I wish I was making this up. I hope some UA executives or their staffs read this forum and take some action. Here's the story:

We were flying on separate UA flights from IAD-SYD on June 27th. You may recall that this was during the period of torrential rain all along the east coast. My wife was flying through SFO and I was flying through LAX. We each had about a 2 1/2-3 hour layover before our connecting flights to Sydney. She was leaving about 1730 EDT for SFO and I was supposed to leave for LAX at 1750 EDT. Most of the flights in & out of Dulles were late, which is completely understandable and acceptable, given the weather.

My wife left about an hour late -- actually pretty normal at IAD on a GOOD day. My flight to LAX is about 2 hours late, but I'm still in the ballpark, since I know my connecting flight at LAX is only a gate or two away from where we will land. We proceed to sit on the tarmac for about another 30 minutes. The pilot explains that they are loading last-minute bags. He also mentions that there are 25 of us on the plane that need to make the Sydney connection and that he "will do everything he can to make sure they hold the flight for us."

We finally take off three hours late, and now we will arrive about 15 minutes after the Sydney flight is scheduled to leave. I figure it will be real close, but I can't imagine UA not holding the flight for 30 minutes or so until all 25 of us can get to Sydney on schedule. Also, for a 15 1/2 hour flight, a 30-minute delay is trivial, given uncertainties about headwinds over that long of a distance.

Being the geek that I am, I listen to Channel 9 all the way ou to LAX. We touch down about 2300 PDT. As we are rolling out after touchdown, I hear the Sydney crew ask for permission to push back from the gate. We were less than 10 minutes from the gate, and United would not hold the flight for 25 connecting passengers! There were no apologies, and the captain never mentioned the Sydney flight again.

We were told to go down to the customer service desk near Gate 71 at LAX. When I get there, I find about 50 people ahead of me in line. Apparently, there were other people on other flights who had also missed connections for other reasons. At the customer service counter, there were two individuals working there. One was constantly on the phone and did not help any of the stranded passengers. At 0030 (about 90 minutes after we landed and had gotten in line) the individual dealing with passengers suddenly puts up the "position closed" sign and leaves. At this point, there was still about 100 people in line. Somebody in line asks her why she is leaving. She yells in a loud voice, "My shift is over and I'm not getting paid to stay."

At the same time, there was a midnight flight leaving for Mexico City from gate 70 right next door. There were about three UA people working the flight. When the flight departed, not one of them came to help us.

At about 0030, a UA guy in a suit, obviously a supervisor walks by, not particularly caring about the long line. An Aussie ahead of me goes out of line and confronts the supervisor. It took about 10 minutes of convincing the supervisor that there was a problem for him to sit down at the customer service desk and try to find people to come an assist us.

About 0050, two or three UA people come around and start helping people again. It takes them until about 0115 to get computers up & running. My turn comes at about 0145. They book me on the flight to Sydney the next night and give me a SuperShuttle voucher back & forth, three meal vouchers, and a hotel voucher -- to the Anaheim Marriott -- 45 minutes from LAX in no traffic!

In a calm voice, I tell the supervisor (different supervisor than the one mentioned above) that what they did by not holding the Sydney flight for 25 of us was "incomprehensible." I told him the treatment we all have gotten tonight and the actions of UA employees was "beyond in comprehensible." I told him that I had gladly flown UA for over 30 years and have good friends who have been UA employees for over 20 years, but, based on the experience tonight, I had only two words more to say: "You're fired." He offered a lame excuse about being notoriously understaffed at LAX and said he couldn't be responsible for operational decisions about holding or not holding flights. I responded by stating that, if he got a United paycheck, he WAS responsible by definition. I told him that I thought it was an innovative management approach to keep us waiting in line all night at the airport so they wouldn't have to put us up in hotels.

At 0300, I arrived at the Anaheim Marriott. I couldn't stand the thought of being cooped up in a hotel all day waiting for the 2245 flight to Sydney so I rented a car, visited some old friends, and had dinner at a favorite Mexican restaurant in Torrance.

The story doesn't end here.

When I checked out from the Marriott, they had charged the entire breakfast to my credit card because United had given them an incorrent charge number on the voucher. After about three phone calls, the front desk person got it all fixed. She told me that they get United refugees all the time, and that they had repeatedly told the UA people at LAX that they were using the wrong number.

Finally, when we went to check in at Sydney to fly home, UA had cancelled my return itinerary because the computer said I didn't show up for my original connection. The guy at LAX never reinstated my return itinerary. Fortunately, the counter agent at Sydney managed to get me on my original flights home.

I'm an extremely loyal friend, but I can't, in good conscious, spend another dime on United after the bad management decision and complete insensitivity they showed towards over 150 people that night and morning. If they had held the Sydney flight less than 30 minutes, there would have been 25 less of us in line that night.

United, you're fired.