[jyl]

In NYC. Flight LGA-ORD then ORD-PDX tomorrow (Thursday). Get email from United, LGA-ORD flight cancelled due to expected storm tomorrow. I call my assistant, please get me another flight home. She tries to rebook me online, United's site won't process the change. She calls United and is on hold for two hours. Finally I get out of meetings, open my laptop, navigate the email links to United's special circumstances rebooking site, and get a flight Friday to Seattle - nothing available to PDX, but I can always get a shuttle SEA-PDX. Assistant is still on hold. United's call center was completely overwhelmed. And their email links are not navigable by smartphone. Unless you had a laptop available you were screwed.

Same day, a colleague has his flight home from Florida on Delta cancelled. Assistant gets Delta on the phone, no problem, rebooks him through SFO to PDX.

One airline fails where the other passes.

I get that United can't control the weather. I don't get that they can't staff their call center adequately when they know exactly how many flights they are canceling and thus how many passengers will be trying to rebook. Total fail.

(Yes, assistant could have been more web savvy. But the fail was United's.)