A message stating an excessive timeline and the refund actually taking too long are two very different things. The first hardly worthy of a DOT complaint if you're still getting the money within the DOT required time frame. In either case, going the DOT route will likely get a response after even the later timeline has passed.

Rule of thumb is same day, pacific time. If you cancel the same day then it will void the ticket and let the pending authorization fall off per card issuer's policy (not an active reversal of the authorization). If you cancel next day (but still within 24 hours), it will refund the ticket which shows up as a posted charge and credit.

Only found one data point on this from 2015, so seeing if anyone has more recent information.
Wondering about the following exclusion:
>> Reservations that are being held but have not yet been purchased are excluded.

I am waiting for an ETC to be issued and the agent kindly put the reservation on hold for me for 3 days. I have a confirmation number and can see the itinerary, but it says it is not ticketed yet.

Does this exclusion mean that if I purchase and ticket this in 2 or 3 days that there will not be a 24hr cancel period after the purchase?

If the ETC doesn't come through in time, I may just purchase the ticket without waiting, but would prefer to use the ETC.

24 Hour Refund problem
 

I purchased on Basic economy on UA last month and realized within 24 hours I wanted to change. So I cancelled and rebooked the new flights within 24 hours. But when I went to cancel the system didn't seem to recognize that it was within 24 hours so I contacted the chat agent. Initially s/he indicated the same, but when I pushed on it, s/he acknowledged that it was eligible for full refund and said that s/he put in for the refund to original payment. I did save the transcript.

Fast forward a few weeks, and I see my credit card bill shows both transactions with only a credit for the $16 seat purchase fee, not the whole first reservation. I go to check status of the refund and it says "Approved" with a FFC for the total amount minus $99. I don't see a place there to appeal, it won't allow me to submit a refund request online because it has already been "refunded", and Customer Care won't let me submit a request because it only allows for past travel. I called the 800 number and they said I can only deal with this online. Any insight? Or is it time to dispute with my credit card (the United Explorer card)?

what time exactly did you book, and what time exactly did you cancel? Is it possible you were just over the actual 24 hour mark before cancelation?

if you are absolutely sure that you canceled prior to 24 hours initially, and UA isn’t helping, I’d dispute - both the original fare and the $99 fee.

I suspect that if there was some sort of issue with your original attempt to cancel, and agent dealing with you was beyond 24 hours, system must not have accepted your refund, and so they charged the ‘upgrade’ to regular fee. That would also explain the FFC, which is all you would be eligible for if the system though you were beyond 24 hours.

If you do dispute though, I’d be careful and not use the FFC. This will only invite additional scrutiny, and UA will absolutely have a claim against you, and this could impact your status and MP account.

If sure the timing was under the limit (what was the timing?) this is a DOT violation and a DOT complaint might be easier and less problematic than a chargeback.

I went back to triple check. The "your united reservation...is processing" email came in at 11:41 (to my best recollection it was more or less immediate) and the eticket confirmation came in the same minute. The UA chat agent said the following day at 11:31 "I was able to cancel your reservation and submit the refund request. You may check on the email confirmation within 24 hours."

Define "UA isn't helping." I guess I'm wondering if there is a different page or phone line or email that I should be contacting. Is it worth it to HUCA the main number or am I going to continue to get the same answer?

For sure. I wouldn't consider doing that until the whole thing is resolved.

So something like 10 minutes short of the 24 hours. While it should have worked, that was really pushing the deadline, hence the common recommendation is leave an hour buffer.

Still suggest a DOT complaint vs a messier chargeback

Totally. I started about 90 minutes before with the direct cancellation online. When that was saying it was going to be FFC/fee, I contacted the chat agent at 10:37. It took the chat agent that long to deal with me (including 20 minutes just to verify that the 24 hour cancellation policy existed).

to be clear, a DOT complaint won’t necessarily be an alternative to a chargeback, but could be in addition to.

Just as a data point, I filed a DOT complaint about UA refusing constantly to ticket an advertised fare (to India, as part of the SQ deal via SIN) - tried multiple times over several days. This was back in May. Also at the tome, just booked separately - one ticket to SIN and another SIN-BLR separately - ended up being pretty close to the same price. Completely forgot about until last week, when I finally got a [completely irrelevant] response from UA. I realize that is way beyond the limit allowed by DOT regs for a response, but aside from that, a complaint will only force UA to respond, and not necessarily to provide the actual refund. If UA is not responding, I’d argue a chargeback AND a DOT complaint could be in order. UA has been given more than one chance to provide the proper refund, which they did not do, and also still broke the regs, which still deserves a complaint regardless of presence of a chargeback. You could even include in the complaint that UA was in violation of their responsibilities and you needed to initiate a chargeback with your card in response, and that is not OK. Or something like that.

Keep in mind that there is a chargeback time limit, something like 60 days after the statement on which the charge appears.

Since people often buy tickets in advance of travel, the chargeback deadline can be quite short.

In this case. we are talking about a problem that occurred inherently within 24 hours of purchase,

Update: I contested with Chase as the 60 day deadline approached. After several days they informed me that it had been resolved in my favor. The FFC disappeared from my account. All is well.

All IT systems are subject to "glitches". Looks like you benefited to the tune of a United voucher for this one. If you're sure it was within 24 hours then they should have cancelled to original form of payment. Did United also cancel out your voucher since you charged back the original ticket?

-RM

25-Hour Cancellation?
 

I just cancelled a UA ticket after 24 but before 25 hours. I was only presented with a choice to refund, no choice for FFC. :confused: I cancelled and no FFC showed up. Do I get a refund?

yes, you should get a refund.