Partner Schedule Change and Reaccommodation
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 385
Partner Schedule Change and Reaccommodation
I have an award ticket booked on UA for Turkish Airlines. TK changed one flight time making the connection is IST impossible. What are my rights as far as getting a comparable itinerary? Basically, I could only get rescheduled on flights that had similar award availability (i.e., economy saver) and since the schedule change happened several months after I made the initial reservation, my choices had dwindled considerably.
I actually had a UA agent call TK to see if TK would open another award seat where none existed since it was their change, not mine. No dice.
Cheers.
I actually had a UA agent call TK to see if TK would open another award seat where none existed since it was their change, not mine. No dice.
Cheers.
#2
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: DCA or IAD (originally DUB)
Programs: UA 1K 1.8MM, Hertz PC, Marriott Platinum/Lifetime Gold
Posts: 7,657
I have an award ticket booked on UA for Turkish Airlines. TK changed one flight time making the connection is IST impossible. What are my rights as far as getting a comparable itinerary? Basically, I could only get rescheduled on flights that had similar award availability (i.e., economy saver) and since the schedule change happened several months after I made the initial reservation, my choices had dwindled considerably.
I actually had a UA agent call TK to see if TK would open another award seat where none existed since it was their change, not mine. No dice.
Cheers.
I actually had a UA agent call TK to see if TK would open another award seat where none existed since it was their change, not mine. No dice.
Cheers.
You have options.
You can work with UA to find an alternative routing that has economy saver availability.
If you don't find something to your liking, you can refund your ticket and get your miles back.
Last edited by UAPremExecflyer; Oct 15, 2012 at 5:43 am Reason: added options
#3
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
+1 - Successful outcomes to these situations require a lot of legwork on your part. It is far easier for UA to tell you that there's nothing to be done and offer you a refund than to spend the serious time to figure out a routing which works. This is especially true because to many agents, these are simply airport codes and they have no idea where they are, so logical thought about reroutes is hard.
Your best bet will be routes served by UA. That is because UA is more likely to open up its own inventory (although not a given) than another carrier is (why should they help you out since you're not their customer).
If you sketch out options, including carrier, flight numbers and the like, and those flights are available, UA is more than likely to do them for you. Backups would be the use of other *A carriers.
Don't forget that if you are flying USA-IST-XXX, depending on the location of XXX and your departure point xUSA, it's sometimes possible to route TPAC (in a reroute situation).
Good luck.
Your best bet will be routes served by UA. That is because UA is more likely to open up its own inventory (although not a given) than another carrier is (why should they help you out since you're not their customer).
If you sketch out options, including carrier, flight numbers and the like, and those flights are available, UA is more than likely to do them for you. Backups would be the use of other *A carriers.
Don't forget that if you are flying USA-IST-XXX, depending on the location of XXX and your departure point xUSA, it's sometimes possible to route TPAC (in a reroute situation).
Good luck.
#5
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Monterey, CA
Programs: UA 1K 2MM
Posts: 74
#6
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: BOS, BWI, DCA, IAD
Programs: American, Delta, JetBlue, United
Posts: 2,049
I have an award ticket booked on UA for Turkish Airlines. TK changed one flight time making the connection is IST impossible. What are my rights as far as getting a comparable itinerary? Basically, I could only get rescheduled on flights that had similar award availability (i.e., economy saver) and since the schedule change happened several months after I made the initial reservation, my choices had dwindled considerably.
I actually had a UA agent call TK to see if TK would open another award seat where none existed since it was their change, not mine. No dice.
Cheers.
I actually had a UA agent call TK to see if TK would open another award seat where none existed since it was their change, not mine. No dice.
Cheers.
Earlier this year, I had a similar problem involving LH travel on a UA award. UA offered an alternative (after an hour on hold), but the alternative was not attractive. I obtained a full refund of miles and fees, and later found better award travel on LX. Your situation seems more complicated, but it's hard to offer advice without more information.
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 385
I originally had TK from Tel Aviv to IST to Cairo then MS from Cairo to Aswan. I was scheduled to leave Tel Aviv at 9:30 pm and arrive in Aswan ~ 7 am. The connecting flight from IST to CAI was changed so I would not be able to make it.
Now I leave Tel Aviv at 12:30 pm and arrive in Aswan at 10:30 pm. That was really the only viable option.
Now I leave Tel Aviv at 12:30 pm and arrive in Aswan at 10:30 pm. That was really the only viable option.
#8
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
I originally had TK from Tel Aviv to IST to Cairo then MS from Cairo to Aswan. I was scheduled to leave Tel Aviv at 9:30 pm and arrive in Aswan ~ 7 am. The connecting flight from IST to CAI was changed so I would not be able to make it.
Now I leave Tel Aviv at 12:30 pm and arrive in Aswan at 10:30 pm. That was really the only viable option.
Now I leave Tel Aviv at 12:30 pm and arrive in Aswan at 10:30 pm. That was really the only viable option.
#10
Join Date: May 2005
Location: various cities in the USofA: NYC, BWI, IAH, ORD, CVG, NYC
Programs: Former UA 1K, National Exec. Elite
Posts: 5,485
This is the new edited content:
That's the shortest *A routing. TLV-VIE-CAI-ASW on OS 680, OS 9200, and MS 397 leaving at 5:30am and arriving at 5:20pm is 10 minutes shorter on days when the the TLV-IST flight schedule changes from 11:35pm to 12:30pm.
Ignore the rest, as I neglected to read your later posts.
If it includes IST it's not just within the Middle East (see below). Of course since IST is a connection in Europe, consider European or African connection points: esp. ATH and ADD.
From UA.com:
Ignore the rest, as I neglected to read your later posts.
From UA.com:
Middle East (includes Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen)
Europe (includes Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedoni, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom)
Last edited by ralfp; Oct 15, 2012 at 4:13 pm
#12
Join Date: May 2005
Location: various cities in the USofA: NYC, BWI, IAH, ORD, CVG, NYC
Programs: Former UA 1K, National Exec. Elite
Posts: 5,485
#14
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, MR LTT, HH Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 32,055
Just a heads-up. LH group has loaded the winter schedule over night and the changes are massive. The UA codeshares are still in the system with zeroes across the board, but the native flight numbers are gone. Check your October-March LH, LX, OS, SN, EW travel!
#15
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: East Coast
Programs: AA CONCIERGE KEY & 1MM, HILTON DIAMOND
Posts: 11,970
Thanks for the heads up!