When I asked the desk agent what his name was and whether I could confirm that he had no information about holding the flight open for us and 4 other customers headed to Knoxville, he refused to identify himself and said "you don't need to know that". He then proceeded to shove me backwards and yelled "Fuck you" at me. (Check the camera pointed at Gate A6 at Dulles around 10 PM on 1/7 to watch this exchange.)

As we were trying to leave the airport to get some sleep after this botched flight connection, this same desk agent called the police under the mistaken assumption that 1) I had taken his picture and 2) taking a picture was somehow illegal.* This is despite the fact HE had shoved me and cursed at me.

During questioning, this desk agent also denied to police that he had touched me and only admitted to his behavior when the police officers pointed out that there was a camera taping his actions. Because of this, we were held at Gate A6 for over 2 hours while going over this agent's charges. At the end of this complaint, the officers involved concluded that there were no valid charges and the closest thing to a crime was when the agent physically assaulted me. By this time, it was midnight and we had lost any chance to eat for the night since everything had closed while we were detained BY UNITED. This representative physically shoved me, cursed at me, and held me at the airport against my will because of false charges that weren't even based on Virginia law. That cannot be an acceptable behavior for United customer service or for any customer service department I've ever been associated with.

This brings us to the morning of this flight where, 30 minutes before the scheduled takeoff, we were told that the flight would be delayed and we had to stay at the gate. We were simply told to stay at the gate from 8:15 AM to 1 PM, rendering us unable to go off for lunch or do anything for fear of losing our chance to board. If we had simply been told at 8:15 AM that the flight would be pushed to 1 PM, we could have at least eaten something.

(1/11, 6:28 pm) : We have contact with United! Will update as appropriate. Thank you, everyone, for your supportive words :)and I are back from Knoxville, and flying United Airlines to go anywhere ever again will be our Absolute Last Choice, based on the abominable "customer service" we received on our flights last Friday and Saturday.Now, we've lived in the Northeast for fifteen years. We understand weather delays. Most of these events, in isolation, might not have been enough of a problem to warrant more than a minor kvetch. One set in particular, though (not the weather-dependent issues!), was so utterly reprehensible that I cannot believe that we have not heard back from United in the 48 hours since we submitted our original complaint.Cut and sectioned because this is long. 1. When we get to Logan Friday night, we head for the United terminal (C) and attempt to check in. After providing our information, we are told that we should actually be getting on a US Airways flight over in Terminal B, 10 minutes away. The kiosk spits a code at us that in retrospect, I probably should have tried to write down, but honestly, United, if your kiosk is going to give us a code, it should PRINT THE CODE OUT, because not all travelers will have pen and paper immediately accessible when we've optimized our luggage for going through security.2. So we hustle over to Terminal B, aware that our departure time is approaching rapidly. When we get to the US Airways counter, the agents there have no record of us, and tell us we need to go back to United.3. We run back to Terminal C, very *very* aware of how imminent 7:25 pm is and how not-through-security we are, and get an explanation from the United agent: they had apparently tried to reroute us onto a US Airways flight into Charlotte, from whence we would somehow get to Knoxville. This was done as a preventative measure to try to get us around the snowstorm in DC. This would have been useful and actionable information had we ACTUALLY HAD THIS EXPLAINED IN STEP 1. This explanation could have taken place either at the kiosk, or via a notification to our emails, as we both had our smartphones on us and had opted into the appropriate travel alerts. By the time we have been given this information, there is no way for us to make the Charlotte flight. 4. Our Boston-DC flight turns out to be delayed anyway; the United agent lets us know that our departure was pushed back to 7:45. This makes us nervous, because our 45-minute connection at Dulles has just shrunk to ~20 minutes. I ask the agent if she can find out what gates we will be arriving and departing at in Dulles; she queries, and finds out we will be arriving at C14, departing out of A6D.5. We end up getting to our gate by 7:10 - cutting it close for our original departure time, but now we have a delay, so we settle in to wait. We board, and study a map of Dulles - figure out that we need to take the AirTrain between terminals C and A. 6. We pull into Dulles, and are among the first people off the plane. We check with the gate agent to make sure what the fastest way to A6D is for our 9:45 Knoxville flight; they confirm that it's the AirTrain, but that it will take at least 10 minutes, and that we'd "better hurry!" So we take off sprinting.7. I am not in as good shape as Hyoun, so I fall behind, but yell at him to "JUST GO," figuring that if one of us can make it there, we at least have a chance. I catch up to him at the AirTrain; the right one pulls in as I am scrambling down the escalator, and we both make it on. I post this tweet on the train while we're waiting, (note the 9:36 pm timestamp), not knowing that United policy is to "close" a flight at the ten-minute mark, and our fate is already sealed.8. At Terminal A, Hyoun sprints and I, again, fall behind. By the time I get to A6D, it is, indeed, too late; I round the corner and spot Hyoun on the ground by the podium, gasping for breath. I pass him my water, and he manages to gasp out, "Flight closed." I think he's having the same reaction I was having to needing to run so far so fast, and having done so much more quickly than me - I honestly thought I was going to throw up during the run. I do not learn until later that Hyoun's gasping was actually him having an asthma attack; I have been with him for six years and have never seen him have one.The part I will not put behind a cut tag because 72 hours later I still cannot believe this happened to us:9. The gate agent is in no mood to be helpful, and answers my questions with a snippy tone. "I don't have that information. I can't help you. The flight closed. It's not my fault you were given the wrong information. You need to go to customer service." At this point, I do not want to deal with him, so after ensuring that Hyoun was okay, we decided to split up - Hyoun would finish recovering and see if he could get any additional information, then meet me over at Customer Service.10. In Hyoun's words, because I was over at the Customer Service desk asking what the next steps were:In other words,(All blockquotes going forth are the incidents related in Hyoun's words.) 11. Hyoun meets me over at Customer Service, where I've just been given the Airport Connections slip for a hotel discount (the delay was apparently due to Air Traffic Control, for which United's policy is to give no reimbursement for a hotel or such, and to accept no responsibility), and relates the events to the Customer Service desk. This gets escalated to the manager on duty, because seriously, after everything United has put us through so far, they're not even willing to cough up the $80 for our unexpected hotel.12. The manager tries his best to moderate the situation going back and forth between Hyoun and the Gate Agent. In the meantime, we're tired, so I call the Airport Connections number, get us a hotel room, and find out about shuttle information. 13. The Gate Agent refuses to apologize, and accuses Hyoun of having shoved *him*.In fact, in the state of Virginia, as affirmed by the manager *before* the Gate Agent insisted on calling the cops, and by the Virginia police who responded to the situation, had Hyoun managed to take the Gate Agent's picture, that would have been perfectly, utterly, and completely legal. Because the Gate Agent refused to provide his name or badge number so that we would have documentation for our eventual complaint to United, Hyoun wanted to get a picture of the Gate Agent and/or his badge, but did not manage to do so.14. Because the Gate Agent insisted on calling the cops,. We couldn't leave the gate area; we couldn't get anything to eat; by the time we would be released, all shops with food would be closed.15. And it turns out the Gate Agent wasted everybody's time by LYING TO HIS MANAGER AND LYING TO THE COPS:The manager was apologetic afterwards, and he was doing his best to moderate the situation. I don't know if he had any power to prevent the desk agent from calling the police; I would have hoped so, seeing as he was the manager, but. Either way, the Gate Agent continued to refuse to apologize to us, though his manager apologized on his behalf, and frankly, at this point, we just wanted something to eat, and some sleep. 16. So we get to the hotel, learn that nothing is open that will provide us with any food until 6:30 am the next morning, by which time we would need to be on a shuttle back to Dulles to catch our new flight departing at 8:45 am. We get our 4ish hours of sleep (WHICH COULD HAVE AT LEAST BEEN SIX HAD UNITED NOT DETAINED US), turn around, and go back to Dulles. On the van, the driver asks, "What airlines?" The responses from all 17 passengers: "United."17. We check in, head back to A6D, and thank god, the previous night's Gate Agent is not there. I sure as hell hope he is not there Monday, either, when we have to transfer back through Dulles. :PWe grab Five Guys , and this is the first substantial food we've had to eat since before we headed to the airport the previous afternoon. Sadly, this will also be the last substantial food we get to eat until we get to Knoxville, but we're supposed to get into Knoxville around 10:30 am, so we can wait until then, right? 18. At 8:15 am, we are informed that due to a mechanical problem, our flight will be delayed. Around 9 am, we are informed that we won't be leaving before 11 am, but that we need to stay in the gate area in case the scenario changes. At 10:30 am, we're told that the earliest we'll be departing is 1 pm, but that again, we cannot leave the gate area. I comment to Hyoun, "Deja vu much?"Looks like the jokes we made about hiking the Appalachian Trail from MA to TN being faster weren't so far off the mark. It already would have been faster, even with the snow, for us to have driven from Boston to Knoxville.19. By 12:50 pm, we still don't have any updates on the situation. We have been told several times over the last two hours that we "hope" to depart by 1 pm, with an expected arrival time in Knoxville around a list of times that varied from 2:25 to 3:28 to 3:10 to 2:50. Yes, in the four times we were told about a 1 pm departure, there were four completely different arrival times. I certainly don't think this plane exists at this point. 20. At 12:55 pm, WE HAVE A PLANE. We're boarded swiftly; Hyoun calls to let his parents know that it looks like we may actually be arriving in Knoxville sometime today.21. The flight is uneventful, though as mentioned, I'm kinda hungry, and some nibbles to accompany the drinks available would come in real handy. There are no nibbles. Sad face. Hungry face. 22. But of course, something else must go wrong - we have a 15-minute delay at Knoxville while they try to find a stairwell that is not icy and snowy and slippery. They are unable to, and realize that some of us Will Not Be Held Any Goddamn Longer, so make the wise decision to let people off the plane. It is very slippery, but we are finally, 22 hours after leaving for Logan, in Knoxville. And I never, ever want to fly United ever again.Obviously, we are not happy. But we still had to get back to Boston from Knoxville, which meant that today, we reversed our journey: from Knoxville to Boston, via Dulles. No delay on our TYS-IAD leg, despite 4" of snow in Knoxville.But the Knoxville flight always comes into and out of that small part of Terminal A where we'd had the Encounter with the Gate Agent Friday night. Remember back at #17 when I said, "thank god, the previous night's Gate Agent is not there. I sure as hell hope he is not there Monday, either, when we have to transfer back through Dulles." ?You guessed it.We already have to scramble to make our next flight over in Terminal D, but to walk in and see him working in the public eye? As if nothing had happened, and he hadn't assaulted Hyoun not three days prior?You know what this says to us, United? This tells us that you actually believe that it is acceptable behavior for your employees to attack your customers. This tells us that you don't actually respect your customers. This tells us that you don't actually value my business, or that of my husband, or that of our friends and family. We may not be the most frequent travelers, but we have flown internationally on you three times in the last 18 months.I would say "there are no words" to express my fury, but, well, I certainly gave it the old college try, eh? :P