United CEO doubles down in email to employees, says passenger was 'disruptive and belligerent'

[DFW]

31. Second that

Last time I took United Express, it was from Washington to Charleston, SC. It was after having frown from Düsseldorf to Paris to Washington, so we were quite tired already. We had stuff to do early the next day and had prepaid the first night at the hotel in Charleston.

United canceled our flight, told us we MIGHT get out the next day, and "recommended" some local hotels for us to stay at. I said we needed to get there that evening, that we had already been on the road for 14 hours, etc. They said they did have a flight to Columbia, SC, and we might find ground transportation. I asked about our luggage, and the United agent said that 3 hours was time enough to reroute the luggage. So, we flew to Columbia, landed just before 11 PM, and our luggage was NOT on the flight. United personnel stuck around just long enough to tell us they had no idea where our luggage was. We asked a taxi outside how much he would want to take us to Charleston, and he said $250, as it was a 2 hour trip, and the round trip would take him all night. We were so exhausted, I said OK, let's go.

The next morning, I tried calling United about our luggage, but after 45 minutes of waiting, I gave up and took a taxi out to the Charleston airport, where United had live people. When I got there, our luggage was just standing there where anyone who wanted to could just walk off with it. That was the last time we actually flew with them. Ten years ago, maybe?

We had booked one United flight, against my better judgment, on United from Newark to Portland, Maine in April of 2014. United canceled the flight. We had to hear the news from my travel agent in Texas. United never told us. I had to rent a car in New York City and drive the nine hours to the Portland, Maine airport, and then pick up the car I had originally rented, thinking United would fly us there. We got to Freeport, Maine, about 10 hours late, but we got there. Since then, our travel agents on both sides of the Atlantic know to book us on a covered wagon before even considering booking us on a United flight.