spadesir

I booked YYZ-PHL-DUB-PHL-YYZ and now I'm also seeing only the YYZ-PHL and PHL-YYZ portion

I called Tripsta and they told me that the airline had cancelled the PHL-DUB-PHL portion. They said they would contact the airlines and get back to me, but I still haven't heard back from them.

I tried calling US Airways but after waiting for an hour I gave up.

Is this going to go through the US DOT route again? Although if it does, I think we have a stronger case this time (there wasn't really any location switching on our part, and the discount wasn't overly steep so it looked like a legit deal). What a headache this is causing though!

I'll try calling US Airways again later today

montezume

I was under the impression that one of the past DOT decisions set the precedent that the DOT won't cover trips originating outside the USA that don't have a > 24 hour stopover in the USA (instead of just transiting).

I think US is getting hammered with phone calls about cancelled flights due to snow storms right now. Might take awhile to get through.

Au4882

Considering this ticket:
1. Is issued by US Airways
2. Is operated by US Airways
3. Transits the USA...

I'd be inclined to think it falls under purview of the DOT. However, with its recent UA ruling, who knows what DOT will and won't enforce at this point. I'd love for them to enforce the fare, but at the end of the day, if this thing just goes belly-up, I just want my money back.

Regarding the long hold times for US -- yeah, with the snow on the East Coast, hold times will be brutal -- I'm delaying my call due to that.

cosstory

I'm in the same boat! I'm currently on hold with US Airways and really just don't want to be out $350. Originally I called and got through to an agent by selecting the internet issues option, although they weren't much help. At the time, my reservation showed that I had YYZ-PHL and for return I had DUB-ORD and ORD-YYZ so I was still missing the transatlantic flight to Dublin. The agent told me that the entire trip had been cancelled even though I could still see it when I logged in. I'm hoping that once I get through to the reservations agent I might get a bit more information but I will keep you guys posted. If anyone hears from Tripsta please let me know!

Paul4Travel

The Dot will be in an absurd mess!
It will have to take the same "preferential treatment" used for F-class UA EF, but this price is reasonable for a Y-class tkt, so I want to understand if and why it shouldn't enforce.

theAAstudentBOS

Used this to get cheap(er) fares to Europe this summer. Didn't get the $276 price, but managed to get $440 from Montreal to Dublin in late June. I'll get miles, and two tickets at under $450 each for summer travel I was planning anyways on the exact dates I needed, so pretty good.

Now I'm seeing that the transatlantic leg is gone (like others have said). Pretty upset. Us air's phone lines are totally jammed with winter issues, so I'll try calling later. Someone on the OP blog said they called and got the flights reinstated, so maybe there's hope.

cosstory

Wow! I'd like to know how they managed that and who they had to contact

theAAstudentBOS

Me too! Here's the comment from the blog (pulled directly, posted an hour ago):

"After seeing that my PHL-DUB flight was missing, I called them (US Airways) this morning and they told me that it was an error on the US Airways website. The agent confirmed that my tickets were still valid and they resent me the flight confirmation. After calling them, my PHL-DUB flight segment was back on the US Airways website. My original seat selection was gone for the PHL-DUB flight, but I was able to select them again."

stockmanjr

The DOT will stand by this one as there isn't any tricks to get the fare imho.
Cheers
Howie

cosstory

Thanks! I just got an email from US airways confirming my flight but it's still missing my transatlantic flight for the way there. I've been on hold with them for 2 hours now :/

skunker

You would be wrong. DOT ruled back during the RGN fares that transiting the USA was not sufficient enough to warrant their action. They stated there needed to be a stopover (24+ hours) in the USA. The latest ruling on the UA fares show that DOT also doesn't care about fares "not marketed to consumers in the United States." Finally, what is so different about US versus UA?

skunker

The DOT could very easily say that since it originates outside the USA and goes to another country they have no jurisdiction. The DOT regulation has been gutted lately.

spadesir

I called US Airways and selected the Spanish option, and I got through to an agent immediately

She said that there has been a "schedule change" for the PHL-DUB-PHL portion, and that is why it has been removed from my itinerary. However, she wasn't very helpful and simply told me that I had to contact the travel agent (Tripsta) to sort this out. She did tell me though that my ticket has not been cancelled.

=======

I called Tripsta, and here's what they told me:
The flight I purchased was an Iberia flight (IB 4827, IB 4848) which was operated by US Airways. However, as of today, the codeshare agreement between Iberia and US Airways for that segment has ceased. Tripsta has contacted US Airways & Iberia to sort out an alternative arrangement, but they haven't received any information yet.

They sure keep you at the edge of your seats, don't they!

FPmiles

U just called them and they managed to reconfirm the flight for you after it was missing?

spadesir

I just called US Airways again (this time I used their Canadian number 1-888-240-4770), and I was able to get my PHL-DUB-PHL segments reinstated. I had to re-select my seats though.

The agent I spoke to in the afternoon was really friendly and helpful (compared to the surly one I spoke to in the morning). I would suggest to keep trying and following up.