Feb 25, 2022, 9:47 am
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Rule 5 Cancellation of Reservations
- In addition to exercising any of its remedies in Rule 6 K) below, UA reserves the right to cancel bookings and/or reservations which it deems fraudulent, abusive, illogical, fictitious, which are booked and/or reserved with no intention of flying, or for which the passenger makes a misrepresentation without notice to the passenger or the individual making the booking. The types of improper reservations that UA will cancel without notice include, but are not limited to: reservations made without having been requested by or on behalf of the named passenger; reservations made to hold or block seats for the purpose of obtaining lower fares, MP award inventory, travel certificates, or upgrades that may not otherwise be available; reservations made to manipulate, abuse, or circumvent any of UA’s fare rules, policies or provisions; reservations made for the same passenger on flights traveling on or about the same date between one or more of the same or nearby origin or destination cities; and reservations with connections that depart before the arrival on the inbound flight.
[Consolidated] - Duplicated / double / impossible reservations -- What will UA do?
Oct 13, 2023, 4:22 pm
#226
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,415
Oct 13, 2023, 7:12 pm
#227
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: GVA (Greater Vancouver Area)
Programs: DREAD Gold; UA 1.035MM; Bonvoy Au-197; PCC Elite+; CCC Elite+; MSC C-12; CWC Au-197; WoH Dis
Posts: 52,140
This may be apocryphal, but years ago, I recall hearing of someone booking all of First Class on a flight with refundable tickets and then canceling the day before so their upgrade would go through.
Oct 14, 2023, 7:47 am
#228
Join Date: Sep 2023
Posts: 184
That's just evil and will likely get caught. On the other hand, booking just 2 or 3 will probably fly under radar.
Dec 19, 2023, 4:13 am
#229
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 48
Planning next fall vacation… ideally would like to go to Egypt but, due to the events in the region, want to have a backup plan. So the idea is to book flights to Egypt on Egyptair/UA through United on points and flights to Mexico through Southwest with cash for the exact same dates. Would either airline see the other reservation and cancel my tickets?
Dec 19, 2023, 8:08 am
#230
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Floating around
Programs: UA 1K (1MM), DL Gold (1MM), Marriott LTT
Posts: 10,346
Planning next fall vacation… ideally would like to go to Egypt but, due to the events in the region, want to have a backup plan. So the idea is to book flights to Egypt on Egyptair/UA through United on points and flights to Mexico through Southwest with cash for the exact same dates. Would either airline see the other reservation and cancel my tickets?
-RM
Dec 23, 2023, 9:02 am
#231
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: JZRO
Posts: 9,169
Planning next fall vacation… ideally would like to go to Egypt but, due to the events in the region, want to have a backup plan. So the idea is to book flights to Egypt on Egyptair/UA through United on points and flights to Mexico through Southwest with cash for the exact same dates. Would either airline see the other reservation and cancel my tickets?
We went in "good times" (October, 2019) on UA and MS (using points). But we still booked alternate travel on AA (using points) just in case something happened. Turned out nothing did, but had the pandemic occurred a few months earlier...
Jan 8, 2024, 7:25 pm
#232
Join Date: May 2012
Location: LAX
Programs: DL, UA
Posts: 421
Overlapping itinerary email
I have two refundable tickets booked- one day apart on the same route. There is no overlap, but I just got an email saying there were overlapping or duplicate flight segments and I should cancel one immediately. Is this right?
Jan 8, 2024, 7:32 pm
#234
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: AS 75K, DL Silver, UA Platinum, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Platinum + LT Gold
Posts: 10,515
United has an overly sensitive detection system. Once it has flagged, even agents may not be able to do much. They can restore them manually, but the computer will just flag again.
Above applies to overlap and (United deemed) "impossible" flights - such as open jaw flights.
Above applies to overlap and (United deemed) "impossible" flights - such as open jaw flights.
Jan 8, 2024, 9:55 pm
#236
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.997MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,859
Yep and if you don't UA will
Not really possible, Hence the violation of your bookings T&Cs -- impossible booking
Not really possible, Hence the violation of your bookings T&Cs -- impossible booking
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jan 8, 2024 at 10:00 pm
Jan 9, 2024, 7:12 am
#237
Join Date: May 2007
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 5,465
It's in fact physically possible to fly ORD-LIR on UA on the morning of day 1, return to ORD on UA or some other airline the same afternoon/evening, and fly ORD-LIR again on UA on the morning of day 2. Whether a traveler actually intends to do so is another question, but I don't particularly like the idea of UA's computer attempting to decipher a traveler's intent when determining which bookings/routings are duplicate and thus strictly impossible.
Jan 9, 2024, 9:05 am
#238
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,415
Rule 5(H) : (emphasis added)
In addition to exercising any of its remedies in Rule 6 K) below, UA reserves the right to cancel bookings and/or reservations which it deems fraudulent, abusive, illogical, fictitious, which are booked and/or reserved with no intention of flying, or for which the passenger makes a misrepresentation without notice to the passenger or the individual making the booking. The types of improper reservations that UA will cancel without notice include, but are not limited to: reservations made without having been requested by or on behalf of the named passenger; reservations made to hold or block seats for the purpose of obtaining lower fares, MP award inventory, travel certificates, or upgrades that may not otherwise be available; reservations made to manipulate, abuse, or circumvent any of UA’s fare rules, policies or provisions; reservations made for the same passenger on flights traveling on or about the same date between one or more of the same or nearby origin or destination cities; reservations made for flights that are or likely will be delayed with the intention of making a claim against or receiving a benefit from United concerning the flight delay; reservations where UA suspects credit card fraud or other fraud related to payment; and reservations with connections that depart before the arrival on the inbound flight.
Jan 9, 2024, 9:14 am
#239
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Honolulu Harbor
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 15,026
Probably 90% of domestic or short-haul int'l routes could be physically repeated the next day. Allowing "possible" consecutive day segments would allow one to book IAH to DEN one-ways 10 days in a row. Can a flyer do it? Sure. Is it likely? No.
People booking more segments more than they intend to take reduce inventory and may actually boost prices for the next buyer into another (more expensive) fare class.
I've was inconvenienced once by UA's duplicate detection system (albeit reason was another pax w/ same name/same segment). PITA, but worth it in long run IMHO.
Last edited by IAH-OIL-TRASH; Jan 9, 2024 at 4:12 pm Reason: added punk-tuation.
Jan 9, 2024, 12:51 pm
#240
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: USA
Programs: UA Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,195
I find it somewhat amusing that travelers will 1) book duplicative or backup flights for the same travel, 2) complain about airlines overbooking some flights, and 3) complain that the airlines use algorithms to detect and prevent duplicative or impossible bookings. Usually it's different people complaining but I'm sure we could find examples of the very same person doing 2 or even all 3 actions.