A United Airlines passenger, trying to leave one of the world’s largest gaming festivals, DreamHack in Atlanta, found her flight cancelled after she’d spent four and a half hours at the airport. She used United’s ‘agent on demand’ product, where there’s no customer service help at the airport but you get a live agent to chat with via a QR code. You can use audio and text, and they opted for both.
I was supposed to leave Atlanta today, just spent 4.5hrs at the airport, and now my flight is cancelled…I coulda spent another day at Dreamhack, and watched all the esport finals today. 😭😭😭
— Ghost Saski (@Saskkiii) May 17, 2026
When you start a chat with an airline (united atleast) you can opt in for a text chat, or audio + text. I opted in for both, so it started the audio call! When she ended the chat, it all disappeared but at the beginning I even said ‘can you hear me?’ And ‘I can hear someone…
— Ghost Saski (@Saskkiii) May 18, 2026
The agent had no solutions. The passenger thinks the reservationist didn’t even check for one, just saying nothing was available. And, the customer says, the agent could be heard talking smack about her to a colleague.
Paula, the agent, said she checked for availability and there were no flights for the rest of the day. There were no flights the next day. “All full.”
When the customer asked what’s next, Paula replied: “Nothing.”
YO @united YOUR AGENT IS TALKIN SHIT ABOUT ME LMAOOO! This is actually the craziest customer service experience I’ve ever had. Fuck Paula 😭😂 pic.twitter.com/vLCzT04fEt
— Ghost Saski (@Saskkiii) May 17, 2026
Oddly, agent Paula asked whether the itinerary is “all on United.” That’s something that customer service should be able to see (unless it’s a third party booking ticketed by another carrier with multiple segments, where it’s possible they might see only the segment following the United one but not additional onward travel). And the agent kicked her to the 1-800 number.
The customer, Sierra, says she can hear everything Paula is saying – that she told a coworker that Sierra “is not being nice.” Sierra thinks Paula is dumping her to the 800 number rather than helping.
Paula responds, oddly: “I DO NOT HAVE A HEADSET” and “There is no one in my room” while Sierra says she is recording the entire call and can hear everything.
- It’s possible the agent is telling the truth, they checked and United has no inventory available for two days.
- If the cancellation is United’s fault, their customer commitment requires them to put passengers on another airline, but not if it’s an issue that is not controllable.
Social media responses see the passenger as arguing after being told something true (no seats) and therefore she’s called a Karen when she threatens to report the agent. But the agent’s service is bad even if you accept what they say as true.
A response of “Nothing” is not a competent answer. What’s the earliest confirmed reaccommodation? standby options? Other airline options? Alternate airports? Is the passenger eligible for hotel and meals? Would they like to consider a refund?
This service is also supposed to be able to take care of irregular operations accommodation. After waiting on hold for an agent and getting nowhere, the customer shouldn’t be told to start all over at the 800 number.
Before you blame the worker or the consumer, please note that this is all by-design. ‘Customer service,’ especially use of AI, is no longer designed to actually help us or anyone; it’s entire focus is to save the company money, increase profits.
We need air passenger rights legislation like EU/UK 261, Canada’s APPR, so that we get compensated when airlines fail us; also, we should bring back Rule 240, where the airline has to get you on the next available flight on any carrier, if you want to proceed with travel.
Now, feel free to ignore that, as some of you are about to fall for the rage-bait, then cuck and shill for big businesses. I’ll wait. (“Wah, wah… I’m no victim.. I don wanna a handout.. wah, wah…”)
People like this person are morons. This is the wave of the future across the board. People being replaced by AI. Like it or not.
This person could have done her research and found an alternative flight to be put on with open seats. That often can be done on the app. Problem solved.
Instead, she thought that there would be someone that would research all the options for her. It doesn’t work like that anymore. If you can figure out how to do a Tik Tok or tweet you should be able to figure out how to use an airline’s website or mobile app.
@George Romey — Ahh, so close. See, you know this is a problem, because you, too, are experiencing it first-hand, but, instead of acknowledging that this is a bigger problem that sensible regulation could improve, you double-down on the personal responsibility myth.
No, you cannot ‘do your own research’ out of this. These for-profit corporations are not playing by any rules other than to separate you from your money. Individuals cannot ‘win’ against this. We should, in the aggregate, fight it, but ultimately, we need effective government to ensure consumers are actually protected here. DOT, FTC, anyone.
(Now, where’s @Mike P to share his white-paper on ‘gobermint bad.’ Tell us how you’re a sovereign citizen again. ‘You do not have jurisdiction over me!’ Yeah, yeah, tell it to the judge…)