Originally Posted by
Walter B Kasmer
Anyway, we arrived at the airport at 18:35 for a 18:50 flight, even though I imagine the flight didn’t leave on time as both our other flights left late
Just because one flight was late doesn't mean that another one was. Asiana's check-in deadline for international flights from ICN, according to their website, is 50 minutes, (although that sounds really aggressive). Unless the flight was delayed at least 35 minutes, that still wouldn't have been enough time.
Originally Posted by
Walter B Kasmer
there is no United counter at Incheon airport.
There is absolutely a United counter at Incheon, although they probably wouldn't have been any more helpful than the Asiana staff, since you weren't flying United. You didn't see it because it would have closed around the time of the last United flight of the day (about noon or 5 PM, depending upon the day).
Originally Posted by
Walter B Kasmer
Is it possible we might be offered some miles back by United since the return leg wasn’t used?
United does not allow you to turn a round-trip award ticket into a one-way ticket after the beginning of travel. You can ask, but I'd expect the answer to be no -- and I would also expect that the fee they'd charge would be more than the miles are actually worth.
If you didn't actually explicitly cancel the ticket while you were on the phone with them, then it boils down to booking a flight and then not showing up for it, which means the ticket is used.
Actually, it doesn't. That's the rule for most non-refundable tickets, but award tickets are refundable. You can make changes after departure, but UA charges a no-show fee that means it's probably not worth it for a relatively small number of miles.
Finally, it sounds like there just weren't any seats available for the next two days, so it's hard to blame Asiana for not rebooking you. It's unfortunate, and it's not your fault per se, but it's not their fault either -- if all the seats are booked, they're not going to bump somebody else off to get you a seat (especially when they weren't responsible for the missed flight).
Right. If it had been a UA-operated flight, they still wouldn't have been able to rebook OP for two days, even with UA's flat-tire rule. The only difference is that UA would likely have given them the option to stand by, which isn't a concept that most foreign airlines have. And, it wouldn't have made any difference if UA caused the delay; if there are no seats, there are no seats.