What happens if...(miss flight, interlined connection)
 

We are looking at purchasing a ticket with Philippines Airlines (MNL-HKG) and then using miles to book a biz award (HKG-ORD). In this scenario, we would interline our bags with 1 hour and 40 minutes to make the transfer in HKG.

Unfortunately, we are reading that Philippine Airlines is often late and we are wondering what would happen if we missed our connection. Given that the first flight would not be ticketed by UA....what would UA do for us?

Why not get a *A award ticket MNL-NRT(NH)-ORD(UA)? I took that route last week, and it worked well - about 90 minutes to make the connection. I even had time for a shower in the UA/IFL :cool:

I'm not sure if UA staff will still be at the transfer desk, but I think you can still get to the United Club where there will be agents who can rebook you. Since HKG-ORD is about the last U.S.-bound flight for the day, you'd likely end up spending at least one day in H.K.

I'd love to route through NRT, but we need 3 tickets so at least 1 or 2 of them will be standard awards.

So if we do miss the connection, does UA rebook us free of charge? Or do they take the position that this is Philippine Airlines fault in which case.....what happens?

Which PAL flight # and date are you looking at booking?

We don't have the dates yet....will only have two weeks notice. Basically, we're just trying to get a rough idea of what we can do assuming the saver awards all the way aren't available.

And no, the MNL-GUAM-HNL-ETC is not an option because of the lack of lay flat. :( Brutal.

So, would UA still take care of us if we missed the connection?

I expect that your situation would fall under the provisions of the flat tire rule, so yes, UA will rebook you. However, I would be more concerned about the availability of 3 confirmable C seats for the next day. Personally, I would work in an extra day in H.K. in the itinerary instead of having to worry about the possible misconnection over the entire trip.

I think UA would take care of you and get you home somehow as a basic extension of the flat tire rule, but it could be very inconvenient and involve waiting in HKG for availability on a future flight that may not necessarily be there the next day if you misconnect. I would also not think it is guaranteed that you would be assured a seat in BF/GF, you mention lieflat as being so important that you can't take the Micronesia routing. I guess you would have higher priority than standbys but not sure how it would rank compared to people confirmed in Y and waitlisted with GPUs. Personally if you value your time, I am not sure it is a risk I would take, but YMMV...

My understanding is that if the flights are not on the same PNR, then you'll be out of luck. I'm about to face that myself tomorrow - I'm flying into SYD on UA, then flying out on Air New Zealand to Wellington - different PNR. But the ANZ ticket is a flexible one, and there are a lot of flights each day to New Zealand so I'm taking my chances.

+1, and I just had 2 different partys do this. yea it cuts short the time at their final destination but they couldnt afford to miss their flight back to the US. And as you pointed out (as I did) theres no gaurantee that the rebooked flight would be anywhere but coach, even thou they were holding reses for non-coach, and the rebooked flight might evebn consist of extra stops and long layovers

OP its highly recommended to get into HKG the day before to be sure or on a much earlier flight if there is 1

Well, UA will take care of you, but most likely one if not all three of you will be downgraded to Y since it is last minute.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Unfortunately, our situation is very complicated. The child traveling with us will only have documentation for the Philippines and the US so a scheduled overnight in HKG is not possible. We need an interlining partner and most of the earlier flights from MNL to HKG are run by Cebu Pacific which does not interline. There is a very early Cathay flight at 6:20 which would be fine if we weren't required to be at the airport 3.5 hours early for paperwork reasons....emmigration, etc. And who knows what times these desks actually open?

We'll have to give this some more thought. But at least it sounds like UA wouldn't drop us altogether.

OP - You will not be connecting. You will be ending one itinerary and starting an entirely new one.

If you are late for your UA flight, there is no "flat tire" because this is intl. UA may or may not rebook you depending on its whim. If it doesn't, you are stuck. If it does, you may well wait a day or two for available seats.

Strongly agree with the above. Fly in the day before.

Cebu Pacific has two very early morning flights - why not take those, that would leave 3+ hours to collect luggage, and check in for UA. Why do you feel there is a need to check in for UA 3.5 hours before flight?

Ok, so we're back to UA possibly doing nothing for us if we miss the HKG flight. Fair enough.

I might as well lay it out. We are adopting a 2 year old and this is the return flight home. He will be confused, tired and undoubtedly cranky. For obvious reasons, we'd like him to get as much sleep as possible.

Here are the facts:
- cannot leave HKG airport due to not having appropriate paperwork for child
- need to interline so we don't have to collect bags (which would require a trip through hkg immigration which we probably can't do)
- Cebu Pacific does not interline with UA so that's a no go.
- other option would be cathay mnl-hkg 6:20a-8:20a then ua hkg-ewr 10:25a-2:05p.
- adoption agency recommends 3.5 hours at mnl airport for various steps including important emmigration paperwork for child
- we would stay near the airport but that is still a very early wakeup call for such a little guy!

Thanks for your continued suggestions. This is unlike any trip we have ever planned before. :)

We'll be flying coach out of MNL so there won't be expedited anything.