The plane has been struck by lightning??? How soon will we be taking off? One day in January of perhaps 1998 I went to visit my brother in Wisconsin. The fare was reasonable enough, perhaps $40 each way, from Omaha to Chicago, O'Hare. The weather was pleasant upon our departure, but a COLD front was coming in within the next 24 hours and I was hoping to avoid it. Going from 40 degrees to minus 30 windchill is something worthy of being avoided, at least for a few days.

**Updated information at the bottom.

No one seemed to know nuttin'. How soon would we take off, when would our plane arrive? The plane which had been struck had to return to O'Hare. When I made the reservation, the Customer Service Rep asked me what my telephone number was. I asked why she wanted to know this. She responded that I would be called if there was a delay in my flight, HA! I waited and waited for information on when we would be taking off. After all, the phone number that I gave her was only 20 minutes from the airport. There would have been plenty of time to call, being about a one hour flight between the two points. I finally called my brother on the other end of the flight, to let him know that I would be late, but how late, I was unsure. He wasn't home. I called him at work, the Milwaukee Airport. I was assured by the person who answered the phone that they would relay the message to him. What I failed to mention to her was that he worked for the FAA AT the Milwaukee Airport and therefore he did NOT get the message. Even HE called United before leaving and was assured that my flight was on time.

We finally boarded the plane at 7 pm for an original 1 pm take off. I would think that there would have been an empty plane SOMEWHERE they could have used to take us to where we wanted to go. What they did was put us on the next REGULARLY scheduled trip to Chicago. They asked me what I wanted to drink. Being frugal, I choose a Diet Pepsi. Just after they passed me the person in back mentioned they wanted an alcoholic drink and offered to pay. She refused, saying the drinks were complimentary tonight. Now why didn't they make that announcement?

Once arriving in Chicago, we taxied up to the jetway, only to be told that the jetway was out of service. WHY DON'T THEY PUT US ON ANOTHER jetway? At this point, I could identify with a group mob mentality. LET US OUT OF THIS PLANE! We've been through ENOUGH! They played gentle, soothing music over the intercom. They must have been reading our thoughts.

If you are bumped or delayed, you may be able to get some reimbursement for meals or rooms. I used to have this information, it may have changed but I can't find it at the moment. Here is a link I've found, but with a lot of information on the net, I am unsure how current it is:

http://www.ifg-inc.com/Consumer_Reports/FlyRights.shtml#delayed

In the past, I've almost exclusively flown United Airlines and enjoyed being able to listen to the pilots contact the air traffic controllers, "747 Heavy, do you see that plane at 0800?" "747 heavy, we have another plane coming your way, please descend to 5400 feet." or something of the sort. Makes me feel less nervous about why the plane suddenly seems to be losing power.

Overall, I enjoy United, but was extremely displeased about how they handled my latest flight with them, especially since my brother waited 6 hours in the O'Hare terminal, with a $20 parking fee to boot.

By the way, the passengers on the plane struck by lightning were ok, physically. I asked someone on board what it felt like and he said it was like being inside of a lightbulb.


10-12-01
We just flew United Airlines back and forth to the West Coast. We had a stop at their hub in Denver. We took a total of 4 takeoffs and landings. Some of the things I noticed about their planes: tray tables not usable because they either came down too far or you could not get them down from the seat in front of you. Some of the earphones didn't work properly. Some of the armrests had the top part loose. My seat wasn't fixed in place. When the plane took off and landed, my seat back slowly went backwards about 3-4". One wonders if these things are wrong with things that customers CAN see, what is wrong -- or right -- with the mechanics?

Airport - As this happened within one month of the WTC atrocity, we were advised to be at the airport at least two hours early. This was good advice. We waited in line to check in our baggage 1/2 hour, 15 folks in front of us. After we checked our baggage, we turned the corner and faced a line perhaps 200' long of passengers who had to show their ID and put their carry on luggage on the xray machine. This took perhaps an additional 1/2 hour. We didn't have a whole lot of time to spare. This was for a morning flight, that I was told was busier. In fact, the flight the evening before was cancelled and they joined our flight the next morning. I believe we were originally scheduled to be on a 737, but took off from Omaha on a large 757 instead. Previously, I could count on being at the airport 1/2 hour before my flight and have no problems getting on.

Coming back wasn't much of a problem, short lines on the 4:30 pm departure. I was selected for a personal search with one of those hand-held metal detectors which detected my zippers and other small metal objects.

12/05
We just came back from Hawaii, a 12 hour trip, including the layovers. I was in a 777. I was stuck in the middle of the center row. The *itch in front of me was bound and determined to have her seat "reclining", despite hitting me in the head and making it impossible to have something on my lap in the meantime. I had empty pop cans and cups. When the attendants passed by, I offered up my empty cups to get them out of my way. The attendant stated they were "just passing out water." I was stuck with them for the next 2.5 hours, having to have my tray table down to hold them since folks on either side of me were sleeping. I was passed over for beverages as I must have been in their blind spot.

On a return flight, we had a Bill O'Reilly type of attendant. A couple was sitting in the emergency exit seating. A flight presentation was being played. The attendant said this couple had BETTER be paying attention to the film, or he would seat them. The couple explained they were frequent fliers and were familiar with the emergency procedures.

On the return flight, I made sure I had an aisle seat. I was managing all the toys I'd brought along to entertain me during this long flight. I saw the attendant coming through with the beverage cart as I was getting into the overhead bin. I waited for him to pass and in the meantime he closed the overhead bin when I was waiting for him to get by me.

I'm sorry, they must be getting desparate for help. I'm not impressed.

Recommended: No