Originally Posted by
daslax
But if there are NO mainline flights on that day?
Here is the complete clause:
C) Change in Schedule - When a Passenger’s Ticketed flight is affected because of a Change in Schedule, UA will, at its election, arrange one of the following:
1) Transport the Passenger on its own flights, subject to availability, to the Destination, next Stopover point, or transfer point shown on its portion of the Ticket, without Stopover in the same class of service, at no additional cost to the Passenger;
2) At UA’s discretion, reroute Passengers over the lines of one or more carriers in an equivalent class of service when a Change in Schedule results in the cancellation of all UA service between two cities;
3) Advise the Passenger that the value of his or her Ticket may be applied toward future travel on United within one year from the date of issue without a change or reissue fee; or
4) If the Passenger is not transported as provided in C) 1) or 2) above and does not choose to apply the value of his or her Ticket toward future travel as provided in C) 3) above, the Passenger will be eligible for a refund upon request. See Rule 27 A).
United would be within the CoC to put you on mainline flights through one or more connecting cities. They would also be within the CoC to put you on a mainline flight on a future date.
However, this is missing the point; notification of a flight's operating carrier is an FAA regulation
(Title 14, Chapter II, Subchapter A, Part 257). You purchased your ticket from UA, they did not disclose another operating carrier at that time, and it would certainly be considered deceptive to change the operating carrier after purchase without allowing you to cancel your ticket. (Also, FWIW, you can compare the
current CoC with the first I could find on the wayback machine --
8/1/2012 -- and this section is identical. So, UA's options haven't changed).
I'm reasonably certain that you can get a mainline flight if you insist, although you'd have to compromise on either date or number of stops. I'm less certain that you could switch to a specific RJ flight in order to refare as an /UPDI fare, all in one transaction, on a ticket that is currently owned by your travel agency.
Finally, just a reminder -- you appear to have a corporate travel policy that restricts you to coach travel for this itinerary. Even if you can get the UA phone rep to understand what you're trying to do, and he or she is willing to do it, you wouldn't be able to hide that information. Your travel agent would have visibility into the entire record, including the fare class paid.