mjcewl1284

Huh?

lincolnjkc

I've had a few ridiculously long connections -- most were actually on NW (5+ hours at DTW...gotta love EAS airports) but I've had at least one on CO... and in those cases, since it wasn't a stopover, my bags were checked to my ultimate destination without any questions whatsoever.

You should still try your luck with reservations though...

gtolj2

Thanks, I was referring more to whether UA would classify this as a stopover or connection, and I won't be checking any bags. I'll give them a call tomorrow and post an update!

mahasamatman

That distinction only exists when initially booking or making voluntary changes.

grimjack2k

The short of it: I logged into .bomb today to review a saver business class reward itinerary that I have scheduled in April. Lo and behold, a schedule change reduces a domestic connection from 50 minutes to 1 minute!. What are my options when calling UA to ask how they intend to correct this, re: getting around the currently limited saver award availability for alternative flights?

The long of it:

The affected segments were originally:
UA (ALB) 5:18 PM (CLE) 6:36 PM - ERJ-145, Economy
UA (CLE) 7:25 PM (YYZ) 8:24 PM - ERJ-145, Economy
AC (YYZ) 11:10 PM (LHR - HEATHROW) 11:05 AM (+1) - 788, Business

The change was:
UA (ALB) 5:35 PM (CLE) 7:07 PM - ERJ-145, Economy
UA (CLE) 7:08 PM (YYZ) 8:22 PM - Q300, Economy (ugh)

So, if I could make the impossible connection in CLE, I'd have no problem connecting with the AC flight in YYZ. When I took a look at 'saver' alternatives, the flights that KVS is bringing up are all awful - basically, I need to fly out of ALB in early morning in order to make a 11pm flight from YYZ (and most add a additional connection).

Will this impossible change give me access to standard award inventory that is closer to the original flight times, or will UA not budge on that point?

Just looking for sage advice before I give them a call this week to discuss my options.

Thanks!

mahasamatman

When United makes a change that makes the flight impossible, you can pretty much get on any reasonable flights. They will open up award space if necessary. Just make sure you have the flights you want before you call, and they'll make it happen.

UA-NYC

Do you want AC metal? You could probably get on a UA 1-stop.

grimjack2k

Well, I can't say that there isn't some appeal in taking a brand new 787 across the pond in AC's new international business class seats, so I'm going to do my utmost to preserve that AC segment at (almost) all costs I don't mind a little extra seat time and the 3 versus 2 flights...

mahasamatman

It looks like there an IAD-YYZ flight that would give you an hour in YYZ (since you didn't provide dates, I just picked one at random). There's also an ORD-YYZ that may not be too bad.

grimjack2k

Sorry for the omission. The date is April 7th. My criteria are (in order of importance):

Thanks for the help - I'm usually pretty good on the booking/rebooking tasks, but I relish the help of the top notch UA gurus

mduell

UA will give you the next earlier ALB-CLE to make the connection legal, regardless of award space.

mahasamatman

The only options appear to be
orThe flight through ORD is on CR7s, so there are F seats there.

gtolj2

Update here: Just got off the phone with Barbie (yes I'm serious) at UA reservations, and she changed my flights to a 8.5hr layover at EWR, which should be enough to go into NYC. About 10 minutes on the line, and everything was taken care of free of charge. Wow!

rankourabu

Do they no longer highlight in Red for small changes? I know I had several stealth aircraft as well as 5-10 minute changes this weekend, but none were highlighted.

mgcsinc

IME, if what you want to do is logical, agents will always do it for you following a schedule change. And that's how it should be, I think.

Basically every upcoming I have had a schedule change this weekend, but they all got highlighted. Of course, not sure if there have been others that I haven't noticed.

Emails would be nice.