Colin is right on the money on this.

Put yourself in UA's position. Your computer shows that pax are trying to board with stolen tickets. What do you do? You can't just say that these people look honest and let them board. You have to do what UA did.

And AMEX apparently fixed the situation, indicating there was some type of a problem on AMEX's part. But it's certainly not a UA problem. UA did nothing wrong. Sure, they didn't get the boarding passes fixed on the first try. Come on! Get real with the compensation issue re UA. Based on your own statements, time was getting short and UA was trying to get you on the flight. Mistakes happen.

You say, "AMEX & UA have to sort the "problem" out before we can get tickets to fly home in a few weeks time." Why? Again, UA is doing its job to prevent stolen tickets from being used.

Call AMEX and get them to resolve it and provide you with some documentation that will get you home.

Once you get home, you can decide whether you want to follow up with AMEX.

As for UA, if anything, the UA personnel should be applauded for doing their job in (apparently) a very professional manner, considering the circumstances that they were confronted with!


[This message has been edited by Dave M (edited 07-11-2001).]