All of the US airline suck compared to carriers like Emirates, Swiss, Lufthansa, etc. Even ITA and TAP (that used to have mediocre reputations) provide a better service than United, Delta or American, and don't get me started about Frontier or Spirit's level if dysfunction!

I had a similar experience a few years ago on JetBlue, and a similar experience on Delta as well.

Crap like this is why we rarely travel inside the US anymore, and why I avoid ever flying any of the US flagged airlines. (cont'd)

And to add insult to injury, once you click the button to modify the flight, your old reservation is GONE, and there's no way to say "oh, never mind, I will keep the crappy 5:30am departure".
This is an obviously intentional gotcha.

Greedy money-grubbing schmucks. (cont'd...)

United offered a one-time "free itinerary modification".
What that means is that there's no fee to modify the reservation to a different flight — but it doesn't mean that they aren't charging me $200 more for the new flight! 😮 (cont'd...)

The bullies, jocks, haters and thugs run the country now.

We, the scientists, sceptics, and critical thinkers, MUST stand fast against the rising dark-age of non-fact-based nonsense, fake science, fake logic, alternative facts, and self-serving prevarication.