Recently all you have heard is bad news and publicity for United Airlines. I won't take the time to get into what's been publicized because in the connected world I am sure you have heard. Instead I want to take the time to share my personal experience on United Airlines. As a whole since I started flying United in August of 2012 I have had no major problems. Have planes broke down? Yes, Have I had delays due to weather? Yes, and have crews timed out due to a combination of factors? Yes. But as I have learned now is that these things will happen to you at some point, so once you understand that I think it can alleviate some of the stress that can accompany them.




My focus though is on two particular United operated flights. UA 819 EZE-IAH and UA 818 EZE-IAH. UA819 was my first ever international flight back in November of 2013. I was on a journey to see a woman I had met 6 months ago on a dating site where we seemed to bump into each other bump into each other into accident as she was in Buenos Aires and I was in Chicago. We talked every day after we met online, and as we grew to like each other more the more I felt it was necessary to meet in person. So I ponied up and got a ticket and took ORD-EWR-IAH-EZE as at the time this routing was $200 cheaper than ORD-IAH-EZE. I remember well on my first flight just listening to all of the Spanish being spoken by argentines on UA819 IAH-EZE and my head was spinning lol. Now I had taken Spanish in high school and some in college but had not used the very basic skills I had since; so I was like a fish out of water. As I am sure many of you who have been to other Latin American countries you know that Argentine Spanish (Castellano) is quite different than the rest of Latin America. My first visit when I met who I will now marry I became a tourist and fell in love with not only the women I met but the city of Buenos Aires. From the asado,Malbec,and the language to the relaxed environment that Argentines live in really sparked my interest in international travel. So over the last 4 years I have been to Buenos Aires many times by way of UA819/818 from 777-200's to Dreamliner's and back to 777-200's. One constant for me has been the friendly service provided by the crews whether I was in Y or J. The crews have changed over the time but the service hasn't. I feel like I have made some of the most important trips of my life on this route from my first trip abroad, to asking my girlfriends parents for her hand I marriage,and to going ask her had in marriage with my mom and best friend in tow. For me UA819/818 are more than a flight number they symbolize going outside of your comfort zone, and making life changing decisions for me. And as I finish this story I am sitting in the Star Alliance Lounge at EZE with my soon to be wife, thinking that UA 818 may be the most life changing flight of all to this point. The one where for the first time when I leave to go back home she will be right by my side for the rest of my life. So after numerous trips, over 130,000 miles, and being a continent apart; tonight when the boarding closes UA 818 closes and those two General Electric GE-90-90B engines fire up, the chapter on us being apart ends and a new one bringing us together begins.