Landon Donovan remains one of the defining figures in United States soccer.
The former USMNT forward is part of Fox Sports' English-language World Cup coverage this summer, with the network naming him among its match analysts.
That role makes travel unavoidable during the early stages of the tournament, and apparently his traveling routine has not been smooth sailing recently.
Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Donovan criticised United Airlines on X after what he called "easily the worst travel experience" of his life in a flight from Houston to Newark.
"I've been traveling 100k miles/year since I was 16 and this was easily the worst travel experience of my life. No transparency, no clarity and no respect for the passengers who were treated horribly all evening/morning. Absolutely shameful from United Airlines," he wrote.
He later added, "So ridiculous," before explaining: "We were on the runway about to takeoff and the pilot was literally ONE minute past his time and decided to take us back to the gate at 3am."
After United's X account asked him to send a direct message, Donovan refused to move the complaint private.
"There will be no private DMs. People want transparency and accountability so we're going do this right here in public. You can start by apologizing to all impacted and then reimburse them all of their expenses with extra flight credit/money for the trouble caused," he said.
ESPN' Ian Darke, also working the tournament, increased the scrutiny over United Airlines, as he said passengers on United 404 from Houston to Newark endured delays, a diversion, reboarding and no hotel offer after the pilot timed out.
That helps to explain why Donovan has been relentless about wanting accountability from the company.
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