guv1976

I don't think that that matters. Each flight you are booked on should be protected under UK 261.

I presume that the compensation you got on the VDB was compensation of UA's choosing, to which you agreed; not UK 261 compensation. I see no reason why you would not be entitled to UK 261 compensation on the new flight.

catbox9

I'm trying to figure out how to tell what delay I originally accepted since there doesn't seem to be an easy way to track that.

From what I can tell I agreed to arrive at about 6/7 PM and now it sounds like 11 PM or later.

WineCountryUA

Don't you get an email with the new routing thru SFO after the VDB? The amount delay is important as over 3 hours is due compensation but 4 hours or less reduces the compensation.

catbox9

I received no emails just a text with the departure time

One more thought...

I was booked LHR-SFO (overnight layover) SFO-SBP

Since tomorrow's segment will (I would assume) not be delayed, does this mean I get nothing?

We're also scheduled to arrive at SFO at 2 AM now which means we'll easily be 4+ (closer to 7+) hours late.

I booked the overnight layover because I didn't want to get to SBP at midnight but now I'm gonna get to SFO at 2 am and have to catch a flight at 11 AM.


I'm a 1K in Polaris which I suppose shouldn't make matters worse if I complain to United.

jsloan

UA might argue that; I don't know how successful they'd be.

catbox9

For whatever it's worth, when they checked me in they didn't give me the boarding pass for that flight. It also doesn't show up on my app.

jsloan

That's expected and not really worth anything.

The question is whether or not UA wants to be pedantic. An overnight transfer on an international itinerary is not a stopover; therefore, if your morning flight is on time, by that theory, you haven't actually suffered any harm -- you got to your ticketed destination at the agreed-upon time.

However, I actually think they'd most likely see things the way you do -- if your flight's arrival was delayed by long enough to qualify, for a covered reason, I suspect UA would pay rather than try to argue. If they do argue, your only recourse is to try a European court.

WineCountryUA

As other have said these regulations were not written by people familiar with travel. As the overnight is likely a connection and not a formal stop, the regulations refer to the delay in arrival at destination, not intermediate points. It is still worth pinging UA 1K for inconvenience compensation which does not impact your chance for UK261 compensation. I would hope such a tech stop would automatically generate a compensation email.

The normal arrival for the late FRA-SFO flight is 7:45 to 8PM. So a 2AM would be 6 hours

catbox9

Maybe this is a dumb question, but what constitutes a stop versus a connection?

UA does sell LHR-SFO-SBP all in the same day. In fact, if you search LHR-SBP you will not find an itinerary which includes an overnight layover at SFO (or at least not 99% of the proposed routings).

I booked my segment as a multi-city ticket: LHR-SFO on 6/26 and SFO-SBP on 6/27. It's all the same PNR, sure but so was the FAT-DEN-MUC-HEL flight that got me to Europe in the first place and had that been delayed by a substantial margin (or at least the MUC-HEL part) nobody would be able to argue I'm not owed anything if the return is on time.

WineCountryUA

For an international flight, layovers of up to 24 hours are a connection. (4 hours for a pure domestic trip)
Generally a "stop" is more expensive, although some fare rule include a free or inexpensive stop.
Mostly likely yours is a connection since the rules allow up to 24 hours connection.

HEL was clearly a stop / destination. Each stop / destination is considered separately for delays.

jsloan

The fare rules. In North America, anything beyond four hours is a stopover. For intercontinental routes, it's 24h instead.

Correct, because HEL was your ticketed destination.

catbox9

Well that's very unfortunate. I booked it this way because I didn't want to take the same day flight home and stay up until midnight (since I got up at midnight Pacific Time to catch my flight). I agreed to the VDB since it was advertised as a 1 hour delay but now I'm going to get a 7 hour delay, have to make a connection at IAD (which is substantially worse than the original connection at LAX since it breaks up the flight mid-flight) and now I won't be able to get more than 5 hours of sleep at my hotel.

I also wonder what the odds are we actually get to SFO. We're supposed to arrive at 9:15 PM at IAD and then takeoff at 11 PM with a new crew. I get IAD is a hub, but is there really a spare crew reading to fly a cross-country route on a 787 at 11PM?

If United is able to get away with giving me nothing, I will be extremely unhappy to say the least.

WineCountryUA

There are two different issues here
UK261 -- that may be iffy due to the way the regs are written
Customer Service comp -- I would expected something for that if over 6 hours (and perhaps 5+ hours) later getting into SFO, especially if in the wee hours. May be automatic, may need a email

The two are independent and handled by different groups and getting one does not impact the other.

catbox9

Yeah I'll certainly keep my fingers crossed for the automatic email as that would be the best solution. It's just hard sitting on the flight with so much uncertainty. But as of right now the best case scenario is that they get to SFO more than 7 hours later than they were supposed to when I agreed to the VDB. That's assuming they have a crew ready to go at IAD very late at night which I'm still not convinced they will have.

catbox9

Update:

Landed at 2:45 AM. We used the same plane but they somehow removed all the blankets and pillows so sleeping despite Polaris was impossible. They didn't cater the flight (not that I really needed or wanted anything) so water was the only thing they had. I paid $33.99 for wifi from LHR to IAD and if I wanted wifi from IAD to SFO it was gonna be another $33.99.

Nothing from United. Flight attendants neither greeted me on arrival nor wished me farewell upon departure. Not that I really care about that but it seem poor form.

30+ minutes after landing not a single bag is here.