flyer4512

In July I booked 2 TPA/ORD/MSP standard coach award tickets for 50K miles. Tonight I got an email from united telling me my trip was changed to TPA/IAH/MSP arriving 2 hours later.

I go online to try to find a shorter flight time and earlier arrival. On UA.COM I see a TPA/CLT/MSP in first class ( saver award on USAIR) that fits my schedule. It says to change both passengers is zero miles and Zero dollars. I go to make the change and it says it can't do it, gives me an error and to contact UA.com

I go back in a look at all my reservations and there is the new flight but they also deducted 50K miles ! I can go on UA.com and book this flight for ( 2 people) for 50K, I was bounced around and around, it was almost like a joke trying to tell these people I already used 50K miles to book my original coach tickets and that buy taking them taking another 50K I was using 100k for 2 FC tickets they have on their site for 50k. I asked them to just put me back on my original coach flight and refund the 50K miles and they came back on the line and said they saw the error the 50 K were going to be redeposited and they could already see them in my account, I think they told me this to get rid of me as no miles have posted 12 hours later. I emailed UA.com.

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this where it said the change was free ( including miles) and then they were charged ? To make it even stranger the change "failed" and then showed up in my reservations.

The original flight was on United but the new flight is on USAIR, I know they used to have ( and maybe still do) a charge for changing airlines but as I said it stated zero miles and zero dollars and they hit me for 50K miles

Thanks

WineCountryUA

Believe it or not, under the present IT systems it can take a day or two for refunded miles to show-up -- perhaps it might be best just to sit tight for a bit longer. Things don't happen instantaneously as one might expect.

Sounds instead of re-using the previous miles, the system started a refund and pulled new miles. Color me not surprised.

njcommodore

And when the miles show up, they will show up in your July statement as a credit right below where they were deducted. It's very difficult for those that book (and cancel) a lot to follow along.

rankourabu

The TPA-MSP roundtrip was over $1000????

That would be the only price that would even begin to justify spending 50k miles on a domestic coach award

Often1

1. Whether a trip is worth a given amount of miles is in the eyes of the traveler. If the ticket costs $250 or 50K miles and you don't have $250 to spare, the 50K miles is a great deal because you get to fly. If you have both the cash and the miles to spend, the $250 is a great deal. But, since the poster has no way of knowing OP's financial circumstances or what other use he might make of his miles, there's no way to talk about a good or a bad deal.

2. Miles redeposits are no different than CC refunds. The merchant (carrier) can post a refund relatively immediately, but it takes the time it takes for the refund to be processed. Here, OP initiated a new ticket and a new miles debit. That is a separate transaction from the cancellation of his old itinerary. The only time this matters is when you don't have enough miles for the new ticket.

itsme

If one has a UA Visa card, then miles can be "monetized" at a penny each by using them to pay off balances, so letting them go for a half-cent each probably isn't the thing to do. And if one doesn't have a current balance on a UA Visa card, then they can still charge the ticket to the card and pay for the travel later with the miles. (Does anyone know if it is possible to use UA miles to pay down the balance on a non-UA Chase issued card? I doubt that is possible, and personally I won't let miles go at a penny a piece, but curious to know if there is such "portability" across Chase cards.)

Often1

Lotta "ifs". All comes down to an individual's personal situation. May use a Home Depot affinity card because you're building an deck on your house and so on. You may have lousy credit and therefore this award is the only way you're going.

flyer4512

Still no mles, here is the screenshot for what happened yesterday

Activity Date Description Mileage Earned

12/23/2012 Standard Award XB20 (50,000)
07/22/2012 Award Redeposit 25,000

The original coach ticket was for 2 people one way at 25k per person. When I went to make the switch it said I could change flights for zero miles and zero dollars but United took 50K miles anyway so I paid 100K miles for 2 award tickets I could buy right now for 50K miles.

LilAbner

Your original tickets were standard awards (coach). You decided to rebook using saver awards (F/C). This requires an entirely NEW booking, AS SEVERAL PEOPLE HAVE STATED, SEVERAL TIMES, it takes several days sometimes to get your miles refunded once you cancel (If in fact you did that).

You will get your 50K back and if it doesn't occur automatically, in a less than a week, call MP. Make sure your original flights are cancelled, as I can assure you that you probably have 2 different record locators!

flyer4512

I didn't cancel the ticket, went to UA.com and changed flights. I understand what our saying but what would have happened if I didn't have 50K sittting in my account ?

SEVERAL PEOPLE SEVERAL Times, umm one or 2 people said what SHOULD happen. Even the 3 people I spoke with at UA had no idea why they took the extra 50K

itsme

I don't think there are either a "lotta 'ifs'" there or at all improbable ones. And I'd bet it 50-50 that the OP, who has accrued that many RDM either through BIS flying or use of some credit card, does have a UA Chase card that would let him get a penny for which mile he applied to pay off his credit card bill. But in any event, my purpose was to suggest possibilities that might not have been considered, and I have done that.

[PS What's the minimum value you will let UA miles go for? Will you take less than a penny per mile?]

flyer4512

I didn't realize uou coud pay with miles on your MP CC. The original tickets were $466 so I guess using the 50K miles to pay the balance on my MP visa would have been a slighlty better deal

BTW the thing that concerns me most is my new reciipt says I paid $10 an 100K miles for the new flights

Antipode

What booking class are you in? I have a suspicion that they put you in Standard F instead of Saver F (O).

This also seems to confirm that

LilAbner

Why don't you just call and find out what happened, exactly how many miles you paid, and if you are booked on savers or standards. Then ask to be transferred to MP if you can't get is resolved with res? Good luck getting too much figured out on Christmas eve, though!

Did you get another record locator for the new booking or is it the same?

WhyPayRent

Same thing happened to me with Thai award flights. Originally had 2 Saver Business award tickets booked for 70,000 total. Made a change and still in Saver Business with the UA site showing $0 and 0 additional miles for the change. Just like you, I received a receipt that reflect 100k, but the United view my reservations shows 70k. They deducted an additional 30k despite being in the same fare class.

Called in and had the GS desk work with ticketing to correct it. She comes back after about 45 minutes and say I should see the 30k refunded. Waited a day and saw nothing so I called back. The new agent starts to do the same thing. After a while she comes back and says that she can't get my ticket to price even though she sees what it should be.

After waiting for 20 minutes, I offer to rebook one of the legs in saver coach instead of Business because it is a short flight. She can price that at 60k for the two tickets. We do that and I get 40k immediately redeposited.

As others stated, it may make sense just to cancel and start from scratch or change the ticket into something that can be confirmed in the correct class.