Nam Tran Nguyen Weblog

It has been two years since I last took a United flight, and I should have waited for another few years! At one point, I really did enjoy flying United. The service was good. My flights were on time (most of the time). And, from time to time, I was given free upgrades (I still remember the free upgrade to first class while flying from the Carribean back to NYC ). Yes, yes, hard times have fallen on all airlines. But, I have to say, my experience the other day was the worst by far! It was a simple flight from SF to LA. A flight that was supposed to take 1 hour ended up taking 8 hours! I could have driven down to LA three hours quicker. I understand that there are delays, technical difficulties from time to time, especially if one flies on a regular basis (I don’t think I like flying anymore). But, that day at the United terminal was just a nightmare.

The nightmarish day started when my SO woke up late. Once he did get out of bed, he kept on insisting that we had plenty of time. Well, by the time we made it to SFO, I only had 50 minutes to check in my bags. So, I ended up missing the first flight to LA. Not a big deal, since there are tons off flight to LA. I checked myself on the next flight…a bit of a delay, but that was okay since I had time to sit and finish “Love in the Time of Cholera”. Long and behold, that was just the start to a miserable day. As I was getting ready to board the flight to LA, a voice over the intercom announced that all United flights have been grounded due to computer failure. Three hours later, there was still no update. So, rather than waste my evening at the airport, I decided to postpone my flight until Monday and go back home. I managed to re-book my flight and went down for my luggage. When I reached baggage claim, the United representative informed me that my luggage was already sitting in LA. I asked what option I had. Her reply, “you would have to fly to LA for your luggage.” Anyways, I was quite peeved by now, but I felt quite helpless. I ended up taking the 7pm flight to LA, spending 8 hours at the airport!

To be honest, I feel quite helpless at the situation. Perhaps my only form of protest is to stay away from United in the future. Too bad Genentech uses United as the preferred carrier. Hum, maybe I should email Art…

Well, I finally made it to LA. Good food. Be and Bin are well, so I am happy! Ciao.