Originally Posted by
sexykitten7
Well United flies to NRT. So presumably they could have rebooked OP XXX-HUB-NRT (lovely airport codes, I know) all on UA metal, right? It may have even saved UA some money, depending on how the ticket was originally plated. I would've taken a chance on flat tire in this case. I mean, every flat tire ticket has gone poof so that is not unusual. This risk is losing the whole value of the ticket, which I've never heard of UA doing. So it's paying a (steep) premium for a bird in the hand.
Completely agree with this. The systems don’t instantly cancel, and even if they did, an agent or supervisor can reinstate it.
All the major US carriers have flat tire rules. As long as you were agnostic about departure time, arrival time, departure and arrival airport, and nice to the agents when you arrived, it almost certainly would have been a free rebooking.
Especially at a small airport where the agents are usually nice and where you would have gotten to the airport so close to departure time anyways.
Phone is always the worst in such cases where you’re late, policy over the phone isn’t on your side, and don’t have status. Most the phone is good for, is to leave a note that you called prior to departure (if reinstatement is needed later).
Originally Posted by
mad cow disease
Better to act than to wait for things to happen especially when time is of the essence. Especially when you're panicking. That's my take away.
Respectfully disagree. Action is good - but not rushed action informed purely by emotion. Otherwise you’re out $1300 when you probably could have accomplished the same for free at the airport.
As you yourself later posted, the departure airport only had two United flights per day, so the rush to action didn’t save your connection or anything.
Best to quickly and realistically assess options left to you once you’ve awoken late, and then pursue the cheapest way of accomplishing. If it were me, I would have gone to the airport ASAP. Either they rebook for later that day or out of a nearby airport. As long as within 2 hours of departure, and you were nice, they’d take care of you.