PhlyingRPh

As a UA 1K, and since we're all about to become related to one another through this shotgun marriage, I would like to ask my elite CO cousins how IrrOps went during the storm that has swept through the south over the last couple of days.

I can tell you that I had a DFW-LGA trip planned on UA this AM / returning tomorrow PM, but called UA yesterday afternoon and asked if I could put it on ice for a few weeks - no problem - total time investment 3-4 mins. Meanwhile, a colleague of mine was due to fly ATL to ORD on UA today and she was also able to delay her trip till next week without any problems. We have another colleague that was supposed to fly ATL-IAD-DXB yesterday evening and she was also able to delay her trip by a couple of days quite easily after UA cancelled her ATL-IAD flight.

So, if you don't mind, I'd like to hear about how things went at your end...

Thank you.

COFlyerCLE

As a long-time CO Plat, I have had great service. Tonight, I received a TripAlert that my Wednesday flight EWR-ORD was cancelled. I called the Elite line - spoke to an agent with <30 seconds, and was rebooked on a later Wednesday flight (at my request) with no problem - including an upgrade.

So far, so good (of course, should the later Wednesday flight be cancelled, the options/service could be different).

walkerci

I was able to rebook GRU-EWR-MCO to GRU-IAH-MCO and kept front cabin seats for tommorrow night with no problems at all, after the EWR-MCO segment was CXed and pushed back to Friday. This is actually a major improvement over the original itinerary which had a 6+ hour layover and now has a 2 hr 20 min layover.

Many thanks CO!

Following previous poster's advice, I knew exactly which flights had seats up front and asked for them.

PhillyPhlyer40

EWR-MIA cnx over T-50HOURS!!! I called (PrezPlat line) had to HOLD for 11, YES ELEVEN MINUTES!!!

Asked for EWR-FLL, and a protection of EWR-FLL for the next day (14th). Got both..ended up with my M-up even though EWR-FLL didnt show any M-ups.

All-in-all, I'm happy.

Although-as a UAGS, I would've had tix already rebooked, with a call from UA-in my past experience!

ssullivan

Other than during the Hurricane Ike mess, I've always had great service from CO in these situations. I didn't have any issues today, other than a modest 30-40 minute delay on my connection (inbound aircraft was flying CLT-IAH and running late due to weather at CLT), so I can't speak for today's situation. However, in similar situations where I've been directly affected, they've always been very good in helping me.

EWR764

I found a suitable alternative, rebooked online into Y, received auto-upgrade almost immediately, and did the same for the g/f. No agent intervention required. It should always be this easy.

In other news, I still have not received my promised compensation from UA (@DEN) for mishandling my baggage in both directions of my most recent roundtrip. Time to double up...

PhlyingRPh

This is wonderful news ^ - music to my ears

golfingboy

Last month, my IAH-LGA flight was cancelled due to thunderstorms in the NYC area. I found that out after I arrived in IAH and went straight to the PC where the agent rebooked me on another flight without issues and I got seat 8F, which was ^ considering I am sure there were many people rebooked on the flight I was on since three LGA flights were cancelled that day.

I was rebooked onto the new flight only one hour before that flight was scheduled to depart.

On the return flight I was already confirmed in F for IAH-LAX on a 753, but the aircraft got stuck in EWR, so we had an equipment downgrade to a 752. The loss of 8 F seats resulted in me being downgraded and they rebooked me into Y, gave me $200 compensation for the downgrade and rebooked all of us who were downgraded into an exit row seat. When I told the agent that I couldn't sit in an exit row because I am deaf, and he said no problem and rebooked me into the aisle bulkhead ELR seat [row 8].

So based on my limited experience, I was impressed with how CO took care of me.

sweetkiddddo

CO IrOps, like almost everything with CO these days can be a mix bags. If you have time flexibility, they will eventually get you where you need to be.

Typically CO is the first airline to cancel flights across the board at EWR but it also means they typically recover faster from IrOps. The upside is you won't have to wait hours at the airport. But the downside is if there is any weather, you know your schedule is screwed and CO won't even try to get you to your destination that day. I have learned if there is some incremental weather at EWR and you're on a regional flight, you can forgetaboutit.

CO will only rebook you on CO/UA. They are not willing to rebook you on any other star alliance. I have had a few times in the last two years where CO cancelled all their flights from EWR-YYZ. The gate agents claimed "the airport was shutdown", but AC flights were still flying in and out. When I politely asked to be rebooked on AC, the agent claimed it is against their policy to rebook you on a partner flight if it is due to weather, top tier or kettle.

EWRFlyerAL

They rebooked me on US during the last storm when I was trying to get to LAS from EWR (albeit with a connection in PHX).

EWR764

Which is decidedly against Star Alliance policy, incidentally.

cjermain

In my experience, most agents (perhaps 70%) will refuse to book you on anything but CO metal when weather is involved. Another 20% will book you on *A only if it is a codeshare flight with a CO flight number. There are enough of those agents that the "call again and again" strategy is viable when trying to find one.

The remaining 10% of the agents will come up with really imaginative interpretations (things like: "I can book you on a codeshare if your original fare class is available, but can only book you into a higher fare class if it is a CO operated flight").

Never had an agent agree to book on UA (even after the merger) unless it was a codeshare.

Complete disclosure: there HAVE routinely been credible FT reports of rogue agents agreeing to book on any *A carrier (no codeshare), or even outside of *A, but I have never experienced this.

This seems to be a really, really significant issue with CO, and I can't believe how crazy my own experiences have been. It is quite inexplicable that the real rules (Whatever they are) are not widely known and applied.

Ilove2fly

My recent flight from SFO to IAH was mechanically delayed for about 5 hours. Agent on the phone said "weather" quicker than I can say delay. Check-in agent was clueless. Finally, an agent at the PC was able to provide some information. Got 9 text messages within 15 minutes from the TripAlert after scheduled departure time to tell me my flight has been delayed. Each message has a different delay duration.

Continental check-in agents did not know when we will get our plane and refused to re-rout passengers. Basically, she did not want customer to just go away and wait. One of the passengers finally bought tickets for his party on Southwest airline as an insurance.

From experience, I would say Continental is not always wonderful during IrOps. From my listed experience with United, I believe United is much better.

tommy777

Wait a minute...

First of all, you have to call to get things done when CO cancels. They don't proactively rebook you and let you know. You have to call and wait forever to get through. EVERY customer has the opportunity to rebook if they can get through.

And it's not in major weather like this where CO Plats have problems.

In my experience, it's when your particular flight has a mechanical or other issues. I had 3 bad experiences last year where I got screwed severely by CO.

Example:

I was flying to FLL to sign some papers and after, I was flying to SFO the same day from FLL after a 3 hour stop there. Routing was ORD-IAH-FLL-IAH-SFO. All segments were upgraded to F.

My flight was at 545AM ORD-IAH and it got a mechanical due to a hydraulic leak. They waited for two hours to cancel the flight to avoid responsibility.

I tried to get rebooked on AA non stop or through CLT on US so I could make my meeting, but they wouldn't hear of it. I had to wait for hours at ORD to take CO metal through IAH which of course meant missing my meeting. I also would have missed my FLL-IAH-SFO return and needed to be rebooked to a later flight from FLL, but only 1 hour on the ground there

I spoke to the GA, PC rep, and the Elite desk -- 3 calls. They made it clear, they only rebooked to CO

So I decided to cancel the meeting and just go straight to SFO.. Not so fast... Because it was two different PNRs, I had to go to FLL and do all the legs. I again talked to 5 different CO channels. Yes, they were really going to make me go to FLL and get in to SFO around midnight, 5 hours after I was supposed to be there..

I finally got a hold of a supervisor, no chance of getting UA non stop, but she agreed to get me through Houston (on the flight they already rebooked me on to get to FLL). There was no time to get a new BP IAH-SFO, but she promised me that she was going to rebook me and when I got to Houston, I could go to the SFO gate.

She lied.. Nothing was done and the SFO gate person made an exception and put me in a middle seat all the way in the back.

So there's CO Plat treatment for you when their planes breaks down.

PhlyingRPh

It appears that I was hasty in my ^ ness.