Originally Posted by SometimesFlyer

Yup, I certainly do not expect both a refund and ORC in the event of a trip in vain situation.

In the past, when this has happened, I have been able to just "abandon" my ticket (no refund), get routed on the first flight back to origin and then get the original routing credit after a call to the MP cust svc number. As WineCountry pointed out, with the new UA, I'm less certain this will happen and was trying to see if anyone has any experience.

Honestly, if ORC were available for the trip in vain, I might try to book as close to the min connection time at EWR as possible as it would mean less flying for the same miles. Groan, perhaps this is a better question for the MR forums.

Thanks.