Subject: Formal Complaint: Discriminatory and Unprofessional Conduct – Request for Immediate Action & Compensation Dear [Airline Customer Relations Team], I am writing to file a formal complaint regarding my recent travel experience with [Airline], which was by far the worst I have ever encountered. What occurred was not only unprofessional, but in several instances discriminatory, unsafe, and unacceptable. On the first leg of my trip, I arrived only four minutes past check-in. Instead of making any attempt to resolve the matter, your representative flatly denied me boarding and made me wait while she attended to passengers who arrived after me. By the time a manager intervened, it was too late to board, costing me time, money, and unnecessary frustration. The second leg of my trip (Chicago–San Francisco) raised even more serious concerns. From the outset, it was apparent that the staff—particularly two attendants—prioritized Caucasian passengers while dismissing African American and minority passengers. • When a Caucasian passenger in the exit row refused to comply with federal safety requirements, I, as a first responder, immediately offered to switch seats and assume the responsibility. My offer was blatantly ignored, and instead, a Caucasian passenger seated further up was chosen. This was discriminatory and deeply insulting, especially as I was actively de-escalating the situation that could have delayed the flight further. • During a lengthy tarmac delay of over 90 minutes, passengers were given conflicting and unreasonable instructions that created unnecessary distress and tension. • Throughout the flight, a visibly intoxicated passenger directly in front of me was disruptive, rude to others, failed to comply with seatbelt and electronic device rules, and yet faced no enforcement from the crew. In stark contrast, I was singled out for repeated compliance checks even though I was following every rule. This unequal treatment was so obvious that multiple passengers around me spoke up in my defense. This pattern of behavior demonstrated a clear lack of professionalism, disregard for passenger safety, and discriminatory treatment. I expect far better from an airline of your stature. As a paying customer subjected to this unacceptable treatment, I am formally requesting: 1. A full investigation into the conduct of the staff on both flights. 2. A written apology acknowledging the discriminatory and unprofessional behavior I endured. 3. Appropriate compensation for the distress, inconvenience, and mishandling of my travel. If this matter is not addressed promptly and thoroughly, I will have no choice but to escalate my complaint further, including filing with the U.S. Department of Transportation and sharing my experience through other channels. I trust [Airline] will take this complaint seriously and provide a timely resolution.
2.0 MediocreAnonymous, Sep 2025ORD - SFO
Read more United Airlines reviewsSubject: Formal Complaint: Discriminatory and Unprofessional Conduct – Request for Immediate Action & Compensation Dear [Airline Customer Relations Team], I am writing to file a formal complaint regarding my recent travel experience with [Airline], which was by far the worst I have ever encountered. What occurred was not only unprofessional, but in several instances discriminatory, unsafe, and unacceptable. On the first leg of my trip, I arrived only four minutes past check-in. Instead of making any attempt to resolve the matter, your representative flatly denied me boarding and made me wait while she attended to passengers who arrived after me. By the time a manager intervened, it was too late to board, costing me time, money, and unnecessary frustration. The second leg of my trip (Chicago–San Francisco) raised even more serious concerns. From the outset, it was apparent that the staff—particularly two attendants—prioritized Caucasian passengers while dismissing African American and minority passengers. • When a Caucasian passenger in the exit row refused to comply with federal safety requirements, I, as a first responder, immediately offered to switch seats and assume the responsibility. My offer was blatantly ignored, and instead, a Caucasian passenger seated further up was chosen. This was discriminatory and deeply insulting, especially as I was actively de-escalating the situation that could have delayed the flight further. • During a lengthy tarmac delay of over 90 minutes, passengers were given conflicting and unreasonable instructions that created unnecessary distress and tension. • Throughout the flight, a visibly intoxicated passenger directly in front of me was disruptive, rude to others, failed to comply with seatbelt and electronic device rules, and yet faced no enforcement from the crew. In stark contrast, I was singled out for repeated compliance checks even though I was following every rule. This unequal treatment was so obvious that multiple passengers around me spoke up in my defense. This pattern of behavior demonstrated a clear lack of professionalism, disregard for passenger safety, and discriminatory treatment. I expect far better from an airline of your stature. As a paying customer subjected to this unacceptable treatment, I am formally requesting: 1. A full investigation into the conduct of the staff on both flights. 2. A written apology acknowledging the discriminatory and unprofessional behavior I endured. 3. Appropriate compensation for the distress, inconvenience, and mishandling of my travel. If this matter is not addressed promptly and thoroughly, I will have no choice but to escalate my complaint further, including filing with the U.S. Department of Transportation and sharing my experience through other channels. I trust [Airline] will take this complaint seriously and provide a timely resolution.
Check in was quick and easy during early hours. Flight was on time, and customer services was a plus.
I understand that the food on the airplane wouldn’t be fantastic. However, it wasn’t good at all. 😭
The flight was comfortable with the exit row and great service
Plane was crowded and even when we hit altitude, the plane was hot, not enough air flow.
1. when we went to check in, our 2 first class seats had been CANCELED and the flight was sold out. This was done without our prior knowledge. It was all we could do to restore one first class seat for my wife and I flew economy. 2, Our flight home was scheduled to leave at 10:30 pm. Due to tsunami warnings, the roads were closed and our flight status was uncertain as to whether it would leave as scheduled. It was announced that it would now leave at 11:20 pm and the roads were now open since the tsunami had come and gone. We made a mad dash to the airport and checked in. Delays were announced at 12:30 pm, 1:30 am, 2:30 am and at 3:30 am it was canceled. Since this was a flight due to natural (tsunami) causes, there was no compensation. We were told to return at 1:00 pm the next day and our baggage would be kept on the plane since the same plane was going to leave at 1:00 pm. We had to return to our hotel for the rest of the night. The same plane did not leave at 1:00 pm and our baggage was gone! All in all, it was a miserable performance by UA. Information was hard to obtain and no one knew what was going on and what was going to happen. Hundreds of passengers slept on the floor, chairs, etc. No food and no water was made available to the passengers. It was a situation where UA could care less what was going on. As a one million mile flyer, I had not experienced anything like this before and it was hugely disappointing!
I found the staff to not be very attentive at all. When paying for Business Class you expect a certain type of service and that was not found. They were almost rude even
Ok. Get a different kosher caterer. The food was odd.
Our experience on United Airlines was extremely poor. The plane was extremely cold throughout our entire flight- which multiple people complained about- and we had to wait 2 hours to get a blanket which was too thin and barely helped warm us up. As well as this, none of the entertainment features were working so we had to sit through a roughly 10 hour flight with nothing to keep our attention, including the actual flight path screen. It was an extremely disappointing experience and I would hope that this gets fixed if we ever choose United Airlines again.
I really enjoyed flying with United airlines amazing experience , good customer service and great food
Food was poor quality and the screens for entertainment didn’t work properly
Food was much better than my outbound flight. On-time. Good service. I had a problem with my entertainment screen, but the attendant fixed it promptly.
I think they overbooked Frankfurt to New York and bumped me off. This changed my return travel I arrived home about 4 hours late. Almost 24 total travel time Totally unacceptable Would not travel with United
United lost my travel information and canceled my original flight. I had a seat assignment but was refused the booking. I had to prove that I went to Germany on United Very concerned about security that no one recorded my passport from Cleveland to NY and NY to Frankfurt I arrived at home at 12:30am on Saturday instead of 8pm I expect a full refund from United Please provide information to assure compensation
I paid for extra legroom which made the long flight very comfortable. Food was very tasty, they fed us 2 meals plus a cookie snack and extra liquids. Checked luggage is expensive.
Lufthansa is turning into a budget airline. On transfers, the luggage never arrives if you have less than 2 hours for the transfer. This is happened to me multiple times when I end up on flights serviced by Lufthansa. The first leg of the flight was serviced by Discover Airlines. It was a 3-hour flight and they only offer a glass of water. Everything else is for purchase. I purchased my ticket as economy which should have included a bag but it ended up booking as economy light so I had to pay for a bag in each direction.
We left 1.5 hours late therefore missing my connection. The airline didn’t give vouchers.
Food could have something without dairy, I couldn't eat anything. Tv for both seats was malfunctioning. They have one bottle of ginger ale for entire plane.... and I paid extra for these seats...very disappointed
The flight and crew were good. The customer experience on the ground could have been better. We had to reschedule our flight because of a delay on the previous flight. The attendants working the desk in Washington DC were not helpful. They told us to scan a QR code and that would get us rebooked. Why couldn't two people standing at their computers do this? We had to chat with someone to get everything figured out. It was extremely confusing.
We took two long flights with Lufthansa, both were delayed making us miss our connecting flights. Lufthansa took care of the first one. The second was a switch to United and figuring out how to rebook was not a pleasant experience.
Cabin crew lovely and accommodating and I'll always fly BA in the future
It was perfect. The service was exceptional. I would never want to cross the Atlantic in anyone else's sardine tins.
As I have said it sucked, the ticket counter to have to find and pay for another airline to get home. Now I understand this happened over the weekend but they should have someone there to talk to us instead of throwing the regular crew under the bus.
Everything excellent except for bag drop off. We started at the D area and that was so slow that it was eventually closed just as we were about to go to a station. We then went to F. We got one suitcase checked and then the screen showed that the station was no longer operable. There were long lines everywhere so we had to ask if we could butt in to the next station to finish. Again, this was the only incident, otherwise it was an excellent flying experience
Adequate to good experience. Comfort was mediocre but everything else was good..
Poor all around experience. Sat at gate in Grand Rapids to Chicago for 2.5 hours. No food or water offered and no allowances to use restroom. Missed connecting flight to London and not offered any compensation including food or lodging. Not happy with AA, claims delay was weather related but no weather issues seen on radar. Take ownership for real reason behind delay which was actually the IT outage. Very disappointing and will not be recommending AA for domestic or international flights if this is the way that customers are treated.
Flight cancelled, lost luggage, crappy meal voucher. Nothing was good. Still dont have my luggage.
what would have been better would have been that my booking not been canceled by the system and had I been informed that the booking had been cancelled by the system I could have immediately rebooked and not found out that there was an issue when I was told by the system that I needed to book in. It would have also been good if either the booking agent or BA or anyone been in anyway useful. In the end I had to rebook a flight at an additional cost of $350. So no I'm not impressed by BA any of the other parties involved.
Boarding was poor. Why are first class passengers not boarded first?! Bus to the plane and then held on a packed bus because we were waiting for people on the bus before to finish boarding. Seat belt on the fist clas seat is very uncomfortable, cutting into your neck. Other than that crew, seating and food were all excellent. Entertainment, as usual - rubbish.
I paid for full WIFI- it was terrible, kept being in and out could not listen to a podcast