choatie88

After several calls to EVA and to United, this ended up being resolved and I ended up on my original flight. It is clearly an area where neither carrier's reps have much experience though.

As far as I can tell, the problem started when I called to change the date of the TPE-JFK segment. UA did not reissue the ticket after the date change, and after 2 weeks EVA canceled the reservation. Shortly thereafter, I noticed the cancellation and called UA to reinstate it, which they did, but they still did not reissue the ticket properly.

After the outbound, I called EVA twice and UA four times. In order, I got the following answers:

• UA says EVA cancelled the reservation and they can't do anything but offer me a flight with award availability, but perhaps I can work something out with EVA
• EVA agent confirmed on 7:55a flight, waitlisted on 7:30p flight
• EVA agent says it's UA's problem and they can't do anything, also notes that the ticket is still not issued correctly
• UA (in Taipei) says they can't do anything and only the US office can make changes to an award reservation
• UA (in Taipei) reissues the ticket properly, notes that EVA's waitlist for a *A award is invalid and will not be retained if the ticket is reissued
• UA (in US) notices that the waitlist has cleared, calls to confirm that I want the reservation changed back to 7:30p.

While I'm glad this worked out in the end, it seems to have been sheer luck that EVA opened award space on BR32. It also illustrates the value of hang up & call again.

myperks

IME, the main issue is that United doesn't REISSUE the ticket to match exactly the newly confirmed flights. Must reissue. Whether its change flights, change time, same cities, must reissue when it comes to non-UA segments.

However, for UA-only segments, no reissue is required since I'm assuming changing dates for the same flight (without additional segments) to UA is still the same "ticket" between two points and I've never had a problem with UA-only to UA-only change with the same ticket number.

Where I've had a problem is changing time from TPE-SFO on BR from the 11:30P to the 7:30P flight, even if its same segment on BR, it requires a UA reissue with a ticket matching the exact flight. Thank goodness my reservation for the earlier flight was still intact in BR system w/o ticket number and it was from a later flight to an earlier flight as it was manually "exchanged" at the airport by a competent BR ground staff. Not sure if it would have worked the other way around.

RobOnLI

This is the part that shocks me the most. All this talk about BR, TG, CA segments getting cancelled and absolutely zero notification from UA. But in this case, after UA already told OP that the waitlist was invalid and would not be honored if they re-issued the ticket, the OP actually gets a call from UA asking if he still wants the 730pm flight since it was available. WOW. I can't believe UA called.

-RM

findark

Right - if the original fare coupon is valid on the new itinerary, UA does not need to reissue the ticket for its own metal.

choatie88

Yeah, I was shocked too to get a call. Maybe it was because I raised hell with the Premier desk when the segment was originally cancelled. It's worth noting that only 2/4 of the UA agents I spoke to seemed to know that they needed to reissue the ticket to get the EVA segment to stick.

Happy

Are you dealing with the Indian call center or Philippines call center on the change of dates?

Many Indian call center employees have no clue that a ticket must be reissued once the itinerary involved partners has changes - be it date or routing - a NEW ticket is needed if it has partner in it, even it is only UA metal changes.

If it is pure UA metals then they just need to revalidate the ticket but no need to reissue it.

I cannot remember how many times I try to explain to the Indians a new ticket is needed. Once I had an award on NZ, it had multiple changes and each time I called NZ to make sure the reservation was intact. It was not until the 3rd or 4th change, the NZ agent said to me, "you may want to contact your travel agent to issue a ticket, as so far your reservation is not ticketed yet, since ....." The since .... was like 3 or 4 changes ago. Since that hollow experience, now I make sure a NEW ticket is issued after each change. UA system often does not refresh the Receipt even after the reissue. I used have to call UA to get a ticket number then checked the Saudia site to make sure I have a valid ticket. Someone taught me that to change the email address online, then ask a receipt to be sent to the new email address - Voila, the receipt then refresh, the new email address receives the latest Receipt which online also shows the latest information.

ALWAYS ALWAYS make sure you have a new ticket after you make changes even the changes are due to schedule change by the partner airlines. You NEED a new ticket to reflect those changes to keep your reservation intact and you have a valid ticket to fly.

PVDtoDEL

The agent doesn't control whether the ticket is reissued or revalidated - they just process a "resync" and UA's computer figures out whether it needs to be reissued or revalidated.

Reissues are a lot more expensive than revalidations, so UA's algorithm tries to make revalidate as much as possible... sometimes, the algorithm makes mistakes, and the change needs to be processed manually.

Definitely above the line call center agent's pay grade to understand and fix this stuff. If they can't give you a new ticket number, ask for the supervisor.

choatie88

Premier desk... sounded like Chicago or Hawaii? I suppose Philippines might be possible, but definitely not India.

complaner

Hi FT!

I'm booking an award ticket using United miles on EVA. Flights are:

• BR31, 777-300ER, JFK -> TPE. Then,
• BR255, A330-300, TPE -> DPS

I'm looking at the UA Biz Saver award ticket, but I'm wondering what the actual EVA cabin is for the business award ticket.

EVA has five classes:
Royal LaurelClass (looks equivalent to United global first)
Premium Laurel Class (looks equivalent to UA biz class, lie flat)
Business Class (no lie flat)
Elite Class (looks equivalent to E+)
Economy Class (looks equivalent to economy)

Any idea what the "Business" award would be? I'm hoping it's "Premium Laurel" and not "Business Class".

Thanks for your help

FL390

I have an upcoming business award booked on BR's 777-300ER through United and my seat is in the Royal Laurel class. The five classes are dependent on the aircraft.

The 777-300ER, JFK -> TPE will be Royal Laurel and the A330-300, TPE -> DPS will be Premium Laurel.

Kacee

There are really three classes on EVA: business, premium economy, and economy. Royal Laurel and Premium Laurel are just brand names for particular business class cabins on the various aircraft operated by BR. A UA business award will book into Premium Laurel, Royal Laurel, or Business on BR, depending on the aircraft. You can't book BR premium economy using UA miles.

bocastephen

Premium Laurel is the pre-Royal Laurel business class now found only on the old 747s which rarely fly to NA anymore (just SEA/YVR) and are definitely not lie-flat, but very uncomfortable angled seats and should be avoided. As mentioned in the last post, any business class award or upgrade will book only into Royal Laurel on a TPAC segment unless you're on a rare 747 flight. Within Asia, or on flights to other regions such as Europe, you may discover the angled business seats on the 747 or A3xx on non-US/Canada bound aircraft.

Based on your sample itinerary, your first flight is definitely Royal Laurel with true lie-flat, while your connecting flight is an angled business seat.

goodeats21

Quick question on EVA flights showing up on united.com for awards:

How reliable is the availability accuracy...is there still an issue with Phantom award space?

The details:

I have an existing one-way award ticketed to BKK. Partner First, includes ANA F and TG F segments. 130K miles.

I found BR award available, all business class 80k miles, with better dates.

I do not have enough miles to book the BR flights without cancelling the existing ticket.

Called 1K desk. They see the inventory on BR, but did not get an immediate confirmation from BR when trying to book. They said would need to wait 24 hours, and if BR didn't confirm the seats, I would be out of luck. I had them abandon all the changes and kept my original itinerary.

Any suggestions for workarounds? or thoughts on if it is worth the risk with EVA? Saving the 50,000 miles would be nice, but not that big a deal. The much better schedule with BR is really what is driving this...

Rumples

I've always booked Eva through the UA website. Never have had a problem.

Taking BR5 next week LAX - TPE via 80K miles. Always confirmed and I can always pick my seat/order my meal via the Eva Air website as well.

npei

I just did multi-segment award booking with one Eva segment. UA system is acting weird this past week. First two times, UA computer would not price award correctly, and had to call 1k desk & web support. 3rd time priced correctly, had to wait 24hr, but ticket issued successfully.