Originally Posted by
Kacee
UA 869 SFO-HKG left gate 3:47 late, then returned to gate, presumably for mx (or possibly a crew timeout).
Now schedule for a 7:10 p.m. departure.
Departed at 2111 and now going to arrive at 0236. I am sure HKGCS is going to be thrilled.
Looks like there was another victim due to UA 869 SFO-HKG.
9/20 UA 926 SFO-FRA cancelled due to operational difficulties. Looks like UA had to make a choice per what I read on a FB page.
I think UA has an extra 767-400 running around Europe as they are ferrying a plane to FRA to run UA 927 which usually uses the inbound from UA 926.
9/21 UA 2169 MUC-FRA (N76064) 1800 - 1907.
9/21 UA 926 FRA-SFO estimated departure at 2030, 2 hours 55 minutes late and estimated arrival at 2309, 3 hours 19 minutes late, due to late inbound.
From what I could tell the extra 767-400 was supposed to be ferried back on 9/21 UA 2100 MXP-EWR, but they cancelled that and will ferry it to MUC for UA 107 MUC-EWR since they are short a 767-400 due to the delay on IAH-MUC which I listed below.
I'm feeling sick to my stomach. Who wants a sob story?
While I am really disappointed in the outcome, I'm not fuming mad. But I am posting this to get some feedback on whether or not this makes any sense, or if it is fair.
1K, U fare, SFO-FRA with a GPU in. At boarding time, I am #5 on the upgrade list. Right before they start boarding, they remove our crew from the flight and move them to a SFO-HKG flight for some reason, then delay our flight 4 hours while they wait for a new crew.
In doing this, I had to switch my FRA-MAD flight to one that I would not miss. A 1K desk agent helped, but couldn't change the LH leg due to being checked in with a checked bag. He unchecked me in from the United leg, but could not do so for the LH leg. About 30 minutes later, the United App gave me a pop-up giving me an itinerary change that I could accept. It gave me the later LH flight that I wanted to be on, and I clicked accept, and it checked me in.
Suddenly, I was off the upgrade list. After talking to 2 United agents, I finally got back on the upgrade list, but instead of being #5 (or higher since many people have rebooked onto other flights), I am now #21. The agent confirmed there are many people with lower status on lower fare classes above me in the list.
After about 45 minutes of making calls trying to figure it out, they still aren't sure what happened and why, and said they couldn't move the list around (I didn't ask them to). But they did say that when the ticket was changed, it was probably reissued, which reset the "purchase date" of the ticket to today, and then when it re-checked me in, it also reset my check-in time (which, according to the most recent United agent, is also used to determine upgrade list pecking order).
There have been many seats in J that opened up since the flight was delayed as people migrated to other itineraries. I would certainly be in J right now if I had not attempted to change my flight due to a now-impossible connection. The most recent United agent agrees that this is stupid, but it is "simply the way the system works." She said she hates this system and preferred the pre-merger United system.
So, a public service announcement: If you are in a similar situation and you really want an upgrade, it might be best not to touch your ticket/itinerary *AT ALL* and just deal with the missed connection upon arrival to the long haul destination.
Frustrated and tired @ SFO.
Saw this when I was looking to see where an inbound aircraft was coming from for UA 927.
9/20 UA 104 IAH-MUC (N76064) departed at 2347, 7 hours 27 minutes late and is estimated to arrive at 1635, 6 hours and 45 minutes late.