Originally Posted by
fastair
And can you show me the contract that you as a star customer has that stipulates such, as opposed to the rule on the ticket that you have with the specific carrier? I am betting there is no such contract that a customer has with any alliance. The contract one has is with the carrier that is operating the flight, and to some extent, that issues the ticket.
Linking a FAQ section of a guideline page for employees of the respective carriers sure as heck constitutes no contract with a passenger. On the other hand, the terms and conditions of the specific ticket sure do.
It's between the carrier and the alliance, not between the customer and the carrier. The customer is a UA customer, not a Star customer. Though UA is a Star carrier, so it needs to follow Star procedures.
It's just like any alliance, partnership, franchise, or whatever. If McDonald's says thou shalt sell Chicken McNuggets, doesn't matter what any independent store operator says. He has to sell Chicken McNuggets, unless there's a procedure for exempting him. Either that, or pull the golden arches off the side of the building.
Similarly, if you buy a mega-restricted ticket from one of the Euro carriers, perhaps one that says no changes, it doesn't matter that it says no changes. *A says to rebook in an IRROP, so you rebook in an IRROP.
I know UA doesn't like to send over award tickets (presumably at no dollar value, these are more expensive to send over), but they certainly can be sent over, and agents have certainly done it before.
I can't seem to find the reference, but I recall something that
HeathrowGuy posted saying that *A considers award tickets the same as revenue tickets. That's why I think the notion that UA sometimes has about not sending these over may be outdated.