Had a golf trip scheduled for Springfield, MO, scheduled to leave IAH on Friday.
Weather in Houston area caused delays in many flights but our flight was on time.
Boarding was delayed because of lightning strikes (small plane - outside boarding). Totally get that.
Finally board and on runway when pilot announces we need to return to gate because plane being rerouted because of weather and plane did not have enough fuel. Spent a couple hours on runway waiting for a gate to open.
Get back to gate and then told flight cancelled due to weather. We all had puzzled looks because it showed clear sailing between IAH and Springfield. My guess is that they used our plane to play catch-up with other cancelled flights.
We ended up cancelling the trip.
Now the real fun.
Told bags would be in B baggage claim. We all waited and no bags. Told we had to go to customer service line to reclaim bags. Spent 4 hours waiting on bags and customer service line.
Told to come back the next day to claim bags.
Went back the next day and no bags. Spent another two hours in customer service line. Airline then completed a process where they would call me when bags were found. Not sure why they did not do that the first time.
Got a call that my golf clubs were ready, but still missing other bag.
Between boarding, sitting on plane, dealing with bags, we spent 17 hours dealing with United Airlines, and will still have to make one more trip. They won't deliver.
Bad experience but thankful I was in my hometown (live an hour away).
Lot of frustrated folks at IAH. Thought United should have better processes and better communication. There were some elderly folks who had no idea how to navigate all of that. It seemed like we got a different answer depending on who we asked.

Safe travels!

What a nightmare.

Wow that's ridiculous and yes all airlines suck.

MAROON said:

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They should be delivering your bags to you.

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I agree. But I bet they are falling back on the idea that because the flight was cancelled and they presumably refunded the fare, they don't have to deliver the bags. But if that is what their position is, they should have provided the bags back as soon as the flight was cancelled. No excuse for them not doing that IMO.

To add, the entire place was a zoo. Not the first time, Houston has been impacted by inclement weather. This is where you have all hands on deck - boots on the ground assisting people. Additionally, why not build in a text or email notification to ensure clear and consistent communication.

We spent 6 hrs at IAH delayed on Friday, and then had almost 11 hours of delays for our return trip Sunday…all with a 1 yr old. This was a fun weekend.

driving may be the new flying; especially if within 4 or 5 hours of the destination

American is getting bad at doing these rolling delays whereby you essentially get stuck at the gate and can't make alternative arrangements. I would much rather they post a lengthy delay or flat out cancel so people can move on.

2wealfth Man said:

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driving may be the new flying; especially if within 4 or 5 hours of the destination

American is getting bad at doing these rolling delays whereby you essentially get stuck at the gate and can't make alternative arrangements. I would much rather they post a lengthy delay or flat out cancel so people can move on.

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That was our problem yesterday. Because of the rolling delay we were stuck in the airport for 10+hours. Had we known it was just going to end of day we could've just left and explored DC for the afternoon.

Yeah...that sucks. It's insane how bad all airlines have gotten with luggage.

My FIL was returning from a golf trip and they lost his clubs. Luckily, he put an airtag in them. But they called him multiple times to tell him they were ready to pick up but he could pull up his airtag and see they were in a different state.

2wealfth Man said:

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driving may be the new flying; especially if within 4 or 5 hours of the destination

American is getting bad at doing these rolling delays whereby you essentially get stuck at the gate and can't make alternative arrangements. I would much rather they post a lengthy delay or flat out cancel so people can move on.

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That is exactly what they don't want you to do. The last thing they want to do is spend 4 hours fixing a plane or bringing a new one in, only to fly a 50% full plane because everybody cancelled and jumped to another flight on another airline. They are going to trickle truth you with hopes and dreams about how quickly they can get you on your way, even if they know the reality is it will likely be much longer.

We might've crossed paths on Friday at IAH. I was in B outside the B1-B11 gates for about 4 hours on Friday. Same situation. Headed to Laredo for a friends shower. First time on an "Express" plane with the outside boarding.

Originally scheduled to depart Friday at 2:35PM. Get a text around 9:45AM that my flight had been canceled due to inclement weather, pivoted to 12:08PM departure. Haul tail from office downtown to the house, grab bags, make it to the gates with about 20 mins till boarding (according to the app). Walk up to the mass of people outside the gates just as confused as everyone else. End up getting delayed three times, then came the cancellation text around 3:30.

Biggest issue was the app not updating telling people boarding was delayed.

Leave the airport, thankfully just had a carry-on, and get back home. Rebook for Saturday AM at 7:20. Drive back to IAH Sat morning, depart fine with a slight delay. Make it to Laredo with a 2:00PM flight back Sunday. Wake up Sunday to a text message saying flight has been canceled. Only other alternative from Laredo was 5:30PM. Decided to drive back with friends to SA and fly on Southwest out of SAT to Hobby at 9:00PM.

Get delayed on tarmac out of SAT and then finally make it back last night. Then to top it all off, had to uber from Hobby to IAH to grab my truck out of the garage.

Wonderful weekend!

Sorry about all of that. Just picked up last checked bag from IAH. Live in Galveston County and made a total of 4 trips to IAH.

Trip 1. Original flight
Trip 2. Next day to pickup bags. No bags
Trip 3. Found golf clubs. Did not want them at the airport any longer than necessary, so made trip.
Trip 4. Today to pick up other checked bag.

Reason 1,001 that I AirTag all of my checked bags. Helps avoid this very situation because you can see their location before leaving for the airport and know where they are once you arrive.

Great advice and definitely getting air tags. In this case I knew my bags were in Houston, United did not make them available until 2-3 days later.

Yeah I picked a bad week to have a work trip and a weekend trip via IAH. Then add on the construction pit at IAH and what a miserable week there.

The Chicken Ranch said:

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All the airlines suck.

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Nope! Not EVA!!

Why is it the Asian airlines can figure out how to not suck, but other can't? I've NEVER had a problem flying an airline in Asia. Lao Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air had better service than most major US carriers. Singapore, Eva, Thai Airways....all better by a mile!

They all suck, but United is a special kind of suck now. They are all in on dei now which means it will only get worse.

Last year I had a flight cancelled coming back from Europe due to inclement weather in Newark. I'll never fault them for weather cancellations, but there was nothing else available for a week and the customer service rep was useless in getting me booked on another airline. So I cancel my itinerary and book a flight home on American via O'Hare.

United then denied my refund request, saying the flight was nonrefundable. I eventually got refunded after giving them a nice shellacking, but the fact that they had the nerve to deny it at first was truly infuriating.

TXCityAggie said:

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Why is it the Asian airlines can figure out how to not suck, but other can't? I've NEVER had a problem flying an airline in Asia. Lao Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air had better service than most major US carriers. Singapore, Eva, Thai Airways....all better by a mile!

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Agree. It's comes down to professionalism. The jobs/careers are more coveted in those regions. Employees are held to a higher standard across the board, and they want the job they have because it's their livelihood. The US had such low standards and inability to enforce any kind of behaviors.

Killin Me Smalls said:

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TXCityAggie said:

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Why is it the Asian airlines can figure out how to not suck, but other can't? I've NEVER had a problem flying an airline in Asia. Lao Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air had better service than most major US carriers. Singapore, Eva, Thai Airways....all better by a mile!

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Agree. It's comes down to professionalism. The jobs/careers are more coveted in those regions. Employees are held to a higher standard across the board, and they want the job they have because it's their livelihood. The US had such low standards and inability to enforce any kind of behaviors.

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The strength of the unions here is a factor too. When it is nearly impossible to fire people for being really bad at their job because of union rules, some of those people stop putting any effort into trying to do a good job. And with United specifically, choosing to put the HQ in Chicago instead of Houston after the Continental merger set the tone for what customer service was going to be like. Not that you can talk to anybody in the US when you call them anymore though.

You actually can talk to a US Rep w United.

JustPanda said:

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You actually can talk to a US Rep w United.

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Has not happened to me at any point in the last 3-5 years. I always seem to get "Bob" from Mumbai or "Kimberly" from some undetermined Central/Eastern European location. They are uniformly unable to tell me anything besides whatever is provided in their computer AI based instructions. Which is the same thing I spent half an hour looking at online myself while I waited on hold to speak to an agent.

barbacoa taco said:

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Last year I had a flight cancelled coming back from Europe due to inclement weather in Newark. I'll never fault them for weather cancellations, but there was nothing else available for a week and the customer service rep was useless in getting me booked on another airline. So I cancel my itinerary and book a flight home on American via O'Hare.

United then denied my refund request, saying the flight was nonrefundable. I eventually got refunded after giving them a nice shellacking, but the fact that they had the nerve to deny it at first was truly infuriating.

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This is United's standard MO - withhold refunds that passengers are entitled to and make them fight for their money. They ignore the rules all the time - DOT is very clear that, if a flight is cancelled - for any reason - the airlines have to refund your money (because they didn't actually provide the service you paid for). It's not supposed to be a credit or points, but an actual refund of what you paid.

They also have to refund your money if they change your non-stop flight to one with a layover, and you choose to cancel. But United will deny refunds in that case, too.

This. Was on the phone a couple of times with them dealing with the issue above. Customer service reps sounded like they were from out of country. It also looks like United contracts their baggage services and they have the energy and motion someone working at a post office.

I have found that the best way to get help with United is to send them a direct message on Twitter (X). That's my go to form of communication with them now, and I have almost always been able to accomplish whatever it is that I was trying to.

There were times when the reps on the phone could not help me at all, and folks answering on Twitter were able to do it immediately.

Every time I call United I get a US based customer service rep. Maybe it's a 1k thing?

TXTransplant said:

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barbacoa taco said:

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Last year I had a flight cancelled coming back from Europe due to inclement weather in Newark. I'll never fault them for weather cancellations, but there was nothing else available for a week and the customer service rep was useless in getting me booked on another airline. So I cancel my itinerary and book a flight home on American via O'Hare.

United then denied my refund request, saying the flight was nonrefundable. I eventually got refunded after giving them a nice shellacking, but the fact that they had the nerve to deny it at first was truly infuriating.

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This is United's standard MO - withhold refunds that passengers are entitled to and make them fight for their money. They ignore the rules all the time - DOT is very clear that, if a flight is cancelled - for any reason - the airlines have to refund your money (because they didn't actually provide the service you paid for). It's not supposed to be a credit or points, but an actual refund of what you paid.

They also have to refund your money if they change your non-stop flight to one with a layover, and you choose to cancel. But United will deny refunds in that case, too.

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that really is infuriating. so they do this and hope customers aren't smart enough to fight it. i'm sure it pays off for them sometimes. ugh.

I made sure to file a DOT complaint against them for this. As a result they gave me a travel voucher on top of the refund. I was thinking... this would have been a whole lot easier if you refunded me right off the bat, no questions asked.

JustPanda said:

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Every time I call United I get a US based customer service rep. Maybe it's a 1k thing?

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Probably so. Can't give the real customer service away for free to the plebes you know. I am actually kind of surprised that they haven't offered that option for an up charge now that I think of it.

Dumb question but when ordering air tags, do they function in other countries? Best type to purchase?

It infuriates me to no end as well. It's like David vs Goliath, and the DOT should be fining them out the wazoo for doing this.

We don't need more rules/laws about airline travel on the books - the ones we have just need to be enforced.

I still to this day don't know how I got my refund for the nonstop flight that was changed to one with a layover. I was denied, filed a petition, was denied again, and filed a complaint with DOT. I bought the flight with Chase points, and Chase did refund them. I got a lot of runaround re who should be requesting the refund, too (Chase or me). And I wonder if Chase didn't just eat the cost of the ticket and give me my points back in good faith.

The OPs travels have not gotten much better. Son graduated from TXST and had a VRBO in Wimberly. Great day and then a bad hail storm last night. Never seen hail like that. That is our car. It can be fixed. Always blessed.

Safe travel.

Wife and daughter flew to NYC in January. Wife's checked bag didn't make the flight for some reason. Was told by United rep that they would deliver the bag to hotel that afternoon. My daughter tracked the bag and the delivery driver spent 3 hours at a mosque on his way from the airport. He didn't deliver the bag until the next day.

United gave us a very nice credit because of this.