[Portland man]

Following is the complaint I registered with United Airlines for my trip from Portland, Oregon to Charlotte, North Carolina and back Aug. 4, 2008 to Aug. 8, 2008:

I waited a while so I could cool down after the worst trip I have ever taken. My original flight through Denver was cancelled due to mechanical problems so I was rebooked on a later flight through Chicago. The flight sat in Portland for a long time due to weather in Chicago. We started our taxi to take off and had to return to the flight line due to a mechanical problem. My flight finally took off and arrived in Chicago two hours after my connecting flight. I stood in line for over 2 hours to get rebooked. That flight was cancelled due to weather. I started standing in line to get rebooked again. I asked one of the employees who was passing out water if there were any flights into Charlotte. She directed me to a gate, saying there were no guarantees, but ther was one last flight out. We sat in a plane with broken ground air conditioning for over two hours. Partially weather related and then when told we would have to take a detour, went back to get more fuel to make the trip. The starter truck was not available so we sat for some time. Finally the flight crew decided to have us exit the plane because it was cooler outside than in the plane. Passengers were asked if they wanted to get off and catch a flight the next day. Several people did get off. We finally were able to take off and proceed to Charlotte. I arrived over ten hours after I was supposed to be there. Three planes and three mechanical problems. The trip home on Aug. 8th was slightly better. No missed connections due to late arrival and the first leg to Chicago was late, but no so late I missed connections. The flight from Chicago to Portland was alright, except two of the toilets were not fully usable. The pilot calculated we could probably make Portland without trouble if the rear toilets were just used for urinating. We were also told we might have to stop in Denver to change planes or Salt Lake City to effect repairs. Fortunately neither happened and the trip was made to Portland. The only travel problems I have ever had have been on United. My checked baggage on two prior return trips did not arrive at the airport with me and had to be delivered the next day. I will say that your customer service people in Chicago worked hard to help people and that the flight attendants did a pretty good job. The only real miracle that did happen was my checked baggage going to Charlotte arrived on the plane I was on. How that happened I don't know since I was scheduled on one flight (missed) a second flight (cancelled) and got on last minute on the final flight. I will have a really hard time ever flying on United because of this trip. When the pilot on the Portland flight said he that our trip was an adventure. I felt he should have said our trip was a debacle.

I should have included that 3 of the 4 planes actually flown in had mechanical problems. Maybe they are smart enough to figure that out. I will post more if I receive a reply from United.