Our United Airlines experience. Plus more

outwestidaho

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South Africa, cape of south Africa , Namibia, Alaska, British Columbia, Manitoba
Just returned from Eastern cape . 9 of us flew United airlines.
We booked our air ten months before this hunt. Price was $1400.00 from Idaho. When we booked most peoples complaint was Newark gun handling.
Going over-------
Show up for the flight from Idaho to Denver. Flight leaves 3 hours late because it was to hot to fly and runway to short. So they say.
Cant make connecting flight so overnight in Denver.

Denver to Newark---
2 hours late , no problem as we had a 5 hour layover in Newark.

Newark to Joberg---
20 minutes late but made it up in the air somehow and were 5 mins early on arrival.

Overnight in Joberg at city lodge everything great.

Next day Air link to Port Elisabeth----
on time no problems with guns or flight.


Return home ----

Airlink to Joberg.

3 hours early to airport. Airlink cant run credit cards for gun fees so must pay cash. Card Machine wouldn't work. They wont take US dollar, has to be rand. So across airport to exchange money Exchange takes 17 minutes per person. They wont take card so must pay US cash. 2 pieces of paper to fill out to get money and copy of passport.
I exchanged money for 3 others in our group as we are running out of time to make the flight and cant wait 17 minutes for each person. Cost to exchange US dollars for 3500 rand $88 dollars in exchange fees and $216.00 US must be exact cash. So made it happen between 3 of us and a kind lady standing by to do her exchange.
Back to office to pay fees. Check guns in and go through security. Flight on time and we made it 15 minutes before boarding call. Good flight.

United now informs us they have cancelled our flight back to Newark.
Stay another day in Joberg and we all went shopping.

Arrive to Airport 5 hours early plane is full and over booked. Bruce from Gracy travel goes and talks to some airline people and were on the flight.

Flight is on time and arrives on time. We only have a 2.5 hour lay over in Newark so knew it would be close.
some of our bags don't arrive. TSA wont let us check guns until we have all bags. But we cant get all bags when there not there.
Ask other people no hope. Back to TSA guys still a big no. Out of no where appears an older gentleman in a suit and he works for United and says follow me to get the guns done. But we say TSA says no and he says he doesn't care and we get personal trip past them to check our guns and back to security for our flight when done. Security long slow line running out of time as our flight is already boarding. Cheat and slip through long line and cut to the front. No one had a problem with this except TSA that we know of. TSA, chews wifes ass as they caught her. She told them were late and have to get through. That's the Short version of her deal with them when I was coming back to her and they let her go. Make it to the other side, grab our things and start running to gate.
Get to gate and door is closed , plane loaded. Ask lady standing there if we could still get on flight. She said I will call down. She said your lucky, plane door hast been shut so I can let you go. On we went. She said 1 more minute and we wouldn't have gotten on.
Flight was on time to Denver. We only had a 45 minute lay over so away we went. Made pre board by 10 minutes.
Flight to Idaho on time --good flight.
Go to get our bags----- we are missing 7 bags in all for everyone in group. Guns make it.
They are still looking for our bags. They disappeared from the earth.

We Booked through Gracy Travel. When we had our canceled flights I called Gracy they're time at 1 AM They had all our flights re booked in less than a half hour. Bruce from Gracy in the airport made it all very easy and I believe he pulled some strings as multiple people that also were on our flight that was canceled were going to have to stay 3 more days. Some had booked through other travel agents but they didn't make it on . Dont know who they booked with. One guys said his friend wasn't able to get booked for 6 more days.

Actual flying part with United was good. Planes good ---food--- well its airplane food. They failed in every way they possibly could. But all United employees were nice and helpful.

The hunt well thats a later story.
 
Last edited:
Hole-Lee Crap. What a joke of an airline.
 
That's not stressful at all. Damn.
 
Seems to be the trend these days. That sucks.
Just a question, when flights have to be rebooked, who pays the fees? The travel agent or the customers?
 
Seems to be the trend these days. That sucks.
Just a question, when flights have to be rebooked, who pays the fees? The travel agent or the customers?
We never paid anything extra.
 
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returning today from trip to RSA, 3 hours from my own bed.

we flew Delta there, klm/delta back. minor issues bit nothing like above

talked about next trip, more then likely not flying delta again, unreliable
 
Wow, and I thought I had bad trips on United.
 
Makes my trip on United last year sound smooth. I do like the sound of your $1,400 fare. I'm looking at tickets for next years hunt, and it's about double that.
Gracy and Bruce are great to work with.
 
Sounds similar to the nonsense I've been dealing with. Also from Idaho. My route in June was simple, SLC-FRA-WDH. The flight out of Salt Lake on EuroWings can't depart due to temperature, fuel load, and too much cargo. They say come back in the morning, we'll try again. So, we come back, leave 3 hours late, make an unscheduled stop in Halifax for gas, and then on to Frankfurt, a day late. Had to claim and recheck firearm due to counter people in SLC not knowing what to do. That fiasco took 5 hours. Get rebooked on the second leg (thanks Gracy), and make it without problems, but I've missed my Windhoek to Caprivi flight. End up making a 12-hour car trip to get there.

Great hunt. No issues on the way home except for a 90-minute parade through the entire Denver airport trying to re-check the rifle. Make the gate with 20 minutes to spare. No lost luggage. No real drama with the rifles. Miracle.

Went to Europe a couple weeks ago. Got there fine on Delta through Schiphol. The trip home was supposed to be Lufthansa/United from Prague through Frankfurt. Lufthansa decides to take a one-day strike. We get rebooked 4 separate times on various airlines trying to get out of Prague. Many cancellations. Leave the hotel at 3 AM for the airport without a solid plan. At one point we're booked through Doha, but one leg of that itinerary gets cancelled. Eventually they find a last-minute more direct route through Paris on Air France/Delta. Tickets issued by travel agent. Go to get boarding passes. Despite having purchased the tickets, they won't give us a boarding pass from Prague to Paris. Some technical issue with the Prague-Doha segment still being active. Lufthansa and Qatar agents nowhere around to help. Wife and I end up purchasing additional one-way tickets to get to Paris with no time to spare. We clear security and barely make the plane. The airport shuttle driver in Paris takes the wrong route and we waste 45 minutes circling the ENTIRE AIRPORT. We hit Seattle, clear customs, and make our flight as they're calling out our names prior to closing the door. On this trip we had only carry-on luggage, thank goodness. No way luggage could have followed us through that mess.

It ain't that much fun anymore guys.
 
All, I fly back and forth to Africa often, lately I am loosing bags about every third trip. I highly recommend adding airtags to your luggage. My bags were lost in Heathrow a month ago and I was able to tell the agent exactly where they were and they were recovered in a few days. I can also make sure they are actually on my flight before I leave. Its awesome and works like a charm, even in remote parts of Africa. Iphones are everywhere !

 
Pure madness!! I'm sorry to hear of all this drama!! My experience with United last September then this May to Africa was not nearly as bad, hopefully, my trip over to Africa this September isn't so hateful as what you just experienced!!
 
I just flew Delta from Atlanta to Johannesburg - there was a mechanical delay leaving the US but other than that everything was pleasant and flawless. Gun handling was easy. I got text messages every time my bags were moved. I knew, at least based on the text, that my gun was on-board when the plane took off. If I go back, I'll probably fly Delta again.
 
TSA-Pre and Global Entry, I've never spent more than five minutes in any security checkpoint in the U.S.
A hundred bucks and a background check is good for five years, renew online for another five years.
Like the AMEX ad used to say, don't leave home without it.
 
What I have noticed locally is that the moment covid19 travel restrictions started, airline CEOs started laying off most of ground staff, baggage handlers and customer support staff. A great many of these people then left the industry and went to work in other other more stable industries. Now that the travel restriction have lifted, the airlines are having to start again with new inexperienced staff, reduced numbers and employees who no longer have any belief in their employer. It doesn't take Einstein to figure out the result. I suspect this is a common experience globally.
 
Wow, crazy indeed. I flew in April with United and Gracy Travel, no delays and no problems MKE-Newark-Johannesburg. I know this isn’t for everyone, but I highly recommend what I did. Fly with only one Cary on luggage, no gun. Smooth sailing using the outfitter’s gun (Nick Bowker Hunting).
 
TSA-Pre and Global Entry, I've never spent more than five minutes in any security checkpoint in the U.S.
A hundred bucks and a background check is good for five years, renew online for another five years.
Like the AMEX ad used to say, don't leave home without it.
We had zero problems and only spent less than 15 minutes on entry with mobile pass port control
 
We had zero problems and only spent less than 15 minutes on entry with mobile pass port control
Good to hear you had no problems..........FWB
 

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