Originally Posted by
LRMErnst
I told him that I appreciated his apology, and sincerely thanked him for rebooking my mom when obviously per the rules there was no need to. I suggested to him that a $500 e-cert for each of them would be a good gesture of goodwill given the situation. He said that he wasn’t sure he could do that much, but that he was going to find out what the cost was to ship the dog and at least issue an e-cert to both for that amount. He was adamant about addressing it while at the airport and not asking them to deal with Customer Care.
In the end, my mom, sister and the baby all ended up getting back to Chicago, with the dog, approximately 2.5 hours later than they were originally scheduled. Come to find out, the agent did issue each of them a $500 e-cert while they were at SFO. My mom took the names of three individuals that provided exceptional support and plans on contacting United to recognize them.
TL;DR – Sister flew ICN-SFO-ORD with a checked dog. United told us that the dog would be checked all the way to ORD. Dog got stuck in customs. Mom and sister had to deplane after boarding SFO-ORD leg. Sister had to take dog through customs. United rebooked mom and sister and issued $500 e-cert.
I am glad it all worked out, but really confused about why you think a $500 e-cert to each passenger was appropriate? It is unclear to me what United did wrong, but was clear that they bent over backwards to rectify the issue (was the issue United's to begin with?), including rebooking your Mom. Maybe it is just me, and others will disagree, but it seems petty and unappreciative to ask for compensation (even more so for both passengers) for something that United really went to bat for you on.
Originally Posted by
sbm12
This is surprising to me as I'm not sure why the dog would be different from the bags.
I'm also a little surprised she (and you) relied only on what you gleaned from a phone call rather than following up on the ground. I'd probably have mentioned it to the agent when dropping the bags back off at a minimum, if not also at the gate prior to boarding.
This... I have never heard of anything being able to be checked all the way to a final destination past US Customs. (Now, having never heard of it doesn't mean it isn't possible, it just would have triggered my radar to check further and make sure it is correct.)