RobOnLI

Other posters are correct. UA pulls the space it thinks the partner has available but then the partner has 24 hours to deny the request. UA *should* be able to see that the partner airline came back with an "OK" status on the segment but that doesn't mean UA will actually ticket it before the 24 hour period is up.

I've had a few situations with this recently:
1. Booked an all AC/SQ ticket and was told I had to wait 24 hours for ticketing. Called back a few hours later and got two more agents who said wait. At the 24 hour mark I called back and asked for it to be ticketed and it was. Point here: you must stay on top of this because they won't ticket automatically. So if you booked it and don't call back at the 24 hour mark then the reservation expires at the end of the day that the 24 hour period falls and you have to start all over.
2. Booked a United.com ticket that was a mix of TK and UA. TK ran the first few segments. Got the 24 hour warning. The ticket was issued 3 hours later. For this ticket I had checked the Saudia site about an hour after I booked it and all segments were showing Confirmed/OK status.

So my experience so far is that if you book through the online system then things happen automatically and generally less than 24 hours. But if you do it over the phone you have to stay on top of it yourself and have to wait the 24 hour period.

-RM

fassy

Hi guys,

I know what that message means, but how long does it usually take to clear or reject the ticket from the partner?

I did a booking yesterday evening on United.com which begins with a leg on SK CPH-LHR and still have not seen any hint something is happening. So 12 hours have passed, still got no ticket.

How do they clear those tickets? Manually? I thought in year 2015 all would work fully automated?

I'm getting a bit nervous as it was hard enough to find that flights at reasonable cost for next weekend and it would be really bad if they will not ticket.

bmwe92fan

I run into this all the time. Some of the arrangements aren't how you might think - some partners have 24 hours to reject a ticket - and if they don't it's then confirmed. I just left CPH on SAS and IIRC when I purchased I had to wait and all was well - be patient it will probably go through soon.....

fassy

Thanks, just talked to UA customer service and they could issue the ticket on the spot.

Hipplewm

Sorry, didn't know this was a systemic problem, I made a new thread...here is my issue, maybe it gets more help here...

OK, I fly last minute 80% of the time.

My boss calls and says how fast can you get to XXX, I know when last flight of the day is and can typically give him a decent answer. 99% of the time his answer is get on the damn plane.

My first ticket on United, I make a reservation and 30 min later head to the airport, but United still hasn't done whatever to give me a ticket and seat, it has to be "Approved" What does approved mean? Last time I had to get approved over the phone as I was waiting at the pre-check counter because I couldn't get a boarding pass (I am in global entry)

Now, coming from delta, I could literally book a flight in the lobby of the airport and have my BP by the time I got to precheck. United seems to have a 1-4 hour delay.

fast forward to now:
Last night I made a ticket for tomorrow (I know, 36 hours notice is forever to wait) anyway, 12 hours later, still no ticket and now my B fare shows instant upgrade (didn't last night) and I can't even check in, get a boarding pass or claim a potential upgrade.

What is this delay for?
How can I negate it?


Thanks for your help flyertalk



Just talked to premier line:
Was told it was a computer glitch, she didn't know why it affected me 80% of the time
UA metal (UAX)
UA.com reservation
CC is good (corp amex)
Global entry shouldn't prove to be an issue and she confirmed on the phone CC and TSA are fine

channa

That's definitely not the case with Star Alliance partners. They have real time availability into one another. Now whether UA has programmed CO's systems to see such availability is another story, but they do have it.


Delta does instant ticketing. United used to years ago, but not since they downgraded to CO's systems inn 2012. Now there is a delay. Sometimes it's brief (like a couple minutes), other times it can be several minutes or hours.

I believe a poster who seemed like they were from UA told us a while back that the longer delays are a security/fraud prevention step, and UA gets bogged down issuing sometimes, causing excessive delay.

Yeah, but your practice of booking on the app while walking in the door of the airport is not going to work reliably on UA. UA simply is not optimized for travelers like that.

bmwe92fan

I've found that is true on LH and NH - but for me Asiana and SK never seem to work and I wait at least 24 hours to ticket - is that a UA programming issue? Who knows.....

fassy

I also spoke to SK and the SK agent said he had no idea why UA didn't ticket already since they had confirmed the reservation within the hour after the booking. Seems the UA system just doesn't follow up until the deadline expires or the partner airline says 'No!'

nartman

I made this multi-destination award reservation on Saturday, and Monday morning received the email above. There were two segments, one from US to UK and another from Ireland to US, both on Aer Lingus.

I tried calling twice but got "not available, let's try something else, etc. etc." answers. I just rebooked it with a UA flight out (US to UK) and the same flight back since part of the phone response was that the flight out was rejected. Now I am again waiting for the Aer Lingus segment... Will it get rejected again?

It's just a lot of hassle because after making my reservations I had others in our travel party book the same flights for themselves directly with Aer Lingus. Now everyone is scrambling and making changes...

fumje

I have a reservation with a few segments:
segment 1: ABC - DEF
segment 2: ABC - GHI
segment 3: JKL - MNO
...
There was also a DEF - XYZ segment between 1 and 2 originally, which I cancelled.

Then a schedule change altered segment 3 by many hours, and I called to have it changed. But now the whole reservation says it won't ticket. The agent says there is a problem because segments 1 & 2 are now not allowed and that's why it won't ticket---no city A to city B and city A to city C w/o a return. Is this true? When I cancelled the one between 1 & 2, it reticketed without issue.

On hold now...

---

edit: Success. Couldn't get a clear description of what was wrong, but after some (long!!) consultation, someone did it.

lexmarks567

So i got the first email saying they are processing my reservation and will send me another email with receipt and e-ticket. They said it normally takes a hour but sometimes longer. It's been 4 days no e-ticket email. I assume I'll get that email when i check in for the flight correct or is it a case of IT issues again. First time on united I normally fly southwest but they were cheaper. Flying DTW/EWR in Jan.

channa

Something is wrong, you better call if it's not showing as ticketed by now.

lexmarks567

It shows complete on the website

and i can click on view receipt on the website but I never got the email with that info but can view it on the website.

channa

Then you're fine. You just didn't receive the email. Check your spam or send yourself another (Add Email Address and Request Receipt).

vstg005

I bought (credit card was charged, but ticket number not issued) a flight from PDX<->BLR via HKG for this December. The codeshare partner from HKG-BLR was Dragon airlines. A day later, I got an email with the following message:

"We are unable to ticket the above-referenced reservation. Some airlines require 24 hours to confirm a seat on their flight. In this case, we were unable to confirm your flight(s) on Dragon Airlines. Please call us at 800-UNITED1 (800-864-8331) so we can assist you in making alternate arrangements. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

When I called to check, I was told the original itinerary was no longer available, and was asked to pay 3 times the fare to keep the same dates! The reason I was given that the telephone agents have a different reservations system than the one on united.com !? THIS FEELS LIKE A BAIT-AND-SWITCH TACTIC TO ME

I had the agent re-book the same route with different dates -leave a day early and return on Christmas day . I'm dreading having to ask for another day off work AND not spend the holiday with family.

After this, I searched united.com for the original itinerary just for kicks. Sure enough, it still shows the same dates & fare (see attachments) available - probably to sucker some other unsuspecting traveler.