Ah, United

I come to you today from Gate 7 in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota airport. With a population of 150,000 people (for comparison, Provo/Orem has about 200,000 residents), Sioux Falls is not a huge city. The airport is likewise of diminutive stature. Knowing this, this morning I woke up at 5:45 a.m., showered, grabbed my things, and headed to the airport for my 6:57 a.m. flight. I was a little concerned about cutting it close, but I had no checked bags, so I wasn't worried.

When I got up to the ticket counter, the ticket agents asked if I was flying to Denver. I said yes (as I tried to use the self-service check-in machine). They then informed me that I couldn't check in, because I didn't do it at least 30 minutes before the flight. I got there at 6:30 a.m. I said, are you serious? I can make it to the gate. They said the reason for this is that at 30 minutes before the flight, the gate agent can give away your seat to standby ticket holders. Okay, but then she informs me that this WASN'T THE CASE THIS TIME! And then says I STILL COULDN'T CHECK IN FOR THE FLIGHT!!!

She then made me pay a $75 fee to change my flight to 1:30 p.m. So now, instead of arriving in Salt Lake City at 10 a.m., I will get home at 6 p.m. I walked (slowly) through security (I was the only one there), then to gate 7 (they only have eight gates), and then watched as my plane (that I wasn't on) sat at the gate for a good 25 minutes (it was late leaving).

Thanks United for being so courteous to your customers. Normally I would say the moral of this story is to leave a little earlier for your flight (which is still true). But in this situation, I'd say the moral of the story is NEVER FLY UNITED.