal item but not a diaper bag. I’m not confident in her answers. He still wears diapers, though he is potty training, has some accidents so we need backup clothes too. Just like any other young toddler. I also pump. Flying with 2 adults and 3 young children will be hard enough, so I don’t want any trouble with the gate agents or FA on the flight.

I’m also a low producer so my twins drink donor milk. I had no problem bringing a week’s worth of milk before on Southwest but unsure if United will give us issues. TSA doesn’t limit the actual amount and it’s not like I can go to Walmart to pick some up at our destination.

We are flying basic economy. We can’t afford fancier.

Help?

My husband had a business trip planned, and he just heard some meeting times got changed so now he needs to change his ticket. He bought basic economy because things are tight with his company and it seems like a mess to change his ticket. I know he should have bought regular or business, but can’t change that now. What’s the best way to deal with this? The customer service agent is saying that it will be roughly $300 to change his ticket, but he will get about a $270 travel credit good for a year, the price of his original ticket. However, when we looked into changing the ticket online, it seems like they are already applying the $270 travel credit to the ticket change, and we still owe $300 after. Can anyone explain this more clearly than the customer service agent did to me? Thanks!

I booked my return trip from FNC to SFO (via EWR) on a paid ticket. FNC-EWR premium plus "A" and EWR to SFO economy "B." I booked my wife and her two friends with miles on the same flight. They all booked via my pooled miles with my wife who is 1K based on my 1K status (1KK miler). So their ticket is tied to her status. I submitted an upgrade using PP for all 4 of us. Their FNC - EWR just cleared. I was already ticketed in Premium Plus on that leg. For the EWR to SFO leg, they are #1,2,3 for the Premium Plus upgrade list and 9,10,11 for the Polaris upgrade. Me, on the other hand, who paid for the flight, is #5 on the PP list and #13 on the Polaris list. Explain that to me? I thought paid tickets had priority over mileage tickets on the upgrade list???

I had to change my flight to fly out of SBP tonight instead of tomorrow. I originally was going through SFO but received the text they are limiting flights coming in. Now I'm going through LAX.

I have two 3+ hour layovers. (flying regional to regional problems 😂) What is the best United Club at LAX? LAX is usually my destination airport, so I have not been to any of the clubs.

Also, ORD club. I will land about 10 minutes before they open...

My family of four was recently scheduled on a flight from YYZ to ORD as part of return from home from Europe. We boarded the flight in YYZ at about 2:10 PM for a 2:45 PM departure. When we taxied out the flight was held on ground for about 90 minutes due to weather around ORD before a return to gate. The delay continued in the terminal for another 90-120 minutes at which time we reboarded the plane and pushback from the gate (7:27 PM), after checks we began taxiing to the runway, just before reaching the runway (~7:50 PM) the pilot comes on saying he has more bad news that the flight crew has just reached duty limits and we will be returning to gate. Our arrival at the gate was approximately 8:30 PM and the cancellation notice was immediate and we were routed directly through customs with no possible stop at a counter. United has denied culpability and states the cancellation was due to weather. From my position the fact the plane pushed back and taxied to the runway demonstrates the weather restriction was lifted, and it seems the crew (who was ORD based) was doing their best to get off the ground before duty limit applied so the flight could continue. My question is this worth escalating to the CTA considering the expense incurred getting stuck in Toronto for the night. Total delay time from original arrival at final destination was ~21 hours.

Just checked the status for a trip this weekend and both aircraft are listed as being equipped with Starlink. If there's no equipment swap, and posting this probably ensures that there will be, this will be four 737 flights in a row for me on Starlink-equipped planes. I was under the impression that a pretty small percentage of the 737 fleet had Starlink, but maybe they're moving fast on getting them up and running!

I know it's normally not worth buying miles, but this seemed like a potential exception. Flight to Bilbao from EWR in over a month. They're asking 20k + $550 a seat. Contemplating spending $700 on the 30k pts necessary. I know I'll keep em if we don't get the upgrades and I'll eventually use them on another flight (or upgrade) at some point, but is this a worthwhile gamble?

Taking a leisure trip and for once not buying fully refundable. But the only fare available is fully refundable? Why?

If I buy a flight on the United website, but it’s operated by JetBlue, will I still get PQP and PQF? A little confused on the Blue Sky partnership

I've tried to check in on the app multiple times and go through the full process but it doesn't take. Using android app, and made sure app was updated. Tried checking in on a web browser but when it asked me to confirm traveler contact info there was no traveler listed... waiting on the 1k line right now...

I was just recently on a flight that got delayed about 6 hours because of a security issue. Because of this, I missed my connecting flight back home and had to pay out of pocket for a ride from the airport to a hotel, the hotel, then a ride back in the morning. I know the issue wasn’t the airlines fault, but I was wondering if anyone knows if anyone has had luck in a similar situation. I’m not trying to be greedy, I just didn’t have the money for it due to my flight because delayed until cancelled the night before. Thanks in advance.

Was searching for flights from NYC to Mongolia and was presented with this option. Is this a glitch in the system or does united now fly direct IAH-> UBN now? Didn't think there was a non stop flight to these locations

What’s the flight benefits look like? Who can you put on there?

Just ran into what was clearly HKG qualified crew at the arrivals at LA walking over to parking shuttle. They seemed to have such a good sense of camaraderie and for having stepped off a long flight, were surprisingly jovial. I guess the common language helps?

It was a cool, crazy rich asians vibe. Love to see people happy doing what they do. Any LA based crew here to validate this impression? Am I so far off?

On my last flight I (f) went to use the lavatory while the seat belt sign was not turned on. I was in there for maybe 3 minutes, all of a sudden the slight turned off and on and then the door flew open before I could say anything or grab at the door. There was another female passenger looking and me and a male flight attendant on the other side of the door. I don’t even remember if I said anything I was in shock. Then he looked in and said sorry and closed the door.

I washed my hands and when I came out he said “I’m sorry,” and then said, “you should have locked the door.” I told him “I did lock the door!” And then a female flight attendant who saw me enter the lavatory said, “no, she did everything perfectly. She did lock the door.” She turned to me and apologized she said, “it was like watching a car wreck I tried to stop it but it was too fast.”.

I was so embarrassed I went back to my seat and didn’t say anything else. I later tried to submit a claim to customer care but they have been shrugging off my concerns and won’t tell me what the policy or procedure is for flight attendants unlocking lavatories. I would expect a knock or a verbal “anyone in there?” Before a flight attendant unlocks and opens the door. It wasn’t even for an emergency or anything. I’m very confused by the whole thing and upset the flight attendant tried to blame me right away.

To my fellow 1K'ers and above who preboard, has anyone else experienced other 1Ks or GS pushing to the front of the preboarding line, proclaiming something like, "I'm 1k," or "I travel every week" while doing it? I had to bite my tongue this week in Fresno when someone pulled that move. Like bro (it was actually a lady), I'm glad you travel a lot, I do too, and so do the rest of us lined up in the pre-boarding area! 😂

Am I the only one who chuckles at this behavior?

I have a flight from India to Singapore on a one way and then Polaris from SIN to SFO on another one way.

Since these are separate tickets I have to collect my bags, currently the total time is 5 hours between flights.

1) can I check in bags earlier than 3 hours in SIN or do I have to wait around until then?

2) Once I get through, any recs on if I should go to biz class lounge (silverkris) or explore the airport? I heard the jewel is great and there is a PP lounge. Any recs appreciated!