Programs: US2, CO Plat, Fairmont Platinum,SPG Plat, Hilton Diamond, MarriottSilver..like the rest of the world
Posts: 4,082
I was assigned a seat in F, but never told so
SO FRUSTRATING, and this story could take me 20 minutes to tell properly, but I'll boil it down to the core essentials:
- serious weather delays 2 weeks ago meant my originating flight from PWM to EWR was delayed by six hours. Onward flights were EWR-IAH-PVR all booked in F using miles. (60K r/t).
- I was proactive and kept in touch with UA res to protect myself on later flights as the day drug on. Upon arrival in EWR, I ran to the nearest UA club to ask them to confirm everything was in order and to get my new boarding passes. Club agent tells me that the res agent screwed up by changing the res, but not completing it. She documents all of this and says that 5E (757) is still open in F but the flight is already under gate control, so I'll need to hustle to the gate. However, she was exceptional and took the time to add copious notes to the PRN and told me to make clear to the GA that I wasn't in queue for an "upgrade", but rather I was standby for F since I'd already booked into F.
- I get to gate and diplomatically chat with GA who confirms that I'm first in line and that 5E is open, but I'd need to go ahead and board and she'd come get me just before the door was closed.
- I do so and when a DIFFERENT agent boards the plane with the final manifest, the lead F/A intercepts her and they chat in the galley for 60 seconds. GA leaves the plane and the door is closed. 5 seconds later, the lead F/A walks to a fellow in an aisle seat near the front of Y and winks at him and points to seat 5E. I jump up and, again, politely explain to the F/A that seat is mine, but he isn't having any of it. He tells me to complain in IAH and ask for my miles back.
- I'm stunned to have all of this happen, but ALL THE MORE SO WHEN I SEE THE GUY MOVING TO SEAT 5E DRAGGING A ROLLABOARD WITH A "IAH CREW" bag tag! OMG -- the F/A just upgraded a pal of his without regard to my booking. In all my years at this game, I'd frankly never seen a pax booked in F denied a seat in F when it was available. (I've seen legit upgrades denied for various reasons, but never a non-upgraded ticket!)
-- **** here is the REAL KICKER. So, when I land in IAH, I pull up my res details and -- sure enough -- the details show that I had, in fact, been assigned to seat 5E! Yep, you got it. The system put me in my seat in F, but I was never told so, so I sat in coach.
Anyhoo - -that's the tale in a nutshell. Super frustrating end to a crappy day. The system simply failed me and I'm not sure where to go with all of this. I'd NEVER have paid 30K for that one way trip just to have the final IAH-PVR leg on a 737-500 (ugh) in F. What a total waste of my hard earned points.
I'd sure appreciate all of your valuable input on how I should proceed with this. I'm concerned that if I tap out an email to UA on their website, I'll get a boilerplate note back with a courtesy voucher, but that's not what I'm looking for here. This was a serious breakdown in policy that substantially affected me.
Thanks, folks, for sharing your insights and wisdom with me.
It's no help now but the one mistake you made was to board the plane and trust that the GA would come get you.
If I were in your shoes and knew that I was due a specific seat assignment I would've waited at the podium until they got around to issuing me a new bp. Yes, you might risk not getting any overhead space but that's a small inconvenience compared to sitting in Y.
Also, if you have the United app on your phone you should be able to refresh your mobile bp to reflect the new seat assignment as soon as it clears.
I had this happen on a much shorter flight but with an RPU to upgrade. I emailed customer care and explained that although the computer says I was 3E I can asure them that I sat in 12C r whatever seat it was. They redeposited my RPU even though it was for LAX-SFO and the SFO-PHL also cleared with the RPU.
Along the same lines OP... A few weeks ago I was number 1 on the standby list and there was 1 open seat... I stood by the gate as everyone finished boarding... Two GA's started whispering to each other and one walked over to a passenger sitting down, grabbed him and walked him on the plane... He had a UA crew tag on his rollerboard....
I was then told the flight was sold out...
I asked "how did he get a seat?"
The GA ignored me... I felt slighted to say the least.
Programs: US2, CO Plat, Fairmont Platinum,SPG Plat, Hilton Diamond, MarriottSilver..like the rest of the world
Posts: 4,082
Quote:
Originally Posted by kale73
So, did you complain in IAH and ask for your miles back?
No, I didn't. We landed after midnight and the agent at the podium meeting our flight had 4 folks in line already. I'd been in airports at that point for well over 12 hours and had an overnight at the airport hotel before catching my onward flight in the morning.
I simply wasn't willing to take any more time to deal with this insanity.
I did, however, visit the IAH club the next day and outline all of this with the GS agent upstairs. She was wonderful and also confirmed that her screen confirmed that I was in 5E. She typed copious notes into the record and advised me to be in touch with UA upon my return.
It was a 2 week trip, so I'm just now back home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phorever
Along the same lines OP... A few weeks ago I was number 1 on the standby list and there was 1 open seat... I stood by the gate as everyone finished boarding... Two GA's started whispering to each other and one walked over to a passenger sitting down, grabbed him and walked him on the plane... He had a UA crew tag on his rollerboard....
I was then told the flight was sold out...
I asked "how did he get a seat?"
The GA ignored me... I felt slighted to say the least.
This is similar, but not the same. You were in queue for an upgrade, but I was booked into F. In other words, I'd have trumped everyone in the upgrade queue.
Regardless, we both got screwed out of a seat that was due us. The difference is that the system shows that I was actually assigned the seat!
Quote:
Originally Posted by channa
Downgrade compensation.
GG OVS DOWNGRADE.
Tell me more about this. My concern is that they'll issue me a paltry number of award points to make this go away. I paid 30K for this one way trip that in retrospect, I wish I'd just paid 17,500 for.
__________________
JET PIEDMONT
Last edited by iluv2fly; Jan 11, 13 at 5:29 pm..
Reason: merge
Along the same lines OP... A few weeks ago I was number 1 on the standby list and there was 1 open seat... I stood by the gate as everyone finished boarding... Two GA's started whispering to each other and one walked over to a passenger sitting down, grabbed him and walked him on the plane... He had a UA crew tag on his rollerboard....
I was then told the flight was sold out...
I asked "how did he get a seat?"
The GA ignored me... I felt slighted to say the least.
This is similar, but not the same. You were in queue for an upgrade, but I was booked into F. In other words, I'd have trumped everyone in the upgrade queue.
Regardless, we both got screwed out of a seat that was due us. The difference is that the system shows that I was actually assigned the seat!
I didn't even need an F seat... I was on the standby list.. Just wanted a seat on the plane.
I'm interested to hear what you get compensated... Let us know
Programs: US2, CO Plat, Fairmont Platinum,SPG Plat, Hilton Diamond, MarriottSilver..like the rest of the world
Posts: 4,082
Quote:
Originally Posted by STEPHANKOENIG
Similar thing happened to me a few weeks ago.
I showed the purser my new seat on the IPhone app and he accepted it. Was the last empty BF seat.
Yes, but there was at least an empty seat at that point. In my case, the cabin door was closed and the F/A had unilaterally moved someone into my seat without regard for the system rules. I had no recourse once he told me to forget it and to sit down.
The problem will be that UA will claim the OP was indeed in F. Hopefully I am wrong.
A bigger problem is UA has GAs committing fraud and needs to collect as much evidence as possible to conduct an investigation on what is probably a very dishonest GA. Even if it's domestic F, you just don't screw around with your premium product. Some GA needs to be fired.
What are the chances of a pax who actually sat in F try to call in and complain that they were actually seated in Y?
