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We were scheduled to fly home from Italy today. I originally had us routed through Bari Karol Wojtyła Airport (BRI) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and onward to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD). I saw that award space opened on yesterday’s flight from Palermo’s Falcone Borsellino Airport (PMO) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and I snapped that up. I also bought paid First Class tickets onward to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD). This should have been simple, but what ensued was chaos throughout the day and a bit of clairvoyance as my original flight from Bari was also cancelled this morning. The weather made a mess, but United also could not get out of its own way.
The day started by driving 90 minutes to Palermo’s Falcone Borsellino Airport (PMO). We arrived and found a crazy line to return vehicles at Avis. I went inside and asked if I could just leave the vehicle since I had a flight to catch. The agent was nice and said it was fine (he emailed me a receipt moments later).
Inside the airport, we found a long line for immigration. The European Entry/Exit System (EES) has been wreaking havoc across the continent and Sicily was not spared. I thought that United Airlines operating the only long-haul flight to the United States would make this easy, but I was wrong. While it was not a five-hour wait as some have reported in larger airports, it still took more than an hour to process passengers since only one agent was working. The flight began boarding as we were in line. When we got to the gate, agents had gotten through Group 3.
The flight to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) was fine. The service was great and the food was better than expected in Polaris® (full review is coming of this catering out of Sicily).
The seat was filthy and this should not be in Polaris®.
We arrived mostly on time.
We then went to the Polaris® Lounge and had a quick meal.
The flight was looking good even as others delayed and cancelled.
I felt something might happen, so I booked a backup flight on American Airlines. That one quickly cancelled.
As we were about to leave the lounge, I got another text message from United (and not something I wanted to see). The flight was delayed until 8:19 PM. This was not the end of the world and we stayed seated while waiting out this delay. The entirety of Terminal C was chaos. There were flights cancelled and people everywhere looking for help. We went to the gate and boarded largely at the new time. We had to wait for the cleaners because even though the aircraft was there, they did not board and clean until it was close to boarding time.
Once we were seated, the flight delayed a bit more. The captain came out and said that they were loading bags and needed to remove fuel for weight and balance issues. That’s fine, but it didn’t happen.
Another text message from United came through. We were delayed again. Bags were still not loaded even as baggage handlers stood by the plane. At least the fuel truck pulled away.
Then another text came. The reason for the delay made me laugh. It read: “Due to FAA staffing, air traffic control is limiting the number of planes allowed to land each hour in Chicago, affecting several flights. We’re monitoring the situation closely to get you to your destination as soon as possible.” While this might have been true, it was not what the flight attendants and captain told us.
At this point, the door was closed. Bags were being slowly loaded. United then “generously” sent me meal vouchers. I’m not sure how this was supposed to work while we were taxiing. They’re good for 24 hours and almost everything was closed when we arrived at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD).
It was now well after 10:00 PM and even though the United app said we were on the way at 9:50 PM, this was just the time the door closed. We did not begin taxiing for some time after. It was a short taxi and we were in the air within minutes. We touched down at 12:08 AM, but did not deplane until 12:25 AM. I love how the app basically lies.
The good news for us is that we made it back to Chicago. All of the flights around ours had cancelled.
We were also lucky (and somehow I must have known to switch) because the Bari flight cancelled today as well.
Anthony’s Take: Summer storms happen and those are out of the airline’s control. Where United gets dinged here is around not having planes properly cleaned, loaded, and fueled. Thankfully, we did not have crew issues, but I still think United could have done better. The operation was melting down and so many people fared much worse than we did. We made it back late last night and for that I’m grateful.
(App Screenshot Image Credits: United Airlines.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
