uUnited Airlines’ Computer System Down, Flight Delays Springing Up Nationwider

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  (Adam Fagen)
  

  Travelers trying to fly to anywhere from anywhere on United this morning are being met with delays, confusion, and misinformation as a massive computer system outage has struck the airline.

  Passengers who do not already have hard (printed) copies of their boarding passes in hand are unable to check into flights, passengers are telling media, with different sets of United staff delivering different messages to early-morning passengers around the country.

  The FAA has published an advisory that due to “user request due to automation issues,” no United Airlines traffic from any airport will be allowed to depart until at least (but possibly after) 13:15 UTC, which is 9:15 a.m. Eastern time.

  Disgruntled passengers from coast to coast and everywhere in between tweeted their frustrations this morning as they were unable to check in, unable to get boarding passes, and unable to clear security:

  Our @united airlines pilot on their global outage. "It's like someone pulled the plug on our computers – It's embarrassing, I apologize ."

  — Betsy Fischer Martin (@BFischerMartin) July 8, 2015

  .@united check in computers at @Bradley_Airport appear to be down. Localized or national? @NBCConnecticut http://pic.twitter.com/vcVllS7Z6g

  — Brad Luck (@BradLuckNBC) July 8, 2015

  Hey @united, it would be great if you could get the computers working at @Fly_Nashville. No need for DMs. ^AG http://pic.twitter.com/jB36II68oB

  — Adam Ghassemi (@AdamGhassemi) July 8, 2015

  If anyone is flying United out of LAX this am – DONT BOTHER!! All Computers down!

  — zoecadman (@zoecadman) July 8, 2015

  And TSA at Dulles won’t accept the handwriiten @united boarding passes! More fun!

  — James Fallows (@JamesFallows) July 8, 2015

  .@United all your departure boards at Dulles say ‘On Time’; agents say no flights going anywhere until computers are back up.

  — James Fallows (@JamesFallows) July 8, 2015

  There is not yet any official word from United on what, specifically, the problem is or when they expect it to be resolved.

  
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by Kate Cox via Consumerist

uProcter & Gamble Settles With California Over Allegedly Misleading Moisturizer Boxesr

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  How big is this jar?

  When an item is costly by the ounce and comes in very small containers, how can you make the product seem more substantial while also making it harder to steal? Many companies that make expensive things to smear on your face solve this problem by adding a false bottom to jars. Procter & Gamble’s Olay brand was accused of doing this by four California counties, and has agreed to settle the lawsuit by changing the product’s packaging and paying a civil penalty.

  California, it turns out, does not mess around when it comes to protecting consumers from deceptively large packaging. You might remember a similar settlement with pharmacy chain CVS last year regarding the plumped-up packaging of their facial moisturizers.

  This investigation began back in 2012, when investigators in four counties discovered that for some moisturizers, the size of a product’s box depended not on the actual size of the container, but on the price per ounce. The Wall Street Journal cites one example: a 1.7-ounce jar of Regenerist Luminous that comes in a box twice as large as a 2-ounce jar of the brand’s Active Hydrating moisturizer. The main difference between these products is that the Regenerist Luminous costs more than three times as much per ounce.

  Of course, slack fill in beauty products is nothing new. One of our readers sawed open a Noxzema jar to reveal the false bottom that Unilever concealed inside. There’s a smaller spice-maker suing McCormick over containers of pepper that contain less product but have stayed the same size.

  A company spokesperson explained to the WSJ that the company didn’t misrepresent the sizes of their moisturizers on purpose. “There was never any intention to misrepresent the size of our products,” a representative said, and the company will change the packaging for relevant products as well as paying that $850,000 civil penalty.

  P&G Settles Suit on Puffed-Up Packaging [Wall Street Journal]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uCVS Health Resigns From U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Over International Pro-Smoking Advocacyr

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  (Chris Rief)

  You may remember last fall when CVS removed tobacco products from its stores, maybe realizing that selling medicine in the back of the store and addictive carcinogen sticks in the front is kind of a confusing message. However, CVS Health is also a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an organization doing its best to lobby for America’s tobacco industry in other countries. CVS resigned from the Chamber today for that reason.

  “CVS’s purpose is to help people on their path to better health, and we fundamentally believe tobacco use is in direct conflict with this purpose,” a company spokesperson said in a statement about CVS leaving the Chamber of Commerce. Yes, a critical person would probably point at the candy, cookies, and soda on the chain’s shelves, we should note that the chain has been working on improving the healthfulness of their snack food selection in drugstores.

  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for its part, says that the New York Times’ story from last week inaccurately represents their work against anti-smoking legislation in developing countries. about their efforts on behalf of tobacco companies is a “concerted misinformation campaign about the US Chamber’s position on smoking.”

  Will other companies join CVS in quitting? As we pointed out last week, businesses in all sectors belong to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, from tobacco companies to health insurers. Other firms may choose to stay out of this dispute, or follow CVS in resigning from the organization.

  CVS Health quits U.S. Chamber of Commerce over tobacco stance [Reuters]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uNo, United Airlines Is Not Giving Away 100 Free Tickets For Sharing A Photo On Facebookr

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• Here’s a hint: Sharing a photo is not a valid way to enter a sweepstakes where the prize has a value worth more than few bucks, and no multibillion-dollar international airline is going to run a contest that way. And yet, in just a few hours more than 40,000 Facebook users have shared an obviously bogus sweepstakes from a page pretending to be United Airlines.

  “In celebration of United’s recent announcement that it will be moving all its flights from New York (JFK) over to Newark. We are giving away 100 United Airlines tickets that can be used anywhere United flies,” reads the photo caption.

  And even though the law requires that a sweepstakes of such value would have all sorts of conditions regarding age, country and state of residence, affiliation with the airline, transferability, and other fine print, all you apparently have to do to enter is

  “1. SHARE this photo!
  2. Like This Page
  3. Comment Thank You.”

  We’re not sure if #3 is actually suggesting that people write “Thank You” in the comments or if it’s just saying “Thank you” for being a sucker, but there are thousands of comments on the photo repeating “Thank you.”

  Step #2 is really the important part of the “likebait” scam. It convinces hordes of users to like a page that the creator then hopes to flip for money to some other sketchy business looking to purchase a Facebook community with a built-in number of followers.

  Aside from the lack of any fine print, another huge hint that this isn’t a legitimate giveaway from United Airlines is that the page posting the photos isn’t the United Airlines Facebook page.

  The actual airline has a page on the site with around 800,000 followers and a big blue “verified” check mark:
  

  The fake United uses the same artwork, but no verified mark, writes the name as “United Airlines.” (note the period), and only one post in its timeline — the fake sweepstakes photo.

  

  We’ve reached out to the real United Airlines (we hope) for comment and will update if the airline replies.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uRaiders Of The Lost Walmart Can’t Find Their Way Back From 2007r

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• Members of the Raiders of the Lost Walmart, our brave band of retail archaeologists, need a GPS unit to help them find their way from one big-box store to the next. However, the savvy big-box store explorers knows that while this rare and ancient Garmin unit is a special find, they shouldn’t purchase it. Because it’s old and overpriced.

  No, the best way to capture retail antiquities is by snapping a digital picture and sending it to Consumerist. That’s what novice Raider Michael did when he saw this unit in a Northeastern Walmart.

  

  The date on the price sticker is from February. That means that less than six months ago, Walmart’s systems looked at this GPS unit, which was introduced in 2007, and thought that knocking $18.88 off the top was an acceptable clearance price.

  “It’s so old even Cnet.com took down the link to there original review,” Michael pointed out to us in his field research notes.

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uWant Your iPhone Accessory Sold In An Apple Store? Let Apple Design The Boxr

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  The packaging for third-party accessories sold at Apple stores will soon look a lot more like those used for actual Apple products. (Brad Clinesmith)

  The accessories department at Apple retail stores across the country are about to get a bit more matchy-matchy, as the retailer prepares to line its shelves with third-party accessories encased in packaging that looks suspiciously like those used for actual Apple products.

  Starting next week, Apple stores will, according to 9to5Mac, limit available third-party accessories to those sold in packaging co-designed by Apple.

  Tech21, Sena, Incase, Mophie, Logitech, and Life Proof that reportedly began working with Apple about six months ago to create the minimalist packaging, according to a notice sent to the company’s retail stores.

  The goal of the new packaging – which is mostly white with simple fonts, new photography and consistent labeling – is to emulate Apple’s own packaging.

  Apple says it will work with the companies to roll out the new packaging as stores reduce inventory of products that don’t utilize the new materials.

  9to5Mac reports that the new encasements are just Apple’s latest move to control its retail ecosystem. The tech giant previously mandated that third-party accessory makers adhere to new environmental standards and rules regarding leaks of new products.

  All Apple Stores revamping third-party accessory selection with Apple designed boxes [9to5Mac]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uComcast Improving Download Speeds For Free In Northeast, But Not For Everyoner

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  (Mike Mozart)

  With Comcast losing pay-TV subscribers in favor of streaming video services, the company is doing what it can to retain customers who not only ante up for TV and broadband, but also for home phone service.

  Today, the company confirmed that some of its Mid-Atlantic and New England broadband customers will be getting free speed upgrades.

  Comcast is trying to sweeten the pot to retain Triple Play (TV/Internet/Phone) customers, who account for about 45% of its subscriber base, by bumping some of them up from 25Mbps service to the new Performance Pro tier at 75 Mbps at no extra cost.

  Note that the company’s press release only refers to “eligible Triple Play subscribers” but provides no further details on eligibility. A Comcast media rep we contacted didn’t provide specifics but said the company will soon be notifying those who are eligible.

  As a customer-retention plan, it’s not a bad idea. Costs for carrying TV networks continue to increase while live-TV viewership is down, so as much as Comcast customers would love to see a price drop for their cable service, that’s unlikely. There’s not much you can do to make phone service more attractive; we’re amazed that so many people still pay for landline service. But one thing Comcast can do is improve data speeds.

  Most of the affected customers currently don’t need 75 Mbps service and won’t suddenly run out to buy multiple 4K TV sets to take advantage of the faster speeds. It’s a lot like the recent spate of wireless companies giving away extra or free data to smartphone users. It’s a factor the company has control over and a benefit that most will not fully take advantage of.

  If you’re an Internet-only customer with the higher-speed Blast tier of service, you’ll get a free downstream speed increase, taking you from the current 105 Mbps to 150 Mbps. Unlike the other no-cost increase, you don’t have to be a Triple Play subscriber.

  The bad news is that Internet-only and Internet/TV-only Comcast subscribers with speed tiers lower than Blast will not yet see any speed increase, and why would the company go out of its way to retain these Internet-only customers when they are growing in number?

  This is why increased competition in home broadband is needed. Comcast customers (and subscribers of most cable companies) have little choice for high-speed Internet service, so if they cut the pay-TV cord they are often still tethered to the pay-TV company by the Internet. With competition, Comcast would have to fight to keep the business of that defecting pay-TV customer.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist