3 Weeks in North America: What could possibly go wrong?

[love_the_life]

Trump Tower, were you scarred for life?

 

[Mattg]

Flight 10: UA70 Newark - Amsterdam
Boeing 767-400ER
Departure time: 17:35
Arrival time: 07:15 (+1 day)



Time for the last flight of the trip - a short trans-Atlantic redeye with a 6-hour time change. This was going to be fun (not).

I tried to check in at the kiosk but there was a "problem with my ticket" and I had to go and see a supervisor. Turns out there was nothing wrong with my ticket, but it had been flagged for human intervention given all the problems I'd had on the outbound leg. After the supervisor brought up my booking, he turned to me and said "Oh my God, what did they do to you?!" He was apologetic but wasn't able to do anything. I enquired as to when I might get a reply to my request for compensation (I'd heard nothing back so far) and he almost laughed. "Yeah, they don't reply to emails - you'd best call them. And it'll probably take 3-4 months to resolve."

I passed through the TSA checkpoint at EWR for the last time. I must say, by now I was really sick of the long queues and institutionalised bullying at those TSA checkpoints. Seriously, why do the security staff feel the need to treat everyone like naughty preschoolers?

I asked at check-in if I could use the Lufthansa Lounge. I was told that I couldn't because I was booked on a United flight. I'm not sure if this was correct (shouldn't Star Alliance Gold status give you access to any *A lounge?) but as it was in a different terminal anyway, I didn't worry about it.

I headed over to the nearest United Club lounge to my boarding gate. This was by far the most underwhelming international lounge I've ever used! (And yes, I've visited the QF J lounges in MEL and AKL!) Now, if you're booked in United Polaris Business class, you get to use the Polaris Lounge which I'm told is excellent. But United status just gets you regular United Club access. This was the lounge:




It was small, with limited food options (the highlight was a cup of instant noodles) and a small range of alcohol available. At least it was peaceful and had nice tarmac views!

This flight looked to be full in Y so I was hoping for another op-up. It wasn't to be, but I was at least able to select an "Economy Plus" seat for free thanks to my United status. There are 9 rows of Economy Plus at the front of the main cabin. These seats come with around 4 inches of extra legroom, and the difference was noticeable. United normally charges extra for these seats if you don't have status. This was the legroom:



We took off on-time into the sunset and headed north-east across the Atlantic. There was a drinks run before dinner where they also handed out pretzels.



This was followed by dinner. The choices were "Chinese-style" chicken, ravioli or a vegetarian stir-fry. I chose the chicken, which turned out to be General Tso chicken - another North American interpretation of Chinese food which is basically just deep-fried chicken with a sugary sauce.



The crew on this flight were actually really good. One of the older gentlemen working in economy was particularly friendly and made an effort to make his passengers feel at home.

I'd barely slept for an hour when they started serving breakfast at around 11pm New York time. This was definitely not worth being woken up for:



We arrived early and both of my bags arrived on the carousel, so all was good in that respect.

But those early evening eastbound trans-Atlantic flights are a cruel and unusual punishment in terms of timing. They're simply too short for a proper night's sleep. We landed in Amsterdam just as the sun was rising around 6.45am local time. This was just after midnight in New York, so I'd basically just lost a night. It took me days to recover from the jetlag after that flight.

 

[Mattg]

A quick bonus tip for anyone visiting Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. There is a free outdoor Panorama Terrace where you can do some plane spotting. It's located landside and is signposted throughout the terminal, so relatively easy to find. It's a great way to kill a little time!

 

[Mattg]

Now that the trip was over, my attention turned to claiming compensation for the night I spent in New York, and for the delayed baggage.

I submitted a claim for EU261 compensation, as the outbound AMS-YYZ leg began in the European Union and I arrived at my destination a day late. This was refused as the delay was "weather-related", but United did send me a USD200 travel credit. I doubt that I will redeem it.

Now, to the delayed baggage. United did say right at the start that if my bag wasn't found within 3 days, and it wasn't returned to me within 6 days, I would be entitled to USD1,500 in compensation. (This was up from the USD400 they already offered me on the second day that I was without my bag.) Around a week after returning home, I called United Baggage Services and happened to be put through to the same lady that I originally spoke to when I called from Montreal.

I explained that I'd submitted a claim to be reimbursed for the replacement items I had to buy while my bag was missing, and asked how long this normally takes. The lady checked to make sure I was sitting down, before telling me United normally takes 14 weeks to process these claims. I didn't think that was good enough, and told her as much.

She then offered to follow up internally, and after a while on hold she told me that they'd approved USD400 in compensation. But hang on - my bag was not found within 3 days, and I didn't get it back for 11 days. What's more, I'd spent more than USD400 on replacement items anyway.

To cut a long story short... I was on the phone for nearly two hours, but managed to negotiate a compensation payment of the full USD1,500 and to have this transferred to my account within two weeks. There were a few complications caused by me not being a US resident (and therefore not having a US bank account), but we got there in the end. Sure enough, I did receive the compensation as promised. I was also given 20,000 United miles for the inconvenience. That was a nice surprise.

I'm not sure how I feel about United after this trip. If I want to redeem my United Gold status beyond January 2020, I'll have to fly them again next year. I'm still undecided on whether I should go for this, or just switch to the Asiana Club program in 2020.

I hope you enjoyed this trip report. I'm pleased to say that nobody was dragged in the making of it.

 

[VPS]

Interesting report and we need a button that says well done on the compensation claim but yes United sucks and thanks for the TR

 

[kermatu]

Another great TR. Thank you.

You have a knack for finding outdoor terraces at airports. If only the QF F lounge would have little rooftop areas....

 

[lakeman]

Aisiana gives you 2 years to get the points but I am not sure how long and how many points youhave to get to retain gold.

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks for TR. Good to see you did eventually get some compensation.

 

[LadyC]

Thanks for posting your TR. Great that you got compensation for all the dramas.

 

[craven morehead]

We did a Brewing Heritage Trail walking tour, where a guide took us around Over-The-Rhine while teaching us about the beer brewing history of Cincinnati and how this was impacted by prohibition. The tour included a visit to an old underground cellar.

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On my last evening we went to see a baseball game at the Great American Ball Park. The Cincinnati Reds were playing the Milwaukee Brewers. It was my first baseball game in the States and it was a nice experience.

Various US military personnel were thanked for their service during the innings breaks.

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My favourite restaurant in Cincinnati was The Eagle. They did two American classics - fried chicken and macaroni cheese - very well.

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Not a very big crowd at the baseball @Mattg

 

[RooFlyer]

Strewth. With trips like that, I'm glad that most of my flying in the US is behind me. Character-building stuff.

 

[ellen10]

Great trip report. Glad you persisted in getting your compensation.

 

[Mattg]

Not a very big crowd at the baseball @Mattg

Nope, it was just one of the many regular season games and a Tuesday night. They play almost every night!