United Airlines is Good

Today, I received my air ticket for Seattle.

I love the ticket

Yes. I love the ticket issued by United Airlines. It is a decent paper ticket with a nice cover. It is also informative. I can easily find the starting point and the destination, with local times. It is bad to see some air tickets in China only give the departure time without arrival time.

For the departure airport, the United is thoughtful enough to add /PUDO to Shanghai, while most tickets only print Shanghai as the departure airport. There is airport code PVG somewhere in the ticket, but it is not easy for common travellers to recongize whether it is Pudong airport or Hongqiao airport. This has caused lots of confusion.

Here is the information printed on my ticket.

10NOV UNITED FLIGHT: 858 CLASS: M SU SHANGHAI/PUDO DEPART: 1300 SAN FRANCISCO ARRIVE: 0725 TERMINAL I [Meal] [Meal] [Film]

10NOV UNITED FLIGHT: 366 CLASS: M SU SAN FRANCISCO DEPART: 0857 SEATTLE ARRIVE: 1101 TERMINAL I [Music] ETKT: 016 2188233825

Return ticket:

16NOV UNITED FLIGHT: 1547 CLASS: M SU SHANGHAI/PUDO DEPART: 0935 SAN FRANCISCO ARRIVE: 1140 TERMINAL 3 [Music]

16OV UNITED FLIGHT: 857 CLASS: M SA SAN FRANCISCO DEPART: 1335 SHANGHAI/PUDO ARRIVE: 1910 TERMINAL I [Meal] [Meal] [Film]

It is very good.I believe every business should provide enough information to their client on tickets, invitation letter, or web site like this.

It is a ETKT (e-ticket)

According to United Airline website,

Electronic tickets are stored in United’s computer rather than printed on paper. United’s E-Ticket service is similar to the traditional paper ticket process, but eliminates the time and hassle associated with purchasing or exchanging a paper ticket. Electronic ticketing is the primary ticketing method used by our customers.

I apprieciate this kind of effort to utilize computer and network and reduce the cost of paper ticket. I have the experience of E-Ticket before. When I was flying to Seattle in the year of 2001, the only evidence I need to fly is the passport. I shown the passport to the lady at the gate of the plane and I got my boarding pass immediately. No questions were asked. It is fantasitic - I thought.

A Bug in Mileage Plus

Not all my experience about United is perfect. My mileage Plus is an example.

After travel via United for some time, I finally decided to apply for a United Mileage Plus Membership. It is good that I easy found the entrance to Mileage Plus at the homepage, but when I fill in the application form, I didn’t realize they need at least 3 questions for the “Secure access questions” section. It is buried in the long paragraph. So I entered into only one field and clicked Join.

An error message prompted to enter three. OK. I entered three question accordingly. But after that, whenever I press the Join button, it always tells me “You have submitted”. It is obvious that the programmer associted this message when the “Join” button is clicked but he didn’t realize the submitting process may be stopped by the validation routines.

– Pardon me if I am too picky. I was a test lead for one software project.

I cannot complete the transaction

After I reload the form and re-enter all the required field, I am told I cannot apply a mileage plus. I don’t know why and the web site didn’t tell me about it. I tried to call their Shanghai representivieat +86-21-62798009 only to find their business hour is 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM.

Anyway, United is a good company

…and I am looking forward to travel with United next week.

Update July 17, 2003

More information about United Airilines:

Beijing

Telephone: (010) 6463 1111

Address: Scite Tower

Suite 204, 22 Jianguomenwai Ave No.2

Beijing, 100016

or

Beijing Lufthansa Center

No. 50 Liang ma qiao Road

Beijing 100016

Shanghai

Telephone: (021) 6279 8009

Address: Shanghai Center, Portman Ritz Carlton Hotel

1376 Nanjing Road West

Level 2 South Podium Suite 204

Shanghai 200040