United Airlines is struggling to resolve flight disruptions

Throughout the week, United passengers reported having to sleep in airports and stand in line for hours to rebook flights. Some travelers said they had to wait days for checked bags to be retrieved.

Elizabeth Rodriguez, who was traveling with her 12-year-old son, said in an interview Friday that it took days longer than expected to get home to Fairfax, Virginia, from Texas. On Wednesday morning, just hours before they were scheduled to board a United flight from San Antonio International Airport, they were notified by text and through the airline’s mobile app that the flight had been canceled due to issues with crew scheduling.

When Mrs. Rodriguez called customer service to rebook, she was told there was a two hour wait. With no other flights available to the Washington area that day, I booked a flight online departing the next day via Houston. After it touched down in Houston on Thursday night, its flight to Reagan National Airport was repeatedly delayed until Friday morning.

“United Airlines handled this week badly, was poorly prepared and failed to be transparent with passengers throughout the entire process,” said Ms. Rodriguez. She added that the tested gate agents gave many reasons for the misfortune, including crew scheduling issues, weather, and mechanical problems.

Ms. Rodriguez, who paid for the room herself, said the airline provided hotel vouchers to only some of the passengers on her flight. Her flight finally departed on Friday morning, 15 hours after the original departure time.

“I am so frustrated with the delay, but more so with the way they treat people at the airport,” she said. “I don’t know if I will use United again.”

Its exasperation was similar to what Southwest Airlines passengers felt during the winter holidays, when the company suffered a much larger operational meltdown. Southwest canceled more than 10,000 flights in the four days after Christmas, or about 46 percent of its schedule. On United’s worst day this week, Tuesday, it canceled nearly 800 flights, or about 28 percent of its schedule.