Good luck with trying to get some satisfaction...I've tried with United and I got nowhere.
I was flying from Nashville to Toronto by way of Chicago but when I got to the airport in Nashville, there was a huge long line at the ticket counter because they had cancelled anybody who was going into Chicago or Dulles for a connection. They told us we would miss our flights because of weather so they decided to cancel it so we wouldn't be stranded in those cities (hmmmm...and being stranded in Nashville is better???)
Anyway, we were all lined up to get our alternative travel plans. I had friends who were going back to Chicago via Dulles so we decided it was better if we travelled together. There were only 2 ticket agents working...TWO for how many cancelled flight??
While we waited, one of the alternative flights for Toronto took off without us. By the time we got to the counter, there was only one choice left...US Airways flight to Pittsburgh and then a flight to Toronto from there. So we ran to the gate with a stop to have a secondary security check since we had tickets that had been changed recently. As we were taking our shoes off and they were searching our luggage, we heard the last call for our flight to Pittsburgh. I ran to the gate first since I only had carryon and my friends had all their check-in luggage (more about THAT later). Imagine me running to the gate with my friends wailing from behind for me to "hold the plane"...yeah, right...I have the power to do that!
We managed to get onto the plane and we landed in Pittsburgh on time. We had 5 minutes to get to our flight which was leaving at a gate on the other side of the airport...so we ran and ran and ran ... right into an empty gate area. I remember thinking, "Uh oh...that doesn't look good". We found out that they had cancelled our flight because of mechanical problems. By now it was around 10 pm or so and two of us had to work the next day so being housed in a Pittsburgh hotel was not really an option for us. We asked that they get us to Buffalo and we'd find a way back from there. So they did but my friend's luggage wouldn't make it on the flight. We had 5 minutes to get to the plane...which was leaving at the other side of the airport (yes...next to the gate we had just RUN from.) So off we went again...running and running and running (me with a carry-on of clothes and camera equipment).
We got to Buffalo and discovered nobody would rent us a car to Toronto (something about a little detail about another country, y'know). So we hopped into a taxi and headed to Toronto. $190 later we were back on home soil and it was only 3 am. Argh. The taxi ride was actually quite pleasant...much more than the flights. The best part was when we were at the border and they asked us if we had anything to declare and one of my friends wailed (in a most pitifful way), "We can't...our luggage is still in Pittsburgggggggggggggggggh". That broke us all up. haahaha
United refused to compensate us for the taxi ride citing weather as the reason we were screwed around with...even though I checked to see when my connecting flight in Chicago left and discovered had they NOT cancelled my flight to Chicago, I would have made my connecting flight. Weather had delayed the Chicago-Toronto flight so I would have been able to connect. Sheeeesh
I first wrote a letter to them and they responded with a $50 voucher (good for 1 year). Well, I wasn't going anywhere so that $50 voucher on an airline I didn't want to fly on anymore was useless. So I called them this time and argued and argued and there was no budging...so finally I said, give me more vouchers. They balked at this until I finally said, "You're refusing to give me vouchers even though the likelikhood of me using your airline ever again is close to zero?" I guess when I put it that way, they agreed to send me the vouchers. $100 worth.
They expired before I could use it. Oh well...that's air travel these days. And remember...this WASN'T a discount airline and it certainly wasn't a discount air fare.