Sadly, my enthusiasm faded really quickly once we began our trip.

First, the “first class” cabin was really crappy. It was dirty, small, and not really well-appointed with niceties. Things that we’ve grown used to on other first class cabins (like Hawaiian Airlines): footrests, personal portable entertainment centers, LCD TVs. What United gave us: A somewhat larger seat and some footroom. That’s it.

So on the way to Kaua’i we were disappointed but figured “oh well”. At least we were on vacation and how we got there didn’t really matter too much.

On the way back though…. that’s how United really lost our business.

First off, in Kaua’i, there was no one at the United check-in counter. There was a line forming, but no one behind the counter. We waited about 20 minutes and then figured out we had to check-in at Aloha Airlines because the first part of our trip was run by Aloha (to Honolulu). This should’ve tipped us off that United was going to do their best to screw up our trip.

When we arrived in Honolulu (6:30PM), it took forever to find a flight board telling us where to go. We finally found one and our flight had the comment “See Agent”. We walked all the way across the airport to the designated gate and, of course, there wasn’t an agent at the gate. We waited there a while, an agent didn’t show up. There were other travelers waiting for an agent, but it seemed like they were waiting for information on another flight.

So I called United’s 800# and, I’m not kidding, I spent two hours on the phone. About one hour forty-five minutes of that time was on hold. They had no idea what was going on. First they tried to tell us to talk to the person at the gate – who didn’t exist. So they had us go to another gate. We were turned away by that agent, who said they couldn’t help us because we weren’t on their flight, and that we should go to another gate. We were bounced to four gates (three different gates) and all of them told us they couldn’t help us. Meanwhile I hadn’t hung up the phone because I couldn’t get any answers. In the end the person put me on hold for over 25 minutes and I just hung up. When I called back and realized I was talked to “Sandy” in India, I knew the 800# was a waste of time.

We finally did find out what happened to our flight. I was delayed >3 hours to 12:50AM. We were supposed to land around 9:18AM, San Diego time. I was pissed. My original plan had us back at 6AM, with plenty of time to pick up Toby at 10AM (Markim Pet Resort’s only Sunday morning pickup time). Even though it was close to midnight, I was able to get my dad to agree to go pick up Toby since we had little to no chance of getting there on time.

So we were stuck in a completely closed airport from 6:30PM to 1AM, when they started boarding. We actually didn’t land until 10AM. And the crappy first class cabin and the delays solidified our resolve to never fly United Airlines again.

United Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

Technorati Tags: airline review, flight delays, United Airlines

So around 2PM I started looking for pet friendly hotels in the area.  The Westin, where the reception was being held, was on the list.  So I called, they said they have a 40lb limit, and Toby is 57lbs.  I called a few other places, only to find 40-50 lb restrictions everywhere.  But one place said the manager can give an exception to the rule.  So I called back the Westin, asked for the manager, got the front desk, told them the situation, and they said no problem.  The issue was more about aggressive or barky dogs.

Bottom line, Toby went with us to the reception hotel.  He stayed in his travel crate during the reception.  He was anxious at first but we spent some time with him beforhand, and gave him a few peanut butter kongs (and a sedative) before we left him alone.   After that he was really good.

So now, at least, we know we can travel with Toby if we want to.  Pretty awesome.