What a mess. Flying SFO-IAD-CHO Christmas night. Storyline:

Arrive at G terminal at 4:10; Hear announcement that flights 5225 and 5241 are swapping gates (CRW flight is clearly on mechanical, both routes are Colgan Saab340s, CRW takes CHO aircraft).

5:20 -- 5241 (CHO) departure pushed back to 6:00PM, from 5:30PM, due to mechanical.

5:50 -- Board above G14 changes to Charlottesville-Cancelled. I run up to podium, and when I inquire she states that "they just gave me the go ahead to board". When I point to the screen behind her, I get an audible "Oh sh*t". She directs me to the customer service counter, who tell me they can only give me a hotel voucher and stand-by on the first flight out the next day. I ask for a voucher instead for a rental car so I can drive the measly 2 hours to CHO, and she refuses (didn't realize they couldn't do that).

In any event, after a few minutes of tying she suddenly states that the reason for the cancellation has suddenly changed from "Mechanical" to "Weather". CS rep denied all liability.

After 2 hours waiting for our bags to be unloaded and sent to baggage claim, I split a rental car ($50/ea. + gas) for the one way drive to cville. Is there any chance I can get this recovered from United? I just don't buy the explaination that this was a weather cancellation. The flight could've been delayed further until the "weather" went away (it appears to be fog, but as I said, other flights arrived in cville tonight), and in any event, it was mechanicaled INTO a weather delay.

I know they've probably got me pretty good on the weather explaination, but the whole thing seems sour. They used weather to deal with what was effectively a mechanical problem, and in my mind the fact that other flights arrived in cville demonstrates that the flight at worst should have been delayed further if that was the explaination.

Any advise?