The following e-mail was sent by a correspondent who has more than a passing relationship with Uncle Ted. She's been a travel agent. Now, isn't this interesting?:

Hello there.

I just discovered your site, and I am not the least bit surprised you had a problem with United (or Ted, whatever).

I used to be a travel agent and always told my clients that when they had a choice between United and American (since they both used Chicago as a hub), ALWAYS fly American. I had experienced their arrogance firsthand when I tried to take advantage of a special they had for travel agents in 1995. For $200 (plus $250 for a companion) we could fly to any of their western European destinations.

I was told I had to pay by check or cash, not by credit card (which I wasn't planning on bringing with me, anyway). So I show up to pay for it the day we are to fly and "Hans" at the counter has a problem with me because the address on my check doesn't match the address on my license. He kept me there for forty minutes and even had me call my bank. Finally a supervisor had to come over and approved the check, which she should have done from the beginning.

We almost missed the flight, and when we went to the next checkpoint another supervisor said to me, "Well Hans is normally a gate agent..." ARE YOU DEFENDING HIM?! I asked. I don't care if he's normally a janitor, no one should talk to any of your customers like that. (She already knew I was an agent flying on a discounted ticket, so she didn't care I'm sure.)

I went on to hear of more bad experiences with United throughout my career as an agent. One client found out that one of her divorced travelling companions went by her maiden name on her passport and state ID, and she had given us her married name. We contacted United and they transferred us several times before someone finally told us the client could have the name changed IF they went directly to a United office or ticket counter (meaning we would lose our commission) and paid $100.00.

We contacted the client and apologized for them saying that that was the only way the airline would do it. When the client went to United's office, the ticket agent acted like she didn't know about anything that was discussed, and said it would be NO PROBLEM to change it, for no fee! (She probably also advised them to book directly with the airline from then on. And yes, they took over the reservation and we lost the commission.)

After Delta drew the first blow with capping commissions at $50.00, United was ALWAYS the first airline to make additional cuts, until finally they stopped paying commission all together--which was clearly the plan all along.

United has always taken the initiative when it comes to screwing travellers and agents, so now if they are financially screwed themselves, they have no one but themselves to blame. No one will care if they go under.

Thanks for allowing me to vent. And by the way, why do all the airlines charge $50-$100 to make a change that only requires a few keystrokes of a computer anyway? I could never explain that as long as I was an agent, other than simple greed.

Nimble Bird

(The Nimble, Limber One ;-))

P.S. Fly American! (Or even better, Southwest)

(Incidentally, I just happen to have booked myself a fight to New York, and I am flying into Islip airport on Long Island rather than the closer La Guardia, just so I can fly Southwest. They are the only ones who don't charge a ripoff fee if I need to make a change--just any fare difference--and I think that deserves something. I am tired of the other a-lines having us by the you-know-whats. The last time I made a change on a $195 ATA ticket, it cost me $120 total--61.5%!!)

NB