I'm in Hong Kong now...

[wong_watkins 1]

After being away from home for 2 years, I finally managed to come back home to visit my family and friends. I flew United before and I had some small problems with them, but I never expected them to give me a nightmare this time.

After being on the plane for 15 hours from Chicago to HK, we had to immediately land in Macau instead of HK because of the bad weather in HK..the flight attendants said our plane got striken by lightning.. :hehe:And they said we had to wait until the weather in HK gets better. I immediately started to think, Great, when am I gonna finally be able to get back home? So we waited and waited..about 2 hours later, the pilot announced that we had to wait for the HK airport to send a team of inspectors to Macau to inspect the plane to make sure that we will be save enough to fly...so OK I'll wait...as long as I can get out of here tonight I'll be happy enough..

So...an hour later the pilot made an announcement again, saying that the inspectors couldn't come to Macau, due to the bad weather...and we would have to stay in Macau overnight until 9:00 the next morning....oh only God knows I was about to have a break down...I didn't have a phone with me and my cousin was expecting me at the airport that night and they were so worried about me...they kept asking the airline what's going on and they wouldn't tell her and all they told her was that the flight is delayed..and she would just have to wait!

So...after being stuck at the Macau airport for 5 hours...they finally arranged some of the passengers to take the ferry to go back to HK...but we would have to pay for the ferry tickets and they will give us the money back later..but we wouldn't be able to take our checked-in luggage with us. I decided to take the ferry because even though they said we'll be able to fly back home 9:00 the next morning who knows if that information is reliable...So by the time I finally got home it was about 1:30 in the morning...

After finally arriving HK I started making phone calls to United about my luggage...at first they said they didn't know where my luggage was and I would have to wait for their call as soon as they found out...so I was like..#######...OK so I waited but at the same time I kept making phone calls..I thought maybe I would have a chance to get some updated information. So finally after being home for a day and a half with no clean clothes they told me that my luggage was still in Chicago...and it would take another day for my luggage to arrive, and it's still no guarantee...I raised hell and asked them to give me my money back for having to buy clean clothes and things that I needed before I get my luggage..they said I could go ahead and buy them and I can send them the recepts but the most they could do was to give me back 50% of what I spent..

I'm gonna be here for 19 days and the first two days has been a nightmare and I'm just so exhausted right now..

Hopefully I won't have any problems when I go back to the US and I recommend you guys NOT to fly United Airline if you don't have to!

[Donna A 4]

these things happen will alll airlines so dont be so hard on united. its just ####### that happens.

[Lizzy 0]

Glad you made it home!

What i would not give for 19 days at home and the first 2 ruined by weather.

[Sinergy 3]

I dont care where i was going, if my plane was struck by lightening and they grounded the plane for saftey i wouldnt be complaining. Id be happy to be alive. and the airlines have calling cards they can give you so you can call family waiting at the destination airport, all ya gotta do is ask.

As far as the lost luggage. happens all the time, but yea that would piss me off not having any clothes or belongings.

Dont beat up on united over the landing somewhere else, they did it for your safety. As far as the clothes, yea id give them hell. your luggage should have been on the flight you were already on.

[sereia 0]

i'm with the ladies. i've flown united on the majority of my flights in the past and never had a problem. (even flew them to HK) it was a bad situation for you but it sounds like they handled it the best they could! glad to see you're home visiting family safe and sound! now you can go shopping!

[wong_watkins 1]

Oh yeah and right before I left the plane, it just went "whom" and the eletricity went out on the plane...I had no idea what was going on but all I knew was I had to leave immediately...

Of course I asked them if they had pay phone or calling cards on the plane but they said no. And I know I shouldn't really compain about it too much but I'm sure if that happened to you, you wouldn't say the same thing.

At least I got my luggage at last and right now I'm just gonna focus on enjoying the rest of my trip. And I already miss my hubby..

[almaty 19]

wow, what a trip...hopefully, the rest will be fine

[Sinergy 3]

Oh yeah and right before I left the plane, it just went "whom" and the eletricity went out on the plane...I had no idea what was going on but all I knew was I had to leave immediately...

Of course I asked them if they had pay phone or calling cards on the plane but they said no. And I know I shouldn't really compain about it too much but I'm sure if that happened to you, you wouldn't say the same thing.

At least I got my luggage at last and right now I'm just gonna focus on enjoying the rest of my trip. And I already miss my hubby..

It did happen to me. when my planes right wing broke, i was EXTREMELY grateful to sit in amsterdam and wait it out while they tried to fix it and then moved us to a different plane. my husband was notified at the airport that there was a delay, and the lady at KLM ticketing gave me a calling card to call my hubby to let him know i was going to be late, and he already knew.

Have fun on your trip, and good luck on your flight home.

[JenT 0]

I travel all the time... domestically and internationally. Wish I could say that your exeprience was out of the ordinary....

Brush it off and enjoy the rest of your time with your family!!

Jen

[wong_watkins 1]

Oh yeah and right before I left the plane, it just went "whom" and the eletricity went out on the plane...I had no idea what was going on but all I knew was I had to leave immediately...

Of course I asked them if they had pay phone or calling cards on the plane but they said no. And I know I shouldn't really compain about it too much but I'm sure if that happened to you, you wouldn't say the same thing.

At least I got my luggage at last and right now I'm just gonna focus on enjoying the rest of my trip. And I already miss my hubby..

It did happen to me. when my planes right wing broke, i was EXTREMELY grateful to sit in amsterdam and wait it out while they tried to fix it and then moved us to a different plane. my husband was notified at the airport that there was a delay, and the lady at KLM ticketing gave me a calling card to call my hubby to let him know i was going to be late, and he already knew.

Have fun on your trip, and good luck on your flight home.

Yeah I was hoping they would move us to a different plane and fly us home too...but at least I could get out and take a ferry back home...there were a lot of Vietnamese people on the plane who couldn't get to nowhere...

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Sorry, no sympathy here.

Unfortunately seems to be par-for-course with United!

[Dr_LHA 3]

Sorry, no sympathy here.

Unfortunately seems to be par-for-course with United!

Really? I fly all the time with United and they're pretty good to me. I wish I could say the same about Delta, American and US Air.

[Sinergy 3]

MartinAir is the best airline i have ever flown. They feed you ALOT, theres leg room, and i actually enjoyed the flight from orlando to amsterdam. it was the flights from amsterdam to bucharest on KLM that frightened me

[wong_watkins 1]

I guess I'm just unlucky with United. Last time I flew with them they accidentally sent my luggage to Tokyo and it took them 4 days to finally deliver it back to me. Fortunately it was just all clothes unlike this time.

But I still won't fly with them ever again unless I have to.

Edited May 21, 2007 by wong_watkins

[JenT 0]

I guess I'm just unlucky with United. Last time I flew with them they accidentally sent my luggage to Tokyo and it took them 4 days to finally deliver it back to me. Fortunately it was just all clothes unlike this time.

But I still won't fly with them ever again unless I have to.

Things can only get better now, right??? Enjoy your time away!