thegong4590

I accidentally booked flights for 1 week before the actual flight dates I needed (miscommunication with a buddy of mine). Paid about $360 from NYC-SFO and can't cancel right now because 24 hour period has ended.

For those experienced fliers, is there any way that I can get credit for part of the money spent? I'd switch my flight but since I bought 2 one ways (it was cheaper) it'd be $400 + fare difference and it wasn't worth it. If there isn't a way, would there be a way that I could try convincing United to convert the price I paid to award travel instead? I'd rather have wasted miles than $360 go down the drain for nothing.

The other work-around I've been thinking about is buying the trip insurance, and asking my company to see if there's a way around this. Has anyone tried this before? I know it works only if you are getting laid off or your company environment is hazardous, but what about getting your firm to say that they made you stay in because of an urgent need?

Feeling doubtful and probably will swallow this loss, but if anyone has any advice or ways to persuade customer service I'd really appreciate it.

njcommodore

I think the best you can hope for is a weather waiver, schedule change or a bump if there's an oversell. Either way don't cancel until the last second.

Often1

1. No credit unless you fly the segments as purchased. Period. Unfortunately, by buying 2 1-ways, each ticket (presuming they cost roughly the same) will generate an approximately $180 credit and cost $200 to use that credit.

2. The insurance fraud scam won't work because it's doubtful that any coverage for "we won't let you travel" would be sold after the fact (even if you could convince an operating business to conspire with you to commit insurance fraud).

Your only hope here is that one or both flights are cancelled or significantly changed, entitling you to a refund.

thegong4590

Understood. And I wasn't trying to say I would purposely go for the insurance fraud method. Its just I know for those days there are important projects I'll need to be working on and was wondering if that would be a viable excuse.

njcommodore, for the bump due to oversell to happen though wouldn't I need to be at the airport? Or is there a remote way to volunteer to get bumped without physically being there?

emcampbe

You're going to have to take this as a lesson learned the hard way. As others have mentioned, short of a schedule change or cancellation, the only way to salvage any value is by paying the change fee, but it sounds like it might not be worth it since the value you will get is less than the change fee.

Committing insurance fraud is definitely not the way to go - it's a terrible idea. Asking your company to collude with you in this is an even stupider idea. One - if your company really needed you to stay back for work, they should be covering your change fee. Second - this is potentially a good way to get terminated. If this is the kind of thing you do to get out of taking responsibility for mistakes you made, it brings into question what other types of similar things you might try while representing your employer.

thegong4590

Very good points emcampbe. Its a good lesson learned, since now I'll probably look for airlines that have a more flexible policy (ex. Southwest). And yes, I understand the whole insurance issue. I guess the way I phrased it in my original response was misleading. Apologies for that, and I will try to see if my employer can cover for the change fee in the case of an emergency.

dsauch

wasnt there a post of someone doing SDC for a month or so?
if you have status to do it for free - you should be able to move each flight 24h at a time.

njcommodore

Once I was called offering a pre-flight bump, but all others occurred at the airport. You can check the flight to see how many seats are left for sale and if it's Y0 or Y1 you might want to head to the airport. Better than nothing.

kenn0223

Why did you book it as two separate reservations? As far as I know, all UA domestic OW fares are combinable. You could have purchased a RT ticket using the 2 OW fares. In fact, most UA domestic fares are OW and when you purchase a RT ticket you're just buying 2 OWs.

thegong4590

I bought 2 ow because the airports in nyc were different...both headed to and departing from sfo though.

And the sdc thing may work, but since I am not gold status I think I would get charged $75 every day for the one week I'd need to push the tickets back for.

And what is Y1 or Y0?

sannmann

You can use United.com to book in and out of different airports using the multiple destinations feature. I might fly out of IAD and back into DCA on some itineraries. You can do the same with JFK, EWR, or LGA.

Y1 means there is one seat for sale in the Economy cabin. Y0 means there are zero seats for sale in the Economy cabin.

thegong4590

Yeah I knew of the multiple destinations feature but I got in a habit of ow and guess made this boneheaded move. In retrospect I had a lot of miles I needed to use so that would've been the smarter play, but it just seemed like a decent price.

kenn0223

Seems that this was a multi-lesson learning experience.

njcommodore

some, maybe most, but definitely not all.

mgcsinc

Really?