Originally Posted by
maizeandblue96
I am fairly new to UA, still flying DL mostly. I only buy first class tickets, or so I thought. Was on a P fare yesterday during the ATL snow mess. UC rebooked me in First on DL, DL said no, it is full fare coach. Called the UA gold line, they said I bought a coach fare. DL used to pull this stunt, but has since clarified that a first class ticket is truly a first class ticket. My question is this, how does UA handle these situations normally, is a first class ticket truly a first class ticket, and was the agent wrong or was the issue rebooking on DL?
In IRROP situations, I've often observed that UA books me into full-fare class...Y econ when there's a partner airline involved. I guess it could be because it's the only thing available on the partner, but I often thought it was because it provides the ticket the greatest flexibility. It also seems to avoid any situation where the airline might reject the ticket. But I also don't know how much (if any) of my original ticket info was carried over in those situations.
I don't often buy biz or first outright, so I don't have corresponding biz -> J/F rebooking experience.
But in additional to original routing credit on United (yay double dipped miles), I think you should be able to get a partial refund if you end up flying econ after paying for first.