United Airlines review by old

Holding customers for ransom? I recently had an unbelievable experience flying to Mexico on United with a bike. Booked the flight several months back, checked with the United call centre on charges for taking a bike and confirmed what I'd read earlier on the United web site. Both made it clear that if the bike bag fell within weight and dimensional limits it would be charged simply as a second item of checked baggage i.e. $50. When I checked in at the airport, the United agent insisted that I owed an extra $200 (!) for the bike even though it came in under 50 lb limit and was the standard dimensions set out in the Airline's limits. No amount of back and forth would bring them round to honour the original terms. And curiously my two companions who had checked in a little earlier for the same flights also with bikes were charged much less -- one paid $25 as it was his first and only item of checked luggage and the other was charged nothing for his bike as second item (his was in an identical Evoc bike bag and weighed just a little more than mine). The experience left a very bad taste. What can you do but pay up when you have already bought the ticket and will be leaving soon? This seems to be the kind of business practice you would expect of a dubious, disreputable business or one might experience in some part of the world where corrupt practices are more common.