United Airlines Reviews

Pros

The flight benefits and the insurance package is good. There are lots of locations to choose from for travel outside the USA.

Cons

I have received no formal training after nearly five years. Management does little to support growth within the company. The is little to no communication with management. Getting time off is near impossible.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate what is expected on a regular basis. Keep employees informed regarding major procedural changes. Make command decisions when needed. Establish then enforce proper procedures. Properly train new hires and allow as much new training as an employee wants.

Pros

-The insurance is amazing. You get medical, dental, and vision for yourself and your dependents. Never before have I worked at a place with such good benefits. I don't have a family but if I did, I'd be thanking my lucky stars.

-The flexibility with work schedules is unheard of. You can basically work as much or as little as you like and operations makes it very easy to do through a system of shift trades and voluntary off days. I cannot express how great this is. You can work up to 16 hours per day or take months off. It's amazing for people who are pursuing higher education or have second jobs.

-The job itself is quite easy. It takes very basic analytical reasoning skills along with an elementary grasp of critical thinking skills and logic. The computer program used in most areas is very basic-anyone who can use the internet with any degree of ability can learn the program fairly quickly. And, if you make mistakes, it can be fixed very easily.

-You get great discounts on everything from hotels to cellphone service to perfumes to computers. Basically all companies give you a discount if you have your employee ID or badge. I never pay "sticker price" for anything.

-The best reason to work there though is, of course, FREE FLIGHTS. I have been all over the world and haven't paid anything for it. There is a small fee for traveling first or business class but even traveling overseas it doesn't get into triple digits. You will get spoiled flying nothing but first class. If you can deal with flying standby, it's the best reason to have the job. People whine about not getting guaranteed space flying as an employee but I've never minded. Unless you're trying to get to Europe in the summer with 5 people or over a holiday there's not an issue. Believe it or not though, there are people in my office who don't even have passports.

Cons

- The pay is awful. Even with a college degree you will start off at minimum wage and years later will only be making a few dollars more. Average hourly rate in the city I work in (according to official state website) is $22.55. I make less than half that-and I've been there for a good while. Salary increases are based only on time, not performance. The best performer in the office who brings in the most revenue will make just as much as the person who makes you wonder how they even got hired. You will top out at around $20 and that's after a good 15 years spend at the company. I wish i were exaggerating. I don't know how people raise families on that wage but those are the people working the 16 hour shifts.

-You have absolutely no hope of advancement. All promotions are based on seniority ONLY. Again, you can be the top performer in the office and the person next to you who files their nails and snaps their gum all day automatically gets promoted before you if they've been there longer. You can't even blame office politics, it's all a numbers game. If someone was hired in a day before you were, they will always get priority over you, no matter how stellar your work is. It only encourages mediocrity. You do the bare minimum to get by because, really, it doesn't behoove you to expend your energy on something that may net nothing more than a certificate and a $5 Starbucks gift card. Going above and beyond is really just altruism.

-If you have a thin skin or sensitive constitution, don't bother. Although I have rarely had this problem (no more than other other job where one works with the public), I have heard some truly nasty things said to agents by customers. I'm talking gender-specific epithets, racist comments, and just plain ridiculous comments. Sometimes customers don't see you as a real person and they can get really abusive. I don't take it personally but some of my more sensitive coworkers have ran out of the building in tears before. If you can chuckle and shake your head when someone's dropping f-bombs and screaming, you'll be fine. If not, you should probably look elsewhere for work.

-This is just a personal peeve of mine but the management treats us like they're kindergarten teachers who are afraid of an unruly class. We are so micromanaged to the point where they send supervisors to walk the floor and make sure we aren't eating or on our cellphones or chit chatting with each other instead of working. And, of course, this is all under the guise of "supportive management." If you treat your staff like children, you give an automatic license for them to act like children. Most days I feel like I'm in high school. We even get little certificates, pencils, chocolates, and ice cream socials when we've done whatever new (and generally useless) "selling technique" they've dreamed up. Management and supervisors are so out of touch that when they monitor our performance, we actually need to correct them on procedure and policy. I have been in management before (when the job market was better and a college degree from one of the best schools in the nation actually meant something) and I wouldn't dream of doing half the condescending crap that our management does. It's actually quite demeaning.

Advice to Senior Management

-Offer opportunities to those who show skill and drive. Either that or you'll lose your good workforce and be left with the zombies who go through the motions only for a paycheck.

-Provide a living wage and accommodate salary flexibility for those whose educations and experience are valuable to their positions. Leave the minimum wage for kids who just graduated high school.

-Forget the ice cream socials and pats on the head. Give us real incentive to sell like profit sharing systems or small commission benefits. We rake in hundreds of thousands individually every year, surely you want that to continue?

-Trust me to do my job. No, actually, trust that your trainers did the job you hired them for. Nothing has caught on fire yet, clearly the airline hasn't folded so someone must be grasping basic concepts.

-Put supervisors on the floor, not only to monitor and listen in on phone calls but to practice their skills directly with customers. They have mountains of paperwork to process which ultimately gets thrown away-did you really expect me to keep that certificate or that thank you note? Why not put these resources to better use and let them experience what we experience so that they can come up with strategies that make sense both to both the staff and the brand.

Pros

Employee travel benefits are great. Mid/Senior management compensation is excellent. Airline industry is complex, so lots of interesting opportunities and problems to solve. If one is looking for challenge in their role, there is lots!

Cons

With each new change in Senior Management, lots of things change since they are given complete freedom. This could become disruptive esp with lots of management changes have happened the past few years.
HQ divided among multiple locations and lots of facilities moves is reason for loss of productivity.
If one has worked at United long enough, one can see the same projects/ideas/cycles float every few years - deja vu.

Advice to Senior Management

Institute a "common culture" across the board (definite opportunity with UA/CO merger). Currently culture is very localized and each Division Head is given free rein. Can be very disruptive.

Pros

flying benefits and challenging indurstry

Cons

Senior management, bad corporate culture

Advice to Senior Management

Just leave. I hope Continental can change the culture and revive the morale

Pros

Flight benefits
Good people
Airline travel is fun!

Cons

Lack of training
Training Coordinators were not helpful, they insult you when you need help!
Supervisors show no regard to the employees and look for ways to fire you for the little mistakes that can be corrected!
When you're fired they humiliate you!

Advice to Senior Management

This airline needs to go out of business! Lack of intelligence by management who lies to you! Show lack of regards to their employees!

Pros

Headquarters is located downtown Chicago in a very nice building.

Cons

No one received bonuses due to company's inability to generate profits, everyone was always on edge regarding the security of their positions and potential layoffs.

Advice to Senior Management

Replace all SVPs and above with outside talent

Pros

If you aren't interested in respect for a job well done and can afford to not need to work, then this is the job for you. It's easy and it's fun. You will see the world and have a great time doing it.

Benefits are outstanding, medical, dental and vision. Standby flights encompass the world at a very inexpensive price.

Cons

You will never increase your position by doing a job well. You increase your standing at United by getting old. The longer you stay, the better your seniority gets. It's a simple process but doesn't encourage hard work.

Management treats employees horribly, trying to constantly figure a way to fire you.

They change the rules but hide them at the same time. You must pay attention to the rules or risk beginning the discipline process. Don't even think about getting sick. They want paperwork for everything. One missed trip and they start adding 'points' against you to use in their discipline process. Very juvenile experience.

Advice to Senior Management

Start treating the employees like adults. We behave the way we do so often simply because you treat us like children. Shared sacrifice...what was that? Try to encourage a team effort instead of the adversarial positions we all maintain now and this good airline can become a great airline.

Pros

you get a chance to fly around for real cheap....use to fly first class but not likely anymore....don't stay long travel as much as you can then move on to better things

Cons

work weekends weird hours demanding customers who want it all and want to pay 15 dollars to travel from la to hnl (lol)

Advice to Senior Management

have employees rate their bosses, have undercover management employees travel as customers to get the real feel of traveling and roam around the airport terminals

Pros

Flight benefits are the only thing that keeps me at United. If you like to travel this is a good company to work for.

Cons

Layoffs. Over 50,000 people have lost their jobs since I started with the company. Flight benefits are getting harder and harder to use due to full planes. Many contractors from India since their is not a single person in the United States with the required job skills. Moving downtown from the suburbs.

Advice to Senior Management

There are a lot of good employees at UA; stop wasting money on bringing in worthless and expensive contractors from India.

Pros

Somewhat flexable schedules
You get to work with some incredible people that you otherwise would likely never meet.

Cons

Employee morale is extremely low
I have lost all respect for managerment.
Management treats employees like a liability
Senior management is perceived to be incompetent and greedy.

Advice to Senior Management

If you want a successful merger, settle union contracts now. Work towards building a positive work environment and culture.,,now