Mar 27, 2019, 4:29 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Economy only, not First (Business) -- even for GS
Premier priority travel services
Premier priority travel services
Access to most sold-out flights: Premier members may receive confirmed reservations - even when a flight is sold out - when purchasing certain full-fare tickets. Premier 1K® members may take advantage of this benefit when purchasing an unrestricted Y or B class ticket at least 90 minutes prior to departure. This benefit also applies to Premier Platinum members when purchasing an unrestricted Y class ticket at least 120 minutes prior to departure, and Premier Gold and Premier Silver members when purchasing an unrestricted Y class ticket at least 24 hours prior to departure.
Please contact the Premier Priority Desk or call the United Customer Contact Center at 1-800-UNITED-1 (1-800-864-8331) to reserve and purchase your flight.
Please contact the Premier Priority Desk or call the United Customer Contact Center at 1-800-UNITED-1 (1-800-864-8331) to reserve and purchase your flight.
"Access to most sold-out flights" (Economy only)
Mar 8, 2015, 9:19 pm
#76
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: UA Plat 2MM. DL Plat, AS MVP
Posts: 12,752
Why?
You and the GS both had tickets to fly that day.
Limited seats, number of passengers exceeds the number of limited seats, airline bumps you instead of him because they think he's more valuable.
You get IDB out of it, which is what the airline is obligated to do should they not fly you on a plane they said they would fly you on.
If you miss a multi-million-dollar meeting because of it, that's because you didn't purchase transportation appropriate for making sure you made your meeting.
"Your honor, I had a multi-million dollar meeting, and I bought the cheapest ticket I could, arriving at a time that gave me no margin of error should weather or other circumstances prevent me from traveling."
You and the GS both had tickets to fly that day.
Limited seats, number of passengers exceeds the number of limited seats, airline bumps you instead of him because they think he's more valuable.
You get IDB out of it, which is what the airline is obligated to do should they not fly you on a plane they said they would fly you on.
If you miss a multi-million-dollar meeting because of it, that's because you didn't purchase transportation appropriate for making sure you made your meeting.
"Your honor, I had a multi-million dollar meeting, and I bought the cheapest ticket I could, arriving at a time that gave me no margin of error should weather or other circumstances prevent me from traveling."
Mar 8, 2015, 11:03 pm
#77
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Bangkok or San Francisco
Programs: United 1k, Marriott Lifetime PE, Former DL Gold, Former SQ Solitaire, HH Gold
Posts: 11,886
I find this topic interesting. In the old days I was Solitaire with SQ. One of their published benefits was Solitaire members could buy (wiht $ or miles or by changing an existing reservation) a business class ticket on a fully sold out flight and you were guaranteed a seat in Coach (with a refund) or Business even if they had to boot a confirmed passenger off the flight.
Mar 8, 2015, 11:27 pm
#78
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: EAU
Programs: UA 1K, CO Plat, NW Plat, Marriott Premiere Plat, SPG Plat, Priority Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 4,712
It's commercial air travel. Delays/cancellations are part of the deal. Maybe this guy feels that if there are two planes going from A to B on day C, and plane A gets the flight cancelled, everyone on Plane B should get to go while everyone on Plane A is screwed, but they're United's planes, and United gets to decide who gets on Plane B, with contractual remedies for anyone they decide doesn't make it.
Jul 6, 2017, 2:49 pm
#79
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: DEN
Programs: UA MM Plat; AA MM Gold; HHonors Diamond
Posts: 15,866
Finally took advantage of the "Access to most sold-out flights" benefit
This one:
Access to most sold-out flights: Premier members may receive confirmed reservations - even when a flight is sold out - when purchasing certain full-fare tickets. Premier 1K® members may take advantage of this benefit when purchasing an unrestricted Y or B class ticket at least 90 minutes prior to departure. This benefit also applies to Premier Platinum members when purchasing an unrestricted Y class ticket at least 120 minutes prior to departure, and Premier Gold and Premier Silver members when purchasing an unrestricted Y class ticket at least 24 hours prior to departure.
Turns out that, in a late development, in order to make our eclipse trip work my SO needs to be home the night of August 21st, and every late afternoon/evening flight on all airlines is sold out.
First agent (with 22 years experience) had never heard of it, but managed to ticket her in Y for over $900. I know that unrestricted B was far cheaper, but figured I'd get the seat first and ask questions later.
Called back in an hour and got another experienced agent who had heard of this benefit, but had never actually ticketed anyone on it. She contacted her help desk, who confirmed that 1Ks can snag seats on sold-out flights in unrestricted B, and refared the flight down to about $450.
Note that both were pmUA agents; IIRC this was a Continental benefit. One of the agents said that on the old United, "when a flight's sold out, that's it".
There are some great benefits to being a 1K...
Access to most sold-out flights: Premier members may receive confirmed reservations - even when a flight is sold out - when purchasing certain full-fare tickets. Premier 1K® members may take advantage of this benefit when purchasing an unrestricted Y or B class ticket at least 90 minutes prior to departure. This benefit also applies to Premier Platinum members when purchasing an unrestricted Y class ticket at least 120 minutes prior to departure, and Premier Gold and Premier Silver members when purchasing an unrestricted Y class ticket at least 24 hours prior to departure.
Turns out that, in a late development, in order to make our eclipse trip work my SO needs to be home the night of August 21st, and every late afternoon/evening flight on all airlines is sold out.
First agent (with 22 years experience) had never heard of it, but managed to ticket her in Y for over $900. I know that unrestricted B was far cheaper, but figured I'd get the seat first and ask questions later.
Called back in an hour and got another experienced agent who had heard of this benefit, but had never actually ticketed anyone on it. She contacted her help desk, who confirmed that 1Ks can snag seats on sold-out flights in unrestricted B, and refared the flight down to about $450.
Note that both were pmUA agents; IIRC this was a Continental benefit. One of the agents said that on the old United, "when a flight's sold out, that's it".
There are some great benefits to being a 1K...
Jul 6, 2017, 4:56 pm
#80
Join Date: Dec 2015
Programs: UA Silver, AA Gold
Posts: 221
I've always wanted to test this benefit. There is a route I fly a lot for work that sometimes has sold out flights, and I've wondered how I would be able to exercise this benefit since we book through a corporate travel agency (CWT). I've wondered if I can book a B fare on a different flight / same route that has availability through our travel agency, and then call UA to switch onto the desired full flight since I have a B ticket. Has anyone ever tried this tactic?
Jul 6, 2017, 5:07 pm
#81
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: LHR (sometimes CLE, SFO, BOS, LAX, SEA)
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 5,893
Cool to read that it can book into B for a 1K. I'm pretty sure when the program launched as a UA benefit in 2007 it was called "BUY Y" ( http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...y-program.html ).
Jul 6, 2017, 7:56 pm
#84
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: DEN
Programs: UA MM Plat; AA MM Gold; HHonors Diamond
Posts: 15,866
Jul 6, 2017, 8:04 pm
#85
Moderator, Omni, Omni/PR, Omni/Games, FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Between DCA and IAD
Programs: UA 1K MM; Hilton Diamond
Posts: 67,138
I've only used it once, on IIRC IAD-ROA.
Yep--yet annoyingly, they downgauged my E170 to an E145 in August.
Sep 23, 2017, 8:31 am
#88
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Houston
Programs: UA Plat, Marriott Gold
Posts: 12,693
The link in the prior thread is still correct.
Access to most sold-out flights: Premier members may receive confirmed reservations - even when a flight is sold out - when purchasing certain full-fare tickets. Premier 1K® members may take advantage of this benefit when purchasing an unrestricted Y or B class ticket at least 90 minutes prior to departure. This benefit also applies to Premier Platinum members when purchasing an unrestricted Y class ticket at least 120 minutes prior to departure, and Premier Gold and Premier Silver members when purchasing an unrestricted Y class ticket at least 24 hours prior to departure.
Access to most sold-out flights: Premier members may receive confirmed reservations - even when a flight is sold out - when purchasing certain full-fare tickets. Premier 1K® members may take advantage of this benefit when purchasing an unrestricted Y or B class ticket at least 90 minutes prior to departure. This benefit also applies to Premier Platinum members when purchasing an unrestricted Y class ticket at least 120 minutes prior to departure, and Premier Gold and Premier Silver members when purchasing an unrestricted Y class ticket at least 24 hours prior to departure.
Sep 23, 2017, 10:27 am
#89
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Honolulu Harbor
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 15,023
So, can a 1K buy a Y/B ticket SFO-HNL on a 747 November 7th, 2017? I imagine the IDB $ could be substantial. I guess the wording "Access to most sold-out flights " is UA's out on any particular flight. Bolding mine.
Sep 23, 2017, 10:34 am
#90
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 127
I already tried buying Y on UA747. Had a great agent who was familiar with the benefit try multiple times and call the rate desk to no avail. There is obviously an internal limit on how far they will oversell hence the “most” statement.