alex_b

I appreciate that is the likely legal position. However it doesn't make it right, nor would it likely be permissible in any other industry not exempted from state level consumer protection law.

LaserSailor

I think they should try to get the OP on the metal originally booked. I might be leery of going through the process again..

UA_Flyer

Air China's 744 is really dated...oh wait! so are the UA 744s!

Air China seems to be focused on revamping its international fleet and services and want to compete with others for premium passengers. I think the 773ER is a welcome change from the old 744s. Some of my clients have switched to CA 773ER from flying UA 744 on this route. The 744s have been re-assigned to fly PEK-SHA high-density domestic routes.

Air China has been expanding its international route network including start PEK-IAD service using the 773ER later this year.

As a UA loyalist for 23 years and a past Air China critic, Air China has really impressed me recently (I was too stubborn to try Air China and admit its improvenmet), and if it was not for GS benefits, I'd be choosing to fly Air China more to JFK and IAD (second half of the year).

ordbkk

If losing my reservation was due to a situation beyond their control, I might agree with you. One might even go as far as saying your remedy should apply if United was ignorant of the issue. However, if there is an ongoing scam of which United is aware (and they told me they were) and they have not corrected the software allowing it, I feel they should be held responsible for more.

Experience aside:

• The airports I was flying to/from on ANA are not served by United.
• The only flight United offered us departs much earlier so we will miss another day of work
• This flight arrives a day earlier, requiring us to extend our hotel reservation
• We now must spend time/money obtaining a Chinese Visa

So again, the monetary impact alone was in excess of $1,000. Not to mention where we'd be if I deleted the suspicious Chinese email immediately and didn't learn of the cancellation until check-in.

DaviddesJ

Good idea. Complain to authorities about how much greater your losses would have been if you hadn't noticed the email. That will undoubtedly get you your F seats on NH.

You started out with a lot of sympathy here but your attitude is reducing some of it. I might be bitter and snarky if I had this experience too, but it's still not a good way to get what you want from the people you have to deal with. If this is your tone on your calls with UA then you're doing yourself more harm than good.

ordbkk

I apologize if it's coming off that way - it's just the result of stewing over this for a few days, and doing a little venting to a FT community I knew would understand. My discussion with UA was completely different, and I have said several times I am grateful that UA was at least able to put us on the flights it did.

If by authorities you mean the DOT, I have not mentioned them on this board or anywhere else.

Zone1

Would trip insurance cover pre-paid travel arrangements in this situation? I know the trip insurance vendors are good at weaseling their way out of paying claims, but I wonder of this would be covered.

Secondly, UA has become very good at removing features and "enhancing" the travel experience over the past 3 years. Why can't they just remove web cancellation page for now and just force non-MP members to call in to cancel? That should be an easy fix although it would cost money for added calls.

wrp96

I'm not seeing this demanding tone that you speak of in the OP's posts.

mgcsinc

I promise that that poster is the only one thinking that.

Loren Pechtel

Yeah, that's also a possibility.

Neil35

It's been 3 weeks since post #1 of this thread. As time passes by and more "cancellations" are reported, is United doing anything to prevent more cases from happening?

Any progress anyone is aware of?

BearX220

This would make an interesting liability case, especially as nobody here seems intimately familiar with award ticket CoC details.

When I have booked multi-carrier premium-cabin longhaul awards via other FF programs, and the itineraries subsequently blew up (schedule changes, dropped cities, etc.), the issuing carrier moved mountains to make things good, including poaching revenue seats for us on alternative own-metal flights showing no award space. UA does not seem anywhere near so responsive in this case. The shrug + "Gee, guess you're out of luck" response is not sufficient. I would love to see a lawyer explore the exact parameters of United's responsibility here.

OP has every right to be livid by this point IMO, at both UA and CA.

UA Insider's silence speaks volumes.

MSPeconomist

It might be useful to create a wiki here listing all the known cases of these cancellations, maybe in chronological order, with numbers of seats involved and details of routes/carriers/cabin classes/etc. and their resolutions.

mduell

In my experience the time for pressing for the same flights, or even same dates, was before you accepted the reaccommodation.

Now it's time to go and enjoy your trip.

zombietooth

I agree.

This situation happened to one of my pre-deval awards over four weeks ago now. I escalated it as far as I could and hit a brick wall, mainly because UA didn't believe that it wasn't me who cancelled my flights. They claim that the "account holder" had made the changes, which I denied, telling them that, based on my history of always replacing an award flight with a new one before canceling, it just didn't make sense that I would leave myself stranded in BKK without a way home. All of this was to no avail.

They re-accommodated me in J on a combo of UA and TG, and I accepted this and got on with my life. I ended-up enjoying my trip, although the Thai A380 J lie-flats are way too short for me and I couldn't sleep on that portion, everything else was fine.

Others advised me to file a complaint with the DOT, but in the end, it just seemed like a waste of time.

Time is more valuable than money and OP shouldn't spend any more mental energy or time pursuing a likely fruitless venture.