eng3

I suppose usually the would notice when they clear the standby passengers and you are sitting in their seat (or they want to sit in YOUR seat)

COSPILOT

It's been a while since I've had this happen to me, but going from E+ to First, then calling in because UA didn't think I was on my outbound, with a fix of a middle seat in E- isn't my idea of a good time.

Flights are full, so mistakes on United's part make it frustrating. Place a call to me, email me, do something, but don't delete my return flight without taking a moment to reach out and figure things out.

Old United called me when issues happened, new United should take a look at what worked in past if they actually care.

Mary2e

I was thinking that perhaps UA should check the manifests to see if the supposed "no show" actually boarded the flight.

Clerical mistakes happen - but UA does have the information and should cross check it before cancelling return flights.

emcampbe

I'm not sure how old United would have called you for this type of situation. If they didn't scan your BP properly, they couldn't tell if you simply no-showed - which is probably the (way more) usual scenario.

What old UA did differently was no-showing didn't cancel your itinerary at the close of the flight you weren't on - it gave you until midnight. Theoretically, it gives you more time to rectify before your itinerary is canceled. Realistically, it just means you don't know until later, as you wouldn't know you were considered a no show until your itinerary was actually canceled.

eng3

Actually, it is quite often that I'll hear the GA come on board and check of someone has boarded but mistakes still happen.

MSPeconomist

Waiting until midnight at least means that someone usually wouldn't be stranded at a connecting airport. OTOH, if people are abusing fares by deliberately not taking the first segment, then if UA waits until midnight, this wouldn't be detected.

channa

In some cases, waiting until midnight could actually make it worse. At least if you know right away that your res got messed up, you could repair it at the connecting point, rather than realizing it for your return.

That said, I think this is less about misuse of fare than it is about their whacked out change fee structure they created.

They're interested in recovering inventory for them to resell. Sure, people forget and no-show, but there are also deliberate trip cancellations where the airline is not informed because the change fee exceeds the ticket value. They also now sell Basic Economy tickets that don't allow changes. So if you want to take a different flight, you shop for a new one and throw out the old.

So long as they give the customer no incentive to cancel, no shows are going to be a problem.

emcampbe

And the advice given out on this board...constantly, is to not make any changes until last minute...should IRROPS allow you to do it for free. Partially a result of the change fee, partially a result of folks insistence on trying to wiggle out of stuff they agreed to when buying the ticket.

COSPILOT

What I know is that Pre-Merger UA called me more than once when this stuff happened, unfortunately they would call the home phone and speak with my wife, but they nevertheless made an effort. Now its zero communication and the only way I know something is wrong is seeing my reservation drop from the app.

I understand that it isn't practical to reach out to everyone, but I think a simple text/email/call to United's elite base before screwing up my return would be customer friendly. A simple "we didn't see you on the flight, you have x hours to respond before we cancel your remaining segments" might help things. I could then respond with a yes, I was on the flight.

Making this my problem for mistakes on UA's part is not cool.

747FC

I'm no expert on this matter, but I am willing to bet that UA would still have a record that it transported your checked luggage. How about them first looking at the luggage manifest before cancelling flights?

BBSHOPSINGER

The only time this happened to me was pre-merger UA, and no, they didn't call me, they just cancelled my ticket. The agent told me I hadn't taken my outbound flight when i tried to check in for the return. I asked him how he thought I had gotten there. He wasn't pleasant about it, but he did restore my itinerary and I was able to fly.

channa

I have no confidence in their baggage tracing ability. I had a baggage issue with UA once where they texted me my bag didn't make it so I filed the claim, but waited anyway and sure enough the bag came out on the carousel. They were calling me for days telling me where my bag was (ORD, etc.). Even after I let them off the hook and told them I had it all along, they still called me a couple times telling me lies about my bag being in different places.

Yup, there are no customer incentives to do otherwise. That is a hassle to do, but if the change fee was a partial value hit on the ticket, then more people would pay it and just cancel, allowing the airline the opportunity to resell the seat and the customer to recover some value.

GreerApproach

*Deleted, problem solved. Mods, please remove. Thanks*

BThumme

Can you share what the outcome was and how it was solved?

emcampbe