I’m sitting at my office in Colorado writing this (yes – you surmised correctly – that means that I did not get to Chicago today.)  Even though my early morning ticketing experience online went well, my drive to the airport at 5am was pleasant (e.g. no speeding ticket), and my experience with TSA was uneventful (e.g. no strip search by a guy named Joe), imagine my disappointment when I showed up at Gate B26 at 6am – five minutes before we were supposed to board – and saw no airplane.

At 6:30am, there was still no airplane.  It eventually showed up at 6:45am.  People came off the plane and the departure time was changed to 7am.  NFW – United never turns a plane around in 15 minutes.  I checked in with the gate agent who very politely told me that he doubted the plane would leave until 7:15am – maybe even 7:30am.  At this point – best case – I was arriving at O’Hare when my meeting was starting. 

I punted, enjoyed my drive back to my office, got a chai, and am doing the meeting by phone.  Geeze – Denver to Chicago – you’d think United would have that drill down.  At least they refunded my ticket and my upgrade certificate.