Often1

OP - Don't call until you have the options in front of you. If you want something different, you need to propose it. Don't delay as there are other pax in your position and they are snapping up the better alternatives as time passes.

It's unlikely that UA will book you OA and certainly not on WN, so check out prices on those flights to see if a refund & purchase makes sense.

craz

Ive been in the OPs shoes numerous times since 3/3, they were willing to work with me by Refunding the whole tkt, switch me to any other combo of flights on UA or even allow me to switch the dates of flying

The main pt is to remember they dont have to do anything other then Refund the whole tkt!

Highly doubt they'll put the OP or anyone onto another carrier at UAs expense. But Im only a 1K but still doubt theyd do that for even a GS

If a 6pm flight OP is all you will accept Non-stop, then I suggest you workout getting back a new cert and go UA 1 way and AA 1 way

abaheti

Just call and propose alternatives. Make sure you know all the options, including code shares. Personally, I would call ASAP rather than wait for your wife since holiday inventory is disappearing as we type.

Last time this happened to me, the agent let me change to an alternate flight without any question. Time before, they allowed me to stay an extra night since no same day flights worked for me. I was 1K at the time, maybe that matters.

If they make changes, be sure to have them enter notes in your record explaining what they changed and why just in case other glitches come up.

MatthewLAX

Yup, it just sucks for the OP that he happened to make plans around a certain flight time...

tom911

The AA flight at 1710 looks even worse with 14 of 16 seats open in F and about 85% of Y open. One-way coach fares are as low as $273 for that flight in coach and $603 in F. If you go out on the flight just after midnight coach drops to as low as $184 and F to $573. That 0035 departure gets into ORD at 0555.

I wonder if you have the same risk it will cancel in a schedule revision with such a light load right now.

Tom at SFO on the way to OzFest

LilAbner

If I were in the OP's shoes I'd be on the phone getting a flight home on 9/2/13 (Monday) or else stay on the last flight available on Sunday (which is the one he and his wife are on) and get some rays in Chicago when I got home. Cancelling a ticket which I applied vouchers towards would not be an option at this juncture. Buying two tickets on another carrier for a few more hours in Vegas would only happen if I hit it big on the tables!

UAGLOBAL

As I GS- I love schedule changes. In my experience, a schedule change is almost a freebie pass to do whatever I want routing wise. Last month I was scheduled to fly ORD-MUC-BCN on UA connecting to LH. Originally ORD-MUC was a 764 (CO 2 cabin for those who don't know) but was switched to a PMUA 763 (3 cabin). I tend to not like the 763s, the ventilation is horrible and I always feel disgusting after going TATL on them. I gave GS a call and asked politely to be switched to go ORD-SFO-FRA-BCN (I had a whole day to kill in BCN and prefer the 747UD over any other cabin) and sure enough they made the entire change for free. In OP's situation, I would not expect GS to rebook you on AA, but they will certainly refund that portion and probably give you an extra $500 cert or so as a gesture of goodwill.

FlyWorld

When I was a GS, in the pre-$mi$ek era, I was once booked SFO-SEA-NRT and a schedule change made the SEA connection nearly impossible. I'd chosen that stupid route because it had R space whereas SFO-NRT did not. I was a new GS and had no idea what the possibilities were, so I politely asked if they could move me to an earlier SFO-NRT flight to have a better connecting time.

The response was that, as a GS, I should not have to fly that routing. Not only did they put me on SFO-NRT, but they somehow confirmed me into J even though the seat map was showing that J was booked full.

To recap: They gave me a better (more expensive) routing, and they kept my upgrade on a flight that not only had no R space but didn't appear to have any seats, and they did all of this without me even asking for it.

That's how things used to be. This story explains how UA created value in contrast to $mi$ek's destruction of value. This was a pivotal moment in my experience with UA that cemented my loyalty for a long time following.

njcommodore

was that pre or po$t bankruptcy?

TommyC80

In my experience, a schedule change = a free put. I've never had any issues getting a ticket refunded or changed for a schedule change, even minor ones.

FlyWorld

Post bankruptcy.

LoganHero

You would think a GS would know that the seat map is not an indicator of available seats.

FlyWorld

I have read others talking about that for many years. I am aware that many on FT have this view. However, it's not something I've ever fully understood.

1. If a seat is full, that means someone is sitting on it, or it's blocked. Blocking of seats is relevant at the margin, but not in aggregate. They might block 2-4 seats, but they're not, typically, going to block 2/3 of the plane for no good reason.

2. If a seat is empty, that means someone is not sitting on it, but there are reservations for which seats have not been assigned, so therefore, some empty seats will be filled with unassigned reservations.

3. Alternate is to look at fare buckets, but that's also imperfect. If all buckets are zero, then we know the plane is probably full, but just as seats are not a source of truth, neither are buckets. They are directional.

My conclusion has been that looking at seats and fare buckets, with a grain of salt added for good measure, is the best available option to estimate loads for someone who doesn't have access to UA's internal systems.

I've never seen an in depth discussion on FT that convinces me there is a better way.

LoganHero

I'm glad you agree with me.

FlyWorld

I am not agreeing with you.

I am saying that seat maps are an indicator of available seats.

But, they are an imperfect indicator.

Back to the example I cited - in response to a schedule change - GS put me on a flight that was more expensive, that had no R space, and for which there were no seats showing as open on the seat map.

And, that was awesome.