povertyjetset

I have an award ticket booked on UA for Turkish Airlines. TK changed one flight time making the connection is IST impossible. What are my rights as far as getting a comparable itinerary? Basically, I could only get rescheduled on flights that had similar award availability (i.e., economy saver) and since the schedule change happened several months after I made the initial reservation, my choices had dwindled considerably.

I actually had a UA agent call TK to see if TK would open another award seat where none existed since it was their change, not mine. No dice.

Cheers.

UAPremExecflyer

You have no "rights".
You have options.
You can work with UA to find an alternative routing that has economy saver availability.
If you don't find something to your liking, you can refund your ticket and get your miles back.

Often1

+1 - Successful outcomes to these situations require a lot of legwork on your part. It is far easier for UA to tell you that there's nothing to be done and offer you a refund than to spend the serious time to figure out a routing which works. This is especially true because to many agents, these are simply airport codes and they have no idea where they are, so logical thought about reroutes is hard.

Your best bet will be routes served by UA. That is because UA is more likely to open up its own inventory (although not a given) than another carrier is (why should they help you out since you're not their customer).

If you sketch out options, including carrier, flight numbers and the like, and those flights are available, UA is more than likely to do them for you. Backups would be the use of other *A carriers.

Don't forget that if you are flying USA-IST-XXX, depending on the location of XXX and your departure point xUSA, it's sometimes possible to route TPAC (in a reroute situation).

Good luck.

povertyjetset

Thanks but it's actually an itinerary within the Middle East and it wouldn't even be that easy to get a refund because there are 3 itineraries on one award and I can't cancel the other 2.

SunBurntCountry

This might be a long shot but is a connection in CAI via MS an option?

JPG3392

It might be helpful for you to post exact details about your dates, your original flights, and the effect of the schedule change.

Earlier this year, I had a similar problem involving LH travel on a UA award. UA offered an alternative (after an hour on hold), but the alternative was not attractive. I obtained a full refund of miles and fees, and later found better award travel on LX. Your situation seems more complicated, but it's hard to offer advice without more information.

povertyjetset

I originally had TK from Tel Aviv to IST to Cairo then MS from Cairo to Aswan. I was scheduled to leave Tel Aviv at 9:30 pm and arrive in Aswan ~ 7 am. The connecting flight from IST to CAI was changed so I would not be able to make it.

Now I leave Tel Aviv at 12:30 pm and arrive in Aswan at 10:30 pm. That was really the only viable option.

Often1

Just to be clear. You have now made the change to the 12:30 PM and all is done?

povertyjetset

I made that change a while ago but I wanted something else that would still let me connect to the TK/MS flights arriving at 7 am without a very long layover.

ralfp

This is the new edited content:
That's the shortest *A routing. TLV-VIE-CAI-ASW on OS 680, OS 9200, and MS 397 leaving at 5:30am and arriving at 5:20pm is 10 minutes shorter on days when the the TLV-IST flight schedule changes from 11:35pm to 12:30pm.

Ignore the rest, as I neglected to read your later posts.

If it includes IST it's not just within the Middle East (see below). Of course since IST is a connection in Europe, consider European or African connection points: esp. ATH and ADD.

From UA.com:

dls25

Ever thought about taking ground transport to AMM and flying MS from there? Its probably quicker, easier, and cheaper.

ralfp

I doubt it. I did this from Jerusalem 13 years ago and I don't think it's any easier/faster now (See here.). You need a Jordanian visa in advance (unless you avoid the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge). A taxi or bus to the border, exit fees for Israel, border formalities, Jordanian visa fees, and a taxi or bus to Amman... it takes 5 hours+ and costs a non-trivial amount, especially if done with taxis or multiple people.

povertyjetset

I am trying to avoid the Israeli passport stamp so flying in and out of TLV.

cfischer

Just a heads-up. LH group has loaded the winter schedule over night and the changes are massive. The UA codeshares are still in the system with zeroes across the board, but the native flight numbers are gone. Check your October-March LH, LX, OS, SN, EW travel!

fly747first

Thanks for the heads up!