Kacee

Technically allowed under CoC but a shabby customer relations experience. I would be pissed and would ask for compensation (but would not necessarily expect to get anything).

twtrvl

Where do you get that this was a last-minute flight? She changed her flight a WEEK BEFORE the flight.

leonidas

This is a scenario which is technically ok but just morally and ethically wrong for UA. The customer should be refunded. Stuff like this makes people leave an airline for life.

bmw303

OP: If it is as you described,you should receive a refund. Keep calling. Eventually you'll reach someone with some common sense and a heart.

Often1

Bottom line is that OP's friend ought to send in a webform asking for a refund of the change fee + fare difference and explain in not one word more than 3 sentences, what occureed. Leave out all of junk about change fees because it's completely irrelevant and only gums up a CSR's ability to quickly and efficiently review the complaint. Park the outrage at the door.

On a good day, OP may see a credit -- not refund -- for the fare difference. On a bad day, $0. Maybe a couple of miles.

Forget the Greek Chorus about CC disputes. This one is dealt with in 15 seconds by UA and will be denied by Amex. Amex is really good about valid disputes and really bad long-term about attempts to use the dispute process for inappropriate reasons. If it's a corporate card, it's a lot worse.

Breaking this down issue-by-issue, which is the key:

1. Friend bought a ticket for $600 for a specific itinerary. For whatever reason, the friend chose to buy an inflexible ticket which carries a change fee of $200 + fare difference. There are, of course, flexible tickets which cost more.
2. Friend's gamble did not pay off. Stuff happens and itinerary changed.
3. Friend coughs up $550 ($200 + $350 fare difference).
4. Friend's newly-scheduled flight is cancelled. Flights get cancelled.
5. Friend accepts change to later flight. If this did not meet friend's needs and it was the sole option, friend could have cancelled for a full refund to the CC. But, friend chose to fly the less convenient routing. That's a choice friend (and we all make in IRROPS).

UA fulfilled its contract. Many of the posts in this thread are about life as the poster would like to see it, not life as it is under the contract friend and UA agreed to (read the COC).

DaviddesJ

The terms of the credit card are different from the terms of the airline ticket.

I'm just curious, how many times have you requested chargebacks in situations like this one, and what percentage were successful? Dozens of attempts?

Miles Ahead

I agree with College...er...LawSchool...er...Esquire Flyer. Your friend paid United $550 to get on a different flight, and he didn't get on that flight. Any other business about refundablility, flexibility, etc. is just a distraction.

That said, the motto of Jeffnited is "Once you've got their money, never give it back". I doubt very much United will issue a refund.

flyingnosh

Friend had a ticket that entitled her to fly on flight #2, and in the case of irrops, a re-booking at no charge on flight #3. She paid $550 to get a ticket that entitled her to fly on flight #1, and in the case of irrops, a re-booking at no charge on flight #2. That's what she purchased, and that's what UA delivered.

DaviddesJ

This is obviously true, and no one has questioned it from the very first post.

However, it ignores the question: what are the ways to get her money back, or some compensation for what's obviously a raw deal?

UA gives compensation to people all the time even though they aren't entitled to it by the ticket contract. There's threads hundreds of pages long describing example after example of that.

Purchasers also have contracts with their credit card providers that are different than, and in some cases provide more protections and benefits than, their contracts with the vendors.

Considering that people complain that $200 compensation isn't enough when their video entertainment is broken, it seems a bit odd to pick on this passenger who got screwed.

djs

Too late now, but if the change was made to make a specific meeting then a flight became cancelled, couldn't the OP's friend have made the argument that it had then become a "trip in vain" and tried for a refund that way? Would not have refunded all moneys but could've helped.

DaviddesJ

Of course she could have gotten a refund, less the nonrefundable change fee. But, presumably she still needed to go, and there wasn't a cheaper alternative at the last minute.

mre5765

If she was required to attend the meeting, and irrops put her on a flight that would make her miss the meeting, then she should have refused to get on the plane, and got all her money back.

Apparently she did get on the plane, so the meeting wasn't that critical.

In situations where it would be nice to take an earlier flight but not necessary, it is best to standby or do the same day change. Even if she is not exempt from the standby and sdc fees, it is much cheaper than paying a change fee.

That all said, I think UA should refund her change change fee since she derived no benefit from the fees, and UA incurred no cost (there was an open seat on her original flight).

DaviddesJ

She wouldn't get all her money back. She would get the fare back, but that wouldn't include the change fee.

Ragnarok

Had the flight been delayed, even if later than the second flight, or , if the passenger is placed on a different flight, than I agree that it is just another change made, as allowed by the CoC, as you stated.

However, I would argue in this case, the change, if made, were reversed by the airline.

As such, the change service, that the merchant charge the customer's card for, was ultimately not rendered.

iflyuaaa

Credit Card disupte? Goods and services not received? The additional payment was specifically to move to a specific flight and time. They put you back on the original flight, so any payment made for the change should be refunded. I bet you win with the credit card. UA is really very very quickly going down the tubes. And to think, I have 2 big international work trips next year that I was going to give to UA so I could make my PQD, but now I'm holding off on booking and thinking of going back to AA, or God forbid Delta. It probably is time to walk. The thought of going to Gold from 1k is just very emotionally difficult.