NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - United Airlines reportedly plans to stop using an automated baggage system at Denver International Airport that has been seen as expensive failure.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that United will turn off the $250 million system and manually move bags to and from planes.

"We have come to the conclusion that going to a manual approach is best," United Chief Operating Officer Pete McDonald told the paper.

The automated system places luggage in carts that move along miles of underground track. The carts communicate with computers over radio frequencies, and the network is designed to deposit luggage at assigned destinations. But problems with the equipment caused the Denver airport to open 16 months late in February 1995, and eventually only United was using the troubled system.

The paper reports that the automated system had cost United $60 million a year in payments to Denver International Airport, and another $12 million to a contractor to operate and maintain the automated network, according to the report.

With United parent UAL Corp. (Research) still struggling to emerge from bankruptcy, critics argued that money could be better spent, according to the report.

McDonald told the paper that United is in discussions with the contractor and the airport over a shutdown. Unused portions of the system have been torn out and sold for scrap.

For a look at how United flew through loopholes to billions in pension funding problems, click here.