denuaflier

Hi,

I had a IRROPS situation where my flight was returned from tarmac for engine troubles. I called to see if they can protect me on a later flight in-case my flight was cancelled.

Agent mentioned that they used to be able to do in old United days but new system does not let them double book a passenger and they can only do it if they move me from this flight to later flight.

When I asked for a supervisor just to make sure, supervisor mentioned that it is UA policy not to double book passengers.

Question I have is does UA has policy not to protect passengers on a future flight in IRROPS or is that a system limitation?

Thanks.

njcommodore

neither. I've had it done. They're just lazy or afraid that if the extra segment isn't removed (and you would therefore no-show) it will cancel your return.

denuaflier

Thanks. Thats what I figured. This was a return segment.

mduell

Neither - protection is possible and available (I had it on my last IRROPS). There are some additional nuances to it now that they're on SHARES (protection segments should go at the end of the record to prevent the aggressive auto-cancellation from striking when you make your original flight) but it's possible and not prohibited.

In the age of 85% load factors, it is a bit more of a problem than it was 15-20 years ago, since flights are more likely to be overbook by dozens, and then go out with empty seats even after clearing standbys. But that's not much of a problem for the individual, other than a lack of protection options from capacity being tied up.

JVPhoto

I had UA automatically do it for me when I was in the middle of a TPAC when my NRT-SFO was late going to make me miss the next SFO-MRY I was on.
I was also able to get parents and siblings protected for LAX-MRY when their IAH-LAX flight was almost 3 hours delayed...via Twitter.

fastair

So did the OP need a second seat out of inventory or not? I'm always curious as to how things played out once all the cards had been dealt.

denuaflier

They ended up fixing the problem in a couple of hours w no protection needed but would be good to know policy for future reference.

EnvoyBoy

I've had it done automatically and, as of just last week, had an agent do it over the phone. You can always check the UA app because the extra segment shows up there.

Although I'm sure the computer will eventually figure it all out, I always call when my butt is in the seat of my original flight and I no longer need the protected seat. The agents are always most appreciative.

kale73

Perhaps a mod can move this to the "biggest lies" thread.

I've had it done recently, and proactively, by both GAs and, I presume, the "system". Just a couple of weeks ago, missed a connection at IAH, went to a kiosk, saw that I was confirmed on the second available flight and on standby for the first. Standby cleared.

The following week, a late arriving aircraft at LAS could possibly have made me miss a connection at SFO. Went to the GA, mentioned that I had a connecting flight to SEA, she said 'You should make it, but I'm holding you a seat on the [time of next flight] to be safe.' I did, indeed, make the originally scheduled flight.

RobOnLI

Actually for the extra segments added as protection (yes, UA does do this - don't take no from an agent - HUCA) the gate agent for the flight you got protected on should pull up your record when you no-show, realize what happened and simply remove the flight from your record. That's what happens in 90% of cases. In 10% of cases you can call UA and ask them to remove that flight from the record and re-sync your ticket.

I've had trouble checking in for a return when a rogue protection flight was still listed in the ticket (even listed at the end of the ticket).

Bottom line...protection is possible and still happens.

-RM

mherdeg

Thanks for following up. Agree with fastair, it's always interesting to hear how things ended up.

eghansen

Your situation is completely different from OP's. You were in a situation where it was likely you would misconnect. Your family was in a situation where it was a 100% probability they would misconnect. When I worked for Continental, we always double-booked to protect misconnects.

In OP's case, he wanted a double-booking to protect himself from a flight that might possibly cancel and in the end did not. It was never OK to double book in that case.

I always take the experiences of FTers with a grain of salt. What United will do for 1Ks is a far cry from what they will do for the other 99% of us.

In general, reservation agents can do anything the want on the computer. However, airlines regularly run compliance scripts that look for reservations that violate company policy. A reservation agent can be confronted days later asking him/her why they did something they were not supposed to. That the passenger was 1k would probably be a sufficient reason to something that violated company policy.

If a reservation agent gets too many instances of violating company policy on their record, they are fired.

JBord

If this is still true, it's unfortunate. I agree with what you described as CO procedure pre-merger. However, UA has routinely protected me when I've asked, with a good reason, both pre and post-merger, and as a 1k, Platinum, and Gold (actually Premier Exec at the time).

In fact, I've had it done for both myself and a Silver colleague within the last year, and that was on a direct flight, not even a connection, just a really bad weather issue that was preventing the incoming plane from taking off.

I hope the agent didn't get in trouble for this. In fact I hope they audited the transaction and she was rewarded. The flight cancelled and I was grateful. And it was the type of customer service that I will remember and balances out so many of the other bad experiences.

eghansen

Generally GAs are given much more leeway than reservations agents (phone) to do something. It is assumed that because the GA is working under time pressure, is on-the-spot to assess the situation, has the customer in his face, and he/she may need to bend the rules at times. The same is true for UA Club personnel.

When I worked for Continental, hundreds of reservation agents were fired every year for not following company policy. There are huge numbers of applicants for a small number of positions. Unlike pilots, flight attendants and mechanics, res agents are not usually unionized and have no recourse. I met many ex-res agents who were bitter because they had been fired for very minor infractions which objectively would seem to be in the company's best interest. Reservation agents were fired because the average number of seconds they spent per customer was too high.

Every transaction a reservation agent makes can be traced back to him/her and the computer systems extensively monitor everything they do for violations.

JVPhoto

I was addressing that the agent was telling him you can't be on two flights in my case as in both the cases I described people were booked on both flights.

FWIW I would have made the SFO-MRY flight but my bags missed the cut off so I rented a car and drove. My parents also made the last LAX-MRY flight with about 15 min to spare.

But when I went back and read what the OP noted I do see how an agent could/should/would be hesitant to book someone who is already on a plane in case of MX/CX on a later flight that day.