Originally Posted by
BillScann
The res supervisor recommended I buy a one way ANC-ORD ticket for him so it would be on a separate ITIN. There was no way to split the PNR. She said that the UM rules were new and they were still working out the kinks.
Yes, because you don't need a passport for a domestic ticked. You didn't book a domestic ticket, you booked an international tickets where they do require some documents proving citizenship. They are a bit vague about that on their website but most of us know that you won't get far without a passport.
Originally Posted by
BillScann
Hi. Pull up a chair.
All I wanted to do was to take my 8 year-old son on a trip to see his godfather in London. We're Alaskan, so getting anywhere takes time and money, so when I had a business trip to WAS, I thought I'd combine a little pleasure with business and book myself onward to LON. The difference was only a few hundred dollars.
AT ANY RATE just for fun I took a peek to see if there were any mileage seats available to would allow my son to meet up with me in DC and we'd continue together to LON and then back to our strip mall subarctic wasteland home of Anchorage.
I found a seat. I booked it. And I was quite pleased with myself.
AND SO I called UA to sort out the Unaccompanied Minor business (cost: $150) only to find out that kids are not allowed to fly Unaccompanied on a connecting flight. He was booked to fly ANC-ORD-WAS-LON, so rather than me meeting him in WAS and us traveling together, I had to leave WAS and pick him up at ORD. I wasn't happy about the additional time and expense, but I had promised my son a visit to his godfather.
I used AA miles to come in the night before into ORD and UA miles to put me on the same WAS segment he was traveling out on. For those keeping score, I'd paid 60K and $200 for the original award ticket; and now had to pay 10K UA and 12.5K AA plus $120 for a hotel in order to meet his flight.
TO MAKE a long story longer, I fly to ORD to meet his flight and my wife takes my son to ANC. Surprise! UA refused him boarding! Why? Because he was on an international itinerary and his passport was with me, not him. The fact that I was meeting him at ORD was of no consequence, nor did they understand why we wouldn't want them to ship him overseas without a parent.
United Airlines made my son cry.
My wife was beside herself, and as an infrequent flyer was at a loss. I called Alaska Airlines, who for 30K miles and an Unaccompanied Minor fee of $50 put him on a flight to PDX connecting to WAS, where I now sit writing this, wait for him to land in just a few minutes.
I'm out 50.5K miles, $120, a trip in vain, and a day in DC with my son. What do people recommend? How do I go about getting compensated?
UA didn't make your son cry. You did. United airlines followed their published protocols which you should've inquired about beforehand.