Originally Posted by
misterfuss
Today I was on the United app checking out different options for my return flight to allowed me more time with my family. I chose a return flight that involved a connection but still kept me in first class. The cost for the change was $139 to change the return flight to the following day.
The online change tool frequently doesn't work properly,
especially when it comes to pricing, and doubly-especially after you've already had a schedule change or other IRROPS.
Originally Posted by
misterfuss
On the app I agreed to the additional charge and selected my seats on my new return flight and selected purchase. I got a message that "not all seats are available for all flights" which made me concerned.
That message does normally (but not always) indicate that there's been a ticket synchronization problem.
Originally Posted by
misterfuss
I logged on to my United account to view my flights. I saw that my return flights were changes as expected but my First class seats SFO-EWR-BOS were gone and I was rebooked in economy.
The online change tool probably paired your return with an outbound in Y (see above).
Originally Posted by
misterfuss
I called the Premier desk and spoke with an agent who told me that I needed to pay an additional $450 to get in first class SFO-BOS via EWR. I told her that I had paid for first class when I purchased my ticket and she told me that I had purchased a coach fare and needed to pay the difference to get in business.
I suspect you were talking past each other. I imagine that you did -- unwittingly -- purchase a Y fare on the outbound,
as part of the change.
Originally Posted by
misterfuss
I told her that I disagreed and wanted to undo the transaction, and she advised me that she could undo the transaction including refunding the change fee.
You got a great agent.
Originally Posted by
misterfuss
After I had my itinterary restored, I asked her how could I have avoided this and she advised me that if I were to call instead of using the app, they could have preserved the original outbound flight where the app reprices the entire itinerary.
Correct.
Originally Posted by
misterfuss
I'm irritated for many reasons but especially that the agent told me that I purchased a coach ticket. When I booked it online I only saw that my outbound flight was booked in P and the return in Z. At no point was I told it was a coach fare that was booked into business due to "buckets."
Again, I think you're reading too much into that. While UA did sell domestic first class as economy-with-a-free-upgrade for a while, the domestic P and Z fares are now coded as first class, and there haven't been reports of agents denying F seats (where applicable) for a couple of years.
Originally Posted by
misterfuss
Also, after the agent restored my original flights, couldn't she have changed my return flight for the $139 change fee without losing my outbound first class seats?
Maybe? It depends upon whether or not $139 is actually the correct price. If you try to book that entire itinerary (outbound and return) as a new ticket, what's the price compared to what you paid originally?