If it was an offer ("When I got to the airport, was offered three adjacent coach seats and a $1200 voucher") a modification to the contract that could be accepted or denied by the OP.A fare adjustment would have been appropriate plu some sort of compenstaion, but an offer to modifiy the terms of his ticket to volunteer to do so, and accepted by the passenger should (not would) not (not saying it doesn't, as I don't believe the CoC spells out such an option) trigger such a thing.

If the value proposition is acceptable to both parties to modify the contract for a new contract, then that SHOULD be the end of it.

In the original post, it said he was offered, yet later on, in subsequent posts, he is upset. An offer to downgrade to me is the same as a voluntter. The army recruits, gives offers, and people accept. That isn't constcription or a draft, ratherwe call these people volunteersand celebrate them when they come home for volunteering to do something that we respect. So the body of the initial post, differs from the title as well as the ill will fell in subsequent posts. erhaps the OP was just being kind in using the word "option" and he felt coerced, in that case, the rest of this post is worthless (by me.)

So the question is (and again theCoC and UA policies don't agree with me on this, but it is my question anyway) "Did they offer/request and you acceted, or did they demand/force and you complied?" A VDB is not given the same compensation as an IDB and a volunteer to downgrade is not the same as an involuntary downgrade.

And OD...perhaps "oversale/downgrade" Just a guess, the tol we use is called "oversale manager" but perhaps they call it the OD manager there.

When I worked at AA, they would in fact overbook business, but only if there were seats open in first for op-ups. I would sometimes see 42/37 for business class, but room in first if necessary or multiple flights leaving around the same time.

Hi Fastair - I did use the word "offered" in my original post. But I was "offered" the 3 coach seats and 1200 with the alternative being take a flight tomorrow. If they had offered and I had accepted with my other option being a regular business class seat on the flight I had booked it wouldn't make any sense to complain as you point out.

Yes, I know, I was just responding to the point that I quoted in that post. Thanks.

Pretty Simple...
 

First time an airline did that to me, I would NEVER fly* them again, period.

*I started flying with wallet, instead of my heart since March 3rd of this year. Very much happier flying US, AC, LH.

Second that. We need more people like you (not to say COdbaUA should be acting this way) ^^^^^^^^

Congrads , as for myself Ive always flown with my Wallet cant remember ever doing so based on my Heart.I believe and practice Loyalty but onto Myself 1st!

Second that. We need more people like you (not to say COdbaUA should be acting this way) ^^^^^^^^^

+1
Their policy is reasonable and should have been followed.

+1

I flew in E+ from ORD-GRU on May 3. The cabin was largely empty, and I got three seats to myself. I was grateful to be able to take a few naps, and was happy. However, I felt fortunate because I got the seats for the price of a single COACH fare.

Three contiguous seats are only about 5 feet long, they are not very wide, and the armrests bulge in. Not the same as a flat bed Business Class seat.

I have to assume it happened something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd8hy032uLc

I agree with you.

The problem is that many people do not pay for their own tickets. If there is a refund, it might go to the employer.

For example, I am reimbursed by my employer for coach fares; they will not reimburse for a premium class ticket. If I am traveling on a long-haul flight on behalf of a third party, then the third party will buy a business class ticket for me. If I were to get bumped to coach, I wouldn't receive the refund. It would go to the person who paid for the ticket.

I don't know what would happen to the refund in the OP's situation.

The involuntary downgrade of a paid business class passenger is intolerable. The airline should have asked for volunteers to downgrade, and if there were none, they should have sent an upgrader to coach.

I feel for you. Hope you got your RPU back.

That said, ORD-LAX is only about 4 hours. A downgrade on EWR-GRU would be much worse because of the length of the flight and its overnight timeframe.

That's personally happened to me. A small entourage at showed up at the airport and bought the entire first class cabin and a number of business class seats, cash at the airport (they used a cc). Day of departure. This happened outside of the US. In fact, this entourage were in front of me at the check in queue, so I witnessed everything.

Station manager proceeded to downgrade pax, myself included and another passenger, who was Global Services, downgraded. I was on a "Z" fare, the GS was NC at the time. There was also another 1K downgraded. Not sure what his ticket class was.

I wasn't happy with it, obviously. For those who are CO bashing, this happened on PMUA.

To the OP, EWR-GRU : What probably happened was the pax that got your seats were probably working or part of the travel group, that had a large and very lucrative contract with United. 10 people going to a meeting, so they had to bump someone off the plane, this case the OP, to get the group to Sao Paolo.

Still, its strange that the OP, on full fare was downgraded. Definitely an extreme situation.

I'm not hung up on this because I've seen this done on other airlines, as I mentioned previously. You can choose not to accept the compensation and negotiate something else.

KPHill Status Level
 

KPhill what is your status level with UA? Perhaps all upgraded passengers were GS and 1K and UA was being loyal to thier Status Members? lol Never had this happen to me and hope it never does. Keep us posted on the outcome...

I definitely have reservation on this.

Although, it is known in FT that status matters, OP was ticketed on premium classes. Doubt that is the reason.

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