A United Airlines employee freaked out over a passenger’s carry-on because it was “oversized”
As if traveling wasn’t stressful enough, a United Airlines employee tried to tell a passenger her bag didn’t fit the size requirements for carry-on luggage, even though it clearly did. The argument, which ended up involving four United employees, was literally over nothing. We want to pull our hair out.
On February 12th, Natalia Rutkowski and her mother Anna were traveling from Chicago to New Jersey via United Airlines. After checking her large bag at Chicago O’Hare Airport, Natalia and Anna were told that Anna would have to check her purse because it was too large to carry onto the plane.
"It was a certain dimension that the bag had to fit, but the woman didn’t even allow us to put the bag into the personal item bin to show them that it fit inside," Natalia told News.com.au. "She was extremely rude."
Another United employee stepped in and allowed Natalia to check the bag’s size with the personal item bin. Natalia put the bag into the holder and showed both employees that it clearly was not oversized.
But then a third employee intervened. He pulled the bag from the sizing bin, repositioned it so it looked like it didn’t fit, and then stated Anna would have to check her bag and pay an additional fee of $25.
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"I was shaking and I literally felt like I was sweating and agitated," Natalia continued. "My mum was teary. It was just an overwhelming situation. I had never been so disrespected and mistreated and embarrassed."
It took a ~fourth~ employee to clear up the situation. Finally, the last United employee involved agreed with Natalia and Anna, stating that the bag fit the size requirements. He then cleared the two to board with their carry-ons.
"He was like, 'Oh, yes, it does fit. I don’t understand why we have this issue,'" Natalia said.
According to Fox News, United has reached out to Natalia and is investigating the situation. But Natalia confirmed that she won’t be flying with United again any time soon. And honestly, after something as frustrating as this pointless argument, we can’t blame her.
