Big Bad United Air Lines (Continued)

(Continued from the previous blog)

When my parents tried to collect their boarding passes for the flight from Los Angeles to Singapore, they were told that their tickets are not valid and that they are required to purchase new tickets to fly from Los Angeles to Singapore, and possibly from Singapore to Sri Lanka as well. My father had tried to explain that they had new tickets issued by UAL, and that the matter was resolved twice, once in San Diego, California by me and once more in Omaha, Nebraska, and that they had no problem flying in from Omaha to Los Angeles on UAL (the friendly skies). UAL still refused to accept the very same tickets that were issued by itself, and stood the ground that if my parents were to fly, they would have to purchase new tickets (the unfriendly skies!). Their position was that the tickets were not approved, authorized or authenticated! This from the very same company that made these changes in San Diego and Omaha, and had no problem flying my parents from Omaha to Los Angeles on the very same tickets! So, this raises the question that UAL may have been flying my parents from Omaha to Los Angeles on unapproved, unauthorized, and unauthenticated tickets? If so, is this a serious breach in security that should be reported to the Department of Homeland Security? If UAL can’t track their own changes between divisions and can’t authenticate their own changes, what hope do we have as citizens of the USA against the terrorists? I truly hope that the work that the Department of Homeland Security is doing is not in vein, all foiled by the inability of UAL to authenticate their own tickets!!!

Having no alternative, with feelings of ridicule and shame running high due to people staring at them like criminals, and being stranded in an airport with no one to help and no real option of re-scheduling the flight, they had to give in and purchase new tickets at a cost of $500 per person. UAL also refused to check their baggage to Sri Lanka, claiming that the same might happen again when they board the SLAL flight from Singapore, despite having corrected this twice. This was just too much of a strain to put on some one that had undergone surgery, but UAL was without compassion, and unwilling to check their own computer system to resolve the matter. My parents landed safely in Singapore and collected the baggage, weary from a 11 hour flight and surgery. When they were ready to check in to SLAL, the code share partner for UAL, the same story repeated itself, this time having to pay a price of Singapore $1409 per person (total US$ 1860 for both) to travel from Singapore to Sri Lanka. The total cost to my parents for that trip was US$2860, which was an expense that they did not have to pay at all. This is also the price of 2 round trip tickets at around $1400 each! They carry no credit cards, and fortunately they had some money with them, without which they would have been stranded due UAL’s mistake.

Since I heard of this story from my parents, I have been trying to resolve this matter with UAL, so far without success. I have been juggling my move from San Diego to Atlanta, as well as having a very demanding job. So, my time is very limited and valuable; however, I have not given up, and I will not. I will work tirelessly till justice is served! I am currently in the process of exploring legal options. I have given UAL ample opportunity to resolve this matter fairly, yet they have failed to comply. I will give UAL one more opportunity to resolve this matter fairly, and if they refuse, I will have the judicial system resolve this matter, taking all punitive damages into account as well.

I will upload copies of my communication with UAL for others that may have experienced similar situations such as this. If you or any one you know has experienced injustices similar to this one, please write a comment and leave me a way to contact you.

I have been very resonable and extrememly patient with UAL, to no avail. I am just trying to get back what was stolen from my parents. I am not alone in situations like this one. If you do a google search, you will find numerous others that are very unhappy with UAL. If you want to read more about why I am making this blog, please take a look here