YSK that United has significantly escalated their war against basic economy passengers
So I went to check in online, and it asked me to check some boxes for what luggage I wanted to bring on board. I did, and it told me that to carry on both a backpack and a roller bag it’ll be $45, or $65 if I try to play games and they have to check stuff at the gate.
I said fuck that, and unchecked some boxes. It said I couldn’t check in without putting a credit card on file, that they would charge if there were any issues and they wound up needing to charge me for my luggage. It wouldn’t let me continue without putting a credit card on file and checking a box that said they could charge me for my luggage, if they felt it was excessive.
I said fuck that and decided to check in at the airport. I threw all my stuff in a backpack to remove any wiggle room, and the kiosk said the same thing. I talked to one of the people, and she said it’s a new policy. I pointed out that I paid for my ticket, she could see I had only a backpack, and I wanted to get in the airplane. She told me to go talk to the guy at the end.
I talked to the guy at the end, politely, and eventually he printed a boarding pass for me. But you should know they’re up to some bullshit.
You know what's objectively worst than united, as per polls and feedback?
Every Canadian airline.
We used to have a good one, but they just got bought out by scumbags. It wasn't the one with our country in the name. Now they both suck worse than the other. You don't think that's possible, logically, but you'll find out it's true.
Can't be air canada and repressed trauma prevents me from acknowledging WestJet's existence, so I'm going to guess the good one is Harbour Air. They run the cute little seaplanes you see around Vancouver and Victoria. I hear that boarding one when the system clock is set to 3am unlocks a special area where you can catch spirit bears.
They have good flights but they do make a lot of noise at the waterfront. The smell of avgas is overwhelming, too. Nothing against them, it's unavoidable, but I'm looking forward to their electric Beaver plane.
Air North is pretty good so far, but no frills and I don't know if they do long hauls.