Bonaire Trip Report - Sand Dollar Nov 2016

[tkaelin]

We bounce between places with interesting topography, like the Caymans and Provo to places that have a higher concentration and diversity of marine life like Bonaire

 

[laikabear]

United Airlines is really bad at losing luggage and dive gear. Especially if you switch planes or get delayed. Its happened to us twice and now we always take direct flights with better airlines.

Until last year I felt like most airlines were pretty similar these days. Except Southwest and their irritating lack of assigned seats, I really didn't care or notice what airline I was flying. But last year I had an awful trip with United and I vowed never to fly them again. I only caved on the Bonaire trip because there was no other choice for the day I wanted to fly out. What a mistake.

In the past year I've done 2 United trips. One trip, I had 2 flights that were delayed for hours and then ultimately cancelled, and I got stranded in Cancun. United didn't put us in a hotel or anything! I got on another flight the next day that was delayed for several hours also. On the Bonaire trip, my LAX to Newark flight was delayed, the flight they bumped me on to Houston was delayed by an hour, and then in Houston the flight to Bonaire was delayed by an hour. None of these delays was weather-related. It's not like I'm trying to fly into a blizzard. I don't know how anyone travels on United for business with their terrible record of being late.

On the return trip, we were flying Delta and there was a United flight scheduled to leave just before us. Well, we left on time and the United flight was about 45 minutes late with no plane at the gate yet when we took off.

I have a coworker that can't be on time - she is great in many respects but always arrives an hour late. Last year we moved her hours so her shift starts an hour earlier. That worked for a while but now she sometimes comes 90 minutes late. I'm about to move her back another hour. Maybe something similar would work for United.

I'm never flying them again, they are truly awful. It's not just the scheduling problems, their customer service is really bad, too. I spoke with about 8 different agents during this fiasco and they were all equally clueless.