scibuff

Seriously? You're doing the thing people here explicitly say not to do, then you have the audacity to ask what's the "best way" to do it.

You know, not too far back there is/was a discussion why tricks die and several reasons were mentioned. At that point the discussion was quite civil so no one mentioned the real reason ...

The real reason is there are selfish people who are never satisfied with a great deal they already got and have the arrogance to think they're somehow special and no rules apply to them. They push and push despite knowing and being told the consequences. I mean, why should you be happy with a transatlantic business class for the price of US domestic, or business class on United when you can fly a better product even if it is cabbage?

So, for me, I hope the UA agents do what they should and tell you they can't change your tickets - you need to call AV for that. And bags regularly fly without passengers in Europe so I hope you get them back from Istanbul 3-4 days after you arrive and will be banging your head against the wall for not flying with just carry-on. It surely is nothing more than you deserve.

edit #1 - BTW, United agents have been explicitly told not to short-check bags on any 202 tickets and while that memo was specific to a different route, they'll definitely be aware of that policy...