MilesBuzz! - Anyone know how to get United to let me fly 11 days earlier?

I have a United ticket that I bought on Travelocity and need to leave 11 days earlier. They want $100 to change the ticket plus the price difference. Can I show up at the airport and say some magic words to get them to let me fly earlier and not charge me? THanks!

Good luck. Look, you knew that was a non-refundable ticket when you bought it. You knew that there was a $100 fee to change it. You bought it anyway.

Maybe if the flight is empty, they'll let you do it. Maybe. But don't count on it.

You are the one who made the mistake. Don't expect the airline to bail you out.

Check if the rules allow standby. They probably do. Also if they have a schedule change then rescheduling for when you want will probably be easy.

If the flight is not full and you don't have anything to check in, then you should try going "stand by".

Otherwise, you will have to pay the difference in fare (if you are lucky, you might be able to get them to wave the $100 change fee).

------------------
Sagy

You cannot stand by for a flight 11 days in advance. What would be the point of advance purchase fares?

Codex, sorry but you're just going to have to cough up the $100 change fee plus fare difference. The fare rules are very clear about changing your plans.

Welcome to FT! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I know this sounds awful.. not even sure if it works, but you can hope that United makes some schedule change to your itinerary -- either canceling a flight and/or changing your flight time(s) around.. depending on how drastic the change is, you can use that basis to change days. I think only when UA cancels a flight or something, then you can change your itinerary without the penalty.
Abusing the system, I know. :P

Have you thought about looking into just getting another ticket? Price it out, it may be less what what they are asking to change the one you have.

I don't think you have a prayer with the one you have.

Whoa! How far are you from the airport and do you have status, so you don't have to wait in a long check-in line?

Why not show up, like tommorrow even, for the same flight [time] and just try something. Say, smiling, no worries, "I'm a litle early ... uh, I was wondering if you have room on the plane so I could take my flight today instead of [insert original ticket date]."

They may just want to get rid of you to avoid having to deal with you at a later date. Why? Its called delays, cancellations, etc. and, in the more than slight chance that it will happen, you would be yet another person they'd have to deal with. Right now, there's room and no problems. In fact, you would be doing them a favor by getting yourself out of the way, letting them be done with you once and for all (at least for this trip).

You'll know if the airline thinks this way by how the TA answers your question. Yes, or Yes, but I'll have to charge you (in this case, you probably didn't smile enough) or a flat No.

The best part is you can come back and post to FT what happened. You would be doing a service to us all. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Fuhgeddaboutit! If one could do this NOBODY would ever buy the outrageously priced typical business ticket. We would just buy a cheapie Q, T etc fare, smile nicely and hang out at the check-in line.

If you have ff miles, then this is a great way to save mucho $$$$. BTW you would probably have the same problem on your return (you did not specify dates, fare class etc). Oh yes and good luck.

MisterNice

There is a reason why there are different fare classes and different prices. One of those is flexibility. You bought a cheap fare for travel on a specific set of days over a given route. Just because you change your plans does not mean the airline must accommodate you unless you are willing to pay for that flexibiltiy to change.

Standby is permitted on some fares free of charge on the day you are ticketed, but not any other day you care to fly.

The airline has every right to demand you pay the appropriate fare for the time you wish to travel. Caveat emptor, airlines are not out to cheat you, they are in business to make money. They are not in the business of subsidizing your travel at your wim.

Why do you think they have fully flexible fares? These are designed for those who are likely to make changes, and they pay for the privilege. If the airline let you do what you want, who would pay the higher tarrif? And if nobody paid the higher tarrif, they wouldn't be in business very long.

Pay up, or stay at home.

codex- why don't you give us all the info? what when why etc. do you want to change the return also? say i'm [or party of n] are going from a to b on x date on ticket w/? fare basis and returning on y date. i want to change it to [whatever] for this reason. there's a much better chance that you will get accurate info fron the experienced people here.

Yes, I just want to add to what Shareholder has said here - I mean, you didn't pay $4,000 for a ticket, so you will not get $4,000 worth of flexibility from the airline.

You got a low price for a low traffic time, according to how the airline is evaluating its load and sales curve at the point in time in which you made your purchase. I have had routes go from $400 down to $250, then up to $712 and then back to $400 all the the span of a few days - and I cannot expect the airline to give the price I preferred when I did not book at the lowest point, and likewise, when I do book, I run the chance that my plans will change - that is why there are "flex fares" at higher cost, and travel insurance.

Grin and bear it - you should be glad that the planes are flying and that people can be travelling again.

Well there are quite a few negative nellies here today...

I'd say definitely try. If there's standby room, they will almost always let you on.

Everyone is getting a little too upset here. The big difference here is that you're not GUARANTEED a flight. When you pay $4000 for a ticket, you're guaranteed a flight. Here, you're at their mercy. It doesn't mean that you don't deserve to fly then, just that you're not ENTITLED to fly then.

So go for it!

Yes, that is the message - you are not ENTITLED - but almost anything is worth a try.

I would not say they almost always let you on. Sometimes, probably towards the lower percentage, especially outbound.

And, what happens if they do not let you fly? Do you have to be there that day?

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

I would not say they almost always let you on. Sometimes, probably towards the lower percentage, especially outbound.

And, what happens if they do not let you fly? Do you have to be there that day?</font>

This last point is a very good one to make. At this point, your option is to pay the $100 change fee plus the difference in fare. If you wait until the day of departure to do this, the difference in fare could be very large indeed (on the order of $2500 round-trip for a coast-to-coast ticket on the day of departure). Because of this, there is a very strong incentive for UA to not allow you to stand by. As others have already posted, why would anyone pay for a $2500 ticket if you could just buy a ticket for a later date then stand by? The airlines rely on these full-fare tickets for a good portion of their revenue, so they're not likely to let it slip.

I have made mistakes in ordering tickets. That's why I really miss the CTO's. I've actually showed up on the date I thought I had bought when the ticket was for the next day. (International travel far from home). Other than feeling, obviously stupid, I expected no consideration from the airline.

Here's what happened. A fullfare ticket at that moment would have been monstrous. It was a multi-segment ticket. The ticket agent gave me a ticket/boarding pass for the flight that day and told me that he would try to repair the damage I'd done while I was flying.

So I boarded the plane feeling dumb as a stone. When I went to get a boarding pass for the next segment, the deal was screwy, but it did work. Instead of having a nice 2 hour connection time, I had 7. That put my next flight on the actual calendar date I had booked. So big deal, I had a wait. I was so embarrassed!

What is my point in writing all this? Mistakes do happen and often the airline will try to help you out, but your situation is not a mistake. The worst thing that would have happened to me if I had not gotten on the first flight was an overnight in the airport hotel and a wasted 24 hours.

Now, I am overly careful when booking tickets. Man do I miss the CTO's!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by BobbySteel:
Everyone is getting a little too upset here. ... When you pay $4000 for a ticket, you're guaranteed a flight. ... It doesn't mean that you don't deserve to fly then, just that you're not ENTITLED to fly then.

So go for it!</font>

Sheesh ... I agree. I suggested, before he actually needed the flight, that he go down and see what they said. This would allow him to know, ahead of time, what the TA could, and most probably has been encouraged to, do. Why is everyone getting so upset? Why not just let him try?

[edited, as always, when I try bolding and italics]

[This message has been edited by lisamcgu (edited 10-07-2001).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by lisamcgu:
Sheesh ... I agree. I suggested, before he actually needed the flight, that he go down and see what they said. This would allow him to know, ahead of time, what the TA could, and most probably has been encouraged to do...</font>

The RULES say no way. You can go ask and get one answer, then something different could very well happen the next day. One might scream and say "he told me, etc" to which their answer would be: "thats it, never ever we will bend the rules again so stop asking"

I agree. It might work, but you could also wind up staying home or paying $2000 for the right to buy a walk up fare.

I can't imagine why a number of you have taken the "attack" approach. Someone asked for "help" and you basically said "you don't deserve help". A simple "I doubt it and here is why..." would have sufficed.
I think the answer is easy,but the negative way you treated a first timer FT user is embarassing.Welcome codex. Most people here will try and help (although we all can have a bad day and I'm sure that's what's happened here)because we've been helped and will most likely need it again from this forum.You may have already left, if not, many here have given you good advise. You can try, but don't expect it.Good luck.

[This message has been edited by jabez (edited 10-08-2001).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by NoStressHere:
The RULES say no way. You can go ask and get one answer, then something different could very well happen the next day. One might scream and say "he told me, etc" to which their answer would be: "thats it, never ever we will bend the rules again so stop asking"
</font>


This is a very good point. When you are asking the airline to break its own rules, you really can't expect consistency! Not even from the same agent. It's important to understand that it's a crapshoot.

Another point that bears repeating is that you are much more likely to succeed if you are on the return leg than outbound.

As a former UA sup: you can only fly standby on the SAME date of travel... you can't move it up or back a day without AASRS asking for an Add-collect (change fee).

As a travel agent, and you book the ticket through me, here's what i can do.

1. you buy the ticket, lets say 3 days later you find out you can't go. I can refund your ticket less any ticketing fees.

2. I can get you upgraded with due cause, at no charge, or requiring certificates.

3. I can normally get the change fee waived with a good enough reason.

4. I can get any add-collects waived if you have a good enough reason.

5. I can help you if your flights get delayed or cancelled... your other option is waiting in line for 2 hours with the other 300 stranded passengers... and by the time you get rebooked, everything is gone!

--
Keep booking through ITN, Travelocity, Expedia, etc... especially if it gives you some justification. but remember, you loose the human touch we travel agents can offer you. You loose our benefits (such as reporting airline tickets ONCE a week and giving you SOME room to cancel without penalty!)... you also loose our knowledge...

Without a travel agent, you are on your own!

Nate
Carlson Wagonlit Travel

As a former owner of a travel agency I can sympathize with what's happening in your field. IMHO, the reasons many of us elite status travellers no longer use them is more because of the extra incentives for booking on line.
I,however,have been able to leave earlier on stand-by without a penalty.

So should we as agents start giving folks 500 miles everytime they book via us? ? ? ?

Delta, American, United, and Northwest all offer paper certificates....

-nate

Nate,

If TA were to give airlines miles, they will get more business. Is the extra business enough to justify the extra cost (of managing the program, even if the miles are free to the TA) - probably not.


------------------
Sagy

I can strongly support the TA's (and UAPremierExec) position. Personally, I am booking with my dynamite TA and his team everything but the simplest, straight-forward, sure-no-change tickets.

The purpose of my post is really to let everyone know that even though airlines may offer you 1,000 to 5,000 miles for booking online, there is a cost to it.

I personally think we *could* offer 500 miles to our travelers (at a cost of $0.02 a mile, we can't get them free). But we have to wonder if the business is worth it.

I don't mind people booking online, but when problems like this come up, I like to remind people that we (as travel agents) can and DO help people in these scenarios.

-nate

TA's offer service.
Online offers miles.

You really should not expect both. Come on folks. They both cost money. Balance the books.

Some people will ALWAYS use an agent. Some will ALWAYS use online. And some will go down the middle. We are all different and there is not perfect answer, just what works for you.

Back on topic: Last May, we cancelled a trip because of weather predictions. All of a sudden the next day, the forecast changed and we decided to go. I called UA, told them my sad tale and the agent charged me the $100 BUT let us go out on a day that was forbidden on our really cheapie fare and did not charge us extra for what should have been a huge fare increase. We were happy with that. Part of the consideration was that my husband is PremEx. You have nothing to lose by asking nicely with a good reason for your change.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by jabez:
I can't imagine why a number of you have taken the "attack" approach. Someone asked for "help" and you basically said "you don't deserve help".</font>

Wait a minute. I didn't attack. I just pointed out the flaws in his thinking. You cannot expect someone else to bail you out for your own mistake!

If that's attacking, well, sorry.

Of course, it's all just my opinion, I could be wrong.

PremEx is married to Karen2?

Is this a scoop? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

William

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by wharvey:
PremEx is married to Karen2?

Is this a scoop? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

William</font>

Yah, and how many others are claiming their sig other is PremEx. What does PremEx have, like, a harem?

heh.. if yer referring to me, i'm gay...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by UAPremierExec:
heh.. if yer referring to me, i'm gay... </font>

ROFL...nice one, Nate. Maybe we should all come out on MilesBuzz! Sorry, I guess that would be somewhat off-topic ;-)

[This message has been edited by Scotsflyer (edited 10-09-2001).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by lisamcgu:
What does PremEx have, like, a harem?</font>


A flock and a chain of donut stores.