aCavalierInCoach

I would think this would be hard to do in practice... seems rare to me that sold-out flights are fully boarded 30 minutes prior to departure.

mahasamatman

It doesn't need to be fully boarded. If you're not in the gate area at the cutoff, they can cancel your seat.

aCavalierInCoach

So the scenario is they're at T-30, still 50 people left to board, they look over the 50 people who haven't emplaned yet, call out someone who looks like they are coming from a close connection, and hope they haven't arrived yet so they can deem the seat yielded?

You could be right, just seems like a tricky exercise for gate agents in a situation that is already probably quite stressful/busy.

mahasamatman

I never said it was likely, just possible. If the inbound is slightly late and cuts the connection time enough, it would be pretty easy if the agent were so inclined.

EmailKid

Exactly @:-)

You have a bunch of standy pax, what appears to be a misconnect, and bingo. T-15, sometimes earlier.

I have seen this with my own eyes (and ears). Maybe GA should not have talked to himself, but pax were offloaded prior to T-15 at IAH (used to fly via IAH a LOT), only to have three or so people literally (yes, literally, not figuratively) running and arriving at the gate only to have the GA add them back, as technically they were outside 15 minutes.

Add the stress of OVERSOLD Int'l flight, T-30, and guess what @:-)

djohannw

I did not book or accept this, but due to a schedule-change (cancellation) I was suggested that very connection by a 1K agent when looking for re-accommodation. Obviously I did not take this for all the reasons mentioned here, but it seemed odd to me that UA would sell something that "legally" can only be made when the flight comes in very early. And no, no later IAH-LHR flight (or any Europe-bound flight) later that night - if you miss that you are stuck in Houston.

I agree that agents will most likely only resort to the rules when other factors force them to (I made a 45 minute I-D connection at IAH once when UA had a 90 minute tarmac-delay in IAH, arriving at the connetion-gate about 12 minutes before the departure), but it's just not fair to offer these connections to the inexperienced traveler who will book this because the flight duration looks good and then is subject to goodwill to be actually let on the flight he booked...

Greetings - Dirk

DFWFairy

Flying back from HNL in September and found my IAD-YYZ segment, which was booked in P first on a E170 is now changed to Y in a E145. There is nothing available in F for the rest of day. Any advise?

jsloan

1 - Spend more time in HNL
2 - Check for flights with available seats in F via any other UA hub. You don't necessarily need P space -- an agent should be willing to put you on any flight with F availability.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

ORD, DEN, and IAH are all lie-flat now, in addition to EWR. ORD and EWR would probably be more desirable options.

gold23

Question.... We are visiting our son at camp next week. I had booked two one-way flights, as there was a possibility we'd catch a few open seats with a friend's Wheels Up flight.

Anyway, our return was originally scheduled for 8:30pm. They did a "schedule change" to 6:45pm, which wasn't really a schedule change. They merely eliminated the 8:30 flight and moved us to the 6:45. There's a whole separate conversation here for UA not having a clue as to why their 8:30 was full and 6:45 empty. The 6:45 is still mostly empty for reasons that pertain to my question...

We can't make the 6:45. I assume when I call UA will allow me to cancel this for a refund. The question is what rights do I have with respect to the outbound (I know not technically outbound as it is a one way)? Should I fight for a refund since the flight change impacts my ability to take the trip with UA at all? Or am I in bad shape? The outbound is actually MUCH more expensive than the return.....

EmailKid

It's a one way, so unrelated to return as far as rules and UA are concerned. You can try to plead your case, but if going by rules, no refund.

jsloan

United's schedule change policy specifies a two-hour difference as the threshold for allowing a refund. An agent has some discretion, but you'd technically be asking them to violate policy if you ask for a refund. Their first suggestion is likely to be to put you on another United flight, either operating later that evening (perhaps with a connection) or the next morning. They will waive any fare difference.

I'm unclear how this would affect your ability to take the (outbound) trip with UA. If you were able to get a refund, wouldn't you then book a one-way on another carrier? You could still keep the same outbound (on UA).

Anyway, you can certainly ask if they'll refund your outbound also, but now you're asking for a second violation of policy. The worst that can happen is that they'll say 'no.'

gold23

I'm not going to take the outbound because if I can't get on the Sat night flight, I'm going to drive. There are no hotel rooms available within 50 miles that evening (anyone who has a child in summer camp knows exactly how this works- typical $129/night hotel rooms going for $399/night and w/3 night minimums).

jsloan

Ah, got it. If there's another airport within driving distance, you may be able to get UA to move your flight there, although they wouldn't cover incremental ground transportation costs. Otherwise, my advice is just to tell UA this same information and hope that you get a sympathetic agent. Good luck...

whereiswaldo

Just a question. On a six-segment UA itinerary (US & Canada), the fourth flight had a massive schedule change. No other UA flight is available within many hours, but a Air Canada is available as a UA code share. An UA agent refused to rebook the segment and stated that rebooking for schedule changes can only be done on UA metal. Is this correct? She was trying to be helpful and checked with a supervisor. I refunded and rebooked on another airline since i had no time to try a bunch more calls with UA. WOUld be good to know for future reference if this is really a UA rule with code shares.