TripTrekTour

I am new to Flyer Talk and to booking awards flights on UA. Here is my situation. I need advice as to what to do, because with no experience I do not know whether my situation is common or unusual.

I booked an awards Business Class I flight on a UA partner (ET) LAX to DUB. I booked by telephone, as the United website does not display ET flights. I was able to book two Business Class I tickets after some discussion with the agent. The agent had to "manually" book the tickets.

I received a confirmation number, and I also checked to make sure that I have a receipt. My credit card was charged for the associated fees.

The problem is that when I looked at my confirmation and receipt, I was charged 60000/S30K miles for Business Class I. I thought that I was going to be charged 140000/S70K. To cover the awards, I transferred 140,000 miles from my bank rewards account. My UA account shows a balance of 80,000, so UA indeed only withdrew 60,000 awards.

I do not know what to do next. Do I contact United, or assume that they will correct the situation at some point.

I was able to reserve two Business Class seats on ET, and their website shows that the tickets are Class I.

Does anyone have experience with this type of situation?

Thank you.

findark

Hello TripTrekTour, welcome to FlyerTalk!

It seems like you were incorrectly charged for an Economy Saver round-trip ticket. If you have a ticket number (13-digit number starting with 016), the ticket shows I class, and ET believes that everything is in order, your actual ticket should be okay.

In that case, give it a day or two for the computers to settle down, and then call Mileage Plus and tell them they debited the incorrect number of miles. You can also do nothing, but it's highly likely it will be caught be a corporate audit eventually.

Kacee

It's entirely possible, even likely, that this will not be caught.

UA typically audits upgraded business class tickets on its own metal, but AFAIK there is no regular audit process that would catch improperly priced awards, either on UA or partner metal.

If OP is the type of person who is not comfortable letting this go, he should by all means contact UA, but many would just let this go.

fumje

I agree with this advice entirely.

coolbeans202

Maybe this is covered in the receipt part of your statement, but you also want to make sure that the tickets have actually been issued by looking for the 13 digit ticket number.

If the tickets were issued, and you are indeed in business class, I'd probably just let it go.

Kacee

Good idea to confirm. I would check the ticket on the Saudia website using the ticket number and confirm that the ticket is issued in I class.

Kenny Sultan

Hi,
I am new to this forum, and have a quick question.
Recently I asked for, and received an upgrade, from LAX-AMS, with a change in IAH.
The upgrade portion is from IAH-AMS, which now says confirmed, and I also have a seat. I am still waitlisted for an "R" class LAZ_IAH. I noticed that they never deducted any miles, or co-pay from my account, and it has been a couple of months.
When I read the rules, it said that miles are deducted at the time of the request. I am curious, because not only did not deduct the miles then, they did not deduct them when I choose my first class seat.
Did I luck out somehow?
Any info would be helpful....
Thanks,
Kenny

seenitall

You may have lucked out, you never know until it's all over. But I assume that this "upgrade" was a miles plus copay. Has your credit card been charged the copay? If yes you have a better chance at the lack of miles deduction being just a glitch in UA's IT system.

Note, too, that because the overwater segment of your flight has been upgraded, your entire upgrade is now considered to be "used." There will be no refund of anything if your LAX-IAH segment doesn't clear. Indeed, you may be better off if it doesn't clear, because its clearing could trigger a review within UA's systems that uncovers the lack of a miles deduction from your account.

WineCountryUA

Occasionally the miles don't get pulled at booking (but enough so there is a thread on this), generally this is picked-up later and corrected. Very occasionally, it is never "addressed" and you luck out. Just hold those miles in "reserve" until the flight has been taken because if UA does notice the issue and the miles are not available, you will be returned to economy.

coolbeans202

Out of curiosity, how long would it normally take for United to correct something like this and deduct the miles?

findark

The audits are usually done on flights departing soon, so I wouldn't feel safe until you have already flown.

coolbeans202

So three weeks post flight is probably good then...was asking for a friend.

cfischer

yep

Chasiind

I am trying to understand if United made an error and if I still have tickets.

In late September, I purchased multi-city tickets for my family of six using MileagePlus points. We purchased saver economy rewards for 30,000 points each way (US - CDG over, & LHR - US on the way back). Total was 360,000 points plus the additional taxes. fast forward to last week, and I needed to change the return form LHR - pushing it back one day. I identified a preferred flight, and verified that saver inventory was available. I then called United to process the change. I paid the change fee of $75 per ticket, and a few dollars in increased taxes, and booked the new flights returning one day later. The credit card was charged (and has cleared) for the change fee and the small increase in taxes.

I was able to select seats (we have an Economy Plus subscription and was able to select E+ seats) after the call ended, and, I received an email with the updated inventory, and 6 individual emails with ticketing info for the new return tickets. However, my MileagePlus account now shows a balance with an extra 180,000 points - the cost of the return trip in points. I thought it was just a glitch and would take a few days for the point deduction to catch up - but after over a week, the extra points are still in my account.

When I look at the ticketing email, I see the full itinerary for both flights, an e-ticket field which is populated with a number (different for each passenger), and the following statement: MileagePlus Miles Debited/
Award Used:360000/S30K-S30K

My Mileage plus account shows the credit for the flight that I changed - 30,000 points for each ticket, but no charge for the new flights. I am reluctant to call United to straighten it out, because I'm afraid trying to fix this might cause other issues.

Do I have to worry about showing up at LHR and not having flights back?

shiffzal

I had the same issue. Proper number of miles was eventually taken. I don't think you need to worry about the flights if they are ticketed.