[upset mom]

My son was in uniform and his connecting flight was rerouted so he missed his connecting flight. He had to report back by 10:00pm or go up in front of the disciplinary board. Bottom line no one at United would help him and the other Cadet he was travelling with. He waited for a hour and a half in the customer service line and on the phone on hold. I finally got through to Us Airways who told me the only way I could get him on the last flight to Boston was to pay for a first class ticket from Chicago. With the flight leaving in 40 minutes I purchased the $1,400 ticket. The other Cadet got on board with out purchasing a ticket, so the flight was not full. They reported in with 15 minutes to spare. The airline will not refund my money for the ticket. If the military is travelling in uniform They are not on vacation. This is really the way United is taking care of our military.

[xjcaptain]

Sounds like they cut their travel plans a bit close. I assume they were on leave and not traveling on orders?

[upset mom]

They left at 5:00am. You do not think that is enough time. Wow! I hope you are treated as well as they were.

[xjcaptain]

Were they on orders or personal time? If personal time its always a risk to leave the same day you absolutely have to be somewhere that important. Cars get flats, planes have mechanical issues and diversions happen. Always best to give yourself a little extra time.

[Matt_FLL]

I agree. The most important question is if they were on orders or personal time.

As a business traveler, my tardiness could impact lots of people and push out massive project schedules. If I am delayed due to an irregular business flight (paid for and agreed upon with a client), my client would never give me grief. But if I was traveling for personal reasons on my own dime, I would certainly be held accountable. I usually give myself an extra day for personal travel just to be extra safe. Things do happen like XJCaptain mentioned.

[Gromit801]

You were pretty quick to get to "the bottom line" in your post, and left out important details. From my experience as a vet, "cadets" very, very rarely travel on orders. In fact in my whole USAF career, I only ever saw a cadet once who was not at the Academy. So it seems like the cadet son was home on leave. Please correct me if I'm wrong here.

Something I knew while in the military, get where you're going to go, a day early.

What was United expected to do? Pull a new airplane out of their hat?

[upset mom]

So, it is okay for the airline to say the flight is full, there is only one first class ticket. Once I purchased it, then seats became available and they took other passengers that also missed there flight.

[Matt_FLL]

I do understand how frustrating that situation is. The fact that seats become available and then disappear so quickly is enraging to anyone. There is no visibility or transparency on what is happening… or why. Regardless, you seem rational and realize that it’s not a conspiracy theory—but understandably are upset about it. I think everyone agrees. But, some folks are pointing out that the entire situation would have been avoided if he decided to travel back a day earlier. Not that it makes it any better.

I didn’t want to ask before, but now it’s marginally appropriate. Is your son upset about this? We understandably read some complaints by a parent who had a minor traveling alone. You described your son as a Cadet. I’m surprised that he is not the author of this post since he was the adult passenger experiencing the disruption. I know that you paid the full-fare first class ticket, and I’m sure he will reimburse you… but just wanted to question how he felt about the situation. After all, he’d be the one to answer to his superiors if he was late and bears the ultimate burden.

[upset mom]

Of course he wants to reimburse me. He drafted the letter to the airlines. I am over it and it is not all airlines. I have found United to be very rude and lack customer service and this was the last straw for me. I will try to only book U.S Airways, they have great customer service. I was stupid to think I would get reimbursed for a first class ticket charge of $1,600 from Chicago to Boston when it ended up there were seats available and he already had a purchased ticket.