I don't usually fly UA, so not familiar with their compensation levels. A friend and his wife (no status) were booked on UA (on award), flying ALB-ORD-LAX last night (4/18). Inbound flight from ORD went mechanical and arrived at ALB over 5 hours late. They were informed of delay and realized they would have to overnight at ORD. Since they live near ALB, they did not go to the airport until 1.5 hours before the inbound was due to arrive. TSA had shut down (at around 8:30 pm !) and they could not get to the gate (along with many other pax). After 2+ hours on the phone with UA, they managed to get rebooked on an AA flight to ORD this morning, connecting to a UA flight to LAX. They were each offered a voucher for $125, which my friend refused. Given all the crap they went thru yesterday afternoon/evening, I would agree that a $125 voucher isn't fair compensation for losing an entire day of their trip.

Should he have taken the $125 voucher? If he complains to CS now, will they deny compensation given that he refused the voucher? Thanks for your help.