Hello FTers,
I started this thread for those who want to keep up with the news on whether UA will or will not honor HKG (or China) tickets booked for 4 miles plus taxes / fees on Sunday July 15th 2012. Sentiments have been expressed on previous threads that it would be very useful to have a thread with NEW FACTS only.
FTers, please post only news and facts here, and keep the bad analogies and discussions about the morality out.
What is known: (FACTS)
On late Saturday and Sunday morning / early afternoon, July 14 2012, it was possible to book award tickets for 4 miles in all classes, as long as the itineraries started / ended in or had a stopover in some Chinese airports. HKG was most commonly booked, but according to some reports PKG and others were also possible.
This was clearly an IT mistake, and the normal multiple thousand-miles cost for the award tickets was shown throughout, except for the last screen, where only 4 miles / ticket was quoted. This minimal amount was deducted from MP accounts that had insufficient miles for the normal award miles required.
On monday, UA insider posted this message:
Information regarding award pricing error
Hi Everyone, over the weekend, we discovered a united.com programming error that allowed customers to obtain Mileage Plus travel awards to and from Hong Kong for as little as four miles roundtrip per person, substantially below published levels, which we disclose to customers. We have since corrected the error and will be in contact with customers who have tickets issued at the incorrect award amounts. Customers will be given the choice to redeem at the correct mileage amount or re-deposit their award with all fees waived. We regret any inconvenience this has caused you, and appreciate your understanding.
Shannon Kelly
Director, Customer Insights
United Airlines
However, no-one seems to have been contacted about this personally.
Since Tuesday, the story has gained traction in the MSM (for example
wsj report), suggesting that there is a dialog going on between DOT and UA, although nothing conclusive has come out of that.
In the meantime, there are several report that folks have flown on 4 mile tickets, indicating that for the time-being at least, tickets are being honored.
/FACTS
I will update as more information becomes available.
Again, please abstain from discussing if it's right/wrong/neither to fly on such tickets and keep the bad analogies out. Thanks!
