Check out our latest communities fighting
AI scams on Reddit and Facebook

business logo of United Airlines

United Airlines

1.3

On SmartCustomer, businesses may not offer incentives or pay to remove reviews. Learn more about our Review Guidelines.

How would you rate United Airlines?
grey stargrey stargrey stargrey stargrey star

United Airlines Reviews Summary

United Airlines faces significant challenges regarding customer satisfaction and service reliability. Common complaints highlight frequent flight cancellations and delays, often attributed to mechanical issues or weather, leading to frustration among passengers. Customers express dissatisfaction with the airline's handling of compensation and reimbursement processes, describing them as convoluted and unresponsive. However, there are occasional positive remarks about individual staff members providing personal and empathetic service. Overall, the prevailing sentiment indicates a need for United Airlines to improve its customer service and operational reliability to enhance its reputation in the competitive airline industry.

This summary is generated by AI, based on text from customer reviews

service
69
value
66
returns
31
quality
51

We monitor reviews for authenticity

Illinois
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Carol C.
Unfollow Carol C.
Share Review
Report Review

Great service at boarding gate Denver. Allowed elderly and others who need more time to board early. Had wheel chair available.

Date of experience: September 2, 2023
Kansas
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow DedLordSoth g.
Unfollow DedLordSoth g.
Share Review
Report Review

If I could drop zero stars, I would. Customer service people have zero customer service skills, they are rude, the management is even more rude than the CS, they will change flight times on you with no notification and then blame you for not knowing. They will admittedly send flights out early without all passengers to make everyone else happy because they would prefer to deal with a single unhappy customer if it makes everyone else happy on the flight. I'm supposed to be in California right now holding my son and instead I will be sitting in this dump all night long until he's in bed. Why? So united Airlines can make a plane full of people happy at my expense.

Do not fly with this airline, do not fly with this airline, DO NOT FLY WITH THIS AIRLINE!

Date of experience: September 1, 2023
California
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow Kimsoeun V.
Unfollow Kimsoeun V.
Share Review
Report Review

Flights keep changing booked a few months in advance had to pay more to keep same date. Plus paid for upgrade seat and didn't get the seat I paid for. They suck never flying with united airlines again.

Date of experience: August 28, 2023
California
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Hollee H.
Unfollow Hollee H.
Share Review
Report Review

New cheap tactics
August 21, 2023

After the gate agents failed to make me pay for a personal cross body bag which I wore across my chest, they then had no choice but to issue me a boarding passes for both my 5 years old daughter and I. As we both boarded and seated in our designated seats, the gate agent approached us and info me that I was drunk and cannot fly. The agent then, escorted us off the flight which shocked everyone on board. I was not drunk and did not cause any disruptions to the flight! The actions of the agents at the ticketing counter to the gate agents were United against Asian minority thinking that we are least likely to file complains! I am adding a picture of the cross body bag as evidence! Avoid United Airline at all cost if possible!

Date of experience: August 20, 2023
Georgia
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Kathie H.
Unfollow Kathie H.
Share Review
Report Review

Will not fly United Airlines again
August 16, 2023

My flight from Denver to Atlanta left 30 minutes late. The air conditioner control was broken and the plane was freezing. Staff said sorry, but nothing they can do. No charging ports in United Airlines waiting area in Denver nor on the plane itself. Waited over 45 minutes in Atlanta for bags to arrive in baggage claim.​

Date of experience: August 16, 2023
New Jersey
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Niloofar H.
Unfollow Niloofar H.
Share Review
Report Review

Worst airline
August 15, 2023

Worst airline ever, after spending $400 per person they count you as a basic economy.
No carry-on on the flight, they charge you $35 per checking bag and basics economy people only get the middle seats.:/
I would never fly with united ever again.
American airlines are the best.
Rude and racist customer services, hate united airlines.

Date of experience: August 15, 2023
New York
3 reviews
44 helpful votes
Follow Sui A.
Unfollow Sui A.
Share Review
Report Review

If I am able to give United a zero star, I would. I flew on United Jul 12th, flight suppose to leave at 7pm, they claimed they left at 7:30pm but sat on the runway for over an hour. It did not truly take off until past 8:30pm, so they lied about taking off. In addition, the flight was the most uncomfortable flight ever, there was no wifi, there as no snacks left by the time they got to my aisle, and the guy next to me kept putting his leg next to mine because it was so tight. I felt like I was being sexual harassed. Other airlines like Delta and Alaska Air lets you take a carry on without charge, not United, they give you the worst kind of flight and charges you every penny they can. I called to complain but they did nothing for me, not the greatest customer service. If you can fly other airline, that would be better than United!

Date of experience: July 24, 2023
Mexico
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow Matt C.
Unfollow Matt C.
Share Review
Report Review

The worst company ever! Disgusting behavior and such a horrible way to treat human being! Feeling sorry for dr Doa and his family.

Date of experience: July 17, 2023
Israel
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow amit d.
Unfollow amit d.
Share Review
Report Review

I have never experienced such bad performance from an airline company the way i did with UA- flights that are cancelled over and over again leading to loss of precious family vacation time, cancelled flights on the way back home (still not there!) leading to loss of work days, zero communication with costumer service, no help, spending so much extra money due to UA lack of ability to provide us with the flight that we payed good money for and now have to spend more... I would not recommend ANYBODY to fly with UA, EVER

Date of experience: July 9, 2023
Colorado
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Glen D.
Unfollow Glen D.
Share Review
Report Review

Flight
July 1, 2023

I bought a first class ticket and they didn't have a meal for me crappy cheap airline I will NOT fly them again

Date of experience: July 1, 2023
New York
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Chaya S.
Unfollow Chaya S.
Share Review
Report Review

Cheep is expensive
June 29, 2023

They don't hire enough customer service and staff. It has taken me over 3 days so far in the process of trying to retrieve my luggage. They canceled a flight so I could not get to my connecting flight. However they sent my luggage to the country where I was to get the connection to my final destination. Customer service gave me wrong information twice regarding my luggage. It takes hours to get in touch with customer service. In one attempt it was literally seven hours. When you finally do they give you the wrong information…. This happened multiple times. They sent me on a full on scavenger hunt in order to get my luggage. And I still haven't gotten it. United must be held accountable for there negligence. I have spent hours of time energy on trying to locate my luggage. When I went back to the airport as I was incorrectly instructed the air port was operating like a third world countries. Very few staff member and not well trained.

Date of experience: June 28, 2023
Spain
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Joe S.
Unfollow Joe S.
Share Review
Report Review

Booked flights 8 months ago. Constant flight changes. No help at all. Had to spend a whole day of vacation.just trying to contact them. Basically I hope they go out of business, they should fire everyone involved in customer service, but then again it appears they don't have anyone in their customer service dept so should be easy.

Date of experience: June 26, 2023
New York
2 reviews
1 helpful vote
Follow laura N.
Unfollow laura N.
Share Review
Report Review

It has come to my attention after booking a flight with united back in Feb that this airline has issues with people of race I am Hispanic with a mixed race child was give a bulk head seat on my original flight that was canceled the next day was assigned economy seats after paying for economy plus seats called airline told them we needed the bill head seating due to travel with infant n needed a bassinet was told they could do it so I moved my flight to 4 days later then my original plans the night before flight departure they changed my seating plan without notification agian I can only assume due to a Hispanic n child with a recognizable black last name they felt it was ok to treat us this way buyer beware this is a very discriminating airline if you have to fly with them make sure your name is not recognized as black or Hispanic if it is they will put you at the back of the plane no matter how long in advance you book your flight and should you have an infant beware they will put u in a middle seat with an infant to disrupt people on either side no regard for passengers at all united is anything but united do not fly with these people they are racist and have no regaled for parents traveling with infant children

Date of experience: June 21, 2023
Florida
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Amritbhai P.
Unfollow Amritbhai P.
Share Review
Report Review

During the round trip from US to Spain flighsts most of the staff members didn't care. My headphone was not working. One of the staff member told me he will fix it. In 8 hours of flight he didn't do it I asked one lady air hostage to replace it. She told me they don't have any spare headphones." sorry for inconvenience" that was her answer.I never got new headphone or broken was not fixed.
For entire round trip in business class we were served the vegetarian food, I won't give it to my dog or a cat.
I requested for non veg instead, they say. " sorry we don't have " That was the answer I got. I will never travel if I don't have to in United again.

Date of experience: May 18, 2023
California
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Robert C.
Unfollow Robert C.
Share Review
Report Review

United uses chase for there credit card beware of any deals heres my story im posting every were that uses chase for there credit card Had chase united credit card im disabled low income would never spend more than i got check email u can now spend over a hundred and pay no apr if paid by time giving i bought 4 hundred dollars went to get my monthly payment there offer would not work i called chase the guy read the offer they sent me and said offers may change it was 4 days after i got the offer i watched the news and they said some banks were in trouble and now instead of making zero interest if paid by there date now because my income limit they can go from breaking even or some one like me by the time im able to pay the items off they might get 3 to 4 times what i would have paid by using there offer i live by chase bank and also us bank Im going there and telling any one that will listen that card ur about to use it comes from chase and ask them is what ur going to buy worth 2,34 times it worth because they scamed me they can l do it to you they r scaming the disabled how low can u go

Date of experience: May 14, 2023
Pennsylvania
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow s g.
Unfollow s g.
Share Review
Report Review

Horrible airline. My 10:40AM flight was delayed "10 or 20 minutes" for a "minor mechanical issue"... two hours later, we were told that they were flying in a new plane rather than fixing hours. Then the second plane was delayed for *another* mechanical issue. It was delayed again and again and has been pushed back to 6:45PM, and even the ticketing agents are saying that they doubt it'll show up anytime today.

Date of experience: May 10, 2023
Virginia
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Max S.
Unfollow Max S.
Share Review
Report Review

Unprofessional
May 7, 2023

United staff are rude! The personnel assigned to check my boarding pass immediately tagged y carry-on as check-in without my permission.
When I get in the plane majority of the airplane compartment are empty. There are bigger carry-ons that what I have and they let them carry it with them. United need to train their staff to better assess carryon laugage with their policy and ensure that they are treating customers equally regardless of their color, race, or ethnicity. United needs to hire staff who are professional. I feel that my situation was being assess unfairly.

Date of experience: May 7, 2023
Indiana
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Mark B.
Unfollow Mark B.
Share Review
Report Review

I wish I could give 0 stars. Every United flight i've had in the last 12 months has been either delayed or cancelled. No other airline has given me this much trouble or this many issues. They are always having issues other airlines don't seem to have. I've had better experiences with Spirit, Frontier, and Allegiant Airlines, which are considered "budget" airlines. United is neither budget nor quality. Not to mention they owe unpaid wages to my spouse—that's another topic. Why do I continue to book with United? I travel for work and sometimes the most direct flight is with United. However, they've been given too many chances. I boycott this airline that continues to ruin my trips with their "issues." Do better.

Date of experience: May 2, 2023
Florida
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Yuri Z.
Unfollow Yuri Z.
Share Review
Report Review

Never again
April 7, 2023

This company has no integrity whatsoever. Cheating. Had to overpay for tickets 3 times as original pricing "did not go through" Customer service was not helpful. These scumbacks even charged me extra $50 for the new reservation as "booking agent fee"

Date of experience: April 7, 2023
Colorado
4 reviews
8 helpful votes
Follow D Z.
Unfollow D Z.
Share Review
Report Review

Consistent Delays
March 19, 2023

About 90% of the time I fly United there are always last minute "technical delays." The plane can be at the gate for hours and only when we've all boarded, door is closed, then they realize there's some tech issues. It's really frustrating that their consistent issues are at the expense of the passenger.

Last, the majority of service received is typically rude, standoffish, and uncaring. Any business employee treating customers like many of United employees do would be terminated.

Being captive under poor conditions is not appropriate.

Asian and European airlines do it right, not United.

Date of experience: March 19, 2023