United Airlines skipped an important detail on a recent flight … toilet paper.
Flight 931 was a doozy, too – a 10-hour trip from San Francisco to London!
Flight attendants were forced to improvise and stock restrooms with cocktail napkins instead as passenger reactions ranged from eye rolls to outrage.
“That’s disgusting, that’s just so terrible,” said passenger Gretchen Holland. “If I’m paying for a ticket, that should include the price of toilet paper.”
At least they should make it available for $5.
United later apologized for the incident, but noted that, while toilet paper did run out in some of the bathrooms, it was available in others. Supposedly.
“Toilet tissue was available for customers throughout the entire flight in more than half of the nine lavatories onboard flight 931,” a statement read.
“When the other lavatories ran low on toilet tissue, our crew improvised and provided customers with paper napkins when necessary.”
“We sincerely apologize to our customers on this flight for the inconvenience and would like the opportunity to welcome them back.”
Don’t hold your breath for that.
United tried to explain that if the plane had stopped to stock toilet paper once the shortage was discovered, the flight would have been delayed.
“Which is more important: making your connecting flight or having to wipe with paper towels?” asked travel advice author Edward Hasbrouck of ABC.
“Is this a big deal? No.”
While a minor oversight in the end, the debacle adds insult to injury for United, which was recently ranked lowest among airlines in terms of customer satisfaction.
Critics, such as Daily Finance’s Matt Brownell, summed it up best:
“While having to use napkins as toilet paper isn’t the end of the world, it’s still hard to imagine an airline like JetBlue running out of toilet paper.”
“It’s that sort of lax approach to basic customer service that’s led to United once again ranking dead last in the American Customer Service Index.”