The last time -- and I do mean the LAST time -- I flew UA was one of the times when their dispatch computers crashed. I was on an award ticket (miles flown on LH), and have zero status with UA. I made a beeline for the desk the instant my flight was canceled, while dialing the call center on my cell phone.

When I got through to the call center, their computer had "for your convenience" automatically rebooked me for 3PM the next day -- 27 hours later. The call center person got me on a flight 3 hours later that afternoon, and then told me to go claim my bags downstairs at ORD and recheck.

By then I was within 20 minutes of the front of the line, and with nothing better to do I waited it out. The agent verified that I had been fed s*** about my baggage, and gave me an E+ exit row seat.

What I didn't tell her was that I had used the 20 minutes to call AA and have them hold an award seat for me on their flight 4 hours later -- just in case UA's computers never came up. I didn't cancel that hold till UA pushed back.