Whats going on at United?

We all know that the airlines in this country are just a mess.  Today I heard two stories that show me that once again United seems to lead the way in being one of the worst offenders. First I received a call early this morning from a friend and co-worker who was schedule to fly from Denver to Dulles this morning.  After paying 1300 dollars for a ticket and being assigned a seat some time ago, he arrived at the airport to find that there was a "change in equipment" and they were now 10 people over booked.  After asking for volunteers to take another flight (there were no takers), United made a command decision and decided who would not go on the plane. Of course one of my friends was one of the ones booted.  To rub salt in the wound, United could not get him on another flight until one that would get him in after midnight tonight. After getting up at 3:30 in the morning to get to the airport, this was not a great option. At least they did refund some of his money though.

The next story is almost comical.  While I was out in Denver last week my friend Jayson found out his uncle had passed away and he had to fly to DC for the funeral.  United (you don't have a lot of choices from Denver) wanted over 600 dollars to fly on an emergency/bereavement fare.  Since I have over 100k miles on United I used my miles and got Jayson a ticket. We filled the form out together on line and used his credit card to pay the fees.  Jayson received an email confirmation with the tickets in his name.  Well he got to the airport and when he checked in the boarding pass read "Jayson Shimel".  Believe it or not, no one at Denver questioned that this did not match his ID and they let him through security and on the plane no problem.  On returning through Dulles he brought it up to the ticket agent who told him that this was not acceptable, there was nothing that could be done and unless I came down to Dulles airport his only choice was to buy a new ticket!  Jayson said later for that and figured if it worked in Denver it would work in Dulles.  They put him through the ringer in security but at the end of the day told him they don't care what his name was, as long as it was not on a no fly list and he did not have any bombs or anything.  Not exactly the answer we would like to hear, but it was good for Jayson.

The bigger question is what is up at United.  Can't they get anything right?  It is like playing Russian roulette flying those friendly skies!