Forgive me if the following is covered elsewhere, but I did browse all 20 pages of threads here and couldn't find an answer.

Last week I made a reservation on UAL to fly from Korea (ICN) to Hawaii (HNL). As most flights out of Korea it was pricey, at ~$1250 each r/t using United's "lowest" coach fair.

Three days later my fiancee told me that she wasn't going to be able to make the trip due to family issues and US visa issues. I called United and they said I could cancel the tickets (coded as NONREF/PEX whatever that means) but there would be a $170 charge per person. They also said they'd be keeping my money and that I'd have a year to use the credit on United.

No thanks.

I only picked United as they had the best price on the flight (other coach fares were ~$1800+). I don't want their credit as their flight options out of ICN are quite limited. Even then, if I did take their credit, it'd only be to fly to San Francisco, but as United's service can't hold a candle to that of the lower-priced Singapore Airlines, I'm not interested.

I need to get my money back. By any means necessary.

When I talked to the CSR at United, she said that if I had a doctor's letter explaining that I couldn't fly, that they'd then wave the penalty. But would I get a rebate or their unwanted "credit"? I could also dig up an obituary, my family name is quite common. Is there anyway to get United to refund my money?

I booked this flight with my Citi Premier Pass MasterCard--big mistake. I've been using my AMEX Blue almost exclusively for years, and if there's ever an issue AMEX is sure to back me. But when I called Citi they weren't so helpful. Though, I'm considering calling again and stating that the charge is unauthorized as I meant to make a reservation, not buy the tickets. Could work. Any ideas here?

I realize that some of you may think that I'm being rather unscrupulous here, but I think my actions are warranted in face of the true culprit--United Airlines. Their inflexibility and multi-tiered coach ticket classes only serve to profit them at the customer's disadvantage. Other airlines aren't as immoral as them in this practice, and some are quite accommodating of their customers like Singapore Airlines. I was easily able to cancel my rental car over the net without any penalty fee, United should be the same, especially since this flight is likely to sell-out anyway.

Thanks for any ideas. I really need that ~$2500 taken off my credit card instead of sitting in United's coffers.