Originally Posted by
runpete
After I cancelled the initial trip, I received an email that listed the credit amount and a button to click on to book with credit.
When I made my new trip, I used the button in the email. So, I assume that means starting from my old itinerary?
Yes. In the future, whenever possible it’s best to start with a brand new itinerary and then apply the FFC during the payment selection process. It’s cleaner, basically.
That said, the very first thing I’d do is check my credit card statement to see i I had a $1000 refund. If the original fare was refundable, then the difference between the old and new fares would have been refunded to your original form of payment. I’ve missed that in the past because I wasn’t expecting it, so I didn’t think to look.
UA has written an item into their fare rules allowing them to do an even exchange and keep the residual value for any ticket exchanged in this manner. However, AFAIK, they’re only enforcing that if you work through a travel agent. If you’ve gone directly through UA, you should be safe.
Originally Posted by
runpete
When I made a change to the new trip, I received an updated receipt that showed the new total price was $1467. In the fine print it says the same thing, “remaining value of your previous tickets….” There was a second email that came through and said I had $33 in FFC due to the fare difference. I also had to call UA to have the ticket reissued. After that, I received another email and it said I had two $33 FFCs. Both of these were listed under the same confirmation that the original FFC was from.
The second $33 credit sounds like a mistake and may be part of the problem. I wonder if their system got confused and replaced the old $1000 FFC with a second $33 FFC.
At this point, I think you’re going to have to call them to try to use the credit. An agent should be able to scour through the history and find the original FFC and then access its residual amount. I’d try once or twice, and if that wasn’t effective, I’d try requesting a refund online to see what happens, and if it still doesn’t work, I’d file a DOT complaint. If nothing else, that would get a more experienced agent to look at your reservation, and hopefully they’ll look carefully enough to find the old credit.
Good luck!