United Not Honoring Ticketed Award Flight
Nov 23, 2013, 7:37 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 142
United Not Honoring Ticketed Award Flight
My buddy, who is a Premier 1K member, recently booked a flight with United IAH-SYD VIA Beijing on United. He received the United email with itinerary and receipt confirmation, and he subsequently booked additional one way award tickets for his trip that night. After calling United to confirm why Air China (Beijing-Syd) didn't have his reservation (i.e. to get his seats and transit visa info) the next day, United said that it would take a couple days for the ticket booking process to clear and that he should call back in a few days. After waiting a few days, they said there might be a chance that the flight might not book.
After multiple additional calls and a couple weeks of waiting, the 1K desk told him that he wasn't going to have the 2 seats on the Air China. My buddy was excited to have the Air China for multiple reasons and paid for some one way flights out of pocket just to make the itinerary work (i.e. He wanted the 13 hour layover in Beijing because it was a free chance to quickly check out the Great Wall and a couple other sights.).
His frustration with United mainly deals with United's way of dealing with the situation particularly since he had received an email flight confirmation and if he had arrived at the airport without ever calling Air China / United before flying then there might not have been a seat for him.
Any recommendations on dealing with United?? What are the rights when a itinerary has been ticketed and they dont honor it? Any advice on how to handle this situation with united would be greatly appreciated as he lost a total of 7-8 hrs trying to resolve it and all he got from united in the end was a sorry but we can honor the ticketed itinerary.
After multiple additional calls and a couple weeks of waiting, the 1K desk told him that he wasn't going to have the 2 seats on the Air China. My buddy was excited to have the Air China for multiple reasons and paid for some one way flights out of pocket just to make the itinerary work (i.e. He wanted the 13 hour layover in Beijing because it was a free chance to quickly check out the Great Wall and a couple other sights.).
His frustration with United mainly deals with United's way of dealing with the situation particularly since he had received an email flight confirmation and if he had arrived at the airport without ever calling Air China / United before flying then there might not have been a seat for him.
Any recommendations on dealing with United?? What are the rights when a itinerary has been ticketed and they dont honor it? Any advice on how to handle this situation with united would be greatly appreciated as he lost a total of 7-8 hrs trying to resolve it and all he got from united in the end was a sorry but we can honor the ticketed itinerary.
Nov 23, 2013, 8:24 pm
#8
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Nov 23, 2013, 8:27 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Honolulu Harbor
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On partner flights, often one will often get paperwork that appears to confirm flight, but in fact is confirmation of a reservation request. On the "View Reservation" there is a place where you can click to see partner-issued confirmation numbers. My guess is the Air China confirmation number (different from the United confirmation number) never existed because UA never got one from Air China.
Nov 23, 2013, 8:52 pm
#11
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: United 1K MM, Marriott Gold
Posts: 417
On partner flights, often one will often get paperwork that appears to confirm flight, but in fact is confirmation of a reservation request. On the "View Reservation" there is a place where you can click to see partner-issued confirmation numbers. My guess is the Air China confirmation number (different from the United confirmation number) never existed because UA never got one from Air China.
The problem most people--myself included--have is that it works only on some airlines.
CA and NH show their confirmation numbers on United itinerary.
TG, BR, SQ don't show their confirmation numbers.
Unless one remembers which ones are supposed to show, it's difficult to tell when they are missing.
Nov 23, 2013, 9:05 pm
#12
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: New York NY
Programs: UA Gold, CO Plat, CO Million Miler
Posts: 2,617
Maybe, and maybe not. You said in your original posting that "United said that it would take a couple days for the ticket booking process to clear and that he should call back in a few days." Sounds like the Air China portion was never ticketed.
Nov 23, 2013, 9:50 pm
#13
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 16
Very similar or even the same case here. An award flight with a CA segment. The 016 e-ticket number is shown in the receipt.
At first the CA confirmation number was not in the list of View additional confirmation numbers.
Called UA and an agent reissued the ticket for me. Now I've got a CA confirmation number.
Called CA and CA agent still claimed that the ticket was not confirmed and instead was waitlisted. The CA agent said that there was no award ticket for that flight, and I had to ask UA to change the ticket or I would probably be denied boarding.
Called UA again and the UA agent said it was okay as long as CA could find my ticket in their database.
Very frustrated and have no idea what to do next. Any advice?
At first the CA confirmation number was not in the list of View additional confirmation numbers.
Called UA and an agent reissued the ticket for me. Now I've got a CA confirmation number.
Called CA and CA agent still claimed that the ticket was not confirmed and instead was waitlisted. The CA agent said that there was no award ticket for that flight, and I had to ask UA to change the ticket or I would probably be denied boarding.
Called UA again and the UA agent said it was okay as long as CA could find my ticket in their database.
Very frustrated and have no idea what to do next. Any advice?
Nov 24, 2013, 7:48 pm
#15
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Traveling the World
Posts: 6,072
I booked a LH award for my FCO-MUC-SFO flight for this past April and then I switched a Air Canada Ticket to an LH BCN-MUC-YVR-SFO LH/UA ticket and when I called to make the change on the phone the agent said she had to wait for Lufthansa to give her the HK and LH Ticket Number . Once that was done she gave me the PNR and I called LH for seats. Both are for Trans Atlantic Cruises.
On the Lufthansa website when I entered my Passport/APIS there was a Green Checkmark to state that both flights are confirmed.
I would think the UA agent should have verified that Air China would accept the tickets. It should take 24 hours at the most to get a Ticket Number and PNR# as well. On the UA system there should be an HK since Air China is a Direct Connect Seller right away. If the code says NN or other code then there is some problem with the ticketing.
This could be a case of phantom awards but if I were the passenger I would call up United and ask for the Ticket# and PNR of Air China and use that as my evidence that it was ticketed and confirmed. I would even call Air China and have them e-mail me or fax me the itinerary on their letterhead with the Ticket #.
If this was booked under United's Ticket Stock 016 then United is responsible to reaccomodate you. If it was booked under Air China's Ticket Stock then Air China has to reaccomodate you and work with United to fix the issue.
If UA cancelled the ticket then they should have been responsible to reacomodate the passenger be it in a Revenue seat or on another carrier.
Let's say I needed to be in Paris for a special event and I went through the motions and got a Ticket# and PNR# and then a few weeks before the flight I'm told that my reservation has been cancelled I would then have United rebook me on a flight on their expense since clearly I booked in good faith and the miles were deducted at the Award Redemption Rate.
Perhaps there was a schedule change and if thats the case United should have told the passenger so they could be rebooked for no additional miles etc.
One would think that United would generate an email if there was a problem stating that Air China refused to ticket your Award Ticket and state the reason and then work with you to put you on a flight that meets your needs. I would be pushing this issue with Air China/United and tell them that you chose this route for a specific reason.
I really am beginning to think that I can't trust Asian carriers with anything anymore considering this has never happened to me on Lufthansa or another airline. It's Air China's responsibility to contact United and the Customer if there is a problem. Why did it take weeks and not days to tell the customer there is a problem? Air China should be punished for not informing the customer even if it means giving the customer an OP-UP to First Class.
I would have not purchased a one way ticket because I wanted to use miles and I would have told United that I expect to know the answer as to why my reservation is not ticketing. By doing this it shows United that you agreed to the cancelled flight and that you won't take further action. Here is where I beg to differ. I would have not paid one cent more and tell United and Air China it's your responsibility to get me to where I need to go and if it means you have to pay for it out of your Errors and Omissions etc then so be it. I expect an answer and new ticket with the best seats by the end of the Workday today. Please call me if you have any questions.
If Air China loads the wrong Award data then United should drop them from their Award Tickets and even from the Star Alliance. Its fraud if they say they have seats at X amount of Miles you go and book it and you got the confirmation and it was not ticketed.
Let's put it into perspective I go to Best Buy and buy a Laptop for $900 then Best Buy calls me a week or two later to say that it should have been $1,200. I as the Customer would refuse to pay the difference because you agreed to the $900 at the time of purchase.
I would contact Chris Elliott, Alexandar Anolik(San Francisco Travel Lawyer) and your local Newspaper/TV Station to get compensation.
Your friend booked the ticket in Good Faith and is a Status Frequent Flier(1K). Why didn't the 1K Desk Fend for him and contact your friend right away? You should have your friend pose this to the 1K desk.
I am studying to become a Travel Agent/Tourism and I have learned that if you see anything in your Global Distribution System Queues about a schedule change or other change you need to tell your customer right away and go over the options.
For instance my Father booked via Vayama to go from Barcelona-Tel Aviv and there was a major schedule change so Vayama contacts my Father and I worked with him to get a new flight on KLM. I also look at schedules off an on especially if I book far in advance and am proactive when it comes to changing it.
My Air Canada Flight got changed to Rogue with No IFE/ Alcohol in Coach and I considered this a downgrade of service so I called United Mileage Plus and was able to switch for no fee to Lufthansa under the same mileage category. The flight would have misconnected too as they were planning some schedule changes as well.
All in all I hope this gets resolved and please keep us posted OP and let us know what we can do to help your friend. I really feel bad for him.
On the Lufthansa website when I entered my Passport/APIS there was a Green Checkmark to state that both flights are confirmed.
I would think the UA agent should have verified that Air China would accept the tickets. It should take 24 hours at the most to get a Ticket Number and PNR# as well. On the UA system there should be an HK since Air China is a Direct Connect Seller right away. If the code says NN or other code then there is some problem with the ticketing.
This could be a case of phantom awards but if I were the passenger I would call up United and ask for the Ticket# and PNR of Air China and use that as my evidence that it was ticketed and confirmed. I would even call Air China and have them e-mail me or fax me the itinerary on their letterhead with the Ticket #.
If this was booked under United's Ticket Stock 016 then United is responsible to reaccomodate you. If it was booked under Air China's Ticket Stock then Air China has to reaccomodate you and work with United to fix the issue.
If UA cancelled the ticket then they should have been responsible to reacomodate the passenger be it in a Revenue seat or on another carrier.
Let's say I needed to be in Paris for a special event and I went through the motions and got a Ticket# and PNR# and then a few weeks before the flight I'm told that my reservation has been cancelled I would then have United rebook me on a flight on their expense since clearly I booked in good faith and the miles were deducted at the Award Redemption Rate.
Perhaps there was a schedule change and if thats the case United should have told the passenger so they could be rebooked for no additional miles etc.
One would think that United would generate an email if there was a problem stating that Air China refused to ticket your Award Ticket and state the reason and then work with you to put you on a flight that meets your needs. I would be pushing this issue with Air China/United and tell them that you chose this route for a specific reason.
I really am beginning to think that I can't trust Asian carriers with anything anymore considering this has never happened to me on Lufthansa or another airline. It's Air China's responsibility to contact United and the Customer if there is a problem. Why did it take weeks and not days to tell the customer there is a problem? Air China should be punished for not informing the customer even if it means giving the customer an OP-UP to First Class.
I would have not purchased a one way ticket because I wanted to use miles and I would have told United that I expect to know the answer as to why my reservation is not ticketing. By doing this it shows United that you agreed to the cancelled flight and that you won't take further action. Here is where I beg to differ. I would have not paid one cent more and tell United and Air China it's your responsibility to get me to where I need to go and if it means you have to pay for it out of your Errors and Omissions etc then so be it. I expect an answer and new ticket with the best seats by the end of the Workday today. Please call me if you have any questions.
If Air China loads the wrong Award data then United should drop them from their Award Tickets and even from the Star Alliance. Its fraud if they say they have seats at X amount of Miles you go and book it and you got the confirmation and it was not ticketed.
Let's put it into perspective I go to Best Buy and buy a Laptop for $900 then Best Buy calls me a week or two later to say that it should have been $1,200. I as the Customer would refuse to pay the difference because you agreed to the $900 at the time of purchase.
I would contact Chris Elliott, Alexandar Anolik(San Francisco Travel Lawyer) and your local Newspaper/TV Station to get compensation.
Your friend booked the ticket in Good Faith and is a Status Frequent Flier(1K). Why didn't the 1K Desk Fend for him and contact your friend right away? You should have your friend pose this to the 1K desk.
I am studying to become a Travel Agent/Tourism and I have learned that if you see anything in your Global Distribution System Queues about a schedule change or other change you need to tell your customer right away and go over the options.
For instance my Father booked via Vayama to go from Barcelona-Tel Aviv and there was a major schedule change so Vayama contacts my Father and I worked with him to get a new flight on KLM. I also look at schedules off an on especially if I book far in advance and am proactive when it comes to changing it.
My Air Canada Flight got changed to Rogue with No IFE/ Alcohol in Coach and I considered this a downgrade of service so I called United Mileage Plus and was able to switch for no fee to Lufthansa under the same mileage category. The flight would have misconnected too as they were planning some schedule changes as well.
All in all I hope this gets resolved and please keep us posted OP and let us know what we can do to help your friend. I really feel bad for him.
Last edited by danielonn; Nov 24, 2013 at 8:11 pm