United (EWR–LIS)

I flew on United Airlines during a recent trip to Lisbon. I arrived to Newark Liberty International Airport early with my husband and our friends. We swiftly made our way through security and to our terminal to grab dinner. Afterwards, we walked over to our gate.

Shortly before boarding was set to begin, the gate agent announced our aircraft had a technical issue and was being examined. Take-off was delayed about 30 minutes. We kept receiving notifications on our phone with the new times, each about 30 minutes later. However, about an hour after our original take-off time, the agent announced the problem was resolved and boarding started. I was slightly hesitant, as the issue seemed to resolve quickly, though I hopped in line and boarded the aircraft.

Once settled in our seats, the pilot apologized for the delay and announced they were waiting for paperwork on the maintenance before we could take-off. We waited close to 30 minutes when he came on again to say they found another issue. The maintenance team would take a look and assess whether the problem could be fixed. Finally, the pilot said the issue was enough of a concern the aircraft could not fly that night. Though we were inconvenienced, I appreciated the pilot’s attitude and the help of the crew.

Since the maintenance problems began earlier, United already had another plane waiting for us. Thankfully, we only had to walk over a few gates and the boarding process began for the second time after a brief wait.

We didn’t have a connecting flight, so our only inconvenience was extra time at Newark and a delay to begin our vacation in Lisbon. United emailed each passenger a link to a travel voucher to make up for the delay. Though the experience wasn’t perfect, I appreciated the customer service and look forward to using my voucher on my next trip.