I am now preferred on US, defecting from the Onepass program. I have a CO nonrefundable ticket which is booked both in V and Q and T class. Basically it is a multi destination ticket, and thus different nonrefundable fare classes/codes. If I show up at a US ATO and they have open seats on the flights, does anyone know if they will accept my CO ticket? I would imagine unless it says nonend, and maybe even it it does, that US could get the face value from CO for it. Also if the US itinerary would need two segments instead of the one coupon for the CO porition, can they write up a quick charge or a fim like document for the second US segment?

My tentative hypothesis on this question is it depends on the agent at US that you get, so I am posting to see if anyone has tried this recently, or has any other perspective on the topic. FYI this is not a shuttle market, etc. I would rather fly US than CO since I am concentrating business with them this year.

I doubt that US would accept the ticket without CO's endorsement (ie., Rule 240). I had a multi-carrier ticket a couple months ago on US and HP, and missed the US connection (which was the last flight of the day) because my HP flight was delayed getting in. So, the next morning I went to the US counter and presented my ticket, explaining that I had missed the flight the evening before due to the delayed HP flight. Even though U was able to verify the HP delay, they still wanted to charge me the $100 change fee, plus the difference in fare-and I'm CHAIRMAN'S PREFERRED! Even after getting the ticket counter supervisors of the two airlines together, U still refused to bend on the change fees. To make a long story short, I ended up paying the fees and HP reimbursed me via travel vouchers for the costs I incurred. At the time, HP wasn't flying to RDU, so they couldn't accomodate me. After I finally got to RDU, I called Consumer Affairs to complain and their response was that the ticket counter had handled it properly since US wasn't responsible for a delayed flight on a different carrier. Absolutely no consideration was given to the fact that I am supposedly one of their 'most valued customers.'While this scenario is somewhat different from your case, at least it gives you an idea of the hassles you could incur when trying to get one airline to accept another airlines tickets, much less their own!

[This message has been edited by romadaro (edited 06-25-2002).]

Not a snowball's chance in .......

The only way you can use another carrier's ticket on US is if the other carrier had a cancellation/delay and their agents move you. You can't buy a ticket on one airline and then show up at another's for standby. But boy, wouldn't it be nice.....

I guess that would mean that I could purchase a SW ticket for $50 and show up at the counter for a US flight that would have cost me $200 in "hopes" of getting an empty seat.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PHL:
Not a snowball's chance in .......

The only way you can use another carrier's ticket on US is if the other carrier had a cancellation/delay and their agents move you. You can't buy a ticket on one airline and then show up at another's for standby. But boy, wouldn't it be nice.....

I guess that would mean that I could purchase a SW ticket for $50 and show up at the counter for a US flight that would have cost me $200 in "hopes" of getting an empty seat.</font>

Cant even do that if your WN flt was delayed or canceled seeing as how WN doesnt have interline agreements with anyone.
-howie

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PHL:
You can't buy a ticket on one airline and then show up at another's for standby. But boy, wouldn't it be nice.....

I guess that would mean that I could purchase a SW ticket for $50 and show up at the counter for a US flight that would have cost me $200 in "hopes" of getting an empty seat.</font>

SW doesn't interline so your example is invalid.

Used to (~1992) do this all the time between US and NW between MDT and DTW. We got a cheaper fare on NW but I was addicted to the US miles.

Also used to get to Minneapolis airport a couple of hours early and see who was the first airline going east.

Lately all of the tickets say "Valid US (or NW or whatever) Only". Not sure whether this is due to special negotiated fares or just the pratice is no longer possible (as you assert).

One time, I bought some fish at the Safeway. I got home and a day or so later I decided I did not want or need the fish anymore. But instead of taking it back to the Safeway, it took it back to the Albertson's because I like that grocery store chain better now. When I bought the fish at the Safeway, I knew that since it was a perishible item I would not be allowed to return it. But I thought I would try anyway at the Albertson's. Do you think they will accept my Safeway fish at the Albertson's?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

geo1004: white out the "Safeway" on the label, and write in "Albertsons". I think you'll be fine.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PHL:
Not a snowball's chance in .......

The only way you can use another carrier's ticket on US is if the other carrier had a cancellation/delay and their agents move you. You can't buy a ticket on one airline and then show up at another's for standby. But boy, wouldn't it be nice.....

I guess that would mean that I could purchase a SW ticket for $50 and show up at the counter for a US flight that would have cost me $200 in "hopes" of getting an empty seat.</font>

I would agree with both statements. I did have a delay on a CLT-EWR CO flight and they put me on the next US CLT-LGA (I was also on a full Y fare).

Additionally, given the generally higher price of US fares (x weekend stays), I can't imagine them accepting someones elses lower prices.

I hate to break up the party here, but...

I've had amazing luck using UA tickets (super cheap, T class, bottom of the barrel) on US on east coast routes. Most recently, I took the UA redeye from LAX to Dulles to connect with a UA flight to PHL. I walked past a US gate (intentionally http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif) because there was an earlier flight (by an hour or so) going to Philly using them. I just walked up to the agent, showed them my gold preferred card and asked to take their flight instead...

No problems, they put me on, and I even got miles for it! So, I guess my advice is to try at the gate, and you may just get lucky.

How, pray tell, did you happen to 'walk by' the US gates when you would have had to go through security and to the end of terminal 1 at LAX. Meanwhile, the UA terminal is clear around the other side of the horseshoe. You took a pretty good gamble (and won)!

How does it NOT cost US money to give you a seat? Do they just submit that unused UA ticket for reimbursement, and if so - do they only get what you paid UA? Does UA lose some of the fare you paid? And, doesn't this fly in the face of the walk-up $1200 one-way fares between LAX-PHL??

I have frequently flown on the northeast DL and US shuttle using shuttle tickets from the other carrier. I.e. using a US shuttle ticket to fly the DL shuttle, etc. The shuttles have even honored each others tickets with no fuss or questions even if the ticket says "valid xx only" where xx is the other airline. I have never had a problem using an other airline shuttle ticket on the different shuttle.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PHL:

Do they just submit that unused UA ticket for reimbursement, and if so - do they only get what you paid UA? Does UA lose some of the fare you paid? </font>

Sure, why not? Unless the ticket is restricted (as mine apparently are) the standby airline has a choice - sell that seat for something, or stick their nose in the air and get doodly. The fractional cost of carrying you is less than what they'll get from UA.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PHL:

And, doesn't this fly in the face of the walk-up $1200 one-way fares between LAX-PHL??</font>

Did anyone say it had to make sense?

This convertibility of paper tickets is why it's hard to get a free replacement if you lose one.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PHL:
How, pray tell, did you happen to 'walk by' the US gates when you would have had to go through security and to the end of terminal 1 at LAX. Meanwhile, the UA terminal is clear around the other side of the horseshoe. You took a pretty good gamble (and won)!

How does it NOT cost US money to give you a seat? Do they just submit that unused UA ticket for reimbursement, and if so - do they only get what you paid UA? Does UA lose some of the fare you paid? And, doesn't this fly in the face of the walk-up $1200 one-way fares between LAX-PHL??</font>

No, No, if you read my post again, I meant that I took US from IAD-PHL (a segment that was part of a UA ticket bought for LAX-IAD-PHL). I didnt dare try to go all the way from LAX-PHL on the nonspot (worse than Vegas odds, I bet http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif) The US and UA gates for express flights are very close by in the remote terminal at IAD, iirc.

I gathered from the agent that UA would pay them some fraction of the 300 dollar ticket when they submitted my coupon to them. UA verified this when I called MP to find out which carrier would be giving me miles.

I posted a trip report at: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/002733.html

[This message has been edited by 747-400 (edited 06-26-2002).]

I have done the same as 747-400, except SEA-IAD-PHL on UAL. Flew from SEA to IAD and when I got to IAD, I asked the UAL ticket counter to change my e-ticket to a paper ticket. With the paper ticket, I walked to the US counter and they gladly put me on the flight that was an hour earlier than the UAL connection to PHL. The UAL rep at the ticket counter gave me a hard time in exchanging my e-ticket to a paper one, but they reluctantly did it. The US ticket counter said that I MUST have a paper ticket on UAL (just for the one segment) in order to get on the US flight. When I looked at the UAL paper ticket, it broke my flight down into the amount of that segment. My guess is that somehow UAL will get that $$ to US.