cur

howdy yall ua104 gru-iah cancelled tonight last minute (3 hours out) apparently because crew did not have a good enough sleep at their hotel (construction noise or something).

mileage plus award ticket, booked in business.

i do not have a visa. i wouldn't mind spending the day in gru then taking same flight tmw. but apparently there is no way a visa can be arranged for me here at the airport (much like turkey could). so spending my time in sao paulo is out.

any advice? i said to agent: "2 constraints: 1) you put me in same cabin i booked. period. 2) you get me to houston asap OR i route thru ord and you can send me there for the full day (14-18 hours) so i can see friends and eat pizza (but also you can send me via ord asap)". he has been working on this for last 15 minuts and i'm here sipping jd and bud waiting for what next.

agent also said that routing me thru dfw on aa or lim on tam (taag? lam? whatever that airline is) is not an option "as we have our own flight options for you". i call bs on this but of course i got love for my ground agents and we all know they have so much conflicting information in their world. but i still call bs.

what are my options here. is there visa on arrival. and key question does ua owe me re-booking on oal tonight in the cabin i booked if they cannot re-route me in appropriate cabin themselves? especially if i cannot leave the airport if next confirmed options are tomorrow?

PV_Premier

If the agent is able to put you on UA metal they are going to do that and they don't have to put you on another airline if they can accommodate you...that's true, and that makes sense. Continue to politely press them for a seat on GRU-ORD or if there are option GRU-IAD or GRU-EWR.

are you in transit at GRU from another country?

Above all else I would suggest providing the agent with as many options as you can see with business class availability on google flights for GRU-HOU. The agent isn't under any obligation to give you free time in ORD or another city of your choice. Make it easy for them to see the paths to get you to Houston in business class and that is most likely what will happen.

Be polite but continue to remind the agent you can't leave the airport.

Is there a transit hotel option?

cur

ok update

because it's mileage plus "it's really complicated and i'm on the phone with the us right now. also that long 17 hour connection in ord i arranged for you could be an issue due to restrictions on your current (mp award) ticket"
"bruh just force it into res or whatever yall do then manipulate the ticket by same day changing it or whatever"
""

thus far 32 minutes.

pbartp

UA860 to IAD is still showing J9 on Expert Flyer. Connect to UA 762

cur

agreed but i'm in business. i think it's fair they offer me routing home in the cabin i booked. but i didn't press, this guy is trying to help.

yes. been in t3 3 hours now
i think this is pointless because he is on the ball and trying to help (looking at all options considering the constraints i gave him: business cabin only). i'll go thru anywhere as long as i'm confirmed in original cabin.

agreed he doesn't owe me long ord layover, i asked for that as a favor so i could make lemonade by seeing friends and eating food and hitting up musems.


there is a transit hotel

and of course i'm being polite it's not his fault this happened . and he helping me out by trying to give me a day in ord.

there were gold pax ahead of me who were waitlisted. he said it's up to the gate. what do i say to the agent, "force the upgrade"? (not trying to be rude, i just dunno the vernacular)

{Prefer} being in a lounge and having an agent come up and update me while i relax and watch worldstar videos vs. standing in line at an iad service center with broken air conditioning in july

findark

+1. Also space to both EWR and ORD, the latter with nothing available in F in the morning for the domestic segment.

Waitlisted for what? As a holder of a confirmed Business Class ticket you should have a right to be rebooked in the same cabin (positive space) on another UA flight during IRROPS. The agent should be able to reissue the ticket in a higher fare class if I class is not available (this seems to be the easiest route for agents to take, as I've been rebooked like this several times in IRROPS).

UA104 notably is sked to go out at 9am tomorrow, 11h50 for crew (not canceled).

cur

ok i must have seen their iad-___ boarding cards and not their gru-iad ones.

cur

routed via ord without drama in same cabin but apparently the long a## connection isnt legal for an award ticket. told to pick up my bags and see an agent if i want something longer (sdc?). all fair. at least i can see the polaris lounge for 20 minutes?

thinking if i should just ask for the 0900 departure tmw to iah nonstop and transit hotel.

cfischer

have you tried online re-booking? With a 12 hour delay the app should offer any UA flight with available seats.

docbert

Do NOT even mention the word upgrade. Presuming you actually have a mileage ticket in business (which is what your original post claimed) then you are NOT looking for an upgrade, and using that term will confuse everything. It doesn't matter if others are waitlisted for an upgrade - you trump them as you have a 'paid' ticket.

If what you actually have is an economy ticket, upgraded to business with miles it's a completely different story. Upgrades are basically null-and-void during IROPS, so you're officially back to your booked economy cabin and then fighting for an upgrade with everyone else. Sometimes you can get an agent to maintain the upgrade, but officially that's not how it's supposed to work.

malgudi

July?

It's 64F in IAD now.

TonyBurr

Shouldn't they be required to re book him on AA or someone else in the same class of service if they cannot get him out on UA in a certain amount of hours?

RobOnLI

Given IROPS you should be able to easily SDC the ticket from ORD-IAH. What fare code does the reservation now show you booked in for ORD-IAH? If it's "Y" then SDC is super easy. The underlying payment (miles in this case) is irrelevant. If the booking code is still "I" or "X" then it's going to be much harder to SDC. But the agent in GRU is correct...ask the agent when you get to ORD after you collect your bags and go through customs. The agents there should be able to help you easily. Just know that they don't "owe" it to you so if they say no then you are stuck on your booked ORD-IAH and you take that or risk having your ticket cancelled.

-RM

mherdeg

I really enjoy this use of FlyerTalk for live-streaming irrops. Especially when the OP gives some good local color, it's like a fun window into the 1% of trips that go wrong that we don't always get to see so often. Thanks for sharing and safe travels -- hope you get a bear!

Flying Machine

OP: any update? Curious to know how things worked out for you? Sounds like your in the Star Alliance Lounge in GRU ( they have a desk there with good people) have been there several times this year. Looks to me all were accomodated based on the seat chart of 104 tomorrow (only 1 booked in J)