Kacee

And MEX is probably the worst possible transit airport for a BOG routing. Don't believe it's possible to transit airside, i.e., must clear Mexican immigration and customs, then security.

IAH, SAL, or PTY are all much better.

kettle1

ORD to a nonstop flight on one ticket would have been best. AA, UA, DL and other carriers offer this to BOG from many hubs. If this was ticketed ORD- stop (in the USA) - BOG, there would be no problems, except the delay. NEVER book 2 tickets on different airlines for International travel, unless on the same ticket. Not to bash on the OP, but what were you thinking?

RooseveltL

My guess savings $$$. The 2nd airline doesn't fly from USA and flights to MEX are competitive. It was a risk/gamble and OP lost the hand. United owes your mum nothing absolutely nothing - maybe refund on the ticket because they were delayed over 3-4 hours but the only person you can complain to is your local/state politician we have no passenger bill of rights.

Sorry, about your mum and the chaos she experienced (I assume/hope she speaks Spanish due to handicap and traveling to Columbia) - please please realize if/when you book two different tickets it doesn't matter if the first flight is delayed due to :
weather
mechanical difficulties + flight crew hours expiration
excess abnormal events (computer network malfunction, airport security threat so airport is evacuated, bomb threat to plane which results in 4 hr delay deplaning, monkey in the cargo bin must be returned to gate, passenger dies on the plane, delayed deplaning because passenger was stealing $$$ from overhead bin purses/bags, passenger suffers stroke/heart attack mid-flight so plane is diverted to Azore (rerouting over the Atlantic), etc. etc.)

All of the above reasons can happen and have happen to me flying from point A to B - so NEVER NEVER NEVER assume because the carrier is suppose to land at 2:35pm you can get comfortable or cheap buying an elderly disabled passenger ticket based on the 85% of the time it works because you just encountered the 15% it doesn't.

cruisr

I have a feeling we will not be hearing from the OP again. What a mess. Maybe he never booked an airline ticket before and didn't know if you book two different tickets on two airlines and something goes wrong on the first flight, you are going to have problems.

I don't understand some of the things he said in his posts though. Don't understand when he states "she had a connection with me until she got to Mexico City?

rens

So sorry for the troubles encountered.
IIRC Toluca is about 45 miles SW of Mexico city airport. Seems strange that UA would need to divert there due to fuel shortage. Perhaps other factors were also in play. Further, the airports are connected by very good roads that take 1:30 hours by bus to connect. There is very frequent non-stop airport to airport bus service, Not sure if using this bus would have gotten her there in time, but seems this was not handled as well as could have been as she was not informed of the options available.

fastair

Gonna guess the "hold" fuel was used waiting weather to clear, not that the plane didn't have the fuel to fly, just that given ATC conditions, it couldn't hold waiting for a landing spot forever. Same reason flights to ORD divert to SBN/RFD/MKE when ATC has ex limitations on ORD.

rens

I am assuming he meant phone connection. Is somewhat strange he did not use it to search alternatives before the plane left ORD with a 4 hour delay.

HoyaSFOIAD

I'm guessing two things will come of this

1) OP won't make that same mistake again
2) OP won't be back on FT again, which is too bad.

I wonder if there's a way to educate folks on here without the beat up. I suspect there is...

seenitall

Perhaps if after the first time that the OP is told that separate tickets means no responsibility for mis-connects (in the logical, not the airline meaning of this word) and that the OP was negligent in booking his mother in this fashion, subsequent posters (of who there were many) would not feel it necessary to repeat that this was not a legal mis-connect situation or to add their condemnations of the OP for this booking. The points were already made.

DoTheBartMan

Perhaps if the OP hadn't accused UA of "extremely negligent nature of this abandonment" and stating that he's looking to pursue legal action against UA, maybe the tone of the replies would have been different.

zrs70

If I were the OP and read these responses, I would not return either.

It was not a terrible decision to purchase two tickets.

A mistake, yes, but a terrible decison, no.

I skimmed some of the other responses. One person said it is the person who purchased the tickets who should be sued, not UA.

C'mon, FT. Let's show a little more class than this. I know, I know, we are sharing info the OP may not want to hear. But there are kinder ways to share info than to lord over those who travel less frequently.

sbm12

I disagree.

I buy separate tickets all the time. For myself, an able-bodied passenger who knows the risks and knows what to do and how to rebook myself if things go pear-shaped. Buying separate tickets is not awful as a general rule.

But I would NEVER do it for a passenger with limited mobility traveling on their own when other options are available. That is a terrible choice to make.

HoyaSFOIAD

This is spot on. Someone who was obviously emotionally worked up turned to this forum as a place where they could get some advice from people with a lot of knowledge about something most people don't know a lot about. Was a great opportunity for this forum to be at its best. So much for the high road. It's too bad.

RooseveltL

+1 on this response.
Airlines are corporations which do some dumb and stupid stuff but also deliver a product we utilize/expect 90% of the time reliably otherwise, they wouldn't stay in business. We are all on this forum because we don't have our own planes or afraid of Harrison Ford if we do. The last thing we want is someone causing irresponsible trouble for our carrier due to no fault of their own and if we can discourage such persons to calm down we will, as don't wish to contact the CSR after this guy finished talking to them.

I agree the plane diversion or mechanical or whatever the issues is compounded as MEX is a big airport but if delays at MEX or surrounding it - causing clogged gates/runways - many airport managers have learned from the Tenerife airport disaster - don't occupy all your real estate. Not to introduce politics but would hope preferential treatment wasn't given to non-US carriers (forcing diversion) because of our political differences between governments as does seem odd but without ATC recording who knows.

dls25

I honestly don't think the responses in thread are rude or out of line. I would consider a decision that caused an elderly relative to be stranded in a foreign land in distress to be a terrible decision - especially since ORD-BOG fares are rarely outrageous due to the presence on NK and B6 in the market. I have never paid more than $500 RT. I highly doubt more than $50 was saved splitting the tickets like that - sometimes there is a high cost to being cheap...