Airline charged extra for holiday flight mixup

I booked a round-trip flight from Washington, D.C., to Chicago for Thanksgiving. The original flight was supposed to leave from Washington at 10:45 a.m. on Thanksgiving and return on Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m.

When I arrived at the gate, United announced that a flight attendant did not show up for work that day, and United had no additional flight attendants on reserve. They could not give us an estimated departure time and said that the flight was delayed “indefinitely.”

Since it was Thanksgiving morning, I spoke to a ticket agent about other flights going to Chicago. He put me on standby for the 11:45 a.m. flight, which was full, and said I was confirmed on the 12:45 p.m. flight in case my original flight was still delayed beyond 12:45 p.m., but that I would lose my seat on my original flight.

I ended up getting on my original flight and flew to Chicago with a 90-minute delay. When I went to check in for my return flight, United had canceled it, because they had no record of me getting on my initial flight from Washington to Chicago. I had to pay $386 for a one-way ticket from Chicago to Washington.

I emailed a general customer complaint and asked for a refund of the total, but they refunded my initial round trip purchase of $317, and not my additional $386. I am seeking compensation of the $386 that I had to pay for the one-way ticket that resulted from them having no record of me getting on my initial flight. — Catherine O’Connor, Washington, D.C.