US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Whose fault was this? Is it worth complaining?

My apologies for cross-posting. I also am going to post this on the UA forum because I'd like to solicit views there too.

Last month, I booked a Z inventory (discounted F) trip for my family from BOS-CUN on UA. We traveled BOS-IAD-CUN on the way down, and were scheduled to return CUN-MEX (via MX)-IAD-BOS. A couple of days before our scheduled return, I called UA to see if we could avoid having to fly via MEX, and I specifically asked if we could fly CUN-IAD on UA, overnight in DC at our own expense, and then fly DCA-BOS the next day on US. (I had checked on expertflyer in advance, so I knew that there was sufficient Z inventory on the CUN-IAD flight.) The agent said fine and made the change. Unbeknownst to be (1) Z inventory fares are restricted, and the agent was supposed to charge a change fee, and did not, and (2) the agent changed the reservation, but failed to properly reticket the reservation (or so I was later told).

So we showed up at CUN for our CUN-IAD flight and were able to check in without a problem. (If the reservation truly was not reticketed properly, I don't know why we were allowed to do this.) That flight went off without a hitch. But when we showed up at DCA the next morning, the US agent said that there was no ticket number in the reservation, and without a ticket number, she could not put us on the flight. I explained that we had been e-ticketed on UA and had made a change and that obviously a mistake had been made. The US agent REFUSED to do anything for us. She insisted that we deal with UA to resolve the issue and pointed us down the hall to the UA check in area. I got UA on the phone instead and resolved it over the phone. So although I ultimately was able to resolve matters directly with UA, I was shocked that the US agent literally would not lift a finger to help us.

Is this the way code shares and alliances are supposed to work? Should I complain, or should I be happy that I avoided the change fee and everything worked out in the end?

You got on the flight you wanted and saved $100. Nothing to complain about that I can see.

Since you had a UA ticket, then they are the ones to go to when something goes wrong.

Ditto.

You got where you wanted when you wanted, but had to queue up at a different counter and you saved $100 to boot. So what's the problem?

Barry

You got where you wanted when you wanted, but had to queue up at a different counter and you saved $100 to boot. So what's the problem?
I saved $300 (there were three of us), which certainly makes me feel better about the situation. As for UA's actions, yes, the UA agent made a mistake; but mistakes happen and they promptly fixed it when I called them. (And, of course, part of the mistake was in my favor.)

What really pissed me off about the whole situation was how unhelpful the US agent was. Codeshares are supposed to be seamless to the passenger. The US agent made it clear that there was nothing seamless about it. Maybe that's just what we can expect from employees whose salaries have been cut three times (or however many times it's been) in the last year; maybe we just can't expect them to go the extra mile.

So, the US agent tells you that to go to UA to fix the mistake UA made, and when you did, they fixed the mistake right away and you were on your way ... what exactly is there to complain about to US? That they told you to have UA fix their own mistake?

It seems to me that your codeshare experience would have been seamless if UA hadn't made a mistake, so I guess you're right ... maybe you should complain ... to UA.

Don't blame US for UA's mistakes.

If the agent was rude or something, go to http://www.usairways.com/contact and report it.

Agree with the other posters. If US were to let you and your other two people in the party onto the flight with no ticket number showing, they might as well let anybody ride for free. My take is they weren't going to get paid by UA until you fixed things. Be glad you beat the change fee.

Btw, I don't know much about UA's Z fares, but US's Z fares to Europe (discounted Envoy) require a 50 day AP. If there were no change fee, you could just buy a Z fare now if you knew you were flying sometime in the next two months and then change it when your plans firmed up.

If it was a UA ticket and a UA agent that messed up the re-booking, I see no fault on US's part. The reservation information is in the UA system and I would be surprised if anyone at US has access to the details.

And since it was never ticketed, there was likely absolutely no info in the US systems so you were basically a person that showed up saying "I booked a ticket elsewhere" with no record and no proof, asking to get on the plane. No suprise that the answer would be to go back to where the ticket was booked.

Hmmm. The folks on the UA board appear to be more sympathetic. Maybe US flyers are used to bad treatment! (That's just a joke guys, calm down. I fly the US shuttle all the time -- probably will do so 60-80 segments this year -- and I have been very pleased with the service.)

But look, I don't blame US for making the mistake. The mistake clearly was UA's, and UA fixed it right away. But the most frustrating part was the lack of cooperation by the US agent. It wasn't like I walked up and we discovered that my travel agent had screwed up (in which case I could understand if the US agent put the burdon on me to contact the travel agent to resolve the problem). Rather, the screw up originated with US's code-share and alliance partner. I just thought the process of rectifying the screw up would be easier under those circumstances. Not that it was all that difficult, but I just thought that the US agent would have been more helpful in getting the problem sovled. (gardener, I wasn't expecting that she would solve the problem by just putting us on the plane. But I did expect more than her "it's not my problem" attitude. Maybe I just expected too much.)

The folks on the UA board appear to be more sympathetic.

I'm sure they're being very apologetic for UA's mistakes ...

Nobody's code share is completely seamless. But the US/UA codeshare does seem to be the poster child for frosty relations... I'd have expected a friendly redirect from the US agent -- there really isn't anything that they can do. It would be nice if they could pick up the phone to United's help desk and work through such issues but I don't think anything like that is actually available to them.

I once had a CO screw up and they needed to rebook me to DL and they actually escorted me to the DL counter and made sure the DL Ticket agent could actually find the ticket accurately and I didn't get furthe hassled. The CO and Dl agents seemed to have an excellent working relationship and guess who benefitted the most?

That's tight yours truely!

. . . But look, I don't blame US for making the mistake . . .

Well if that's the case, then what is the purpose of your post here? As to how someone at US spoke to you . . . hey, it's a big world out there , move on.

Barry

. . . But look, I don't blame US for making the mistake . . .

Well if that's the case, then what is the purpose of your post here? As to how someone at US spoke to you . . . hey, it's a big world out there , move on.
Nice job pulling a quote out of the context in which it was written!