DonnieZ

I have an upcoming flight from LHR that I want to change to get a better chance at scoring a J seat.

Logged in to day to look at inventory and found that making the change is $0 due to an exception policy created by UA due to the recent events in Manchester. Guess this is a bonus for me.

My question: If your flight is covered by an exception policy, can you make multiple changes, or just one?


My dilemma: I'm booked on the latest nonstop home, but I'd rather take an earlier flight that day as I just want to get home earlier, as well as there's J1 availability on the flight I'm currently booked on.

An additional complication: I have an MUA waitlisted at the moment, that I regret booking - as I'd rather use those miles to try and upgrade my wife and I when we come back from London in a couple of weeks. I'd gladly take the TOD offer home this time as I have a budget for upgrades from work that will usually cover that.


There's three flights that day. If I book the earliest, The availability looks like this: F2 FN2 A2 ON0 O0 J7 JN7 C7 D7 Z6 ZN6 P6 PN5 R3 RN3 IN3 I3

I assume if I change to this, my MUA will immediately clear. I'll fly up front, but I spend the miles.

The mid morning departure has availability that looks like this: F1 FN1 A1 ON0 O0 J5 JN5 C5 D5 Z3 ZN3 P0 PN0 R0 RN0 IN0 I0

If I pick this flight I'm not sure what to expect. The seat map shows 3 first seats not booked and 3 business class open. I'd hope to get a TOD offer on this flight, but I'm not sure how fast business class fills up close to departure. When I called, there were a few people on the waitlist for this flight.

sfo789

Typically I've had no issue with repeated changes owing to a waiver, but I've always been able to give a rationale (ex. evolving WX, some sort of unmovable commitment at the departure/arrival end that means I have to leave later/earlier, etc.), so you'd need some similar justification.

What are the flights/dates in question? 3x a day and the second one being mid-morning suggests you're looking at LHR-ORD (since IAD is 7:30am and then 12pm, whereas ORD is ~7:50am and then ~10:30am). In that case, I'd strongly suggest getting on the morning flight now and confirming the MUA -- IME the mid-morning one fills before upgraders and TODers can get in on it, especially given a few people are already waiting.

nerdbirdsjc

UA is getting very strict with agents over the use of waivers. You should expect a one time waiver to work exactly once.

aacharya

Consider cancelling the MUA request by calling the agent and then switching over.

Or trade for a GPU as that's much less value out of pocket than MUA, but you still get to fly home in J, since R3 should stick around a day or so.

Often1

More often, a supervisor must approve. The front-line agent does a short description of the reason and that is then approved/disapproved.

The catch is that these "one-time" exceptions are part of the CRM profile for the passenger. So, calling in the next time will likely result in the, "we did this for you last year and told you that we would not do it again."

nerdbirdsjc

Wow, United is attaching res waiver history to CRM profiles these days? I wouldn't be surprised. As it is, waivers are now being routinely audited by Corporate Security department, and they leave nastygram notes in PNRs when (in their view) res waivers should not have been granted.