My wife and I were on a London to KC flight through Dulles that turned from 12 hours to 47 hours.
It started with a five hour ground delay prior to takeoff on a damn wide body with every seat filled. My wife didn’t fly to speak of for four years afterward,
I probably flew four hundred flights after this and only one (bought by another department in my company) was on United. I always found a way not to give them my business.
Even in this 21st Century, flying can still require the patience of Job, and then some. When I do fly, I’m impressed at the self control seen in 95% of all passengers. It’s like going to the average DMV. We deal with the Escher Stairway layouts of airports, followed an endurance march down the gauche and arbitrary gauntlets of the TSA.