burlax

The CSR was helpful, but went to speak with her supervisor, who apparently said no. According to the CSR, the supervisor said something about CoC permitting UA schedule changes under 2 hrs or 90 mins (the story changed as the call progressed) for which UA didn't have to issue refunds. I agreed to speak with the supervisor directly. When asked to point out to me the provision of the CoC that stated such a thing, she was unable to do so, and said that it was 'UA guidelines.' Then I asked her to describe precisely what materials she was reading it from, and she disconnected the line. Very professional.

EDIT: Since so many people on this thread asked (but didn't seem to read my other post later in the thread) --

- Refund was requested not to a credit card, but to a travel certificate. So, technically it wasn't even a refund request, but a request for credit to use on a future flight with waived change fee.

- I told the supervisor that I'll likely rebook on the same itinerary after making sure the new flight times work for me.

- The schedule change was below one hour. But it really doesn't matter what the change of schedule was - I have meetings I have to make sure I'll make.

Doc Savage

Really?

Looking for loopholes to skirt cancellation penalties is against UA policy?

Oh my!

WineCountryUA

Pre 3/3 UA had a 2 hour rule (which had been 90 mins a few years ago) which specifically was called out in the CoC. Most agents were lenient on the limits.
The present CoC does not call out a specific schedule change trigger point and it is purely at the new UA's discretion (and internal -- non-public guidelines).

cordelli

The CoC currently I believe only specify two hours as the time you have to be delayed for them to put you on another airline. Other than that they now just say they will refund if they can't get you there, but don't specify how much time they have to get you there.

emcsweeney

Not cool. Just out of curiosity, how much later were you scheduled to leave, and what did it do to your arrival time/date?

burlax

The present CoC (10/5/12) gives UA a choice to transport the pax or, at pax choice, issue a credit or a refund. The fare rules state that the fare being non-ref is waived for schedule change. At any rate, I asked for a travel certificate - it made no sense whatever for them to say no, especially since I told her I'll likely rebook after making sure the new flight times work for me, but she insisted on no anyway. It's just amazing how bad UA people are.

WineCountryUA

"gives UA a choice" -- purely at UA's discretion. The PMUA CoC explicitly gave the traveler the option for a full refund if > 2 hours in arrival, departure or the addition of an additional connection.

mherdeg

It sounds like you may have entered "hang up and try again" territory. I often find that by the time you have to insist "Rule 24 section C of the Contract of Carriage says on page 35 that you should either rebook me or refund my ticket", you have lost.

BTW, Rule 24 section C subpart 1 seems to suggest that in the event of a schedule change, United may choose to transport you on the next available United flight in the same class of service at no additional cost. If I read the current CoC correctly, I think that if UA offered one daily flight on a route and reduced the service to weekend-only, they might contractually be allowed to put you on the "next available" flight many days later. Jeez.

This is a huge downer compared with the former UA contract of carriage, which spelled out exactly under what circumstances they promised a refund would be available, and included e.g. change of carrier (UA->UX).

chinatraderjmr

This should not be legal. Perhaps this would be good use of the DOT's time, writing an actual law or whatever specifying what the airlines must do and when in the event of a schedule change.

brp1264

Better than them spending time on 4 mile hong kong tickets.

HumbleBee

I wonder how a court would presently define UAs contractual obligation to transport the pax at a time determined by them... if UA refuses to refund and wants to carry the pax a month later it surely voids the contract...

I guess lacking official guidelines the court will have to decide what is a reasonable alternative to the original flights...

(Not advocating suing just wondering what the court would say)

PanAmWT

I was told by a 1K agent UA would waive change fee only if the schedule change is 3 hours or more.

craz

I had my HNL outbound changed from 7:25am to 7am for a 1/13 res. W/o any problems I said it wont work for me (it doesnt) and she rebooked me on the previous day instead which works better for me

Problem is the OP wanted a Refund, could be if the OP calls back and says the new times dont work Id rather change it to ... w/o changing the O&D they will work them. A refund is alot harder to get if the new times arent a few hrs different

FlyWorld

It would be helpful to know more specifics about exactly what changes were made by UA and what alternatives were available/offered.

While the agents have certainly been forced by the management regime to become much less lenient, and while SHARES continues to pose no end to problems, I've actually found that most agents, most of the time, will work within the constraints imposed upon them by management and SHARES to do the right thing or as close to it as possible.

If, for example, the flight was scheduled to arrive on Sunday at 11:55am and UA offered to get OP there at 11:45am, then the refund request might be excessive. If the flight was scheduled to arrive at 7pm for a dinner meeting and the only available alternative was 10:45pm, and caused OP to miss the dinner or perhaps miss a connection on another airline, then I can see why it might be a problem.

We don't know what situation or options the OP was presented with.

buckeyefanflyer

I would try calling back from experience different agents handle things in a different way.