United MileagePlus (Consolidated) - "Pro-Active Rebooking" due to oversold flight

One of my flights today is oversold. When I checked it, I got a message asking if I wanted to VDB for $150, which I declined.

I am now looking at seat assignments and get a message stating that my ticket needs to be reissued.

I called UA and they said I was being rebooked because the flight was oversold.

Now, I am annoyed by this because I received no communication regarding what they did.
The good thing is, they put me on a direct flight so I will be home sooner.
The bad thing is, I will need to reorganize transportation at home, and had I left for the airport at my normal time, I would have missed the flight.

Bah...

I called UA and they said I was being rebooked because the flight was oversold.


So when you called, did they say when you would get your DB compensation?

One of my flights today is oversold. When I checked it, I got a message asking if I wanted to VDB for $150, which I declined.

I am now looking at seat assignments and get a message stating that my ticket needs to be reissued.

I called UA and they said I was being rebooked because the flight was oversold.

Now, I am annoyed by this because I received no communication regarding what they did.
The good thing is, they put me on a direct flight so I will be home sooner.
The bad thing is, I will need to reorganize transportation at home, and had I left for the airport at my normal time, I would have missed the flight.

Bah...

i believe that technically this is an IDB situation and you should be entitled too some rather lucrative compensation

So when you called, did they say when you would get your DB compensation?

Nope.. I wanted to get the opinion of the members here before I pursue this.

I am by no means an expert on IDB, but if the OP arrives home sooner than the originally scheduled flight (as the post indicates), is he/she really entitled to compensation?

I am by no means an expert on IDB, but if the OP arrives home sooner than the originally scheduled flight (as the post indicates), is he/she really entitled to compensation?

I believe he is, if the rebooking was involuntary. But it looks he accepted the rebooking over the phone so they can claim it was voluntary...

No compensation is due if your airline finds alternate transportation that will get you to your next stopover point or final destination within one hour after the scheduled arrival time of your original flight.

One of my flights today is oversold. When I checked it, I got a message asking if I wanted to VDB for $150, which I declined.

Forget what the system told you - although some low-ball occurs, usually that amount is not final and you still have the right to board even you reject the offer (unless UA chooses to IDB you). Always add yourself to the list first.

I called UA and they said I was being rebooked because the flight was oversold.

It is a grey area.

1. UA rebooked you for no reason other than overbooking. So it is indeed a denied boarding.

2. You have the right to push 1K Desk to rebook you back to that routing. But you choose to accept it.

I think filing a DOT complaint may have a better purpose than 1KVoice.

BTW - I saw this happened in SJC during Labor Day weekend: UA "proactively" rebook 10 passengers (in 2 separate parties) for direct non-stop flights as follow (per LAX request):

SJC-LAX-???-MCI > SJC-LAX-MCI

SJC-LAX-???-EWR > SJC-LAX-EWR

No compensation is due if your airline finds alternate transportation that will get you to your next stopover point or final destination within one hour after the scheduled arrival time of your original flight.

This is correct for U.S. domestic IDB with respect to mandatory compensation. For those who had other interpretations I offer this:

http://airconsumer.dot.gov/publications/flyrights.htm#overbooking

To me, it's a nuisance, given that the new flight leaves 40 minutes earlier, and normally, I would have missed it had I not looked at seats.
So I don't appreciate the lack of communication, and my car service company doesn't know yet if they can pick me up at that time.

I'm more interested in the "acceptance" terms. If they already rebooked you, what recourse do you have. Can they put you back on the original flight or how does that work?

I'm more interested in the "acceptance" terms. If they already rebooked you, what recourse do you have. Can they put you back on the original flight or how does that work?

I would tell them that I want my originally booked itinerary unless I received DB compensation for the other flight. If you want, you can make up an excuse that you won't be able to make the earlier one in time or it will cause you to miss a meeting, etc.

Once you accepted the change over the phone though, I'm not sure you can go back and insist on it now. But if you don't like the change, tell them it's not OK and you want your original flights.

Once you accepted the change over the phone though, I'm not sure you can go back and insist on it now.

slightly off topic but i recently learned it pays to be really careful/really direct on the phone about what you are willing to accept and not accept. last week i had a s/c that i did not really want to accept, so i called on it, they said there was nothing they could do to reaccomodate me and i said "OK" -- meaning to me "ok there is nothing you can do, leave it as is and i will shop for a flight on DL". the agent took my "OK" to mean "OK, i will accept the s/c". when i logged back into .bomb, sure enough, agent accepted the s/c on my behalf.

so the next time I called (different PNR), I blatantly said "I am not giving you permission to accept this schedule change on my behalf. Please leave the itinerary as-is, I will evaluate my options and call back later".