Current location:	Denver International Airport
Current mood:	crappy
Current music:	The grumblings of angry passengers

Friends Don't Let Friends Fly United
It is 11:00pm mountain time. I have been in an airport or on an airplane since 10:00 am eastern time. Our flight out of Boston was 30 minuted late when we loaded. Once everyone was settled the plane pulled back for de-iceing. Once this was done we were informed that we could not depart because there was snow on the runway and our aircraft was 10,000 lbs too heavy to fly under those conditions. They were contacting the airline to figure out how to correct that. An hour later they were told that they would remove cargo and baggage from the plane.

Why does it take an hour to figure this out?

Another hour goes by before the baggage cart show up. I watch my bag leave the plane. I wonder where it is now?

More time passes and we pull back to de-ice again. By the time we take off we are four hours late. During the three and a half hours we sat in the aircraft we listened to Joanna whine and cry about how hungry and thirsty she is. I feed her the granola bars I put in my back pack and I ask the flight attendant for water but none comes. The whining continues.

About an hour into the flight they offer to sell us snack boxes. You think they could have at least comped the snacks. In fact they might have done so if they were carrying enough for everyone. We were lucky, they ran out two rows behind us. After eating Joanna becomes a happier kid.

With such a long delay they knew everyone with a connection would be missing it. We had a three hour buffer on ours but that doesn't help when there is a four hour delay. We are told that an agent will meet us at the gate to assist us with our connections. Lies!

There is no gate agent. We walk until we find a bank of machines. It tells us we have been changed to departing tomorrow morning and flying to Ontario CA by way of San Francisco. Not acceptable. We need to talk to a human. We aren't fully committed to Ontario. Los Angeles, Long Beach or Orange County would be fine. We walk over to the red phone that say they will connect us to an agent. They don't work.

We walk until we find a person. There is an hour long line of people waiting to talk to the person.

While in line Rick calls United on his cell phone and gets us on a flight to LA leaving at 9:00. We are across the aisle from each other but at least we are on the plane.

Shortly after boarding we are told that the pilot who was supposed to fly the plane has timed out and they need to find another pilot. After sitting on the plane for an hour it is determined that their are no pilots available and the flight is canceled.

Rick is now standing in a line that puts Disney to shame. It goes beyond the customer Service area and all the way down to the food court. It would not be so bad if Joanna would fall asleep but no. She is in the chair next to me, exhausted, grumpy and very whiny.

No more United. I am so glad we are taking the train home.