We arrived at IAD from Sacramento around 8:00p.m. enroute to EZE on May 2. An agent came on board and said that there were 9 people on the flight that were to be going onto Buenos Aires, and that the flight would be delayed until the following day due to mechanical problems. We were to all see the customer service agents and packets with hotels and meal vouchers would be waiting.

We transited over to the other terminal in IAD and we could see there were going be some problems. There were about 25+ angry people standing around the customer service desk. I handed the agent our boardpasing pass for EZE and she looked at me and said "you have a coach ticket, there are no more hotels left." My response was that I had been a premier exec. for over 15 years, knew I had rights and I nicely asked for a hotel room. I was rudely declined.

I immediately accessed that most of the other people who did not have hotel rooms, also did not have english as their first language and they were having a hard time understanding what was happening.

For over 30 minutes the supervisor, in particular, at UA at IAD yelled at us to stop asking for a hotel room because there were none. Then she really upped the anty and started yelling for us all to line up for meal vouchers if we wanted to eat....it was unbelieveable. One person pointed out that at that point the airport restaurant was closed, but the supervisor said there was nothing she could do about that. Most everyone lined up because alot of the people didn't even understand what she was saying, as many did not speak english.

This went on for hours, I kept asking for another supervisor,,,,was told there was none, I called the premier exec. desk and asked for a supervisor there, she said she could do nothing to get us a hotel or help reslove the problem.

Please take note that I am not beyond paying for my own hotel room, but since the flight was full prior to being cancelled, the local airport hotels were fully occupied.... as many people were calling and rooms had been given out to the people viewed as higher priority. I too was calling everywhere but to no avail.

Then the supervisor said to us that we would all be given a pillow and would need to sleep in the airport for the next 14 hrs...until the next day when our flight would depart...this new departure was an unscheduled flight as the one the following evening was also full.

After 2 plus hours, the people that had not accepted a pillow to sleep on the floor, were finally given hotel rooms and a taxi voucher for $50 each way to varying hotels. The compensation they offered us was a $100 UA travel voucher each.

My husband and I were furious. When we came back from Argentina three weeks later there were two letters from UA, apologizing for the inconvenience and they gave my husband another a $150 UA travel certificae and me $100....note that my husband is not a premier executive, and yet he received more $$.

I called customer service when I returned. They aplogized and said they would send us another $100 in vouchers a piece, but this just doesn't seem right.

I had to pay for my missed hotel room in Buenos Aires, pay for the driver that had come to pick me up at EZE that I could not reach...and then pay again when he came to pick me up the next day.

What are my rights and what can I do at this point if anything? I feel furious at how were treated by UA especially given the fact that I have given them many years of loyalty...I'm 80,000 miles away from being a million mile flyer.

Thanks for your help.