My husband and I recently had an unfortunate experience with Lufthansa. At the Philadelphia International airport, the ground staff refused to board us because we didn’t have a current visa stamped on our passports for Frankfurt. We completely understand that this was our mistake. we should have double-checked the visa requirements before our trip. However, the issue that upset us most was how the situation was handled by the staff. They told us they would mark it as “boarding denied due to visa issue”, but instead they recorded it as “no show”. Because of that incorrect entry, our return flight was automatically cancelled as well, which caused additional stress and expense. Mistakes can happen, but we expected more transparency and accuracy from a reputed airline like Lufthansa. It would have made a big difference if the staff had been more careful and considerate in documenting the situation correctly.
During booking, I kept trying submitting my payment from the Mexican website and it didn't work. After I had the idea to change it to the Canadian website, it worked but I had to be charged the equivalent of 50 CAD more. I received the clear instruction that I would only be able to check-in at the airport and that it was impossible to select a seat 24 hours before departure, that I had to pay 144 CAD to do so, although not only was I able to check-in 24 hours before departure, but I could have selected my seats for free then. All in all, I almost threw $200 out the window due to misleading information. Besides, the app kept crashing, the information to get to the gate on the app was inaccurate, my gate was switched and I was only informed once in the air (luckily I had noticed the departure pannel), I was not addressed in my language beforehand and even if I tried I was immediately answered in English (which meant the crew understood but didn't want to answer accordingly), there was only one snack & beverage service on my medium haul flight and no beverage service on my short haul flight. To be fair, the planes were comfortable, the crew apart from the language issue was helpful, dynamic and engaging, the plane was clean and the directions were clear and direct. United has a lot of potential to be one of my favourite airlines, but the devil is in the details and a lot of them missed the target.
Flight was timely, relatively comfortable, with decent entertainment and food served. Only problem encountered was with the free messaging which I highly appreciate, but it did not work from iphone to non-iphones.
Better WiFi. I cannot understand that in 2025, United is so behind on a technology that is now a necessity and still painfully unreliable, slow and keeps disconnecting.
The entertainment available didn’t work for anyone on the flight. Long 6 hr flight with no entertainment option and the staff didn’t know until an hour into the flight when we made sure they knew about it. They had no way to fix it.
Crew seemed a bit cranky. No seatback screens. But boarding was efficient and on time and we arrived early.
The worst landing I have ever had on a domestic flight. Thought we would lose the landing gear on landing in Newark. Then we spent 40 minutes trying to position the plane in the right place to be able to get the jet way to the plane. The plane arrived stopped. The announcer was that we were there. Everybody got up, then we were told to sit back down because they had to have us towed to a different position. We got towed and then everyone stood up and they told us we were in the wrong position to sit back down again, and then we got towed to a different position This did not happen immediately. It was 30 minutes while we wandered around a small section of the tarmac in Newark close to the gate, but apparently not close enough. Horrifying experience The CAB should be investigating that flight
Boarding was organized. Plane seats comfortable and service was attentive. Food options were good.
This was a very average flight. The seat was out of alignment so more uncomfortable than usual. The cabin felt not well maintained. But I safely got where I needed to go.
Trip was great. A wild landing in Ottawa with the wind and rain, but the pilot did a great job. Always love flying United.👍
