GregMM

I could have sworn that it showed snack.

That's the rule that was given to me for flights in the range that includes IAH to BOS, must be different for some longer flights.

mahasamatman

With United (though not exclusively), "rules" are often just rough guidelines.

ajklink

I just saw this, too. Some (most actually) seats indicated "Best Available Economy Plus" are not the best by a couple measures (e.g., they had occupied neighboring seats when others did not in E+, no floor storage/bulkhead (admittedly more subjective), etc.). It seems like a useless feature. Anyone who is concerned with optimizing seat selection would consult seatguru or another source that clearly outlines what makes it a better or worse seat option.

williamsnursery

I was wondering my rights in this situation.
On March 8th, I used miles to book a round trip ticket from Newark to Turks and Caicos for April 7th. I was charged 60,000 from my account.

When I arrived to the airport, I was paged to the check-in counter. I was told that there was an equipment change, and that my seat was moved to coach. They handed me a ticket, with a $250 voucher, but I said, I would hope that I could be put back in First class if there was a no-show. After waiting, I noticed that the monitor showed that 5 people were upgraded to first class after check in.

I am not happy, and feel that it wasn't right for them to down grade me, and then put other people that weren't originally told they were in first class a head of me.

Also, I was charged miles for a first class seat, and I feel that I should get at least the difference back.

Any thoughts, or insight would be helpful.
-Dave Williams

DaviddesJ

Since occupancy of adjacent seats can always change, I'm not surprised that UA doesn't rank it as a factor. Plus, anyone who cares can see for themselves which adjacent seats are or aren't occupied.

I think you are mistaken in your assumptions about what other people do. Of course, if that's true, then this marking will have no effect and make no difference to anyone.

qcdthemouse

hi all,

just wondering if more experienced flyers have any insight on this:

i am looking to book a ticket between ORD and GRU. on united.com a one-way direct flight from ORD to GRU on Aug 6 would cost $2,715 on the M fare.

but a round-trip search for ORD->GRU on Aug 6 and return on Aug. 17 would only cost $1450 on the L fare.

so why is the lower L fare not showing up when i search for one-way?

(just in case you are curious, i am using miles to book the one-way as an open jaw...)

thanks,
Ian

WineCountryUA

Each fare, besides having a price, also has fare rules. It is not uncommon for discount international economy fares to require a RT purchase, hence when you search OW, the fare does not show.

So the real question is why does discount international economy fares require a RT? Not sure I really know the reason but suspect the airlines believe those looking for OW fares might those that are trying to avoid max stay requirements or cherry picking fares or ..... some other reasons that don't fit the airlines pricing model. They are limiting the flexibility to have access to the discount international economy fares to increase their revenue. There is probably a better reason but this limitation is common.

One method for minimizing this impact is to buy the RT and discard the return. This is against the airline rules but they are unlikely to enforce this on the occasional violator.

This also puts the hurt on the blogger's so-called free one-way awards. You got pay for the return and pay the RT price.

qcdthemouse

hi all,

i am looking at IAH-PEK, which is served by Air China. on united.com when i asked for direct flights IAH-> PEK on June 15 and return on July 24, it gives a full Y fare of $6,009, while the expert mode shows the less expensive H9, Q9 and V9. my question is why wouldn't these lower fare buckets show up in the search?

thanks in advance!

DaviddesJ

Same reason as given above, those fares have restrictions that you are not meeting, e.g., they might require round-trip travel. It's also possible for fare buckets to show up in Expert Mode that are impossible to qualify for, e.g., there might be a fare bucket that requires 21-day advance purchase that shows up as having availability even though it's less than 21 days before departure. The fare bucket is technically open but no one can buy it because the restrictions can't be met.

WineCountryUA

Again this is about fare rules -- for some reason you are not meeting the fare rules of the lower fares. You will need to pull the fare rules and read them to find out why.

You can find the detail rules at http://www.farecompare.com/products/.

agree

read the wiki header for
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ation-etc.html
You got the first half of the compensation but some of the miles are probably due back also

qcdthemouse

[QUOTE=WineCountryUA;22737683]Again this is about fare rules -- for some reason you are not meeting the fare rules of the lower fares. You will need to pull the fare rules and read them to find out why.

You can find the detail rules at http://www.farecompare.com/products/.

thanks a lot for the replies on this one and the last one. when i go to the webpage for the fare rules and search for either ORD-GRU or IAH-PEK, they both came up empty. i guess united is not making it easy on us...

alex_b

Welcome to FT. I would write in and request a refund of the miles and also complain that you were not accommodated on the gate upgrade list as a displaced F customer.

I would suspect, unless you saw them waitlisted and then clear at the gate, that those 5 people were not upgraded after check-in but at some point in the proceeding 5 days through the Complimentary Premier Upgrade process. Why they weren't downgraded instead of you, who knows, downgrade decisions are something of a black box.

williamsnursery

I did take a photo of the monitor showing upgrades. Do they only show people that are upgraded at the gate on the monitor? There were five names with checks next to their names. I am making the assumption that if they already had their seats, they wouldn't be on that monitor.

DaviddesJ

That's a wrong assumption. I'm often upgraded weeks earlier and show up with a check mark on the upgrade list after checking in.

williamsnursery

That does make me feel somewhat better. Does a First Class ticket that is bought completely with miles, a lower priority than someone who has upgraded a paid ticket?

-Dave