[VJ Rao]

I just finished the most unbelievable flight of my life, United 265 on Oct 31st, 2009. I was scheduled to fly from Pittsburgh-Los Angeles on United this evening, a ticket which I paid about $600 for. This ticket was more expensive than many of United's competitors, but I decided to pay it, because United is the only airline that offers nonstop service on this route.

I arrived at the airport and boarded the plane normally. I estimate that there were only about 20-25 passengers on this flight. Once we were strapped in and ready to go, the captain announced that we would be making an unscheduled stop at Washington-Dulles to pick up about 100 passengers that were scheduled on a Washington-Dulles flight that had been cancelled. This would delay us by 2.5 hours, causing most of us, including myself, to miss my onward connection (I was continuing on to Australia on Qantas). To make matters worse, since I was flying a different airline, they wouldn't pay for my accomodation in LA (since I was stranded there for a full day). They did hand out free drinks and $100 flight coupons as compensation (which did not cover the cost of rebooking my Qantas flight or my hotel). Basically, United made the calculation that it would be better to **** me and 25 other people off than to **** off 100 people at Dulles. Well, they accomplished their mission. I'm done with United. I'll take my 1K membership business elsewhere.