Jaunted

After sitting on the plane for an hour and a half waiting to take off, listening to the pilot's fake cheery updates about the progress of that pesky little mechanical problem, and watching "Fever Pitch", suddenly a United agent came over the PA system and told us all to deplane. (And they cut off the movie half way through.)

Those with connecting flights were sent to the customer service center immediately, while the rest of us were told to wait in the boarding area. Meanwhile, all personnel at the gate had completely vanished. Passengers were answering the phones at the gate desk to get updates on whether or not this plane would take off.

When it was finally announced that the flight was CANCELLED, about 100 people bumrushed the customer service desk. After helping about 10 people, the director came out and told us all to either go to Gate 74 and try to get out on standby or call the United Reservations number but "not to wait in this line anymore because we won't be here to help you."

Oh yeah, and he said "Your luggage is going to Denver. Call the baggage claim to see about picking it up."

Needless to say, everyone went crazy and started getting really angry. A man holding a toddler started swearing at the customer service director because his stroller was locked up on the plane. Most of us were wondering how the heck our luggage could go to Denver when the plane wasn't even working.

The customer service director then started yelling back at us. The director! And he was insistent on telling us all to leave the line. But finally his coworker asked everyone to stay in line and she would take care of us.

Long story made somewhat short, we got a full refund on the airfare because we could not get confirmed on another flight until the next night and we should have been white water rafting the next morning.  Standby for every flight on every airline was pretty much full. It was a hopeless situation. Good news was that our luggage obviously did not go to Denver because the plane could not even move.

Eight hours later, I found myself back in my apartment unpacking. How depressing.

United handled the situation horribly and this is not the first bad experience I've had with United. So I recommend to all you travelers out there, avoid United.

By the way, does anyone know when Fever Pitch comes out on DVD?

[Publisher's Note Number Two: I will never watch Fever Pitch. Not if you threaten me with the loss of limbs or hot pokers to the eye. Celtic Pride was a better movie, and I can say that with confidence, even though I have never seen Fever Pitch.

What do you think proper retribution is when an airline f's up your vacation plans? Is a full refund good enough? Should they pay for your hotel, your entire trip? Maybe give you a full refund and a voucher on a future flight?

If you have airline horror stories that must be hear, send 'em our way--or just send 'em to Jarvis.]