Originally Posted by jkroncke

Hi all,

I recently had a pretty disastrous experience flying (or not flying) on United. Was booked MKE-SIN for a conference. Got from MKE to ORD for our HKG connection. Then our flight was delayed four hours, and after three hours they cancelled the flight for crew availability. No other flights to take, so put up in hotel for the night. Missed the first day of the conference, they rescheduled us for early the next day.

Next day, new flight to HKG in the early AM. Got up early, washed our clothes in the hotel sink and headed out. Delayed a few hours. Then we actually began to take off and they slammed on the breaks. Never had that happen before. Went back for maintenance and new crew. 4 hours later, boarded and taxied. Drove around airport and parked for two hours on tarmc. Returned to gate. Now they say new crew coming, but had given misinformation at earlier times.

At that point, ETA to SIN is one or two hours before my rescheduled talk, if their best estimates work. 20+ hours flying and the time difference, I decided I can't put my fiancee through it for only a chance miserable day and potentially not making the conference at all. We ask to be taken off the flight. It leaves several hours later and ten hours late in the end. They didn't deplane our bags as they are legally required to for an international flight and we are left in freezing Chicago with our carry on. We get a hotel and try to recoup. Nine days later they return us our bags, which also happened to be missing a few items.

Online they offered us each 40,000 miles or $800. Does this seem reasonable? They basically ruined our trip to SIN and I think this seems overall pretty bad in all my experiences. I'm still shellshocked by it all a bit and this doesn't bode well as my partners first big international trip. Thoughts? Experiences? Thanks for just letting me vent?