Delayed!

If I had a camera on me, I'd show you the long line of people in front of the United Airlines customer service desk here at San Francisco International Airport. It is nearly 10 pm on Tuesday night. I should have been up in the sky right now, on my way to Denver, but instead I, like all the people in that line, am still here.

My flight has been delayed. It was supposed to leave at 08.39 pm. Now it is predicted to leave just before midnight and I won't arrive until about 3 in the morning. Yuck! United decided to take the plane that was originally scheduled to fly to Denver out of service.

I have an idea why: the large plane was only about a quarter full, I could see that on the seat map when checking in. With that kind of load, it probably pays for them to wait for a smaller craft to be available or for a plane that needs to be in Denver anyway. So I and a bunch of other passengers get to wait. How wonderful.

This is the latest in my United delay experiences. Really, I have had it now. Next time I am booking Continental, American or Alaska Airlines. The last time I flew United was in late May, to Dallas Fort Worth. The flight was delayed three hours on the way in, and again I didn't arrive until about 2.00 a.m., the flight back to SFO also was delayed.

In early May I flew to Boston from SFO and back from Newark. Both flights were delayed at least two hours.

I am tired of sitting at airports wasting away hours that could be spent much better, like at a gym, on the tennis court, in front of the tv, in bed, or even at the office. Today, for example, I rushed to get a presentation done and printed this afternoon so I could bring it to Denver. If I had known about these long delays, I could have spent more time tweaking the presentation and printing it. Also, I wouldn't have had to race home from work, pack like a maniac and hop in a cab to the airport. All that stress, for nothing!

Thanks for ruining another couple of hours of my life United and for messing up my day tomorrow, since I will be half-asleep due to another unplanned middle-of-the-night arrival. I may have flown nearly half a million miles one United in my lifetime, I am choosing to fly other airlines from now on.