My Experience: Great Service Recovery by United Airlines After NYC Storms

by Anthony Losanno
United A321

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We returned back to the United States early after having our belongings stolen in Como. We landed at New York John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK), but the weather forced Delta to cancel our flight. I found a delayed United flight and quickly booked us tickets. We sped off to New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA) via Uber and eventually boarded a flight bound for Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and home. The pilots timed out while taxiing and we were brought back to the gate with our flight rescheduled for the next morning. I quickly booked the Westin Flushing LaGuardia Airport and we spent the night there (finally getting home on Friday morning).

I wrote to United this morning to see if they would potentially reimburse my hotel stay and Uber ride. Within hours I had a response and it was a good one. United is going to pay for the hotel and Uber!

UA Customer Care

The customer care agent also deposited 5,000 MileagePlus miles into my husband and my accounts. It was a rough week and this was one pleasant bit that reminded me why I am loyal to United. The note I received back reads:

Hello Mr. Losanno,

 

First and foremost, thank you for your Million-mile Premier 1K® loyalty and for reaching out to us.
I’m so sorry your travel didn’t go as planned on Thursday to Chicago.  While we do our best to ensure every flight departs and arrives on time, your safety is our priority.  We also didn’t want you to incur any unexpected expense, and I appreciate you sending us your receipts.
I did initiate a payment of $ 316.02 for the hotel and ground transportation expense in New York.  In the next 24 hours, you’ll get an email. The email has a link to a secure portal where you can claim your payment.

If you need help or have any other questions, please reply to this email.  Your overall satisfaction is always important to us.   Your overall satisfaction is always important to us.  As a gesture of goodwill, your accounts will be credited with 5,000 award miles.  You’ll see the miles posted to your accounts in a couple of business days.

We value your business.  We look forward to a more positive experience when we welcome you on board again soon and have a great week ahead too!

Kind regards,
Carole
Customer Care”
While the pilots timed out, there was clearly weather in the area. I’m assuming this comes from being Premier 1K® and a possibly being a Million Miler bumped it up, but whatever the reason I am a satisfied customer. United has made great strides with its onboard product and customer service like this will keep me loyal and maintaining my Premier 1K® status. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get back to Global Services, but United made me smile today and that led to me booking a few more trips.

Anthony’s Take: United went above and beyond what I was expecting here. It’s worth reaching out if you’re in a similar situation. Have you experienced a service recovery like this from UA?

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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.

3 comments

Jason July 6, 2025 - 10:43 pm

I too am 1K and got stuck in IAD when there was a line of thunderstorms rolling in mid-afternoon. United refused to reimburse any more than $200, which only covered my overnight hotel and taxes. My uber rides were denied. The inconsistency hurts.

Reply
ptahcha July 7, 2025 - 2:20 am

You could have taken the Silver line into DC.

Reply
Jason July 7, 2025 - 6:59 am

Appreciate that the silver line exists, but somehow I don’t think I wanted to spend my night riding the Silver line back into DC and then back to Dulles rather than sleeping

Reply

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