Originally Posted by
Marty McFly
If this other way existed, would it show up on a search on united.com? Because right now no other way shows up. Might there be more options if I talked to a live agent? I have about 12 hours left to change my itinerary for free.
I'm more used to searching for awards on DL. If the inventory isn't there, it won't show up in a search at all. Sometimes it's available and doesn't show up and you can find it by calling in, which can be annoying, but that's better than thinking you purchased something and then finding out that you didn't!
Anyway, I tried again and got nowhere, even talking to the supervisor's supervisor. Is it really that hard to practice a little CSR by opening up a seat on UA's SFO-HKG flight? I was trying to be flexible about my routing, I told them I didn't care how they got me there as long as they got me there, but apparently space in business on UA's industry-worst 2-4-2 backward-facing decrepit Reagan-era 744s is just too precious to open for customer with a legit complaint. Thankfully I don't have many UA miles left and soon can be done with them forever. I've had issues on DL and AA before--anyone who flies a lot runs into issues--but they managed to reach a satisfactory conclusion even if not an ideal one. UA is the most hardheaded and least customer friendly of the 3 US majors by a long shot.
In the end I let them ticket me with the ET segment in economy. Six calls and 3-4 hours of my time is more than enough to spend on these idiots. I'll file a complaint with the DOT. I don't know if it will mean anything, I'm sure it won't, but an airline shouldn't be able to sell you something without telling you it's waitlisted. It should be clearly stated.
Once again, eff United.
I really think you should have tried waiting 24 hours. As I said, with some partners, the policy (which frankly they do not make very clear) is that the carrier has 24 hours to reject an award booking.
I just tried booking a seat on ET for Jan 26 and the exact same thing happened:
"There is a delay in the issuance of your ticket(s). We have requested confirmation of your flights from Ethiopian Airlines.This process may take up to 24 hours. Your miles will not be deducted from your account until your flights are confirmed and your ticket is issued. We will notify you via email upon confirmation.
This reservation is not ticketed. Pending confirmation from Ethiopian Airlines
Thank you for choosing United Airlines. Your purchase is confirmed. You will be promptly notified once the internal processing of your reservation has been finalized so that you can request additional receipts, export to Microsoft Outlook, refund or change your flight, view/change seats, check-in, or email or print your itinerary."
This also happens if you book a ticket in EI. If they had rejected the reservation, you still would have been able to take corrective action for free so you weren't under a 24 hour deadline. This is why United requires that Star Alliance award changes be done at least 24 hours in advance of a flight - because technically, partners have 24 hours to reject a booking.
Unfortunately it looks like the availability no longer exists on Jan 25, but some patience may have paid off here.