I’m on, I would have been on, UA163 at 0155 on Friday. Ship 3007 was scheduled to perform that flight as late as 0855 PT on April 3. What was interesting about UA164, the outbound flight, was the load. It was really light: maybe one third full. Upgrade requests to PP and Polaris could have all been accommodated with room to spare.

In terms of how canceled flight UA163 was handled, it’s not United’s best day. The app told me that I had been rebooked on another flight, but provided no details on that flight. I reached out to UA on the app; I think I got a “bot.” The “agent” liked providing me with the entire itinerary (four legs); I couldn’t get he, she or it to focus on the first canceled leg. I called and got an agent who seemed to panic when she saw I was 1k: it was quite endearing. In the end, she saved the day and put me on an Emirates flight on Friday at 0855. I had planned to go hub hopping (EWR-IAH-SFO), but now I’m flying nonstop to LAX. I’ll take care of the ORC later.

For as much as I’ve been flying recently, I haven’t experienced such a disruption in ages. It will be good to see what Emirates is like. I’ve been moved from Pp to coach and have yet to get a seat assignment. As I have no status, I’m planning to arrive at DXB many hours before the flight to check in.

From a customer service perspective, I’d say United had a really poor start, but (so far) a good conclusion.