Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Rowley, MA / Edgartown, MA / Christiansted, St. Croix (USVI)
Programs: UA LT GS/4.96MM, Marriott LT Titanium, IHG Platinum, Global Entry, TSA Pre✓, Korea SeS, APEC
Posts: 579
This post/problem asks a bunch of questions but I think the key points in resolving things are:
Were these your brothers miles or a gift from someone else. Given you brother has no status this is a lot of award miles to have accumulated. If the miles are a gift does that person have status? The goal is to find someone with both familiarity with United and that has some status. There is no doubt this has to be resolved with the support of UA so status always helps.
I agree your brother should park himself at the UA desk and not take no for an answer. I'm afraid that getting UA to pay for a hotel is a long shot. Hotels in Beijing are reasonable as far as cost is concerned.
I'm not sure how he got through the immigration process for a transfer without a boarding pass for BKK, I've transited PEK several times and the boarding pass for the next leg is required. I have no idea why your brother wasn't given this when he checked-in.
Again, UA needs to sort this one out, find someone who can act as your champion, there was clearly a mistake made somewhere.