ftweb

Why don't you just have the web site email you a PDF boarding pass, and then print it only if you need it? (Or actually, since you probably will end up faxing or uploading the bp, you might never need it on paper, so long as it is safely archived in your mailbox.)

mduell

Unfortunately common in the post-March 2012 world.

Contact UA immediately via any means available to restore the remainder of your flight segments and pick seats.

WineCountryUA

As the OP explained there were none in this case. Just the final segment which was successfully used.

notquiteaff

I generally save a PDF BP, but I have actually never needed it in a long time (everything has posted okay).

I assume EmailKid reprints at the airport as addition "evidence" that s/he was actually at the airport and thus took the flight.

emcampbe

Common?

Sure, it's anecdotal, but in the hundreds of segments my wife and I have taken since March 2012, including several with last minute changes due to IRROPS, I've never had it happen. Surely if this was a 'common' issue, it would have happened to one of us by now.

Does it happen occasionally - sure. On UA - yes. On other carriers? That's a yes too. For more context, in the same post-merger period, the number of segments I've flown on DL is in the single digits. And guess what - that happened to me there - wasn't boarded, return segments canceled (plus the added PITA of there being storms in ATL that day, so taking me a full day of even being able to get a hold of them to sort it out).

So no, I don't agree this is common, sorry.

I check in on the app generally, and save the BP in passbook. But I haven't needed it ever either - probably since well before the merger - I've had a couple of situations with wrong/no posting, but a phone call has always done the trick, no BP necessary.

I'm not sure how printing a BP at the airport is going to be any additional proof that one actually boarded the flight vs. having a BP generated from home, on the app, etc. There's no reason why someone couldn't go to an airport kiosk, print a BP, then not get on the flight. I'm not sure why someone would do it, but there's no reason why one couldn't do it.

EmailKid

Sure, but I feel that it's that much closer to actually being in the air, moreover if it's endorsed by TSA, it shows I was airside.

When I post about Irrops and general screwups I also post a caveat, that anecdotally bad things happen to me far more than average UA flier.

While I haven't done any longhaul this year, in the past I would regularly lose at least one vacation day a year due to UA plane going MX or some other UA problem.

lainys

New corporate reimbursement policy requires PDF copy of boarding pass. Occasionally I forget to email to myself during OLCI and have resorted to screenshots of whatever was saved to Apple Wallet. Once I was even quick enough to grab a boarding pass screenshot from within UA mobile app just before it refreshed.

abaheti

I once was flying thru ORD to somewhere. Go to ask an agent about changing my seat or something and he says "you're not on this flight." I have my BP, and had just landed from LAX to connect. I assure him that I am, and after a lot of typing he says, well you missed your first leg so your other leg got cancelled as a no-show. I showed him the BP stub etc, having just flown UA to ORD, and ask him to poke around as it must be an IT glitch or maybe someone didn't board me correctly, and he at one point says "well, I can't put you on the flight because the computer says you're in LA!" I paused, laughed, and said, well, since I am me, and I am talking to you, I must be in Chicago, and I didn't drive here, right? At that point he caught himself, laughed, asked someone for help, and upgraded me for my trouble. We both ended smiling, but the poor guy must have been having a really stressful day to tell me I wasn't where I was. Interestingly, I did get miles for that first leg I supposedly didn't take.

mduell

I've been bitten more than once post March 2012.

There's both frequency and impact to consider. If/when it happens on other carriers, is the response by the airline so swift and harsh? And the service recovery so ham-handed? If UA sent you an alert, offered an online correction option, and only cancelled the remaining segs at the end of the day, it wouldn't be so bad that they're failing on me so much.

garkster

Team SFO (contractor) has taken to not writing anything on the BP, at least that's my recent experience @ SFO Intl G security.

EmailKid

My next scheduled flight is connecting at SFO, and since YYJ does not have US customs and immigration like YVR, guess I'll find out

Quite frankly I never did get why they bothered to sign / initial / stamp BPs

1girlwhotravels

On Friday 11th November I flew ORD to LGA on United. I woke up this morning to check my return flight on 14th Nov LGA to ORD to find my flight had been cancelled. United refused to believe I was on the flight. The gate agent never "checked" me in. First off very scary that I am on a flight with no record.

United required that I pay the $200 change fee in order to reinstate my return flight. Has this ever happened to you?

sannmann

No, never happened to me before. And, I would have refused to pay the $200 you paid- it wasn't your fault the GA didn't properly board you.

ermintrude

What status are you on UA? - if lower than 1K I would call customer care. Did you have checked bags? - if so that significantly helps your case to prove you were on the flight.

comfortablynumb

How did you receive your boarding pass? Electronically or printed? Wasn't it scanned at the gate?

That is your proof you were on the flight......