Travel nightmare unfolds as major airline scraps flight after harrowing 12-hour delay

Passengers on a United Airlines flight from Washington, D.C., to Rome on Oct. 2 faced a grueling overnight ordeal as they waited nearly 12 hours to take off — only to have the airline cancel the flight before it left the ground.

United Airlines Flight 884 was scheduled to depart Washington Dulles International Airport at 5:35 p.m. on Oct. 2 for an overnight trip to Rome's Fiumicino Airport.

Instead, passengers were grounded by a cascading series of issues, including a cockpit malfunction...