I have been flying United economy on business trips within the US. I have had one awful experience after another. Overbookings, mechanical issues....just dreadful. The service has been ok and the planes ok (when they work). The stewards and stewardesses and ground crew are embarrassed and apologize. I don't fault them. However, the behind the scenes processes are not working well. There were a number of flights today to NYC. I couldn't get on an early flight a week ago because they were booked, so I booked a later flight. The earlier flights became available. I wasn't allowed to either transfer over without a hefty upcharge or even go standby, even though there were empty seats.

Then, they cancelled two flights because of mechanical issues to NY and there were 37 standbys for our flight. Then our flight had a mechanical issue that postponed our flight 90 minutes.

Every time I fly them, they are overbooked. No other airline I fly has this degree of issues.