Originally Posted by akhill

What an absolute farce of a day.

I was booked in UA4689/18 on YHZ/EWR/LHR, which made me happy to avoid the red-eye.

I was late for the first leg, through no fault of my own. There were 2 checking-in agents, and one of them took 40 minutes to deal with a single passenger, by which time, I had been bumped, as it was overbooked due to a cancellation.

So, I was bumped to UA1340/928 (red-eye via ORD), with 90 minutes connection time. 1340 sat on the tarmac for an hour, asking for volunteers to take a later flight. I knew there was no chance of making my connection, so I took the $600, and looked forward to bed (stinking cold/cough kept me awake last night), rebooked tomorrow lunchtime, via EWR.

OK, sh*t happens, and it was partly my fault. But there were FOUR UA staff in the entire airport, who first had to clear 1340, then the next flight, before dealing with my (and several other people's) voucher, rebooking and hotels, because there was no one else who could escort me back through US immigration (pre-clearance at YHZ). Not only that, they seemed to have no idea what they were doing. It took about 1 3/4 hours between deboarding and exiting the terminal.

Now, because I volunteered for the second bump, I foolishly assumed they would have treated me with some level of dignity. Oh no. Quality Inn reservation (motel), wait for the complimentary shuttle, laughed when I suggest an upgrade for the transatlantic instead of the money and hotel (OK, expected, but worth a try). I finally walked out the terminal at around 1630, after 11 hours.

So, I'm pretty p*ssed off (and there is still scope for more delay to the current 32 hour late ETA. Do I have recourse, or shall I put it down to experience?