Yesterday we flew home from Bilbao via Frankfurt, Newark and on to Denver. Newark's airport turned out to be a completely miserable experience. Avoid this airport if you can. And, United Airlines was equally awful at Newark.
Our flight (United) was late arriving from Frankfurt because it took them over an hour to clean the plane in Frankfurt--how hard is it to clean a plane? So, that meant we had to run to catch our connection to Denver. But, of course you have to go through another security line.
No problem--we are both TSA pre-check, which means we can breeze through security without taking off shoes, removing liquids and computers, taking off coats. Easy, right? Not at Newark. They had shoved at least 200 people into the pre-check line (including mostly people who hadn't been cleared for pre-check--I asked). But, they had only 1 line open for x-raying bags and bodies. So, this debacle took 30 minutes, by which time our Denver flight was well into the boarding process. When a number of passengers suggested that the TSA agents lolling in the background could open a second lane, they just sneered at us.
TSA wanted to look at my bag because I had 3 small jars of spices in it. No problem. I told the TSA agent that I was happy to have him look through my bag, but that my flight was boarding. So, this gem of a public servant proceeded to search for the 3 jars (I showed him where they were) and then submit each one plus other items (mostly dirty clothes) to an explosives check, knowing full well what was in the jars and my suitcase. This guy just wanted to show how powerful he was.
Every single person I had to deal with at Newark was surly. We proceeded to the United gate for our Denver flight. The United gate agent was equally rude--and a bully. He glared at each passenger's carry-on bag and demanded that many of them be put into the frame verifying their carry-on size. When my husband shoved his in, and it actually fit, qualifying it for carry-on status, this United "customer service" agent told him it was "too tight" and he would have to check it. He wouldn't give my husband back his boarding pass until he had checked it. And, he did the same with many other passengers.
When we got to Denver, it took United 45 minutes to get the bags to the carousel--ensuring that we missed 2 buses to our parking lot and taking us an extra hour to get home, after a 22 hour trip.
Now, we are both premium United customers, each having flown over 2.5 million miles on United and being 1K customers for more than 20 years. And, we had paid full business class fare. So, imagine, if we were treated this way, how those without "status" (in United's parlance) were treated. I watched this guy at the United gate in Newark--he was an equal opportunity jerk.
My advice is to avoid Newark if you possibly can. There was not a single person we dealt with there who cared at all about customers or customer service. This has not been our experience at most airports--and we travel a lot through many airports. Newark, and United at Newark, were a notably unpleasant experience. Stay away!
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