deek

My flights tomorrow through Denver were cancelled due to wx - fine. I tried to get the same flights on Monday but was told the 1st leg was sold out; I advised the 1K agent I wished to pay full Y on that leg and confirm my seat. The agent didn't know what to do and consulted his supervisor. After a few minutes the agent came back on the line and stated that post merger 1K's no longer had the privilege to confirm space on sold out flights. Hmmm; hang up and try again, but I received the same answer.

Is this another change I'm going to like, or were both agents in error? This wouldn't be such a big deal but there is only 1 outbound UA(X) flight per day out of FCA and the desired outbound date of travel was Sunday.

WineCountryUA

welll, United claims this in Premier priority travel services

LIH Prem

so that was fail on two levels, access to sold out flights and service recovery assistance.

maybe you should try again?

email or call customer relations, let them know what you were told. Cite the policy on the web page. (though none of that will help you for tomorrow.)

-David

deek

Thanks Wine and LIH; I'm on the line with them again now

UPDATE: SLC call center agent was appalled at what the 2 previous agents told me and got me a confirmed seat on the sold out leg with no fare delta - now that was nice ^

Ari

Do let us know what happens. UA would probably make money taking a full Y seat and IDB-ing someone else.

LaserSailor

Thanks for posting the Deek, safe travels

DL only offers this on Y fares with 24 hours advance required for PLATS, that B fare option might be a good deal cheaper on my routes too.

Does this apply during IRROPS too, anyone know?

halls120

Further evidence that the days of a dedicated 1K line with experienced agents are long gone.

Often1

Bear in mind that the offer has always been "most" and that the most common exception to "most" is massive IRROPS as ocurred here.

Overbooking by one more isn't generally-speaking a big deal, but it is a big deal when there are 100 SB's for a flight.

I don't think that this was handled any differently than it would have been 5 years ago. Once in a blue moon an agent takes pity and bumps somebody else who isn't standing in front of them.

FlyerBeek

Well, the UA website does say "access to most sold out flights." (emphasis added) Maybe FCA is the one city excluded (joking) - but what good is this benefit if it's ambiguous enough to not include all flights (and not specify which flights are excluded).

-FlyerBeek

Often1

Crazy to make it "all" flights. In massive IRROPS recovery, the ordinary rules of overbooking simply don't work. There are more and more pax waiting to get to their destination.

Practically speaking, most carriers will overbook by one more in most situations for someone paying full Y, elite or not. Those fares can easily be 7-8x the lowest fare on the flight and that makes it worth buying off someone with a VDB to get the HVC onboard.

ohstewardess

I don't think so. I just did that during the blizzard in NY. Hmmmm...bump someone as GS or wait 4 days to go home. This GS member is quite pleased that UA recognizes the value of premium revenue customers.

Baze

And that person is so much less important they should wait 4 days to get home? Wow, DYKWIA!!! I can see the benefit during normal ops when there are probably no shows but during massive IRROPS? No way.

FreFly

In UA defense, they cannot promise to get an elite on all overbooked flights, as a flight could have only elites at the same or higher level. This is unlikely but in principle can happen.

The key question is what "most flights" means. Are there well-defined rules that the agents use?

LIH Prem

nice to hear, thanks for posting the follow-up.

-David

QBK

Actually, yes. A GM is that much less important to UA than a GS. We're all created equal, and equal in the eyes of the law, etc, etc -- but thats about as far as equality goes. The whole point of GS that you're a VIP and treated that way. Not just in the opportunity to hoover up freebies that would go to waste otherwise (empty seats, upgrades) but to genuinely cut lines.

In massive IRROPS, somebody is waiting 4 days to get home. Generally, it's not going to be a top elite, because 1Ks go to the top of standby lists. GS ability to force confirmed seats is a fairly logical extension of that standby priority. It's "against the rules", but (again) that's the whole point of GS status -- exemption from certain rules that apply to everybody else.

And the benefit to UA is that it keeps those ultra profitable customers loyal and profitable. Makes sense to me.