[KrisT.O.]

My issues involve 3 airlines, but I will start with United since the customer service I received with them was the most frustrating. My travel nightmare began on Sunday, December 16 when I missed my connecting Northwest flight from Detroit to Toronto, Canada (I was originally traveling from San Antonio, TX). I was told the next available flight was on an Air Canada flight leaving the next morning (Dec. 17) at 7:10am. I arrived at Detroit International Airport at 5:15am and joined a large lineup for Air Canada/United Airlines - the 2 companies are partners and Air Canada does not have its own check-in in Detroit, so United handles all AC check-ins. I waited 45 minutes to get to an agent. After clicking a few buttons, the very unfriendly agent said "I'm sorry. I can't help you. Northwest has not 'released' your ticket and I can't issue you a boarding pass." She wouldn't explain what "releasing" was and made it clear that she was not going to be helpful, even after I asked "isn't there anything YOU can do?" No. She told me I had to go to the Northwest agent to deal with this. I inquired where Northwest was to be found. Well, Northwest is in an entirely different terminal, requiring a shuttle bus ride to get there. I thought she was kidding. Unfortunately, she wasn't. I started running... down to the Shuttle Bus stop where I had to wait several minutes for one to arrive, then more running from the Shuttle Bus stop at the other terminal inside to the Northwest agent. Luckily, there were no line-ups, and I was able to see an agent quickly. I explained my situation, she hit one button, and then sent me off back to the United Airlines/AC agent. Back to the shuttle bus stop I went (running), took the bus back to Terminal B, and ran back to the United check-in area where there was yet another long line-up. At this point it was 6:30am.. a full half hour was spent in my terminal-hopping adventure. I debated my options and decided that if I wanted to make my flight (there was also a huge line-up through security), I was going to have to butt in front of the line. So I waited for the same unfriendly agent to be free and ran to her station where, after apologizing to the people behind me, I said "Hello. I'm the woman you sent to the Northwest Terminal. May I please have my ticket now?" She looked at me with derision, but decided to cut me a break and printed my boarding pass. I asked about my luggage and she said "I'm sure it's fine" without checking a single thing (and 2 days after arriving in Toronto, I still don't have my luggage). The kicker is that an older gentleman beside me dealing with a different agent had the same issue as I did - a Northwest flight missed, and re-routed on to the same flight as me, a ticket not "released". .. yet he was not asked to run to and from and entirely different terminal and nearly miss the flight.

My issues are these:
- poor customer service from the United agent - rude and unhelpful
- refusal to issue me a boarding pass and make me run to another terminal
- another customer with the same issue treated differently
- total disregard for my concern about my luggage (which turned out to be quite valid)

I made my flight, but no thanks to the United agent..only because it was late leaving Detroit.