The Brockovich Report

An Open Letter to United Airlines.

It was a dark and stormy night. No, really.

It was hot, muggy, and off-and-on stormy.

It had been that way for days in N.Y.

Last Sunday we had been scheduled to take off at 2:00 p.m. but we were held in LA until 4:30 due to bad weather in N.Y.. When we arrived in N.Y at 1:30, they held us on the runway until 2:30--due to heavy traffic. After all that waiting around, when we left on Wednesday, I was relieved to see there were no posted delays and the weather looked fine. We did not board until about 7:45 because the flight had been held on the runway. Once we boarded, we taxied out.

The pilot got on the speaker and told us that there were 45 planes ahead of us but we should be up in about 1 hour. That hour passed, and the pilot got on and said it would be another hour. That hour passed too; the pilot announced that it would be another hour.

In this time, no food had been served and I was in first class. They brought out nuts and we had some water, and booze was available. By the time we had been on the plane for three hours, the pilot got on and said we were going to move to a holding area, and that it shouldn’t be much longer.

Another hour passed.

By now, the problem was that storms had moved into the area. It was raining and lighting. The pilot said we had to wait for the bad weather to pass and not to worry about the lighting.

Oh, sure.

Another hour passed. Still, we had not taken off. People were grumbling, but no one was outraged. I saw many passengers sleeping. Finally, after 6 hours, the pilot got on and said we had to go back to the gate to get fuel, and we would make some decisions.

Once we were at the gate, people started calling,

I was on the phone looking for a hotel and was informed that although I could get off the plane, I could not get any luggage. Hotels were sold out, rental cars were gone and hundreds were down in baggage claim reading themselves to sleep on the ground.

Catering was closed. The food on the plane could no longer be served as it had sat there with no refrigeration and could not be served. Catering put some snack packs on (gross) but there weren't enough for everyone. They had enough water for everyone to have one bottle and needed more water.

Finally, people got on, we taxied out again only to wait another two hours before we took off. At 3:00 a.m. we were cleared to go.

I was so angry and so trapped. There was nothing I could do but use the phone, have a vodka, listen to music and get more and more frustrated.

The airline offered no compensation of any kind. They apologized again when we landed at LAX at 5:15 a.m. We were to arrive at 10:00 p.m. the following night. So, from the time I got to JFK, sat on the plane and flew the 5 hours home, it had been a total 13 hours. I could have made it to Australia.

That would have been a lot more fun.

I understand safety and would be the first to say I don’t want to take off in bad weather or face a head on collision but come on! Don’t you think after so many hours that someone could figure out that there will be longer delays and go back to the gate for God's sake and let us passengers get off?

At the baggage claim in LA my fellow travelers were too exhausted to be pissed.

I am sure just glad to have gotten there.

I will never fly into JFK again. If United can’t compensate for some type of free miles for all of us, I won’t use that airline again. And I am a 100K flyer with them.

I have flown many airlines. Continental is my favorite and I can tell you this has NEVER happened to me on Continental.

No one wants to fly if it isn’t safe, but United, if your flight isn't going, just taxi us back to the gate and let us out. I didn’t bargain for being held against my will for that long when I choose to fly. Something needs to change.