United Airlines did us WRONG

[DivingCRNA]

Saturday, December 22 we got up at 0400 in KC to leave for St. Thomas. We got to MCI on time for our 0600 flight and left for Chicago to catch United flight 1065 (the worst flight I have ever been associated with). Remember while reading this that I was traveling with a 7 year old, a 3 year old, a 67 year old with lung cancer who has had one lung removed, my wife, and my 69 year old father in law.

Our pilot was cleared to land, had the gear down and chickened out on vis (these things DO land on instruments, right?) and circled until we had to fuel in Moline, IL. Connection time was an hour and we were STRANDED in Chicago over night. BTW-United will NOT give you you luggage when they strand you. We did get a hotel room and some meal vouchers, but missed a whole day of the trip. We also bought socks and undies at the Chicago Target. The worst was that neither the Wolves or Blackhawks were in town, or I would have went.

I tried all night to get seat assignments for us (all 6 of us) all night on line and on the phone, but could not. 15 minutes before take off we were called to the desk and given seats. I found out that if we had not gotten on we would have been stuck in Chi-town until 12/26!

Then we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes while they "loaded luggage" in the plane. Food on the flight was a really CRAPPY $5 snack box. We got to St. Thomas an hour late and were told on exiting that we needed to hurry off so that the plane could get to San Juan so some folks could catch a cruise ship. They were in such a hurry that NONE of us got our bags because they went to San Juan. Including my dive gear. To add insult to injury, we got in so late that my rental car company was closed and I was screwed out of a car for the rest of the trip and my father in law was the only one to get a car (a Chevy Cobalt) to get people around the island for a week. The first thing I do in St. Thomas is spend $180 at K-Mart buying clothes because we had all already been in our clothes for 2 days.

Wife, kids and father in law got bags 12/24. SCUBA gear arrived right after we went diving and rented gear.

I got my bag 12/25.

Mother in law still does not have her bag (I am writing from Kansas City). This ruined the whole trip for my mother in law. I could have coped, but she was depressed about it all trip. Our car seat is still missing.

My brother in law and I rented motorcycles so we could get all 9 folks around at once after losing one of our cars.

Fast forward to 12/29. We took 2 hours getting everyone to the airport because we only had one car and cabs are EXPENSIVE in St. Thomas. I accidentally broke my brother in law's sea urchine shell loading bags (they are very fragile and I did not know he put it in there) trying to get everyone and everything there in 2 trips. Customs and security in St. Thomas are a giant hassle. The natives are rude and indifferent and everyone leaving has put up with it for a week, so the travelers are grumpy too.

After buying a round of $7 cheesburgers (with $2 fries and a $5 beer) we get the news that United Flight 1065 is 90 minutes late. Our connection in Washington DC is 90 minutes. So I immediately got on the horn with United and reserved seats on the US Airways St. Thomas-Charlotte-KC flight for all 6 of us so we can get home instead of stuck in DC with no luggage overnight. I had confirmed reservations on the US Airways flight almost 2 hours before the flight!

The United gate agents at St. Thomas are F'ing IDIOTS. It turns out they fire everyone once a year and hire new folks so they are not over staffed in the off season and so the seniority stays low. All I needed those dorks to do was print the passes to release our seats to US Airways so we could get home instead of stranded. They did not know how to do it! Their on-site stupidvisor could not do it! I also had them scan my luggage tags OVER AN HOUR before the US Airways flight was to leave and asked them to get my bags on that flight. They were the typical RUDE, LAZY, SLOW St. Thomas natives. There were 15 of us at the gate all trying to get on other flights and these guys did not care. They said United's "Customer Protecton" would rebook us and we would get to our destinations, but they would not acknowledge that we were going to get stuck in DC overnight in the "rebooking" process. The only gate agent wearing a VISIBLE name take was a skinny black guy named Dwayne. His short, fat counterpart had her tag on backwards.

After almost 2 hours on the phone with United agents and harassing the United and US Airways people we got on the flight 3 minutes before they closed the door. My cell battery died in the process and I started with a full charge on a new battery.

Everything went great on US Airways. On time flights. Nice staff.

Oh yeah. Those MOTHER HUMPERS in St. Thomas did not get our bags on the plane and we got to Kansas City at 2330 to no bags, courtesy of our good friends at United. When we got to the hotel in KC (too tired to drive to Joplin at MN after flying all day across 2 time zones) it was 18 degrees with snow on the ground and the hotel was full of rowdy teens.

We will see if we get our bags. My regs that I need to dive on New Year's Day are missing, but my cold water gear and warm water gear are different sets, so I have my dry suit, BP/W, drysuit fins, mask, etc. I am just missing my regs. Maybe I can rent regs for my doubles.... My long hose is at home and I can use the TUSA IR3 as an safe second. So I just need a first stage and second stage to do the dive.

Thanks United. YOU SUCK! I will never fly you again!

[teknitroxdiver]

Originally Posted by DivingCRNA

Our pilot was cleared to land, had the gear down and chickened out on vis (these things DO land on instruments, right?) and circled until we had to fuel in Moline, IL.

Looking at the weather record for Dec 22, it's highly likely that this was the pilots' only option. Weather was reporting fog, which is problematic for airplanes. Yes, they can land on instruments. Unless it's a newer, large commercial aircraft capable of special approaches known as Cat II or Cat III, they still need to break out of the clouds at 500-600 feet above the ground. If the pilot flies the approach down to that altitude and is still in the clouds, he has no choice but to go around and wait for conditions to improve.

[Kokomo]

What a nightmare!!!

[snagel]

Wow...and you waited all year for this trip...bummer. Hope you got some fun in the sun out of it anyway. I travel to Mexico once a year with my 75 year old mother who can't walk very good. This is very stressful, but I have a 13 year old that helps out a lot. Can't imagine doing it with younger kids, a stressed wife, and in-laws and on top of all that having to put up with what you had to.

If you get your equipment in time, hope the New Years Dive is much less stressful.

Cheers,

S. Nagel

[Flatliner]

As someone who flies regularly, I DO feel your pain. I am sorry that it was such a bad experience.

One bit of advice that another frequent flyer gave me when I started. Don't fly through Chicago.

[whse56]

Sweet Jesus, how did you keep from going psycho on someone? I can't imagine having a Merry Xmas trip like that. Hopefully you send this post to American Airlines, I'm sure you will just get a meally mouthed reply but you never know.

[mitsuguy]

I have flown well over 100 times in my life, and the only thing I have ever not looked forward to is flying on any airline other than southwest... not only do they have good prices, but I've not once had a bad experience... a few late or delayed flights, but nothing horrific...

with other carriers - united, aa, (the international ones), it seems as though they are always the ones you hear about these horror stories due to complacency and laziness...

problem is, southwest doesn't fly everywhere, so one of these days, we're going to have to resort to AA or United...

[hychang]

Amen, especially during the winter months.

Originally Posted by Flatliner

Don't fly through Chicago.

Sorry your trip wasn't all it should've been. I guess this is why my wife insists on going to places where a connection is not required. Of course, that's limited our destination options (read locations where I could dive). I wonder how mad she and the kids would get if I went on a trip alone...? I hope your bags and regulator reach you soon and intact.

[Daved]

That sucks. That really sucks!
The only airline worse in my opinion is Air Canada. I have had some really rotten trips--but nothing comes close to yours. Have you thought about getting Chevy Chase to play your part in the movie?

[Navy OnStar]

Originally Posted by teknitroxdiver

Looking at the weather record for Dec 22, it's highly likely that this was the pilots' only option. Weather was reporting fog, which is problematic for airplanes. Yes, they can land on instruments. Unless it's a newer, large commercial aircraft capable of special approaches known as Cat II or Cat III, they still need to break out of the clouds at 500-600 feet above the ground. If the pilot flies the approach down to that altitude and is still in the clouds, he has no choice but to go around and wait for conditions to improve.

First....I don't have the words for your experience! You obviously handled it much better than I would have.......They would be setting bail for me right now for choking half a dozen people.

As far as the weather, most large commercial airports have approaches that go down to 100ft. That means that when the plane reaches 100ft if the pilots cannot see the runway they HAVE to wave off. There are some Cat III approaches that will actually land the plane they are so accurate but not every airport has the approach nor does every plane. Since Navy Helicopters don't have the ability, I don't know all the specifics, but I believe only the largest airports in the country currently use them (Denver, Houston, Atlanta, DC, LA, etc)