Isolated cases like these, though not an excuse, happen at every airline. I can't tell you how many times I've heard "I'm never flying XYZ airline again!". Usually for something stupid but other times justified. I have also witnessed customer service so egregious (other airlines) that I couldn't believe my eyes. I have also seen customer service agents elicit and provoke reactions.

IT issues, poor customer service, yadda yadda, I've seen this sort of thing so much over the years with so many airlines, it's HARDLY a United problem. It's industry wide. Truth be told, of the big three, we always preferred traveling on United. The employees were always unpretentious.

But...we need to be better than the other guys.

Sorry about your bad experience.