Looking at it as an outsider
Whilst not able to respond directly to this forum, I feel that I may also be able to add some alternative input.
Having been employed as a Corporate travel agent for over 30 years - that must be approaching a record! - I am amazed at the lack of expertise shown by UAL's reservations staff in Europe. Calls from the UK are put through to a call centre in Ireland, and taken by staff who appear only able to answer a question that the computer is programmed to serve. As happens with so many companies, they go for a 'call centre enviroment' where staff with no deep knowledge of the product are employed in order to take as many calls as quickly as a windows driven system will process.
Ask any questions with regards to fares and other intricate matters and you will be asked to hold, for more than a few minutes, and then fed an answer to your question. The answer has obviously come from a 3rd party, because if you then query the response you are again placed on hold yet again and the whole process is repeated. At no time are you able to speak to anybody with experience.
The end result of this is that traffic is being directed away from UAL to those airlines who are able to give a proper and accurate answer within a short timescale. To take 45 minutes to arrange a ticket on departure for a 5-sector itinerary is an embarressment to UAL and a definate turn-off for any agent.
I hope for the sake of everybody that UAL do survive, but I also hope that they will be fully supported by experienced staff in all departments. This will go a long way to rebuild confidence in the product.
Thank you for allowing me to have my rant and I now, as a 'professional on the ground', hand back over to the 'professionals in the air'.
Scottie Dog