The numbers here are approximate as I don't have the exact data with me handy, but last month I bought a ticket for my father that was around $280. I used a $200 gift cert, so $80 came from my credit card. On the day of departure, I was offered an upgrade to business class for $140 at OLCI. I talked with my dad and he agreed and would like to try it, and so I did the buy up. Entered the credit card info and paid, but then it still showed my dad as in economy.

I pulled up the reservation again, still economy. I checked my cc and the $140 showed up as a pending charge. I called United and the first person I spoke to was quite arrogant and didn't really attempt to understand the problem, so I spoke to a supervisor who saw what happened and apologized that J was sold out and she could not get the seat, but she would request a refund of the $140.

A few days later United sends the refund in the form of an ETC, not the original form of payment which is what I was told. I call in and I'm told that because I used a gift certificate on the original ticket, that's why the $140 was refunded "to the original form of payment, the gift certificate." This is clearly not true - the $140 was charged because of a technical error on the OLCI offering a buy up. She sends it to the refund department again, they e-mail me back a week later and stand by their decision.

At this point my grounds for a charge back are completely legitimate - United took $140 on the day of departure in exchange for an upgrade and did not deliver. If I do this, of course I would not use the ETC. Would there be any repercussions from United with this (e.g., my dad's FF account)? At this point I don't want to bother with the UA feedback form unless they're going to offer anything additional for the hassle they've caused.