United Airlines: Is one of the top most-complained about airlines, according to Department of Transportation statistics. Like most legacy carriers, they've been finding ways to make your frequent flier miles expire and hard-to-use. Sometimes their flights are strewn with garbage, other times, mice wantonly frolic, or they lose your cat in the cargo hold for 3 weeks (unfortunately the last two can never seem to coincide).
This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america/
STILL OPEN FOR VOTING: Exxon vs Crocs, Google Vs Sony, Ticketmaster vs Wachovia, Facebook vs The American Arbitration Association, Comcast vs Menu Foods
]]>I voted Starbucks because I think that a company's "evilness" should be inversely weigthed by its usefulness. Millions of people use UA for getting from point A to point B, but I can hardly see a point in the existence of a huge multinational coffeehouse chain. Why people come to Starbucks in the mornings to get coffee from coffee machines when every workplace already has the same coffee machines?
]]>The local Starbucks stores offer some of the best customer service in town.
]]>Starbucks..eh..it's an obnoxious viral proliferation that sells overpriced $5 coffee to whiney customers, but I can't say that I've ever left a Starbucks feeling like I was mistreated (I mean, I knew it was overpriced when I went in there).
Oh, and United..with your fuel surcharges and extra-bag surcharges...you suck. It'll be interesting to see which company goes under first as the country slips into recession.
]]>Lying to customers and providing terrible customer service -- what a great way to get out of bankruptcy!
Starbucks may serve burnt coffee, but at least they provide health insurance in an industry that's not known for taking care of employees.
]]>Starbucks? Well, one time the barista spilled a little coffee on my tie, for which I got three or four free drink coupons. Bitch about their coffee all you want, but most of the little neighborhood places that they drove out of business made worse, and they usually had worse service, too.
]]>Starbucks is just another blight on the greatest city in the world. And it isn't like we even go there to get their overpriced crap.
]]>The thing that kills me on this web site is in one post, everyone will bash Walmart for its poor treatment of employees yet with Starbucks the comment of $4 for a cup comes up yet Starbucks offers employees health care and stock options. So make up your minds, cheap and screw the worker or pay a bit more so that someone can have a job with some benefits. As for their coffee, I like it but most people in the States (and Canada) have really really weak coffee tastes.
As for this vote, UA FTW.
]]>One of the mildy interesting things to do when I was visiting england (when looking for a quick place to eat) was to stop in at fast food chain & compare/try all the different items the english versions had compared to the american versions. Examples.... english pizzahut cheeseballs & English McD's curry-flavoured chicken mcnugget sauces. lol
Sad thing was.... when i stopped into different pubs & restaurants in england to try the local food..... it often turned out that I did NOT like most of the food they served (it IS true what they say about english food). SO it was often easier to just stop in at the "evil i DO know" (fast food places) than the "evil I didnt know" (pubs/restaurants with bad food).
]]>The flight attendent encouraged her to wait to feed her child until they arrived at their destination but offered a blanket to cover herself and the baby.
The company has since apologized to Tetrault, saying the company policy is actually that breastfeeding should only be stopped if it poses a safety hazard to the mother or other passengers." via: [thelactivist.blogspot.com]
Since when does letting your screaming baby eat the best possible food available pose a "safety hazard?"
]]>Wow, that's a small way to live a life.
]]>That said, I hate Starbucks because they are part of the homogenization of America. Destroying the notion of the great American road trip. What is the point of seeing this great nation if every town is exactly the same as the next.
"How was your trip?"
"It was great! The Starbucks I went to had 18 tables inside! Ours only has 16 tables inside. And then we saw a Wal-Mart that was even bigger than our Wal-Mart! And then we had dinner at the Olive Garden....It felt just like home."
]]>I dont blame you.... I almost went the same way in this poll.
]]>I hate the starbucks on every corner thing. They are more prevalant than McDonalds fast food places in this country, but UA definately beats starbucks in this poll.
I HATE starbucks (& their pretentiousness)& wish it went up against a lesser evil in this poll just so I could vote for them. Starbuck's "baristas" (*rollseyes*) are in a miserable class all their own.
]]>United Air has a great chance of getting my business if I ever have to fly. This means I have an equally high chance of having to deal with them. EVIL! :)
]]>I'm voting for Starbucks because... well I just hate Starbucks.
Yeah, that's right, I'm making an emotionally motivated vote for once. Like none of 'yall haven't! :P
]]>Try flying one of their little commuter jets during a storm...
]]>Could you imagine Starbucks baristas being unionized. It will be like getting your coffee at the DMV. Starbucks is supposed to be a part-time gig (for they are offered health insurance) and not meant to be a job where you long for the day you can retire and recieve a gold watch. These kids make some decent cash on the side as well as a decent salary for a kid in college. I had to vote for United today I've never been a fan and are definately worse than Starbucks by a double shot.
]]>But my last experience with United was pretty good...got the seats I wanted, no hassles at the airport or with luggage, everything was on time, staff were pleasant.
I haven't set foot in a Starbucks in years, but I do find the latte sipping crowd to be mildly annoying, so I guess I'll vote for them.
]]>but it's never left me stranded in an airport after lying about weather in the destination city, so...
I'm going with United.
insert "I voted" sticker here.
]]>I just love United (NOT!). I travel on business a fair amount, and even when paying horrible high fares ($800+), I get stuck on flights when "no reserved seating available. Two weeks in advance. Then get jammed on a middle seat in an aging aircraft, with marginal service, sticky seats, etc. And the plane is 99% full. There is no way they can't afford to clean the planes or reinstate some of the "frills" that they used to have. I've started traveling Contintental or Frontier, both of which offer exponentially better service for less.
]]>Seriously though - United all the way - nothing but bad experiences with them.
]]>I don't drink coffee, but I'd like to think that if I did, I wouldn't be an idiot paying $4 a cup for it.
UA for the win.
]]>Can we up the ante to two matchups a day? It is going to be June by the time we have a winner.
p.s. - - I voted Starbucks. UAL doesn't make me jittery and have to pee.
]]>As a result, my tax dollars are now funding the pensions of bitter surly United flight attendants and other employees. Great. My ticket money pays their salary and my income taxes pay their pensions. And still they treat passengers like dogs.
Thanks United!
]]>They do a lot of good stuff on the people side of it. The business side is just backwards.
]]>United never did gave back that money they stole from that old couple.
]]>Fair enough. Like I said, I must be grumpier than I thought.
]]>United Airlines all the way.
]]>@Peeved Guy: It's called seeding. Think NCAA.
]]>You forgot about how United airlines served spoiled turkey to their employees to say Happy Thanksgiving...
What's next? Who's the worse person?
*Johnny's granny, who feeds him cookies with trans fats with whole milk
-or-
* That creepy guy down the street who always has candy and smells like cheese?
@arras: Don't forget you can "upgrade" to premium economy for a couple of inches of extra leg room for ~$50 per segment. The back of economy gives you so little leg room it's absurd.
And the premium economy upgrade gives you nothing but the extra leg room... no extra snack-mix, crackers or whatevers.
]]>No contest on this one. I fly but I don't drink coffee. I do like bothering my girlfriend when she orders her mocha-latte-capu-expresso juice by correcting her to the sales clerk by saying that she really wants a "large".
United by a landslide.
]]>Actually laughed out loud at that - isn't there some way to turn this into a lolcat?
]]>I love Starbucks. :)
]]>As someone who doesn't drink coffee, Starbucks has never intruded on my life at all. I just don't get all the hate. Viewing numerous locations of a store in a particular town doesn't inconvienence me in the least.
]]>I'll take "burnt" coffee and cookie-cutter chain stores over a horrible airline any day of the week
]]>This should be a blowout like yesterday. You think their coffee is burnt? That's nothing compared to united's customer service.
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