United Airlines: How Not to Win Friends and Influence People

As you well know, Anne and I were supposed to fly to Germany in early May. We had purchased the ticket in October through United.com. After many many flight changes, in early April, our flight from Denver to Frankfurt was canceled outright.

After much searching, I found a place on their website to put in for a refund, which I did. It said I would receive my refund in seven business days. After waiting more than seven business days and hearing nothing, I called. After a long hold (understandable) and attempts to get me to take travel credit instead (again, understandable), I was told my refund was approved for both tickets and I would be receiving a credit back on my credit card for the full amount of the purchase (the correct full amount of the credit quoted to me).

Again after more than seven business days of further silence, I called again. When I eventually talked with an agent, I was assured, in absolute certainty, that the refund was approved, but I had to wait longer before I received the credit. This is not so understandable - they were able to charge my credit card instantaneously when I bought the ticket.

Yesterday, I received an email that said "We've processed the refund today." I was relieved, even though it had taken something like six weeks after they had canceled our flight.

Today, when there was still no credit on our credit card, I happened to look at the email from yesterday, and down at the bottom I saw it was for half of the purchase price. I went to their refunds page, and the refund for Anne's ticket had been denied!

Just to repeat, this was the same reservation, the same purchase, the same confirmation number (if you happen to read United: JCE2ZZ), the same canceled flight, the same request for a refund. The ticket numbers were sequential (-98 and -99).

I called again and the agent had no hypothesis for why this would have happened. She said she would put it through again (again for United: Case Number 159026321996846), but again, I would have to "seven to ten business days" to hear back one way or another.

As readers know, I love flying and love planes. I'm willing to put up with a lot. (The last time I flew United, the flight was so delayed I was stranded overnight. These things happen.) But this seems like a deliberate attempt to make me actively dislike a company I would have spent thousands of dollars with in the future.

See also: Why is it so hard to get a flight refund?

Photo from United Airlines is Trying to Steal My Money.

One Wing

I hear there is a new Wilco song out - one of my fav bands. To prep, here is One Wing:

Classic

And I post this having gone through that phase myself at ~16 like most upper-middle-class white dudes do.

"It will go away."

No need to put words in their mouths.

If you have any compassion, you will vote every chance you get

Concise advice

From the new Cosmos: Possible Worlds:

I know a way to part the curtains of darkness that prevent us from having a complete experience of nature. Here it is, the basic rules of the road for science: Test ideas by experiment and observation. Build on those ideas that pass the test. Reject the ones that fail. Follow the evidence wherever it leads. And question everything, including authority. Do these things and the cosmos is yours.

Why I ramble on and on about Germany

To expand on this, there are other reasons why going to Germany is so great. It is the one thing I do where I can completely unplug from everything. Anne does all the talking (and even reading of things like signs and menus) - I don't have to deal with anyone. I don't worry about driving or shopping or cooking. It is pretty much different in kind from my normal day-to-day life.

In early October 2019, when we finally decided to go on this aborted trip to Germany (and Prague, based on my colleague Melissa's recommendation), I started researching like crazy (I'm even a "superfan" of these guys - I didn't even know that was a thing). After maybe two weeks of that, Anne said, "You know, the trip is more than six months away." Turns out that was quite the understatement.

Regardless, here are some more pictures from Germany:

A good book to read when not traveling

How To Invent Everything - just jammed packed with interesting information!

Virtual Trip Day 3

Some Germany photos from May 2016.

Würzburg

We were supposed to be here today.

Virtual Germany trip Day 1

I was supposed to be on this Lufthansa 747 flying to Germany today.

More timeline

Here. Note the below came out ten days after Biden's USA Today piece.

Signs

Explanation of first one here.

Explanation of this one here:

Not that there is ever a double standard...

Tweet:

So let me get this straight...

If I go to protest a North Dakotan Pipeline on tribal land, I’ll get gassed, pelted with rubber bullets, and arrested.

If I storm the MI Statehouse w/ a long gun & armor, and yell in the face of law enforcement, I’ll get to go home w/o consequence.

Our Donations

Our recent donations:

Transgender Law Center

The Trevor Project

Southern Arizona Gender Alliance