ezefllying

I did a mileage run to hit 1K yesterday, LAX-ORD-LAX. En route to ORD, I saw my return flight, at 5:54 PM, was delayed due to a late inbound from DFW. In fact, the inbound had yet to take off from Dallas 90 minutes before the aircraft was scheduled to depart ORD for Los Angeles.

Since ORD-LAX flights were selling out and I didn't want to risk being on a canceled flight and stuck overnight, I called United as soon as we touched down in Chicago around 4 PM local. I asked to be protected, not rebooked -- I tried to make that really clear -- on an 8:27 PM departure. The phone agent said he'd be glad to help and told me I was good to go moments later.

I should've figured something was up when he told me I was "ready to check in." After hanging up and deplaning, I checked the reservation on my app. The 8:27 PM was there; my original 5:54 PM was not. Another call to UA confirmed the first agent had simply switched me to the latter flight, giving up my seat on the earlier departure. Furthermore, the earlier flight was now sold out. I then asked an airport agent if there was any way to get me back on the earlier flight -- sold out, no dice.

In a circumstance like that, can the airport, or the Premier Line, force a booking on a zeroed out flight? Does anyone have experience with them doing so? I'm wondering if I should've pled my case further or tried to speak with a service director.

One small side note is that I probably could have gotten back on the flight if these events had happened a few minutes earlier; I know United closes overbooked or full flights at two hours before takeoff, even if they were selling a dozen seats a minute before. I caught the issue right around the two-hour mark.

Xyzzy

I'm not sure what you could have done - but I've had this issue too. A while back I asked for protection and was switched to the flight I requested protection on. From then on every time I asked to be prtected on another flight I was VERY specific. Nowadays it seems UA will pretty much not offer protection at all (even upon request) so the point is likely moot.

sinoflyer

From an overall customer service perspective, this is exactly the right outcome. OP was overzealous and wanted to be checked-in to two flights simultaneously, and then pick and choose which flight to take. It shouldn't happen this way, and I for one am glad that it didn't, because it negatively impacts many other people who might be trying to get on a ORD-LAX flight.

scracer14

I was granted protection a few weeks ago CLE - IAH - DFW.

CLE - IAH was 3 hours late for a 3 hour connection but the agent was able to book me on the later IAH - DFW, but also keep my seat on the earlier IAH - DFW I would likely miss. She said very specifically that if I make the earlier flight, I need to tell the GA to un-book me from the later one.

I got to IAH with 15 minutes to spare, and ended up running through IAH to watch IAH - DFW pushing back 8 minutes early, so I ended up on the later flight anyway.

It makes sense that they back away from protecting elites, especially nowadays with so many of us. If everyone is getting protected in IRROPS, at some point there's a lot of empty seats going, and some elites not getting protected because of lack of availability.

NoLaGent

The short story: Reservations is hit or miss with even being able to do this. GA or Club agents are better with it.

The long story:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...situation.html

docbert

Double-booking shouldn't happen, in exactly the same way that multi-hour delays and cancellations shouldn't happen. ie, in a perfect world neither would, but whilst the latter exists, the former makes perfect sense.

As far as impacting others, yes, it can potentially stop people being able to confirm last-minute changes onto the later flight, but standby is still available.

OP - did you make it back onto the 5:54pm flight? It looks like they took some standbys so clearly they had a number of no-shows.

jsloan

This is nonsense. He never said anything about wanting to "pick and choose" a flight. He just wanted to have a seat on whichever one left earlier. If the 8:27 PM flight had left earlier, a seat would have opened up on the 5:54 PM departure. It doesn't impact anyone else -- well, nobody who has a ticket, anyway.

OP: It is absolutely possible for them to confirm you onto a zeroed-out flight. It requires supervisor approval and an agent who knows how to do it. As another poster mentioned, standby would also have been an option.

sinoflyer

Silly. You contradict yourself.

The proper procedure for OP is to stand by for the 8:27 while holding confirmed for the 5:54.

Often1

First, the term "protection" is used in many different ways and OP thought it meant one thing and the agent thought he meant something else. That is the risk of using jargon and not plain English. If you want two confirmed seats at the same time, make it plain and ask whether that is possible in the particular circumstance.

Second, back in the day, UA and other carriers, would "protect" an extra seat on a whim. But, that was when few flights were truly full. Now, with overbooked flights, it is more of a rarity. It is even more of a rarity in a situation such as OP's where it is likely that he held the last sellable space. In that situation, absent some extraordinary circumstance, there is no way that UA ought to hold both seats and apparently did not.

Third, yes, UA could have forced an extra seat. But, it is not what you think of as the a supervisor. This is handled by RM/IM and is pretty rare these days because RM/IM already pushes the limits. If you are already at ORD, go to the gate and see where things stand. Bear in mind that at a major hub such as ORD, a flight can be overbooked by 20 and go out with empty seats because an inbound from Europe is late.

So, be clear and then confirm, confirm, confirm. "So, I am still confirmed on my original flight XXX at 9 PM in Seat YY and also on the new flight ZZZ at 5:27 in Seat QQ?"

MatthewLAX

Almost all flights can be overbooked by a certain number based upon route/current loads/time/etc but IME once a flight gets to zero, an agent must have very special skills to rebook a flight. It is possible: it used to be a 1K benefit and I have had agents do it, but most will not even consider a flight that is zeroed out.

I am a big fan of "protection" on other flights and this practice is still very much possible if you get the right agent. Indeed, you have to be careful because sometimes agents don't understand, even when you say "protection" that you mean a double booking.

100% disagree.

exerda

The OP wasn't asking to be checked-in to both, IMHO, just to be protected onto the later flight (e.g. have a confirmed segment + seat assignment on it). That has always been possible and has been standard practice for dealing with likely irrops for some time IME.

UA has typically been pretty good about freeing up the unused segments, too, so it's not impacting others trying to get on the later flights. The problem has been in the order they're put on the res, such that you don't want them in the order where UA's overzealous IT cancels your entire res because of a "missed" segment (this means putting the protected segments last on the res).

COSPILOT

The order is incredibly important, as there is a agent in COS that continues to even handle standby incorrectly and twice now I have been screwed by him. Super nice guy, but I avoid him if trying to catch a earlier flight.

Because of the possibility of human error, I wish there was a method of adding myself to a standby list via the UA app. While it has its problems, it works most of the time.

jsloan

No, I'm not contradicting myself. My from POV, "picking and choosing" would imply that the OP was using some non-obvious criterion -- say, whether or not the Rams game was worth watching -- to decide upon a flight. "I want whichever one goes first" is standard practice.

MatthewLAX is correct. Agents can book you onto a full flight. They may need to get IM/RM to open a seat temporarily -- I'm honestly not sure -- but it is definitely possible, at least in SHARES. However, they don't have the authority to do so on their own, which is why you'll need to get a supervisor involved.

It is still a premier benefit, actually, although that's intended to be used for full-fare purchases, not IRROPs. In this case -- when UA made a mistake and broke the reservation -- I would have expected them to fix it, even if it meant jumping through some hoops. After all, adding OP back onto his original flight only makes it exactly as oversold as it already had been a few minutes earlier.

This x100.

In The 216

Over the past year or so my ability to be protected on flights in addition to keeping my original flight has been very hit or miss. Never used to be a problem and now some agents are adamant about not doing it. I understand both sides but I don't think it's as much a "pick and choose" situation, as sinoflyer states, but more of a "worst case scenario" option. Any time I've asked for protection but to keep my scheduled flight is when a connection was in jeopardy but not necessarily blown just yet.

For example, flying CDG-ORD-CLE over the summer on a Sunday and our CDG-ORD flight was late. I asked for protection in F for a later ORD-CLE flight because had I waited until I got to ORD and had in fact miss connected I woudl likely have ended up without a seat all together or stuck in E- middle seat. (ORD-CLE flights on Sunday afternoon's and evenings are always jammed). Protecting me on the later flight ensure I wasn't without a seat but also gave me the option to stick with my scheduled flight should we arrive in time, clear immigration & customs, re-check, etc.

My point is that while I suppose that could be construed as "pick and choose", I would argue that there's context missing from your generalization.

Often1

However you cut it, it is bad customer service to hold two seats for one passenger absent extraordinary circumstances. Checked in or not, once positive space has been booked, a passenger can check in from anywhere and space is then locked up until T-15 (T-30 for international).

While that may be nice for this OP, with the economy on screech and capacity where it ought to be, this louses up RM/IM for anybody trying to juggle delays on other inbounds and outbounds.

It becomes a zero-sum game which used to be fine. But, not anymore. While it's nice for the passenger who gets, the system gets loused up for others. If I am an agent working a delayed inbound from Europe, should I start looking at rebooking OA? Perhaps DG's? How do I know that some of these positive space seats are just "protection"?

The problem is that the loser in this situation doesn't know that he lost to someone who got two seats held. All he knows is that he got stuck at ORD, or is a GS who was down-graded or routed OA. So, it's just a bad UA experience.