When is a "confirmed" itinerary not really confirmed?
In July, I made two business class roundtrip MileagePlus reservations, but when I received the confirmation from United, the return date was incorrect. I immediately called back and had it corrected and received a new confirmation. The flights were to be on alliance partner, Asiana Airlines.
Our outbound flights were without issue, but upon checking in at HKT for the return flight home, we were told by Asiana Airlines that there was no reservation for us and they could see in their system that United never fully confirmed the return flight when they corrected the date. I was instructed to call United to reissue the ticket so we would be allowed on the flight. After spending two hours on the phone with United, they were not able to reissue the ticket because it was a mileage award and the system had no award seats available even though there were available seats on the plane and suggested they rebook us on an itinerary that departed two days later and on different partner airlines. I told United that was not acceptable since we were traveling with 4 other family members (separate reservations) and we had to return to our jobs and couldn't miss two more days of work. United changed the itinerary anyway and when they did, Asiana Airlines was no longer able to put us in standby status to be eligible to make the flight we had booked.
Needless to say, the flight departed leaving us stranded in Phuket. I called another airline to help us and they were able to book us on the next flight out of Phuket. I have sent a request to United via their online form for reimbursement, due to their failure to fully confirm the return trip with Asiana Airlines even though I was sent a confirmation by United of the roundtrip itinerary. I am a frequent flier and have never had anything like this happen...we even had seat assignments. Was there a way for me to know the trip was not confirmed before I checked in at the airport with the itinerary sent by United?