vandrei

1. I have a few choices out of WAS. UA is the dominant carrier at IAD, which is a few miles from where I live and work. Sometimes I go to DCA or BWI, but that's generally a huge PITA - and can be a show-stopper for weekend flying. Plus, as annoyed as I am right now, I have gotten used to priority check-in, priority boarding, and priority bag handling.

2. I am not doing any more cash buy-ups. I will either wait for a CPU (rare), use miles (for transcons), or sit in E+.

vandrei

I'm not going to push this any further with UA. For 2,200 bonus PQM (uncertain), it's not worth my time - but I am not going to purchase any more cash buy-ups, and whatever trust I had in UA is gone.

kenn0223

I'd share the above thought with UA, customer complaints (or regulatory action) are likely the only thing that will get them to act.

EsquireFlyer

IMO this is basically fraud on UA's part, whether it's intentional or so reckless that it should be treated as intentional.

Most pax do not know the difference between the fare basis and the inventory bucket letter, or know that the mileage is credited on the former rather than the latter. Certainly, a UA pax should not have to enter his/her information into the Saudi Airlines website just to predict how many miles UA will credit him/her for a UA flight. The pax should be entitled to rely on the UA website's representation that bonus PQM will be awarded based on the new fare class, and that the new fare class is "P" based on the inventory bucket.

Agreed with other poster(s) that a DOT complaint is warranted.

If you have time to kill, maybe even a small claims suit against UA for the amount of the buy-up or a fraction of that amount based on how much the PQMs would cost to buy from UA using its own Elite Maximizer.

FlyWorld

I think you should at least file a DOT complaint.

This is fraud, pure and simple.

It'll take less than 2 minutes of your time. And, you'll get a real response from UA.

Here is what you might say:

I purchased a ticket from United Airlines. United presented me with an offer to upgrade to first class, using a P fare. This is what the offer said:

"Bonus award miles and Premier Qualifying earnings based on the new fare."

Below that offer was a link that showed I would get a 50% PQM and mileage bonus in exchange for paying to switch to the P fare.

After United took my money, they refuse to give the 50% bonus that was promised.

See screen shot attached. Provide your PNR.

That's it. Just copy and paste into the form.

Here is the link:

http://www.dot.gov/airconsumer/air-t...t-comment-form


If you do nothing, and nobody else does anything, the fraud continues.

If they get enough of these or it gets some press, then, they'll change the wording on the web site.

What a sick shame that this is what it's come to.

Jackstay

This has been a most interesting discussion. Thanks to all the posters who have shared what is to me fairly arcane information despite my having been a regular and attentive reader of FT for years.

Aside from the OP's main point which has to do with bonus PQMs, what happens to such a ticket during IRROPS, overbooking, or a cancellation? If the flight happens as scheduled then okay, but what if it does not? What "rights" to first class carriage are conferred by the change in booking code versus a change in fare basis?

FlyWorld

I have personal experience with this one.

Prioritization for negative treatment during IRROPS is based on a combination of status and fare class.

When you buy up, at a discount, your resulting fare class is either P or Z or it's something else, but in any case, it's lower than a full fare customer.

So, they will protect full fare customers first. You're at the bottom of the list.

And, frankly, this is only fair, as someone who paid 2x what you paid should be protected at higher priority.

I still don't understand the difference between fare basis and booking code and I'm not sure what happens if booking code is different from fare basis - which is looked at, which takes precedence.

vandrei

I know what I read on United's Web site. The ticket booked into "Fare class: United First (P)" (as shown on the reservation page) after I purchased the buy-up, and the link on the buy-up offer leads to this page on United's Web site, which states that "purchased fare class" P is eligible for 150% PQM. It doesn't say "original purchased fare class"...it just says "purchased fare class." And since I had purchased a buy-up to what appeared to be fare class P...I believe that any reasonable person who read these words would probably go the same route that I did.

As for a small claims suit, I don't have the time right now, and I'm honestly scared that United might retaliate against me by finding some obscure clause in the MileagePlus T&C to use to close my MileagePlus account and zero out my balance. I have a lot of miles saved up for a booking for family members in two months - and if I can't make that booking, it will have a negative impact on my family life.

The only thing I can do at this point is write up a DOT complaint, send in comments through the form on United's Web site, and remember this experience every time I book another ticket - which for me will be soon. I have another $5K-$10K of personal travel to book for this year, and I definitely will be flying VX on IAD-SFO next time. Hell, I'll even fly DCA-PHX/LAS/etc. on US whenever possible since I can easily grab A class (by the fare basis) tickets on US for several hundred more more than their coach equivalents on UA out of IAD.

I don't have a problem with being lower on the list. I do have a problem with being told that I will get something when in reality I will not...as a ploy to get me to pay more money.

FlyWorld

And, that's why you're filing the DOT complaint, right?

If you don't do something about this, then don't complain.

burlax

TBF, DOT is not the right place to complain about it. . .

FlyWorld

Are you sure? Why not?

1. It establishes a public record of negative customer impact
2. I'm almost certain OP will be given his/her miles

And, if it's not right, then what is?

kenn0223

So...the FARE has to do you your ticket. The ticket is the result of a financial transaction between you and the airline and documents that you paid for transportation. Your BOOKING CLASS is part of your reservation and tied to a particular flight and class of service. At the time of travel you need both a ticket and a reservation to get on the plane. Before departure both exist somewhat independently and are managed differently. Now, over the years the difference between the two has become less apparent and your ticket often has specific travel information (such as flights and dates) and it gets confusing.

So, fare code designates the specific product you're buying (validity periods, rules, class of service are different between fares). The fare basis is the core product and is usually equal to the booking code and various fare codes are built under each fare basis. Your booking code represents some of the same information in your reservation. United uses this term "Fare Class" which I think is intended to represent the match between the two since it usually is equal to the booking code in the reservation and the first letter (and basis) of the fare code.

Sooooo...durring IRROPS typically only your reservation is worked. So they can do whatever they need to (within certain rules) to get you moving. At the end they just need to match each segment in the reservation with a valid coupon in the ticket and cover over the whole mess by validating it IRROPS (in summary - there are more complexities). This is the same general premis they use to book you on other flights in Y (when you've only paid for L), book you on other airlines, etc.

If durring IRROPS you get rebooked in Y after you paid for F you can request a refund for fare difference if you bought an F ticket or the upgrade fee (per Rule 27 Section A.3 of the Contract of Carriage).


I don't think it's a ploy, I think it's crappy customer service and bad communication between whoever writes the text for the website (and determines its function) and the people who dream up ways to sell upgrades. I think, like the term "fraud", ploy implies someone is sitting in Chicago (or more likely Houston) saying to themselves "I've got it, this little trick on the website will totally get them". I don't think they are that organized.

+1...the Department of Transportation isn't going to care much about your frequent flier miles. I don't think there are any DOT regs that apply to such programs. They, in fact, include it "Other" in their complaint tracking statistics which should be an indication of how much they care about it.

I think, if you're looking for a regulator, it would be the same place that regulates sweepstakes, coupons, and truth-in-advertising (so maybe your AG?). This is similar to someone saying buy 3 and get the 10% off on your next visit and then not giving you your 10% off because you didn't buy the right 3 things. They still gave you what you paid for but didn't deliver on some ancillary promotion.

Ari

The OP claims to have bought the upgrade from a pop-up window immideately after purchase; that is different from going into the reservation later and doing a buy-up. The terms of the offer can be different.

If the OP wants to complain, the OP should have screen shots of what was actually purchased, not a similar offer from a different page on the website. It seems to me that the OP assumed that the pop-up offer would qualify for PQMs but didn't bother to read the specific terms of the pop-up offer. Then, when the PQMs didn't come, the OP went to a different place on united.com and found a similar offer and believes that UA should honor the terms of that offer rather than whatever the terms of the pop-up offer actually were .

If I am mistaken as to what the OP did, please correct me. A pop-up offer is not the same as a buy-up option in the reservation even if the dollar amounts are the same. UA may be sleezy in doing this, but that doesn't make the OP correct.

The part about the website saying 150% is more convincing, but was that offer made at point of purchase? I think not.

vandrei

I threw that screenshot as an example. The language was the same. I didn't save a screenshot of the original offer because I didn't anticipate that I would have to document every single transaction between United and me.

I could go get you a screenshot of another one of those AJAX popups but I would have to buy another UA ticket...and I really don't want to do that right now.

burlax

Usually. However, at some point, 'crappy customer service' and 'bad communication' become fraud. UA attitude 'we don't care if the customer gets what we promised to him; we just want more money' certainly amounts to fraud because UA is making promises without intending to keep them.