Originally Posted by
dkc192
That is terrible service from the first three agents you dealt with. You shouldn't need to "get lucky" to receive what you are entitled to per UA policy.
True, but this has been par for the course for me with UAL for awhile. In 2019, I had a United award reservation on Swiss metal to Brindisi from MIami, routing through Zurich. Swiss retimed the Zurich-Brindisi segment by 5 minutes and changed the flight number. Well, that caused the segment to drop from my itinerary. Still way above minimum connection time though. So, I called United to reinstate the second segment and all I got was the same standard reply I noted earlier. And, of course no further award inventory was available. I had to go to Elliott.org to look up the name/email for the VP of United customer service and then email that individual with my complaint. Lo and behold, within 24 hours I got a response and the person clearly acknowledged that agents I dealt with previously should have known better and contact Swiss directly to reinstate the reservation. Thankfully, she cleared the situation up fast and we were good to go. For me the lesson is research, research, research in advance of contacting ANY airline. Know your rights and have preferred routing alternatives at the ready. Be polite but firm and sadly, try the HUACA approach if needed. And, this goes for day of travel as well. I had a terrible experience with Aegean Airlines about 10 years ago when ATC went on slow down, causing me to misconnect in Athens. There were four of us on that trip and everyone was looking at me to fix the problem in the midst of utter chaos at Athens airport. When Aegean refused to touch our tickets (again, Award travel), I insisted on speaking to the Manager. Sadly, voices were raised at the point as it was the only way to get their attention. All fixed in the end but it was a bit of a nightmare along the way.