Untied.com was a website critical of

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

that logs complaints from passengers. The name ''untied.com'' transposes two of the letters of the name "United" and also suggests disorder. Kevin Simpson of the ''

Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...

'' said in 2000 that "The Untied.com phenomenon mirrors the online trend in consumer activism that has caught on with the disgruntled flying public this summer travel season."Simpson, Kevin.
More travelers let fly on airline gripe site Untied.com a top destination for the disgruntled
" ''

''. September 17, 2000. Page M01. Retrieved on April 7, 2013. Available on

General OneFile InfoTrac is a family of full-text databases of content from academic journals and general magazines, of which the majority are targeted to the English-speaking North American market. As is typical of online proprietary databases, various forms ...

and

LexisNexis LexisNexis is a part of the RELX corporation that sells data analytics products and various databases that are accessed through online portals, including portals for computer-assisted legal research (CALR), newspaper search, and consumer info ...

. In 1998 Laura Bly of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' said that Untied.com was "One of the most visible efforts to chastise a travel company in cyberspace".Bly, Laura.
Effective Mouse Fights With Big Corporations
"

''

''. March 8, 1998. Travel Part L Travel Desk, p. 17 Retrieved on April 7, 2013. Also available under the title
Disgruntled? Take your travel complaints to the Internet
" from the '' Kansas City Star''. In 1998 Jeremy Cooperstock, the website founder, said that Untied.com was "a Web site that offers frustrated former United Airlines passengers a chance to speak out."

History

Founding

In June 1996,Figallo and Rhine, p
283
Jeremy Cooperstock, then a

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

student,Roseman, Ellen.
United Airlines fights legal battle with Untied website
" ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

''. Friday November 30, 2012. Retrieved on April 7, 2013. had been a passenger on a United itinerary from

Toronto Pearson International Airport Lester B. Pearson International Airport , commonly known as Toronto Pearson International Airport, is an international airport located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is the main airport serving Toronto, its metropolitan area, and the surr ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

Narita International Airport. During the itinerary Cooperstock experienced lost seat reservations, a bungled connection, and having a suit in a set of luggage crushed.Woodfill, David.
Some customers getting revenge online
" ''

East Valley Tribune The ''East Valley Tribune'' is a newspaper concentrated on cities within the East Valley region of metropolitan Phoenix, including Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert, and Queen Creek. Formerly a daily newspaper, the ''Tribune'' resulted from t ...

''. Monday December 4, 2006. Updated Friday October 7, 2011. Retrieved on April 7, 2013. After that trip ended, Cooperstock wrote a complaint letter regarding the Japan flight and the service on United flights to Hawaii.Appelman, Hilary. "PERSONAL BUSINESS; I Scream, You Scream: Consumers Vent Over the Net." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. March 4, 2001. p
3
Retrieved on April 7, 2013. Cooperstock received no reply to his complaint. After sending a second complaint, he received a form-letter reply.Clark, Andrew.
Companies wake up to blogs' barking
" ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Monday September 18, 2006. Retrieved on April 7, 2013. He posted his letter and United's reply on his website on the

servers saying that the airline's customer service constituted a "Poor Show." In a seven-month period thirty people contacted him, sending him additional complaints, which he also posted. He contacted the airline and told it about his webpages. United then filed a complaint with the University of Toronto, accusing the webpages of copyright infringement. Cooperstock, by then a researcher at Sony Corp.,Schmeltzer, John.
UNITED AIRLINES FIT TO BE UNTIED BY UNFRIENDLY WEB SITE
" ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

''. September 19, 1997. Business p. 2. Retrieved on April 7, 2013. "United Airlines' Internet nightmare is located at www.untied.com, a Web site that United tried to persuade its creator to shut down because of alleged trademark infringements. The site collects and prints, in detail, complaints about service on the world's biggest airline. Open for a little more than four months, the site was created by Jeremy Cooperstock, an engineer who works for Sony Corp. It has collected dozens of complaints about what it calls rudeness, misinformation, incompetence, special-needs mistreatment and refund problems. It even contains complaints by United's best customers, it's Premier Class fliers." and later an assistant professor at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, shut down the site. In April 1997,Wolrich, Charles. "The Best Corporate Complaint Sites." ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

''. August 21, 2002. p
6 of 6
Retrieved on April 7, 2013. after several people supporting his webpages asked him to continue it, he registered the domain name Untied.com. An airline employee had sent Cooperstock a check with the funds needed to operate the website. Cooperstock said that he was willing to modify his webpages and change his views on United if the airline sent any type of response other than a form letter. Cooperstock said he never received a response that satisfied his demands. Cooperstock stated on Untied.com that "It was not the poor treatment we received from United, but rather the subsequent disregard for a serious, polite complaint, which led to the creation of the Web pages."

Subsequent history

Tracy L. Tuten, author of ''Enterprise 2.0: How Technology, Ecommerce, and Web 2.0 are Transforming Business Virtually'', said that Untied.com was "Perhaps one of the earliest and best examples of a consumer taking advantage of the new power offered by the internet". Nick Kettles of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' said that Untied.com was "widely acknowledged as the internet's first gripe site."Kettles, Nick.
Blogger power to the people
" ''

'' at ''

''. Saturday June 26, 2004. Retrieved on April 7, 2013. In 2001 the website had over 3,000 complaints against United. In 2002 Josh McHugh of ''

'' said "in the five years since has been a steadfast thorn in United's side, soliciting and posting complaints from fellow sufferers and digging up internal secrets from United employees."McHugh, Josh.
Vox Unpopuli
" ''

''. October 7, 2002. Retrieved on April 7, 2013. By 2002 Untied.com received and posted reports stating that the airline supervisors covered up mechanical problems so that a flight could be airborne on schedule. By 2004, the website had received over 5,000 complaint letters. That year, Kettles said "Untied.com has become the proverbial thorn in the side." By 2004, a group of flight attendants used the website to convince

UAL Corporation UAL Corporation is the former name of United Airlines Holdings, an airline holding company, incorporated in Delaware with headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. UAL held a 100 percent controlling interest in United Airlines, Inc., one of the worl ...

to give ground to their union during negotiations between the company and the union. In 2006 Cooperstock said that Untied.com receives between 50,000 and 60,000 monthly hits and that "The site has really morphed many times over the years." By 2006 it had become among the longest-operating websites complaining about companies. In 2011 Untied.com had a redesign to make itself look like the real United.com. By November 2012, to prevent visitors from confusing the website with the real United.com,Stellin, Susan. "In the Air, Minor Tiffs Can Escalate Fast." ''

''. January 28, 2013. p
2
Retrieved on April 7, 2013. Cooperstock has visitors check a dialog box acknowledging that they are visiting Untied.com before they may proceed into the website. He argued that "No reasonable person would possibly confuse my page with United's own page." In 2012 United Continental Holdings, the company formed by the merger between United and Continental Airlines, filed two lawsuits against Cooperstock, one in the

Federal Court of Canada The Federal Court of Canada, which succeeded the Exchequer Court of Canada in 1971, was a national court of Canada that had limited jurisdiction to hear certain types of disputes arising under the federal government's legislative jurisdiction. O ...

and one in the

Superior Court of Quebec The Superior Court of Quebec (french: Cour supérieure du Québec) is a superior trial court in the Province of Quebec, in Canada. It consists of 157 judges who are appointed by the federal government. Appeals from this court are taken to the Que ...

. The airline also is seeking an injunction against Cooperstock for posting the contact information of a manager at United. United argues that having this information violates the employee's privacy.Karp, Gregory.
United Continental sues passenger complaint website
" ''

''. November 28, 2012. Retrieved on April 7, 2013.

Ellen Roseman Ellen Roseman (born July 1947) is a Canadian writer, journalist and lecturer specializing in personal finance and consumer issues. She currently writes a column handling consumer complaints for the Toronto Star and teaches at Ryerson University and ...

of the ''

'' said "The case has gained widespread publicity and sent a chill down the backs of many gripe site owners." Megan McCarthy, a spokesperson for United, said that the website was so similar to the real United.com that some customers were confused, and that the airline wants Cooperstock to modify the website. Cooperstock said that the airline is trying to harm his finances to force him to stop operating Untied.com, and that the airline's demands were not reasonable. Cooperstock argues that the lawsuits are

strategic lawsuits against public participation Strategic lawsuits against public participation (also known as SLAPP suits or intimidation lawsuits), or strategic litigation against public participation, are lawsuits intended to censorship, censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening ...

(SLAPP). He made a request for donations to cover his legal fees. By 2012 the website had 25,000 customer complaints and 200 employee complaints in its archive.

Injunction and ruling

On June 23, 2017, Canadian Federal Court judge Michael L. Phelan issued an injunction against Untied.com. The court ruling stated that Untied.com violated the copyrights of United Airlines. Cooperstock stated that he would appeal the ruling. The website material has since been blocked by Cooperstock pending further legal remedy.

Operations

The website had complaints from customers and employees at United. The website's database included the complaints and the airline's responses to those complaints. Jeremy Cooperstock said, as paraphrased by David Woodfill of the ''

'', that Untied.com "evolved into a virtual community gathering spot for angry employees, disaffected customers and questions about the airline’s safety." Cooperstock uses donations to fund the website. He also places advertising links to generate additional revenue. As of 2000 Cooperstock had a colleague, an English literature professor, help him process complaints about United that the website received. As of 2012 Cooperstock puts in many hours, without pay, to maintain the website. The website includes information on the legal options of airline employees and passengers. It also has contact information for United Airlines customer service managers. It has a complaints page that has the feature of forwarding messages to the airline customer relations department. The website design deliberately mocks the design and logo on the actual United website. In 2000 Kevin Simpson of the ''

'' said "Maintaining the site has become a sporadic pursuit" and that on some occasions Cooperstock made no edits for over a month. By the year 2000 Cooperstock said that consumer advocate groups had offered to take over the website. That year, Simpson said "So far, the right offer hasn't come along." Cooperstock said that he was willing to give up control to a consumer advocate group if the site if he believed that it would improve employee relations or more effectively resolve customer complaints.

Reception

By 2000 the company United Airlines did not directly criticize the website, and instead asked customers to send complaints directly to the airline. In 2001 a spokesperson for United, Whitney Staley, said "of course we would respond to" a complaint placed on a third party website. In 2000 Cooperstock said that United Airlines was "dismissive of" Untied.com. In 2000 Cooperstock said that his website chronicled negative attitudes with United but was not effective in changing policy at the airline. Cooperstock said "It's not doing much in terms of shaping irline policy but it's a reflector of what public opinion is like. I figure that for every one complaint, 10 others were too apathetic to do anything." In 2000 Cooperstock said that the airline monitors the website, particularly the sections with comments from United employees, and that people on the airline servers accessed the website 17 times per day. Cooperstock said "I think they look at the site as a means to gauge what the public is saying about them, to see what their own employees are saying. The employee pages get a lot of hits from headquarters." Kurt Ebenhoch, a spokesperson for United, said in 2000 that he was not aware of the airline monitoring untied.com. In 2002 Cooperstock said that the logs of the untied.com servers show that of all of the domains viewing the website, the United Airlines headquarters has the highest amount of traffic. In one section of the website, "Yes, United Airlines does pay attention," Untied.com stated that as of March 1998 the airline had accessed Untied.com 900 times since its founding. Laura Bly of the ''

'' stated that "And while most of United's comments are negative, Cooperstock lists a handful of success stories that he says prove 'a polite, well-phrased letter to United can often achieve effective results.'" By 2002 flight attendants had sent the website a report that a flight attendant had been raped at a hotel in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

that the airline required its flight attendants to use. After the report was publicized, the airline began using a different hotel in Los Angeles. According to Cooperstock the flight attendant's union sent him a letter congratulating him for his work on convincing the airline to use a different hotel. By 2002 the airline established an 800 toll-free customer suggestion line after Untied.com criticized the airline for forcing customers to use a 900 tolled complaint line. Cliff Figallo and Nancy Rhine, the authors of the 2012 book ''Building the Knowledge Management Network: Best Practices, Tools, and Techniques for Putting Conversation to Work'', said that the actual United Airlines website exhibited "a heightened attention to customer service" and that "Maybe these improvements" may have happened without pressure from Untied.com but that "the probability that disgruntled customers on the Web will find a way to raise their voices in unison should be a sobering reality to all businesses." They concluded that "Customers can and will demonstrate creatively what they need from businesses. If not supported in demonstrating this on the company's own site, they are likely to build or make use of another venue on the Web to 'get things off their chests.'" In 2002 Charles Wolrich of

ranked untied.com as one of the "Best Corporate Complaint Sites." In 2005 he ranked Untied.com as one of the "Top Corporate Hate Web Sites."Wolrich, Charles.
Top Corporate Hate Web Sites
" ''

''. March 8, 2005. Retrieved on April 7, 2013.

References

* Figallo, Cliff and Nancy Rhine. ''Building the Knowledge Management Network: Best Practices, Tools, and Techniques for Putting Conversation to Work''.

John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, ...

, October 15, 2002. , 9780471427575. * Pitt, Leyland F., Pierre R. Berthon, Richard T. Watson, and George M. Zinkhan.
The Internet and the birth of real consumer power
" ''

Business Horizons The Kelley School of Business (KSB) is an undergraduate and graduate business school at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. , approximately 7,500 full-time undergraduate and graduate students are ...

''. July–August 2002. Volume 45, Issue 4. p. 7–14. Available from ScienceDirect. * Tuten, Tracy L. ''Enterprise 2.0: How Technology, Ecommerce, and Web 2.0 are Transforming Business Virtually''. ABC-CLIO, July 1, 2010. , 9780313372407.

Notes

External links

* {{United Continental Holdings Consumer organizations in the United States Criticisms of companies Internet properties established in 1997 United Airlines American review websites