sbrower

You mean so that they can pressure the DOT to remove the "mistake fare" rule until they write one which makes sense?

Microsando

I disagree. You are not a corporation that provides a service to customers. You exercise for yourself, which doesn't affect other people whether you exercise or not. United, a huge corporation that affects millions of flyers, on the other hand, issued a public statement, no - a promise, two years ago in a well read newspaper that stated they would honor any mistake made, no matter how big. They should be held accountable for such a promise when it is put to the test, which clearly they are not. This, in my opinion, promotes poor PR for them as a company.
If you promised your friend $2 for every day that you didn't exercise and you stopped exercising and then you decided you didn't really need to pay your friend because you didn't really mean your promise, that might approach comparison, but not really.

mabramovich

The letter reads

In this case, I think it's sort of clear what DOT's position is. I don't think anyone thinks UA acted unfairly or deceptively.

seanthepilot

I would like to share my thoughts.

For the record. I was made aware very early in the process. I decided not to book. But had I wanted to 'give it a shot' and the reservation was ticketed, you bet that I would be pushing for their acceptance.

The simple reason is that the legal contracts that bind airlines and consumers via the ticketing process is a tool that disadvantages the consumer. We are bound by the rules and cannot cancel at will, so neither then should they be able to.

Now, if the playing fields were evened, and consumers were able to cancel airline tickets at a whim, I am sure many here would gladly exchange their 4 mile tickets for this new reality. But, this is not what is being proposed.

A contract is a contract, and as dramatic as some may make this mistake appear. All we have is a number of award seats being redeemed. The actual cost of one award seat to the airline is fairly insignificant (it's in a research paper I read not long ago).

Which brings me to my next point that I think deserves its own post.
Does the practice of airlines cancelling tickets compromise the integrity of the e-ticketing process? I will share my thoughts on this in a post to follow.

CDKing

Everyone keeps telling me the old UA does not exist anymore. Also COdbaUA as everyone puts it is claiming this is not a mistake fare

chelmkamp

1) Slow down there, cowboy. The DoT rules are only an agency's interpretation of a statute. Not only are they subject to continuous re-interpretation by the implementing agency, but they are also subject to review by courts. In such a review, the courts would consider the intent of the agency's authorizing legislation over all else, which could call into question whether mistakes are covered at all, since the intent (even as DoT states) is to protect consumers against deceptive acts. If you equate programming error with deception without establishing motive/intent to deceive, well, I can't help you there, and neither probably can DoT. (I'm not saying this is what is or ought to be, just pointing out it's not so cut and dried.)

2) Our legal system is all about analogies. It is the job of each side to demonstrate how this case is analogous to previous rulings, why or why doesn't a particular rule apply to a different case, how ruling in your favor would apply to future analogous cases. This is what case law is all about. (Not to say any of the analogies presented here have been particularly convincing one way or the other.)

CDKing

Its the exact same letter others have posted as well. I'm sure its their template response to the complaints

seanthepilot

Does the practice of airlines cancelling tickets compromise the integrity of the e-ticketing process?

If airlines are able to cancel airline tickets, my confidence in the e-ticket process is lost. Air Canada did this years ago to me. If United thinks they can cancel tickets, perhaps the legal experts can advise me how the "e-ticket" can survive. Consumer confidence in the system will crumble if airlines are able to cancel a ticket at will.

Could a proper legal battle be waged to destroy confidence in e-tickets to the extent that e-ticketing rights be taken away from the airlines. I mean if we cannot trust the airlines to administer e-tickets, they should not be able to issue or cancel them. This would mean PAPER TICKETS for all who fail to meet proper accreditation, or perhaps all e-ticketing powers be delegated to a third party who could be trusted.

If, through their own doing the confidence in the "e-ticket" was destroyed, the financial damage to the airlines would be substantial.

I have already lost faith that the airlines can be trusted. Proving this shouldn't be too much of a stretch. Who cares to assist me on this crusade?

chff

I have yet to receive an email from United or from the DOT

HCSmooth66

I have always taken the position that I would live with whatever decision United made and either be done with it or start planning my time in Asia. I was not going to file a DOT complaint and I was not going to participate in any lawsuit. I still am not going to participate in any lawsuit, but I might file a complaint with DOT.

I say that not in the hopes of having my ticket honored, as I don't truly deserve that. But this non-payment thing has gotten under my skin. I don't like it, as it makes me sound like a deadbeat. I agreed to pay the price that was billed. I didn't pay that price, because United chose not to accept my 4 miles and deduct my account.

I fully took advantage of a mistake fare that I knew was a mistake, and I have no moral qualms about that. I've done it before, and hopefully will do it again. You win some, you lose some. You just wish that the resolution didn't feel as empty as this one did. I still haven't been contacted by United once throughout this entire fiasco.

I am not a deadbeat.

unavaca

I'm of the opposite belief. They should be cancelling these tickets immediately so that space can be restored for those customers willing to pay for the seats or used by elites with instruments, rather than have them taken up by TODers (or in this case, TOMilers). That is, after all, the FT party line, right?

Xyzzy

Couldn't KE have been said to have acted similarly (ie not unfairly r deceptively) in the RGN debacle? The end result there was the opposite of the result here. We don't know what the DOT said to KE, though.

koopas

Any of you having problems uploading files to the DOT complaint form?

chinatraderjmr

I have ALWAYS preferred paper tkts and people thought I was crazy. Up until just the last few years I still would always make sure to get a paper tkt issued. Unfortunatly now, they are just not psbl to get w some airlines. Just think how much better we would all feel w a paper tkt instead of trusting SHARES. We should still have that option. I was willing to pay the $25 fee and I'm sure many others were as well

patchan8984

I was able to upload but it had a weird path name. A red X shows on the left of the filename but I assumed it still uploaded. The red X is for removing an attachment right?