Lessons in travel and life: Surviving the United computer glitch

It’s the words you don’t want to read across your news feed as you are packing to return home from a two-week trip.  “Computer Glitch Halts United Flights For Two Hours.”

My family was booked on United, coming back from Costa Rica, connecting through Houston to Seattle. 

The computers were only down for 90 minutes, but the ripple effect left thousands of passengers scrambling rebook misconnections. In all, 1600+ flights were affected across the globe.  While much is being written about how the outage could have been avoided and what the glitch has cost United, it is the human toll and subsequent lessons-learned that stick with me.

For the vast majority of United would-be passengers that day, the lasting impact of the day would soon become just another in their list of the inconvenience of travel. However, in those moments and crowds, panic, desperation and exhaustion followed for families who were stranded, unable to get answers, making split decisions in a black hole of information. Relegated to choosing the best of the worst options and feeling helpless in a sea of futility. Waiting in line after line. Praying to get a cramped seat on a plane that will finally get them to their destination.

With confusion mounting, weary flight attendants and gate agents struggled to maintain composure with ever frustrated passengers. Some rose to the occasion, remaining compassionate and attempting to comfort and accommodate. Others simply gave up, becoming cold and mechanical, perhaps accepting their inability to help in any meaningful way and shifting into auto-pilot to get through the day.

It was a long and strained day for my family with delays, followed by inconvenient events, followed by more and more and more delays. While my husband and I are pretty seasoned travelers (although this day was in the top 5 worst for both of us), this was the first true travel meltdown my sons had experienced. And, while we have since coached them to erase the recency effect and focus on the amazing trip we had, there are some lessons that can be gleaned from, to quote my son, “the most awful day of my life.”

• Our kids are growing up in a highly advanced world. But, although we rely heavily on technology, we must never forget it is still fragile. This was seen on a large scale with the system-wide flight delays, but also in the lack of information and communication that would have at least quelled some anxiety and added order to the chaos.
• With a lack of information, you have to make decisions based on what you know in the moment. That information may be flawed. You may be acting on instinct or be constantly second guessing yourself.  You may very well make the wrong decision and have to live with the consequences.
• The best and worst of people come out in a crisis. Some people freak out and become increasingly selfish. Others resign to their fate and become numb. And, a stellar few try to help or at least not become part of the problem. It’s hard to maintain civility, but to the extent you can accept what you can’t change and keep it together, people are more willing to help you if you are kind, or at least decent, to them.
• Travel isn’t easy…especially not today’s world. An over-abundance of caution causes sometimes seemingly ridiculous measures, leading to long lines and redundancies. But, the ability to see beyond our small purview of the world and experience other sights and cultures makes these challenges an enduring necessity.

We finally made it home, albeit hours delayed in less than optimal circumstances.  Heck, even our bags made it with us. Kind of a first-world-problems miracle when I look back on all the snafus and ill-fated decisions that impacted us that day. I suspect the agony of the day will be replaced over time hopefully with the lessons learned still intact – and grow into a much bigger “fish” tale that will be passed down to generations.