tom911

Won't be the first time UA didn't credit miles. Some of us here recall techgirl's report back in 2005 where a gate agent promised EQMs on an international VDB and she never saw a single one. She failed to requalify for 1K as this was late in the year and made the jump to AA as a result.
United Airlines Rescinds Denied Boarding Compensation Offer After Fact

tom911

Do you actually know that anyone on this forum cost UA $10,000 in fines? Could it have been a passenger that wasn't on a MR that had incomplete documentation instead?

ozstamps

Not in the least, as my flight run cost United nothing, as all my paperwork was totally in order, and complied with all Russian laws and all UA's written guidelines as I was careful to ensure I was fully aware of, and armed with printouts of, before I set off ..... how DARE you infer it did not?

Glen
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aisleorwindow

The mileage runners were NOT the reason for the fines. How could they be? They did nothing wrong!!!

However, the fines DO make it easier for UA to flatly deny me any type of compensation. It's a nice, tidy excuse. I put it in the same category as "due to security regulations..."

azepine00

Maybe, I don't know. But since IAD folks initially allowed this but later on stopped it appears that something happened in between.
Unless AA or SU or DL start allowing immediate turns without any paperwork I am not gonna single out UA.

As I posted earlier my flight from DME on 4/6 was canceled so I can easily picture UA being fined if they were stuck with paying a fine for someone trying to do an immediate turnaround.

I spoke very briefly with AA GA who worked DME flight in ORD a few weeks ago on this subject. She had not had any experience with this situation (and I didn't have much time to get into details) but she thought that everyone had to have a visa to travel to russia.

Anyone blaming UA for this can try to book and immediate turnaround to say PEK or SGN or SVO for that matter without visa on any other carrier and see if they are gonna be allowed to board.

dhammer53

It's not fair to accuse any poster of this.

But lets say... lets say a mileage runner that doesn't know the rules decides to exit security and have a look/see...
...even though it's a slim chance, I can see it from UAs point of view <flame suit on>.

All this in spite of the rules.

dh

azepine00

Yes, perhaps but I am not sure how to deliver a message better when

1) we discussed ambiguities in the rules early in this thread
2) UA adviced people over the phone to get a visa for immediate turnaround
3) a FTer reported being denied boarding 2 weeks ago
4) we got several more denied boarding cases last week
5) a service director reportedly indicated that UA had to pay fines

I think this mileage running thing has gone a bit too far in this case...

I am not posting this to convince OP or any other experienced FTers - 1Ks have enough leverage to at least get the money back and we can handle the risk. However I don't want this to cost UA any more money, I don't want the agents to waste time to investigate those situations and I hope to make the entire story clear to the those without 1K contacts who may be considering doing this based on the original post (and I hope I saved someone some $ by advising against doing this earlier in this thread). After that it's YMMV of course.

aisleorwindow

Just received a response from the e-mail I sent to the visa desk at the Russian Consulate in Houston:

Interesting....

Kiwi Flyer

In my experience that is a fairly common, but not universal, interpretation of rules. Not speaking specifically about Russia, but I've had transits and turnarounds in many odd countries and have learnt the hard way that where transit to "third country" is mentioned in a visa exemption there is risk of denied boarding for turnarounds if visas are required for entry and are not available on arrival.

mvoight

IMHO, not a bright interpretation. Russia doesn't give a damn whether someone is coming from the US and flying on to Germany, Japan, or back to the US. The goal is that people without visas to not stay in Russia.

I extremely doubt any of the $10K fines had anything to do with a US citiizen making a mileage run, who didn't try to exit.

Regarding another poster's comment about what happens if there is an irrop and you have to stay over 24 hours. Surely irrops of affect people traveling to "third" countries to. I am quite sure the Russian government people at DME understand that sometimes transit will be delayed over 24 hours.

Kiwi Flyer

Yes, and there is at least one trip report where an FTer was detained when he/she misconnected in Russia and had no visa.

uavking

Any more recent data points on successful or unsuccessful Moscow turns? Have a heck of a nice fare on hold, NYC-MOW $281 AI out 23MAY and in 24MAY, but want to see what the latest score is before I pull the trigger.

riversair

interesting, a couple years ago I needed to go to DEL cheap with a friend I went

PIT-EWR-LHR on BA, then

LHR-DME (transit) - DEL on Aeroflot

Aeroflot did not mind at all that I was transiting through moscow onwards to Delhi, I didn't have a Visa nor did they ask or check for one. They simply issued all BP at LHR and I was in the transit area for a few hours...bought some duty free!

aisleorwindow

That's a different issue. That is clearly a transit from Country A to Country B via Russia. Clearly allowed.

indo79

and to UA for this. They knew the complicated visa issue pertaining to DME, and it's not like MRs never existed prior to IAD-DME-IAD service. They should have trained their agents properly and there is nothing wrong with any of what the MRs are doing. If we can fly to SIN for 7 hours, you can bet FTers will fly to DME for 2 hours.