T he media whipped up a feeding frenzy in recent months on the foibles of United Airlines upon its customers with operational issues and inhumane treatment — amongst other problems — but although my experiences as a passenger aboard airplanes operated by United Airlines have been uneventful, I wanted to share the following story with you after I read it.
A Poignant Heartfelt Thanks to United Airlines by a Veteran FlyerTalk Member
As a member of FlyerTalk for greater than 18 years and certainly longer than my own tenure as a member, flyme2 imparted a poignant and heartfelt thanks to the otherwise vilified airline…
…but rather than summarize it, please permit me to use the words posted by flyme2 verbatim:
“I wish to extend my sincere thanks to United and the 1K staff that recently helped me through an extremely difficult period in my life. My wife was diagnosed with cancer on November 24 and succumbed to the disease on April 20. She was 54.
“The early prognosis was hopeful, so we rescheduled a few of our six upcoming trips for later in the year and canceled others that would have interfered with her treatment. Throughout the process, the UA personnel with whom I dealt were the epitome of kindness and understanding. They rescheduled the two trips we decided were doable, and even re-routed us on a direct AC flight when inclement Chicago weather would have resulted in a series of misconnected UA flights. Any and all change fees were proactively waived.
“Unfortunately, upon returning from our last trip, my wife’s condition suddenly deteriorated, and she passed away 16 days later. Still reeling from shock, dealing with superfluous travel issues was furthest from my list of priorities. Last week I got around to dealing with refund requests for the remaining flights that would not be flown. Again the UA staff were solicitous and respectful. Truthfully, I was not confident those tickets that were non-refundable P and W fares would actually be refunded. However, true to what I had been told, all tickets were refunded without fees, only a few days later. At this point, the money is really irrelevant, but the fact that UA showed such empathy and compassion will stay with me forever. Thank you, UA and Mr. Munoz for bringing a sliver of light to what has been a very dark period in my life.”
Summary
I am no apologist of United Airlines by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I am most likely one of the first people to tell you that significant improvements should be implemented by the beleaguered airline…
…but I also feel that the time is overdue to show that there is actually a human side of United Airlines — and that there is hope for the human race after all despite the seemingly callous indifference in general exhibited by big business and multinational corporations.
Finally, I want to personally extend my sincere and heartfelt condolences to flyme2 on his substantial loss. I have never met flyme2 in person or communicated with him in any way to my knowledge over the years — but many members of FlyerTalk have a strong sense of community which has personally affected me in so many ways since I joined as a member of FlyerTalk years ago; and I felt obligated to give some sort of emotional support…
…and you can do so as well: please share your thoughts in this discussion on FlyerTalk — or if you are not a member, you may instead use the Comments section below.
Sharing your story publicly must have been incredibly difficult for you, flyme2. Thank you for the courage and the strength to do so.
This article is dedicated to the memory of the wife of flyme2. May she rest in peace and be fondly remembered.
Photograph ©2016 by Brian Cohen.
