Flying_Duck

Just wonder whether the following is standard UA OP?

Living in SLC and flying a lot for work and pleasure, DL is my airline, on which I have Diamond status. For fun, my family and I like to dive, and 3-4 times a year we fly down to the Caribbean/Central America region to pursue our passion. Taking DL to these destinations unavoidably incurs a dreaded 12:55am departure-3h red-eye through Atlanta to catch a morning flight South - so I thought, what the heck, If I can take a 7-8am UA flight from SLC to IAH and be in whatever country in that region that afternoon, that seems to be irresistible to someone hating the mandatory DL RE flight. Oh, and we always go in paid FC so what could go wrong!!??

Well on 3/31/16 I booked and paid for 3 FC tickets SLC-BZE-SLC for departure 12/31/16 - return 1/7/17, everything looking good, seats reserved etc. On 9/14/16 I receive an email that there is a schedule change on this itinerary with the outbound SLC-IAH segment leaving SLC 6:41 am instead of 8:00 am – actually connecting to a flight now arriving in BZE an hour earlier - no big deal. However, on the return, the segment from BZE to IAH had disappeared out of our itinerary in the email and on the UA website! – the IAH to SLC segment was there, with no change.

I looked on UAs website prior to calling, and saw that the 1:45PM flight we were booked on (737-800 with 8 FC seats) now left 12:35PM (presumably because of an earlier arrival like on our flight going from IAH-BZE) and that all but 1 of the 8 FC seats were occupied – I, wrongly as it turned out, assumed that 3 of these were our seats, and that they just needed to put the missing segment back on our reservation.

Calling UA's main number (no UA status!) to what I assume is a call center in India based on the accent, was a rude awakening of the mistake I had made switching to UA for this vacation. After 90 minutes on the phone and talking to a supervisor, the only way they said they could get us back on this flight was to put us in the back. Stating that I knew by being the first to book seats in FC on 3/31/16 on a flight leaving around the same time, that those paxes now in the seats, must have booked after us, and I suggested they bumped the two paxes with the most recent reservation to the back instead, and then give us our lost-in-action seats back. The supervisor flatly denied this, now claiming, that UA originally had 3 flights that day (1/7/17) from BZE-IAH, one 10:45am, one 12:35PM and one 1:45PM, all 3 737-800 each with 8FC seats. He suggested we took the 10:45am flight where there was FC space, which for us is a no-go, as we will be arriving in on a resort plane in BZE just about 10:30am and thus would misconnect to UA 10:45 flight. He then said that the only other thing he could do was to refund our money, which would be somewhat of an insult, as the DL and AA flights now run ~$700 more per ticket for flights in FC that would fit whereas if we had booked on DL back on 3/31/16 it would have been the same price I paid on UA that day.

So let’s say I am not impressed. What I am hoping for is at least one empathetic, experienced UA FF on this board, who can tell me whether I have any recourse here or need to chuck this up to what a little voice in the back of my head told me when I made the reservation: "Do not fly on an airline where you have no status and where you get screwed in case of IOPS" The other voice said "UA is a mainline, you are going FC, all will be good!

However, this is my take in a nutshell:

I booked 3 tickets SLC-BZE r/t via IAH near the 11m (OK 9m!) window, in a wide open FC on all the segments, no FC seat taken on the return BZE-IAH segments until we snagged 3 of the 8 on 3/31/16.

A schedule change is made to the outgoing first segment 9/14/16 leaving 1+ hour earlier than originally scheduled - no big deal

UA somehow leaves me and my two family members with 3 of 4 booked segments, with the segment from BZE-IAH gone to a cloud far, far away.

When calling, there is now no space in our paid class of service on the flight nearest (within 1+h) to our original booking.

I am told that our only option is to sit in the back or get our money back - and being told in the process that I am “inflexible” for not taking the earlier 10:45am flight (3h earlier than the originally scheduled 1:45PM flight) not hearing or understanding that it is not inflexibility, it is the fact that we will not arrive to BZE from our jungle/coast in the south of Belize resort until 10:30am (for which reason we made the original 1:45PM reservation). We are then told a story about how 3 UA 737-800 flights were scheduled to leave BZE-IAH within a 3 hour window, and that the one we were booked on was the one canceled - so nothing we can do – yeah right, sure!

My contention is that UA lost our seat reservation when their glitch deleted us from the BZE-IAH segment, then put 2 people in what were our seats on the flight that was rescheduled from 1:45PM to 12:35PM, and now is giving us a song and dance about how we must accept sitting in the back for our paid FC ticket, or get our money back and forget it, with an “inflexible” insult attached to our backs no less!

So my question is:
Is there any recourse as in getting UA to put us on a DL or AA where the FC cabins interestingly enough are quite open so we can make it back that day? Any reasonable compensation we can request if ending up accepting Y as we do need to get home that day if possible - and if not: where can one file a formal complaint?

Thank you for getting to here!!

In The 216

Yes, there is clearly recourse here as this is not right based on what you've shared. I also think that this is a case of a pending equipment swap as the 737-800's have 16 FC seats and not 8. When it shows a 737-800 with only 8 FC seats it means there is a potential equipment change on the horizon.

Hipplewm

I don't have an answer for you unfortunately....

That being said, after dropping status this year on Delta, after switching to United, yielded almost the same results when I used the last of my Delta skymiles for 4 RT to MIA tickets for a cruise. Two schedule changes later and being kicked off of the first flight and when rebooking I was at the bottom of the pile for no status, we had to take a flight a day earlier to get to MIA. In the end, it really only costed me an extra night at the hotel prior to the cruise, but the point remains that flying without status when you are used to the perks is quite a helpless feeling. Think about general public flying for just a family vacation......

bmr12

I'd suggest a DOT complaint. It'll get to the desk of someone more competent and capable of dealing with the problem.

That being said, if the flights that day are truly booked in F and don't have availability, I doubt they will boot other confirmed ticket holders and you should look at whether other alternatives are acceptable (e.g., next day). Also, 737-800s have 16 seats in F class, so if they are only showing 8 they haven't yet decided which type of aircraft will ultimately fly the route, and it's possible another 4-12 seats in F will be added when the schedule is firmed up.

In The 216

I would consider calling UA again and insisting on being connected to a US based call center (or keep calling until you get one). Additionally, UA's social media team, particularly Twitter, is very responsive and are US based.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

I'm pretty sure you're victim of a a/c place holder. As others have mentioned, there is NO 738 with 8 seats. I'd ask to be put on your flight as a displaced F customer (waiting for F seats to open). When the a/c issue is settled you should be put up front.

exerda

This is the best advice in the thread.

I don't know why UA has the odd 8-FC "placeholder" 738s (and in this case, there's no way in heck they put their only 8 FC plane, the Airbus 319, on the route, IMHO). But it will be fixed when they load the correct equipment.

The OP's key is to be on the plane and treated as displaced F pax, so they get those F seats before anyone else.

In The 216

I took a look at availability and if you're willing to be somewhat flexible with your departure time I don't think you'll have any trouble getting confirmed in J immediately. The 10:45AM BZE-IAH flight is showing as J3. There would be a 4+ hour layover until you SLC flight but that beats an E- seat. Additionally, keep an eye on the 12:35PM BZE-IAH and as soon as they fix the swap at it shows J>=3 call back and have them put you back on that flight. This should not be an issue from my experience (assuming you get a competent agent).

Hipplewm

This is an excerpt from the OP post:

He suggested we took the 10:45am flight where there was FC space, which for us is a no-go, as we will be arriving in on a resort plane in BZE just about 10:30am and thus would misconnect to UA 10:45 flight.

That is why he didn't take the seats on the 10:45 flight

findark

This. You should be able to get the BZE-SLC coupon applied to BZE-IAH with a Y booking code, and I would ask a supervisor to notate the record if possible that you're displaced. UA is not going to fly a 319 to BZE, so there will be more J inventory opening up. (I would also ask - and I do not know if this is possible - to "waitlist for J class" as a result of the displacement.)

Are you sure that the story about 3 flights -> 2 flights is false? These shenanigans do happen, but they are pretty rare.. Either way, using the 8F placeholder seatmaps is getting to be really annoying when they block inventory as if it's a 319.

Often1

First, a DOT complaint won't get OP anything more than UA has offered. He has been offered Y on the same flight and UA, by its own COC will refund the fare difference between J & Y (which won't be much). If OP complains, UA's response will be that it has already offered OP the remedy. Not sure why people think that DOT gets into the middle of what are customer service issues.

Second, as others note, there are no 738's with J8. So long as the ticket reissue in Y is properly accomplished as a displaced F and OP expressly does not request a refund of the fare difference and has his PNR noted (he can always request that after the flight if all else fails), he should get those three J seats when the swap occurs.

Third, I would price out the DL and AA tickets. If they are relatively the same (or even cheaper), take the refund on UA and simply purchase new DL/AA as the case may be. The chances that UA rebooks onto DL/AA are slim to zero.

transportprof

How is J space looking for the following day? OP could add a day of vacation and reduce any transfer anxiety from the other carrier flying in from a small island by requesting re accommodation on the next day's flight. I've done that twice in the past 6 months when sked changes have bjorked my bookings.

halls120

And when you get home, send a copy of those tickets on DL or AA to Oscar and thank him for the way UA is treating people who buy front cabin tickets.

In The 216

I should have listened in school when they used to tell everyone to read the entire question.

MSPeconomist

IIRC the OP said that returning the next day wasn't possible. However I wonder about the wisdom of a resort flight transferring to UA with only a few hours for the "connection."