This thread is intended to break out the discussion from
this thread regarding domestic layovers (not stopovers) longer than four hours. Hopefully the mods won't kill me for taking it upon myself to start this separate thread -- I thought I'd save them some work.
The basic question is this: Under what circumstances, on a fully-domestic itinerary, can a stop longer than four hours be treated as a layover and not cause a fare break?
Here's how the discussion went down up this point: The thread was about trying to include an overnight non-stopover layover on an NYC-LAX-OGG award ticket. I made a comment about how UA obnoxiously doesn't permit overnight layovers over four hours on that route.
Channa said "Any domestic connection over 4 hours is a stopover." I flippantly said that that wasn't true when the layover was an overnight onto the first available flight, although that was based largely on what I'd read about layovers on the internet rather than a good read of the "rules."
Channa disagreed and
aacharya backed him up. I noted that I'd seen fares price out that way many times, and
channa noted that website errors (including ones in our favor) do not a policy make. Desperate to find someone with more than a couple hundred posts who agreed with me, I pointed to
exerda's comment on
this thread.
Mherdeg then swooped in with some rules! From the UA Contract of Carriage:
Stopover means a deliberate interruption of travel by the Passenger, agreed to in advance by the carrier, at a point between the place of departure and the place of destination. For International flights a Stopover will also be deemed to occur at an intermediate point from which the Passenger is not scheduled to depart on the date of arrival, but if there is no connecting departure scheduled on the date of arrival, departure on the next day within 24 hours of arrival shall not constitute a Stopover. If a portion of the routing is traveled by surface transportation, one Stopover shall be deemed to have been taken for such portion. For Domestic flights, a Stopover will also occur when a Passenger arrives at a point and fails to depart from such point on:
1) The first flight on which space is available; or
2) The flight that will provide for the Passenger’s earliest arrival at intermediate or junction transfer point(s) or destination point, via the carrier and class of service as shown on the Passenger’s Ticket; provided, however, that in no event will a Stopover occur when the Passenger departs from the intermediate/junction point on a flight shown in the carrier’s official general schedule as departing within four hours after arrival at such point.
I took this as a pretty good sign that I was right, but
mherdeg pointed out that the fact that it's in the rules doesn't mean you'll actually be able to get anyone to follow the rule and ticket it for you. I said that I think you might if you called, referenced the CoC, and asked for the rate desk to deal with it.
So that's where it left off. I personally think that, if this is a real rule, it could be extremely helpful to know and be able to reference. There are a number of times when I could not get United.com/.bomb/.sux (choose your flavor
) to give me a single fare when it should have under this rule, and I would have much rather had those itineraries.
So, discuss away. Have you had any success getting agents to issue you tickets under this rule? Is there something I'm missing? Etc etc etc?