[btrock]

I had a similar experience to Sankirk's.
On January 7,2008 my wife and I were supposed to fly from Washington DC to London, England. I was flying for a business meeting on January 9, and my wife was accompanying me. Because of severe weather in Chicago, our flight was repeated delayed in leaving Washington. Worrying that we would miss our connection, we repeatedly asked the United agent to get us an alternative flight, but she insisted that we'd get to Chicago in time for the connection to London. But after a 3 hour delay, by the time we arrived in Chicago our connection had already left. Because so many Washington passengers missed the connection to London, it took more than 2 hours in line before we were able to talk to a Customer Service agent in Chicago, who told us she couldn't confirm us on a flight to London until 2 days later. This would make me miss half of my meeting in London. The agent listed us on standby for the next afternoon, and we went to an airport hotel - by then it was after midnight. The agent didn't help us find a hotel, and because the problem was caused by weather, didn't give us a voucher to pay for
the hotel or food. We returned to the airport more than 2 hours before the flight to try for stand-by but there weren't any available seats. The next available flight would get me in too late for my meeting, so we just told United to put us on a plane back to DC. Somehow, this whole experience doesn't seem to fit with United's 12 point Customer Commitment pledge, especially point #3 (notify customers of long delays and work proactively to help them reach their intended destinations), and point #8 (meet customer's needs during long delays). Now I'm trying to get a refund for my wife's ticket. After an email contact from United Customer Relations assuring me someone would call me I've waited more than 3 weeks without a call. I've tried to call them but just get shuffled through one recorded message after another - even after clicking on one that was supposed to put me through to a live agent. I won't fly United again, and am telling everyone I work with to avoid them.