United #7875: The Flight That Never Was

What was supposed to be a routine day out and back for a meeting ended up being 6 hours of frustration at Dulles International Airport.

The problem is how they lead you on, giving you hope that your flight might make it out. They delay 30 minutes, then 45 minutes, then 30 minutes. If they had told you up front that you would be more than 3 hours late at least you'd get a chance to go to another carrier and see if they had a flight heading out. The end result is that you end up leaving the airport and driving back to your office at a furious rate of speed to make sure you get a chance to get on the phone and hear what's going on, anyway.

The airline industry is making it almost a requirement that you travel the day before if you have an appointment. You have to leave yourself a buffer space of 12 hours or so to make sure you get there ahead of your appointment. Good for the hotel business, bad for everyone else.

On the good side, the agents at the United ticket counter gave me a full refund and were pleasant and helpful. Once I endured the tremendously long "Concourse G" bus ride back to the main terminal, and found the one gate agent who handles this.