UNITED PREMIER ACCESS

Air Canada changed their schedule and moved our flight home to 3 days later, which we cannot do.
Flying on points so instead of a direct flight home on AC we are now United to Chicago, overnight at ORD and then 6AM AC to Toronto.
Never flown United.
Is their Premier Access @ $15 each worth out when leaving SXM? We are in row 11 so not buried at back of the bus.
Thank you, Merci

We have had Premier Access for years. Leaving SXM it's really not worth it at the moment. They do allow you to leave in boarding group 1 or 2, but you only get on the bus 1st. That means the later boarding groups get on later but are then closer to the doors and get off ahead of you and get to the plane ahead of you. Not worh the extra cost in my opinion.

Think twice about flying United. We flew last year with United. They took off several hours late because of a plane issue. We missed our connection and we were stranded in Newark. When we were at the airport, they promised they would take care of our expenses. I got the name of the woman and everything. To make a long story short, the only expenses they covered was for food which had to be eaten at the airport. We opted to take another flight home because we didn't want to be stranded in Newark all day. They said they would refund the second leg of the trip. Mind you, we flew first class. They refunded a total of $40.
IF you go to United Facebook page, you will see that this is NOT a unique experience. Their facebook page is riddled with people having the same issues. United lied to me!

Fantastic ...we are flying them one way (BOS-EWR_SXM) on Sunday which is a first for us. Never used them for SXM before...we'll see. (Flying Delta home)

Sorry to hear about this inconvenience. I have flown United many times to the U.S. west coast, and for the most part they are pretty good. One time I got stranded at ORD, and they made good by giving my wife and I food vouchers and two $100 gift certificates which they really didn't have to do. Better than American, Spirit, Frontier, and a few others IMO. I sort of agree with Leagle, it's really not worth the extra cost. Maybe you could ask Air Canada to cover that charge for you since they started this whole thing. I must say with a hint of humor that I would have to consider long and hard if someone told me that we couldn't leave St. Martin for another 3 days!

Well, we flew them down to SXM last year and didn't have any trouble. It was getting back. So, hopefully Boucharda you will be okay. I will never fly United again. Their "customer service" is terrible.

All airlines $%^&. If they haven't bitten you yet, just wait. They will. United is no better or worse than American, which is no better or worse than Delta.

Does Premier Access also provide a free bag?

I tend to disagree with Bastion above regarding all airlines. I have flown on almost all of them, and there is most definitely good ones and bad ones. United isn't my top choice, but I have flown with them several times to both San Francisco and Cancun with very few if any issues. They don't nearly cancel or change flight times as much as American does. When it comes to being on-time, here I have found them to be a bit below average. Delta, on the other hand, has been rock solid for us. Almost always on schedule, and when they have had time adjustments in the past it's always been reasonable and never more than say a half hour. Jet Blue is still my preferred choice to SXM, and if Southwest flew there I would probably have them in the mix as well. Jet Blue has more comfortable general seating, a bit more leg room, and by far better free snack choices on their shorter flights.

I bag to differ with you. You fly enough you could write as book on all airline mishaps. Granted some are better than other but all have delays and cancellations.

Correct and the biggest issue seems to be with how a particular airline deals with a specific problem. If one flies enough on any given airline, they will eventually experience a problem.

Now, back to the discussion regarding United Premier Access.

Very true, but the differences come from how they handle things when things go awry. My own personal experiences with AA have been so awful that I eliminate them every time I do a search for flights when flying anywhere domestically or internationally. I can't speak for others, but they've never, ever have tried to work things out with me one time. Albeit, United has it's share of problems but the one time they inconvenienced us they saw to it that our needs were met and for that I gained renewed trust with them. We were leaving SFO for a connecting flight through Chicago (ORD) when a minor mechanical issue caused a one-half hour delay in our take-off. The pilots couldn't make up the time, and when we finally landed in Chicago we missed our connecting flight (which was at a gate a 'mile' away). When I went to customer service window for United they apologized, gave us each $30 food vouchers for the day we were stranded in the airport, and promptly booked us on the next flight out that evening (which was some 8 hours later). They did, in my estimation, everything they could do. Delta did the same by us the following year when we were stranded at JFK coming back from SXM. They all have issues, but to me it's how they handle things when things go wrong that makes the all the difference.

Completely agree. In our case, United really screwed us royally. And then failed to be helpful after the fact. Michael and I fly a lot.....and have never had good service with United. Jet Blue on the other hand, has always been fantastic.

I definitely fall on the ‘if you fly often enough........’ but the thing is, for us, We no longer fly that much so our experiences are pretty much limited to airlines that service SXM which for us means basically JB or American with Delta out there, too, but usually far more expensive than the others.

I know I’m in the minority here but I seem to have far better experiences with AA even allowing for all their schedule changes. And as I’ve said so often, it’s not always the problem that causes angst but the way in which the problem is handled.

Our November JB departure from SXM was a giant mess......... and it only got worse as we landed in PR instead of our n/s flight and arrival into JFK that we booked and paid for. I know, I know - stuff happens but one Customer Service Rep on the ground at PR would have made a world of difference to all on that flight. The slice of (cold) pizza and cup of Sprite they finally offered us at ten o’clock that night was a nice touch as was the hundred dollar credit to our travel banks but in honesty, none of it made up for the unexplained delays and inconvenience that might have been avoided with a little fore-thought on the airlines part.

On the other hand, when confronted with our third set of AA changes for an up-coming April trip, I think the people at AA would have given me my own plane if I asked for it. They changed us each time to flights of our choice with no questions asked and even gave us a mileage bonus for all the inconvenience that ultimately lead to us cancelling the FF tickets. There were no issues with the refunds or reinstatement of miles and all was accomplished with the assistance of very personable and helpful AA CSRs.

In fairness, booking the JB flights to replace those seats wasn’t a problem either but we ended up paying more for the JB tix than we originally paid for our AA first class tickets and in order to use the JB credit given us we had to purchase our tickets and couldn’t use our points for FF seats as we had hoped unless we we’re willing to forfeit the travel bank awards.

Maybe I’m just lucky but as inconvenient as the frequent AA schedule changes always are I’ve always been treated well by AA and I’m sorry so many others have had such egative experiences.

As Ruralcarrier noted above, time to get back to the discussion about United Premier Access and if it's worth it. Premium Access is not the same as Premium Plus (which gives you a seat with more room, a larger entertainment screen, and dedicated overhead bin space. I think all Premier Access does is provide priority check-in but does not include any baggage incentives. So, I would decline that rather than pay the extra bucks. Airlines already have enough 'nickel and dime' charges so I try to avoid these every single time unless something really useful is included.

Google is your friend:

Thanks Pat. We are scheduled to depart CLT on 9 April and our AA flight was just pushed later by 4 hours. Do you think it's worth it to call AA and see if there is some gratuitous upgrade or anything else. We still get in the same day, albeit somewhat later.

Thanks,
Newt

I think Pat must have the market cornered on getting stuff from AA. AA cancelled my flight I had from Miami in May and put us on their other Miami flight, on the D*@*! Max 8. When I called to complain they said I could cancel and get my money back, but no free upgrade, etc. I'm still hoping they will delay using it further from the current May 8.

Carol and Newt,

Just lucky, I guess. I explained the three different changes on our FF flights home that had already happened and that I didn’t want to overnight and arrive home the next day as the latest change would have caused, along with the changes in our First class revenue flights and asked for my options. When we got all done with that I asked if they were offering any consideration for the numerous changes.

As far as an upgrade to first, we were already there on our revenue ticket, and I had no idea what the response to my email to the Customer Service Department might be. DH laughed at me wasting the effort so we were both pleasantly surprised by their generous mileage award. I doubt they’d give away complimentary Bus/First Class upgrades since those seats are so limited to begin with but you might bargain with them over the ‘brown’ seats on their seating chart. What have you got to lose?

Pat--that's what I asked for, the extra room seats, which on AA only get you extra room, as compared to Delta, where you get free drinks. No love.

Can't hurt, thanks again.

Carol,

Per the AA seat selection charts, the ‘brown’ revenue upgrade seats do include free drinks. And while I could be mistaken I think they also get you earlier boarding? We usually do these seats if we’re NOT flying First or Business but as we are basically non-drinkers I can’t swear to it from personal experience and I don’t recall the boarding and overhead space issues but I think they also offer special considerations for these items, too.

I guess I just get lucky with the CSRs I get because they are usually - not ALWAYS - but usually very accommodating.

I just checked for our flight from CLT, they are a $61 upcharge which gets us from Row 21 to Row 15, gives you 6 inches of extra legroom and free beer and wine. I think we'll pass since we are in FC on the return trip.

Newt

OK, I guess I was wrong. First time this year!

Boucharda, I will be very interested in your trip, as we are doing the same in February. (United down, Delta back). Seduced by price! HOPE you have a great flight!

OK.....United Airlines BOS-EWR_SXM.... zero issues. Got to EWR 20 min early so waited around 10 minutes for a gate. Left on time but waited in line on the runway for 50 minutes (MANY flights taking off in the AM) BUT got to SXM 10 minutes early so the runway time is built in. No issues on arrival in SXM. Note: we pulled in next to a jet way but still used the stair ramp and bus....getting on the bus many assumed that the door at the far end of the bus would be the one that opened but both opened so no issue.

Flights were EXTREMELY bumpy due to the weather......decent video options but the Directv only lasted around 15 minutes due to a route that took us decently out over the Atlantic...not the normal route and probably weather related.

Yup...the United down Delta back price did get our attention and so far it was a good move

...and....RE: Newark Airport terminal C....what a change. No more rows of seats at all the gate. They ALL have comfy chairs in groups of 2/4 and all have Ipads yup...over 5500 Ipads that you can surf the net AND order food and drinks to be delivered to your seat not cheap but definitely convenient...USB and 110v power also. VERY busy airport.....

Thanks all for the input...we will apply to $15 Premier Access charges to our last meal during the last day instead. We just need to sort out that last day of checking out, returning Kenny's wheels and then.......??

We are carry-on only so I was thinking if P-Access got us on the plane sooner we would not face already full overheads.The plan then is to be last on / first off the bus.

Are all departing passengers bused to the plane? Nobody walks from terminal to plane?

Either first group OR last on...first on can hang in the corner right as you enter OR go to the other end...middle group gets squashed

I saw MANY walking TO their aircraft but no one walking FROM any....

Just a follow up of the United down...Delta return flight.

Return...no issues with Delta. We were able to walk to the aircraft (SXM) instead of Priority boarding referring to just the bus since everyone gets on the bus together...walked a short distance and voila...love the Comfort+. Comfy flight to ATL and arrived a tad early...now ATL...huge airport....International terminal has 35 or so gates....and, count 'em..FIVE Global Entry terminals (four in service). Let's just say there was a crapload of travelers waiting to use those four terminals...and no more than 2 or 3 waiting in each regular Immigration line. Definitely worth checking out before you commit to GE at ATL ...(BOS has at least 10 terminals and nowhere as many International flights.)

After rechecking bags there were literally hundreds in the PreCheck lines but it moved along ok

Flight to BOS was fine...no issues other than a delay at the ATL jetway because of a spill, The no charge drinks (beer, wine, etc) made for a comfy flight

SO...definitely worth the bargain fares on both ends